What do people think of the viking?


Advice


Well I like the fact that having RAGE means you aren't as married to a particular weapon as a 'normal' fighter would be. The whole weapon group thing is a bit too rigid.

Also, you can get a genuine 'POUNCE' albeit at level 14.

The shield training is a nice bonus but marries you to a sword and board build if you want the bonus.

The intimidating power is just better than Bravery.

It seems to lend itself to pouncing sword and board tanks.
Synergies with Furious and Courageous weapons.

Off the top of my head this build could have the highest to hit available.
Rage+Furious+Gtr Weapon Focus+Courageous+Reckless Abandon

Liberty's Edge

For my money, why aren't you just playing a Barbarian? they seem to do the same thing basically, with a better hit dice, and I think they do it better.

Dark Archive

What supplement is the Viking in?


Rage is cool, fearsome is way better than bravery but takes forever to become good because action economy. No weapon training and being forced into a shield is meh. Rage is a big plus. Of course if you don't want sword and board you may as well play a regular barbarian for full rage and an extra 2 skill points per level. Shield Defense and Fearsome are the unique class features to look at if you want to play one. -3 to rage slows you down a bit too much I think.

So yeah, great if you want a shield and access to rage but you lose weapon/armor training which means your more dependant on the rage for your +1's, and I'm not sure how it holds up to an urban barbarian tank/invulnerable barbarian tank.

Nimon wrote:
What supplement is the Viking in?

People of the North.


Sadly worse than a barbarian, even if you go sword and shield. Shield + Beast Totem and you are able to rock a formidable AC already; + better/earlier rage, rage powers, more hit points, more skill points, DR,....


Yeah, I don't get this class. Arguably better than a fighter in some ways, but definitely not as good as a Barbarian.

Shadow Lodge

I actually really enjoyed my time in the Viking archetype, but partially because my stats were randomly generated and I ended up with only a "decent" str and dex. Once I got shield slam, I was bull-rushing people all over the field, and with my high charisma, I was able to debuff everyone on the battlefield, before raging and using cornugun smash and shatter defenses, I could always hit and help everyone else hit better, too. Plus, with the sword and board bonuses, no one could ever hit me too - it turned me into an effective battlefield control tank, and was a lot of fun!


metid wrote:
I actually really enjoyed my time in the Viking archetype, but partially because my stats were randomly generated and I ended up with only a "decent" str and dex. Once I got shield slam, I was bull-rushing people all over the field, and with my high charisma, I was able to debuff everyone on the battlefield, before raging and using cornugun smash and shatter defenses, I could always hit and help everyone else hit better, too. Plus, with the sword and board bonuses, no one could ever hit me too - it turned me into an effective battlefield control tank, and was a lot of fun!

I stand corrected; I have to admit I never played one. I like the idea and the flavour, just did not see the mechanical benefits over a vanilla barbarian. I guess a lot depends on the campaign/style of play. I am beginning to see some good features in this archetypes...


It's a decent archetype, I like it. It's only for a certain type of fighter (the shield-wielding kind) and it's certainly does not offer quite as much overall mechanical power as a plain barbarian build can be made to provide; but it's got quite a bit more to offer to the shield-wielding style than a plain fighter or a shielded fighter does, and it offers access to a lot of very good toys (via rage powers) that a normal fighter couldn't get.


Yeah it pretty much screams Pouncing Shield and Weapon TWF.
Between the Beast totem line
+4 class shield bonus
+4 beast totem armor
+2 shield
+7 mithral Breastplate+kilt
And all the normal toys this would rock a really high AC.
Enough to soak Reckless Abandon and CAGM at once and still have an AC that matters.

Vs playing a straight Beast totem Invulnerable Rager whose AC with CAGM and Reckless Abandon sux (but he doesn't care cause of DR/- and a squillion HP.)

This Archetype would create a Higher AC, Higher HP fighter with a decent fear debuff .


Sword and board is extremely feat hungry so fighter feats (3 from levels 1-4) plus barbarian rage powers can help make this awesome style happen.

The fearsome ability at level 10 allows you to intimidate 3 opponents in one round (swift, move, standard).

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