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I'm a huge fan of desert themed adventures - my wife will tell you its because of scantily-clad dancing girls and a preoccupation bordering on obsession with the sitcom 'I Dream of Genie' from a young age, but I prefer to think it has more to do with Arabian legends and romanticized notions of the Fremen... at any rate, as much as we're enjoying Wrath of the Righteous, I'm already eye-balling Mummy's Mask and hoping that she forgets its my turn to GM.
I'm thinking about running a variant of a previously posted and very popular build, the Barbarian Tank and dipping a single level of Living Monolith which might actually be an improvement on the overall build (which is why I'm posting it in 'Advice'). The one level dip grants the Toughness feat, an additional +2 to saves vs. Enchantments and other effects and - the real selling point - Enlarge Person on yourself as a swift action three times a day. I mean seriously, what more could you want as a reach weapon-wielding tank?
There are some minor hurdles to overcome; the drop in BAB throws a couple of things off and pushing back your Barbarian levels does the same, but all-in-all I think the trade is worth it. What's nice is the dip into Unbreakable Fighter grants Endurance for free, giving you not just a pre-req for Stalwart but for Living Monolith as well.
At any rate, here's the build I'm looking at (assuming 17 levels of advancement), with the Unbreakable Fighter level coming at 5th and the Living Monolith level coming at 6th. The character has more than enough skill points to accommodate the Knowledge requirements and, to be honest, inspired a nice divergence in concept as a self-educated wanderer with a mysterious past...
Human 15th level Invulnerable Rager & Urban Barbarian / 1st level Unbreakable Fighter / 1st level Living Monolith
Heart of the Fields alternate racial trait, Human favored class option for Barbarians
Attributes: (20 point buy)
STR - 15 (+2 racial bonus, +1 at 4th, 8th, 12th and 16th level)
DEX - 14
CON - 14
INT - 14
WIS - 12
CHA - 7
Traits:
Threatening Defender (reduce Combat Expertise penalties by 1)
Well Hidden (+1 Will saves, +2 vs. Divinations)
Feats & Rage Powers:
1st - Combat Expertise
1st - Power Attack
2nd - Reckless Abandon (R)
3rd - Combat Reflexes
4th - Superstition (R)
5th - Iron Will
5th - Endurance (granted by class)
5th - Diehard (granted by class)
6th - Toughness (granted by class)
7th - Extra Rage Power: Lesser Beast Totem
8th - Beast Totem (R)
9th - Stalwart
10th - Extra Damage Reduction (R)
11th - Improved Stalwart
12th - Greater Beast Totem (R)
13th - Extra Rage Power: Extra Damage Reduction
14th - Come and Get Me (R)
15th - Extra Rage Power: Extra Damage Reduction
16th - Witch Hunter (R)
17th - Extra Rage Power: Ghost Rager or Eater of Magic
(R) - Rage Power
Skills: (ranks by level)
Perception* (1-17)
Survival* (1-17)
Knowledge: Engineering* (1-17)
Knowledge: History* (1-17)
Knowledge: Nature* (1-2, 7-17)
Knowledge: Religion* (3-4, 7-17)
Profession: Engineer* (1, +1/2 character level)
Ride* (2)
Climb* (3)
Swim* (4)
* - class skill
What do you think? He admittedly won't be much of a ranged threat but that's fine - its not really what he's built for. DR/- doesn't really become worthwhile for him until 9th level when it hits 6, but by 12th its 12 and by 17th its 20. In the meantime AC should be solid, saves will be out of this world and all those Knowledge skills should come in handy from time to time.
Might as well go for it. I think I and others would be better at advising you if you went into a little more detail about what those hurdles are when you postpone your barbarian level by 2.
Otherwise, keeping your BAB the same, getting free enlarges, toughness, and a random save bonus sounds pretty good.
Might as well go for it. I think I and others would be better at advising you if you went into a little more detail about what those hurdles are when you postpone your barbarian level by 2.
Otherwise, keeping your BAB the same, getting free enlarges, toughness, and a random save bonus sounds pretty good.
I was referencing previous versions of the build discussed here. Many of the feats and rage powers are pre-requisites for others and themselves can only be taken at certain times, so the character build was pretty carefully balanced in a lot of places - pushing back the Barbarians an additional level and losing a point of BAB (which the dip in Monolith does) upset that balancing act a bit, but I'm pretty happy with the results.
Another option to consider is 3 lvls of horizon walker for fatigue immunity. It is thematic (desert terrain dominance) and you already have Endurance, so it can be a great dip, as long as you can manage the delayed barbarian features progression.
In this case, I would seriously consider swapping some extra DR rage powers (which feel a bit lackluster IMO with all the DR you already have from Inv. Rager and the stalwart feat tree) and add spell sunder and strenght surge for rage-cycling. The later is essential IMO for survivability too, it is the barb way to counter grapples, shallow whole, trip and other harmful maneuvers.
I think everyone has their own little pet-peeve 'cheese' buttons and one of the ones in our group is rage-cycling, especially premature rage cycling... Horizon Walker might be a good dip for a traditional Barbarian, but for a tank build like this one five levels of 'dip' including two separate prestige classes is just too much.
Just stat'ed him out at 13th level with standard WBL if anyone is interested...
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Greater Focused Rage can be activated as a free action and Enlarge Person as a swift action 3/day which is why I include them in the stat block. Toss in a generic standard buff or two like Inspire Courage or Haste and all of those numbers obviously get better.
13th level: (w/Greater Focused Rage and Enlarge Person)
HP 153 (11d12+1d10+1d8+65), AC 28, DR 15/-
Fort +19, Reflex +9, Will +12
(+7 Spells, SLA's & SU's, +2 vs. divinations, death effects, mind-affecting effects and effects that grant negative levels)
Attack: +23/+18/+13 with 15' reach & Combat Reflexes
+12/+7/+2 [BAB] +8 [STR] +3 [Rage] -4 [PA] -3 (Expertise] +3 [Reckless] +5 [Raging Weapon] -1 [Enlarge]
Damage: 3d6+33
3d6+5 [Large Raging Bardiche] +12 [STR] +4 [Rage] +12 [PA]
Equipment:
Fullplate Armor +5, Raging Bardiche +3, Cloak of Resistance +5, Amulet of Natural Armor +2, Ring of Protection +2, Belt of Physical Might (Str +4, Con +4)
I saw the original build, and know pushing Barbarian back 2 levels as opposed to 1 or 0 delays all the good Rage Powers by 2, but I thought you were alluding to specific build issues. I know I'd be feeling the lack of Pounce for 2 levels, for sure. Is there any point where you feel the build lacks something specific at a particular important breakpoint? Personally, I like to play Barbarians who get all their goodies as soon as humanly possible, but then again, that's why I don't play them as tanks.
You probably realize this and just missed it in your statblock, but when you're Enlarged via your Ka stone, you actually gain full BAB from your Monolith levels.
I saw the original build, and know pushing Barbarian back 2 levels as opposed to 1 or 0 delays all the good Rage Powers by 2, but I thought you were alluding to specific build issues. I know I'd be feeling the lack of Pounce for 2 levels, for sure. Is there any point where you feel the build lacks something specific at a particular important breakpoint? Personally, I like to play Barbarians who get all their goodies as soon as humanly possible, but then again, that's why I don't play them as tanks.
You probably realize this and just missed it in your statblock, but when you're Enlarged via your Ka stone, you actually gain full BAB from your Monolith levels.
I was generally trying to get the good stuff ASAP, which was what I was having to compensate for, and the one-off in BAB threw me a little on a number of things.
Thanks for the catch about the Ka Stone - I had read it but promptly forgot to take it into account. A large Bardiche should also be dealing 2d8 rather than 3d6 damage... small errors but they add up.
Here's a better stat block at 14th level - it catches up in a big way with the original build:
14th level:
(w/Greater Focused Rage and Enlarge Person from Ka Stone)
HP 165 (12d12+1d10+1d8+70), AC 32, DR 16/-
Fort +20, Reflex +10, Will +13
(+9 vs. Spells, SLA's & SU's, +2 vs. divinations, death effects, mind-affecting effects and effects that grant negative levels)
Attack: +27/+22/+17, Damage: 2d8+33
(with Pounce, 15' reach, Combat Reflexes and Come and Get Me)
Equipment:
Fullplate Armor +5, Raging Bardiche +3, Cloak of Resistance +5, Amulet of Natural Armor +4, Ring of Protection +4, Belt of Physical Might (Str +4, Con +4)
Now of course that's just generic equipment - I doubt that's what the character specifically ends up with, but it does provide a fairly good idea of what to expect.