How would this Barbarian stack up in combat? How can I keep her relevant at higher levels?

[A.P.P.L.E.]

I found out about the Masquerade Reveler, and I just had to pick it up. It is one of the best things to ever happen to the Barbarian class.

It's not on the PFSRD, so for those who aren't familiar, it's a Barbarian who does not get Str, Con, and Will bonuses during rage, instead gaining masks. A mask has 4 evolution points that the Masquerade Reveler gets to select, and you get another mask each level. When raging, you choose one mask, and get those evolutions for the duration of the rage. It is awesome, and glorious, and I've never seen any complaints about it being unbalanced. I rolled up a 5th level one, which I present here. I don't need help optimizing the masks, but I would appreciate opinions as to whether she looks useful in combat as she is right now. I also need help choosing what feats to get beyond level 5, and what equipment and rage powers (I get rage powers like a normal Barbarian). I'm trying to create a speed based character and really want pounce (if I do it right, at level 11 I can charge 160 feet while under the effect of blur and full attack), but I need to be relevant in combat after than charge, and my understanding is that Spring Attack/Vital Strike characters are hard to do properly.

Here is the character sheet.

[Thomas Long 175]

Unless you wanna go super size me, you don't want to bother with vital strike while standing still. If you're just standing still, full attack.

Just to make it clear, you cannot spring attack and vital strike at the same time. It almost looks like you're suggesting that in the last sentence so just wanna clear that up now.

As for the masks, at the very least I'd say you could hold your own in combat.

[kestral287]

Do the masks ever progress beyond 4 evolution points, or do you just get more different ones? That'd be my glaring question regarding effectiveness-- I'd worry about replacing an ability that advances in raw power as you level with one that gains flexibility but no power.

On relevancy, I certainly wouldn't bother with Spring Attack/Vital Strike. The point of Pounce is to avoid the need for things like that.

The two options that immediately jump out to deal with the standard charge-and-pounce tactics, to me, are overrunning and flying. Overrunning breaks mook walls and can add up to a fair bit of damage, flying avoids all those irritating terrain issues. The former, you have two rage powers (Overrunning Advance/Overrunning Onslaught) and a handful of feats (Improved/Greater Overrun, Spiked Destroyer is amusing). The latter, you have a three rage power chain that culminates in flight with the new Elemental Blood powers. Unfortunately, Lesser Elemental Blood is a minor damage boost and Elemental Blood is pretty mediocre; you'd be looking at Electric Resistance 10. Greater Elemental Blood (Air) gives you a fly speed of 60 though. If you have an easy way of flying, probably not worthwhile... but if not, that could be a nice way to ensure your pouncing fun doesn't get interrupted. I do see that one of your Masks has a flight option, but personally I'd think you'd rather use your Masks to boost your offensive prowess, since this is still more-or-less a rage. That kind of depends on your GM and whether or not they like to shut down charge lanes often.

I do have to admit, I'm not a fan of Reckless Abandon. Your goal involves getting in their face as fast as possible, tanking your defenses to do that (even if you are more flexible than the standard Barbarian in that regard) seems like a dangerous call.

[A.P.P.L.E.]

kestral287 wrote:

Do the masks ever progress beyond 4 evolution points, or do you just get more different ones? That'd be my glaring question regarding effectiveness-- I'd worry about replacing an ability that advances in raw power as you level with one that gains flexibility but no power.

I go up to 6 evolution points per mask at 10, and 8 at 20. At 7, I get to have one evolution point active at all times, even when not in rage, and which evolution it is can be changed. At 15, I get 2 active at all times. I do have a bit less raw power than a Barbarian, true, but in this case the flexibility is good enough to be worth it.

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On relevancy, I certainly wouldn't bother with Spring Attack/Vital Strike. The point of Pounce is to avoid the need for things like that.

If I don't take those three feats, where should I reinvest them?

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The two options that immediately jump out to deal with the standard charge-and-pounce tactics, to me, are overrunning and flying. Overrunning breaks mook walls and can add up to a fair bit of damage, flying avoids all those irritating terrain issues. The former, you have two rage powers (Overrunning Advance/Overrunning Onslaught) and a handful of feats (Improved/Greater Overrun, Spiked Destroyer is amusing). The latter, you have a three rage power chain that culminates in flight with the new Elemental Blood powers. Unfortunately, Lesser Elemental Blood is a minor damage boost and Elemental Blood is pretty mediocre; you'd be looking at Electric Resistance 10. Greater Elemental Blood (Air) gives you a fly speed of 60 though. If you have an easy way of flying, probably not worthwhile... but if not, that could be a nice way to ensure your pouncing fun doesn't get interrupted. I do see that one of your Masks has a flight option, but personally I'd think you'd rather use your Masks to boost your offensive prowess, since this is still more-or-less a rage. That kind of depends on your GM and whether or not they like to shut down charge lanes often.

I think I did take Improved Overrun already. Can I even take a blood power? I thought those were Bloodrager only.

I am allowed to create my own masks, so I could take my Mask of Mists, drop the Shadow Form evolution, take a different 2 point evolution like +2 Str or natural armor, and have a mask that enhances my combat ability and lets me fly. Then, I'd be capable of both overrunning and flying. The one thing is that I can't change masks during a rage, so I have to decide if I need to fly when I first activate the ability.

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I do have to admit, I'm not a fan of Reckless Abandon. Your goal involves getting in their face as fast as possible, tanking your defenses to do that (even if you are more flexible than the standard Barbarian in that regard) seems like a dangerous call.

What else could I take that aids speed or maneuver?

[Rogue Eidolon]

One fairly useful combination with mobility is to get a power that gives you a useful zone of control and keep it on your choice of enemy using your mobility. The aura effects and effects like entangling hair can be good for that—in your case particularly entangling hair since a lot of the auras use Cha.

In terms of switching masks, one of the few unique masquerade reveler toys from their first appearance in Convergent Paths: Fey Archetypes is the feat Melusine uses to do that in the stories. It's fairly expensive (costs rage rounds and actions), but it can be worth it in a pinch.

[kestral287]

A.P.P.L.E. wrote:

I go up to 6 evolution points per mask at 10, and 8 at 20. At 7, I get to have one evolution point active at all times, even when not in rage, and which evolution it is can be changed. At 15, I get 2 active at all times. I do have a bit less raw power than a Barbarian, true, but in this case the flexibility is good enough to be worth it.

That's enough to be effective then. I was just concerned that it was totally static.

A.P.P.L.E. wrote:

If I don't take those three feats, where should I reinvest them?

Extra Rage Powers could work, if you need them-- kind of depends on the question below. The biggest one though? Charge Through. That lets you get mooks out of the way while you go after your real target. I'm also a fan of Overbearing Advance (a rage power), for extra damage equal to your Str when you overrun. Eventually you can snag Overbearing Onslaught (another rage power; available next level but you want to get the Beast Totem stuff first), when you find that there are just too many mooks in the way. I'm a fan of Combat Reflexes if you have the Dex score to support it; the Barbarian has a couple ways of picking up AoOs (Greater Overrun being the most obvious). Spiked Destroyer is also amusing.

All of that is pretty Overrun-centric though. Depends on how far you want to go with the idea of shoving everybody out of your way, pouncing on the big guy, and then beating his face in.

A.P.P.L.E. wrote:

I think I did take Improved Overrun already. Can I even take a blood power? I thought those were Bloodrager only.

I am allowed to create my own masks, so I could take my Mask of Mists, drop the Shadow Form evolution, take a different 2 point evolution like +2 Str or natural armor, and have a mask that enhances my combat ability and lets me fly. Then, I'd be capable of both overrunning and flying. The one thing is that I can't change masks during a rage, so I have to decide if I need to fly when I first activate the ability.

Barbarians got an option for Blood Powers, akin to the Totem Powers they already have-- each is a three-power chain, with the middle one not available until six and the top one at ten. You can only pick one chain. Most are mediocre, but Elemental Blood does give you that fly speed. That said, if you have that easy Fly option and are okay with potentially needing a mask specifically for it, I'd leave it alone.