Barbarian - Page 8-11


Races & Classes

Liberty's Edge

I really do like the new barbarian. This is a great example of more options without overcomplicating things. The use of rage points is brilliant, but I'm sure you already realized that.

There are a few typos, as pointed out by others. The Terrifying Howl's prerequisite is missed, and in the description it also refers to itself as 'Howl of the Wild'.

The only ability that I dislike is the 'Elemental Fury'. This seems to be a strictly magical attack. How does a normal human, no matter how furious, produce a shocking weapon? There is no explanation for the power, and I really don't think it is appropriate as a class ability. Does anyone else have thoughts on that specific issue?

Regarding barbarian hit points and rage, I do think that the loss of hit points after a rage can be a bad thing. If you have +24 hit points from raging, and you drop into the negatives, when your rage ends, you're dead. Hopefully, your friends will help keep you alive, but I'd just as soon see the Rage Hit Points be temporary hit points (that are lost first) so the barbarian isn't in danger of dying the moment someone casts 'calm emotions' on him. For a class that is supposed to be 'tough', they really are pretty easy to kill. Even if this replaced the bonus to Constitution (which has other advantages), I think it would work better than the current system, so that is the only 'major change' I'd like to have considered.

All in all, I think this barbarian is very exciting, and now that it is out, I'm going to have my barbarian player convert to the Pathfinder barbarian.

Silver Crusade

DeadDMWalking wrote:

The only ability that I dislike is the 'Elemental Fury'. This seems to be a strictly magical attack. How does a normal human, no matter how furious, produce a shocking weapon? There is no explanation for the power, and I really don't think it is appropriate as a class ability. Does anyone else have thoughts on that specific issue?

I guess you could fluff it as the barbarian drawing totemic/elemental spirits into himself or channelling them in some way. Rage of the elements or ancestors or some such. It could also be referencing some of the more supernatural "barbarian" types from mythology.

It easily fits a Barb/Sorc character, but I can see how it wouldn't sit well on a pure barbarian for many people.


Mikaze wrote:
DeadDMWalking wrote:

The only ability that I dislike is the 'Elemental Fury'. This seems to be a strictly magical attack. How does a normal human, no matter how furious, produce a shocking weapon? There is no explanation for the power, and I really don't think it is appropriate as a class ability. Does anyone else have thoughts on that specific issue?

I guess you could fluff it as the barbarian drawing totemic/elemental spirits into himself or channelling them in some way. Rage of the elements or ancestors or some such. It could also be referencing some of the more supernatural "barbarian" types from mythology.

It easily fits a Barb/Sorc character, but I can see how it wouldn't sit well on a pure barbarian for many people.

There is a long thread just for elemental fury.

Fizz


DeadDMWalking wrote:
Regarding barbarian hit points and rage, I do think that the loss of hit points after a rage can be a bad thing. If you have +24 hit points from raging, and you drop into the negatives, when your rage ends, you're dead. Hopefully, your friends will help keep you alive, but I'd just as soon see the Rage Hit Points be temporary hit points (that are lost first) so the barbarian isn't in danger of dying the moment someone casts 'calm emotions' on him. For a class that is supposed to be 'tough', they really are pretty easy to kill. Even if this replaced the bonus to Constitution (which has other advantages), I think it would work better than the current system, so that is the only 'major change' I'd like to have considered.

The current mod my group is trying is to remove the Con bump and temporary HP from Rage.

Instead, a barbarian can ignore the effects of zero or negative HP for a number of rounds equal to their barbarian level. While this will allow a barbarian to function even below -10 for a short period, a failed Massive Damage save can still kill them outright.

Liberty's Edge

While there may be a thread for Elemental Fury, I had intended this to talk about the barbarian in general. There were no threads I could find that did that. While elemental fury is something I don't like, just about everything else is... other than the changing constitution and how that intersects with the death and dying rules.

One aspect that I don't like is that a barbarian who is unconscious continues to rage. If they ceased raging, they would instantly die (assuming 5th level or higher, and probably for lower level barbarians as well). If someone else 'drops', they might lose 1 hp/round. Scary, but not too scary. A barbarian with Greater Rage (11th level) gains 33 hit points from their Rage Ability. If someone casts Calm Emotions on them, they lose those 33 hit points. If they were down to 20 physical hit points (which for most characters is a still fighting time) they drop to -13. It sucks to be them.

So, if I were Paizo and reimagining the barbarian, I'd look for a different mechanic to boost hit points. Temporary hit points works, as does fast healing. The Con Bonus, though, well, it makes a 'tough class' frail. For flavor reasons, I don't think that a raging barbarian with fewer than 20 hit points should suddenly disengage from battle because he realizes that he'll die the moment his rage ends in 3 rounds.

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