Well first thing you want to look at is your stats. You have some awesome starting stats there.
Str:17 (+1 at level4 and 8)
Dex:16
Con 16
Int:14 (since you are clearly concerned about skills this should be higher then the other 2 mental stats)
Wis:13
Cha:13
Now when thinking race, you want either human or half orc for the ability to add to your strength.
If you want to be a better 'tank' you may want to use shields but honestly, i just could never play a barb that isnt wielding a giant axe or sword or something.
Get mirthral Full plate (along with heavy armor proficiency either by feat or by dipping into fighter).
Other feats you want: Power attack, Cleave, weapon focus, Great cleave, possibly improved critical if wielding a falchion. Maybe Extra rage.
Beyond that what is the rest of your party like? I know you have a rogue, do you expect someone in the party to pass out in combat buffs often? If the answer is no you should pick up superstitious.
I also like the intimidating glare, terrifying howl combo. Be a half orc, take skill focus intimidate and watch the enemies flee. Increased DR is also good.
...In addition, a fighter can also move at his normal speed while wearing medium armor. At 7th level, a fighter can move at his normal speed while wearing heavy armor.
1) A Human Barbarian's normal speed is 40'. Mithril Full Plate counts as Medium Armor for everything but proficiency, therefore you move at YOUR normal speed in it.
2) I don't think the races matter all that much here, at least as much as Half-Orc/Half-Elf are comparable for what you're doing (i.e. assuming multiclassing). If people play Halfling Barbarians fine, neither of the Half-X choices will be game-breaking. Everybody has their preferences - Just play what makes the most interesting story. *I* think Darkvision (esp in an underground heavy campaing) and Ferocity (to chug a healing potion/ withdraw) are great abilities compared to what Half-Elves get, but it's your character/game.
If you go for Half-Elf, I would also consider Skill Focus:Acrobatics which will help ensure that the AoO-avoidance Tumbles you're able to pull of in your Mithril Fullplate (thanks to Armor Training getting rid of Move penalty) actually have a chance of success. But Perception IS always a great Skill as well... :-)
Technically, if I wanted to pick the most mix-max race for a Barbarain, it would be Human, Half-Orc, or Dwarf.
(It should be said with Dwarf WIS bonus & bonus to Saves vs. Magic & Poision that you probably could do fine not ever taking Iron Will (doing normal stuff to help Saves, of course), and just take the Barbarian Power to re-roll Will Save once/Rage.)
3) Yes, Falchions are good for Crits, especially nice once you pick up the Auto-Confirm power. Most people here are going to recommend you use a 2-Handed style to make the most of your STR bonus, and 2WF (which is how Shield Fighters get any offensive juice) is hugely Feat-intensive to keep up with 2-Handed damage output. Dwarves and Half-Orcs do have their Racial double-weapons going for them, which would other-wise be a Feat: These allow you to benefit from 2-Handed damage bonus, at least for non-2WF attacks (incl. AoO's), and pick up the first level of 2WF Feat "when you can afford it" (+ Double Slice: Full STR to off-hand), which is probably the best approach for a Feat-starved Barbarian. You can also grab 2 Weapon Defense for the same effect as a Buckler, and/or add Defending property to one end... (So basically, Dwarf + Half-Orc Racial Double-Weapons make 2WF *1 Feat LESS* sub-optimal than other-wise)
...But if you want to use a Shield, I say go for it - At low levels a Heavy Shield will help your AC signifigantly, at high levels when you have more magic items, I'd consider just having a Magic'ed up Buckler allowing you to 2-Hand a Scimitar and switch back to use your Shield AC against Enemies (this means your AoO's will be 1-Handed though).
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If you swung with the hand that held the buckler you get -1 to hit AND you don't get the buckler bonus; kinda a bum deal on trying to two-weapon with the buckler.
As to tank-Barbarian, if you start at level 10 see the other thread; you can make a great barbarian that yells (first round dazzling display to shake them, then rage and panic all of them; at level 10 he had his DC up to 23 Will save for it, and you have better stats to set it all up; 1st round gets all of them -2 to pretty much everything, and with your +29-32 intimidate you can even hit giants). You can then one hand + shield because you're not really there for damage output, but can put out at least decent damage (two handing adds about 30% to damage output; but lowers your AC by 5 (assume a +3 Shield of 9K is a great investment). Take the Step up/Combat Reflexes/Stand Still trio and stop people from trying to get away from you; you'll need 8 levels of barbarian to get the intimidate; but you're not really needing the 2 fighter levels so I'd keep going barb and up rage rounds etc. It was an impressive build.
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This question tells if I put any advice out there but are you guys equipping yourselves as level 10 characters with wealth or is the dm handing out things or something?
And if you DO get to buy your own starting equipment, are you using the pathfinder book alone or does your DM let you use 3.5 stuff like from the magic item compedium? I ask because my favorite weapon property is in there and can help you tank better by staying alive longer. The +2 enhancement of Vampiric which deals an extra 1d6 negative energy damage and heals you for the damage done.
If this is or is not allowed along with whether you get to buy your own equipment period ... then I can make a better assessment.
(Also, how many levels worth of campaign do these things usually last? Strangely enough this may matter)
Since I have already posted this in the DPR thread for comparative purposes, I'll repost the character here in accordance with your OP information:
Barbarian 2 / Fighter 8
Ability Scores:
17 into STR +2 race +2 level advancement = base of 21 STR. You will want a +4 belt of giant strength to ramp this to a 25 STR, garnering a before-rage STR bonus of +7. Rage adds +4 morale bonus to STR for a total of (4+3 Con +2 Barbarian 2nd =) 9 rounds per day, during which you enjoy a 29 STR (+9) and 20 CON (+5).
25 STR [29 raging], DEX 16, CON 16 [20 raging], INT 14, WIS 13, CHA 13
Race: Half-orc: Orc Ferocity means you get one last attack in before you fall over, combined with darkvision.
Favored Class: Fighter (+1 hp per fighter level)
Hit Points: 12 (1st barbarian) +1d12 +8d10 +30 Con +8 favored class +10 toughness. "Averaged" this means a total of 110 hit points without rage or a bear's endurance from the cleric or wizard. Rage adds another 20 hit points.
Barbarian Class Features: Fast Movement, Uncanny Dodge, Rage, 1 Rage Power
Fighter Class Features: Armor Training 2, Bravery +2, Weapon Training 1 (relevant weapon group - usually axes or heavy blades).
Saving Throws: Fortitude +12 , Reflex +5 , Will +5, +7 vs. fear or while raging, +9 vs. fear while raging
Feats:
- Armor Proficiencies (all), Shields Proficiency, Tower Shield Proficiency, Simple Weapons Proficiency (all), Martial Weapons Proficiency (all) are received from the two classes.
- Ftr 1 & Ftr 8 gives you Weapon Focus/Greater Weapon Focus in your weapon of choice.
- Ftr 4 gives you Weapon Specialization with the aforementioned weapon of choice.
- 1st Level Power Attack
- 3rd Level Toughness
- 5th Level Iron Will
- 7th Level, Fighter 2nd and Fighter 6th feats remain open for customization.
Skills:
- The 12 ranks from Barbarian placed 2 each into Acrobatics, Climb, Intimidate (or any one other skill of choice), Perception, Survival and Swim.
- The 8 fighter levels generate a total of 32 skill ranks. Invest 8 of them into Perception, you *will* need all 10 ranks - and without a single feat or magic item invested you have a +14 Perception bonus. The remaining 24 skill ranks can be invested as you see fit, although Intimidate will need to remain tied in total ranks with Perception for "Intimidation build" characters.
Gear: You first and foremost have to purchase a +3 adamantine two-handed melee weapon, costing 31,000 and change of your starting gold. An efficient quiver (1,800 gp), a handy haversack (2,000 gp), a +4 belt of giant strength (16,000 gp) and a ring of sustenance (2,500 gp) round out your bare-bones essentials at a total cost of about 53,300 gp. With an armor budget of just over 8,000 gp, heavy armor is out of the question. rhino hide is currently your best bet: a +6 armor bonus, +6 maximum Dexterity bonus and no check or speed penalties combined with the damage bonus from a charge attack - even when mounted - makes this chap a dangerous customer. And he still has a modest sum of about 2,800 gp or so to spend on consumables and lesser weapons to load in the quiver. A masterwork composite longbow built to a +4 Strength bonus costs 800 gp. 60 arrows is 3 gp, 5 spears is 10 gp and 13 javelins is 13 gp, leaving you about 1,900 gp for miscellaneous items and/or upgraded ammunition/spears/javelins - or perhaps spiked gauntlets "just in case".
Killing Things:
- Using your spiffy two-handed weapon - and for the sake of simplicity assuming an average damage-per-hit on the die or dice of 6 - you have a melee attack bonus of +23/+18 dealing an average of 22 damage per hit without any other bonuses from rage, allies or power attack. (attack = base 10 +7 STR +2 greater weapon focus +1 weapon training +3 magic) | (damage = 6 averaged from dice +10 STR +2 weapon specialization +1 weapon training +3 magic)
- Doesn't seem impressive? Now rage and power attack, netting a +22/ +17 attack sequence dealing 34 averaged damage per hit. (attack = base 10 +9 STR -3 power attack +1 weapon training +2 greater weapon focus +3 magic) | (damage = 6 +13 STR +9 power attack two-handed +1 weapon training +2 weapon specialization +3 magic)
- The devastation of confirming critical hits is weapon-dependent. If you want a confirmed critical hit to average 100+ hit points on your heaviest swings, go with a great axe - otherwise, enjoy more frequent critical hits using a great sword (at an average of 68 points).
- Make sure your buddies buff you - haste, heroism / greater heroism, prayer, bless, inspire courage and more are at your group's fingertips to rapidly ramp up this guy's attack and damage output. Your best buddy is hopefully a paladin - and at 10th level, you're one level away from the paladin's truly nasty aura of justice, with which he can share the carnage and joys of smiting evil mightily for a minute at a time. If something can stand toe to toe with you and your paladin buddy for 10 rounds - you're probably dead already and just don't know it yet.
- Ranged attacks: yes, at least once in a blue moon you are likely to want to shoot some bad guys full of arrows. With your own resources, your arrows are shot at an attack sequence of +14/ +9 dealing 1d8+4 damage with a range increment of 110' - not bad considering the minimalist investment in doing so. The occasional lucky critical hit deals 3d8+12 damage, averaging about 25 hit points. Nothing says "softening up the BBEG" like a few rounds of perforating the bugger with arrows. If your paladin buddy shares his smiting fun with you starting at 11th level, smite evil does not care about range - you only care about how long it lasts. You are hoping when using your bow that some one was thoughtful enough to get a few buffs in place while you are peppering the bad guys with arrows. 'At CR', on average, your first arrow will hit more often than not, so it may be worth considering Vital Strike to make one shot per round count...
Using a falchion as your melee weapon of choice is not a bad decision, slightly reducing your damage per hit while slightly increasing your chances of a critical hit. These weapons are best used in combination with the Critical Feats. Personally, I just want what ever it is to fall over as fast as possible, and critical hits are not (for me) the reliable method of making that happen.
OMG DOES ANYONE PLAY WITH PEOPLE THIS BAD?
Yep. When you're a GM, they are an endless source of entertainment (and body counts). When you're a player, one is forced to account for the stupid factor and gear up accordingly.
I suggest enjoying the antics of the rogue's player. He will attract undue attention from the GM, eventually doomed to die horrible character deaths over and over and over ...
Yep. When you're a GM, they are an endless source of entertainment (and body counts). When you're a player, one is forced to account for the stupid factor and gear up accordingly.
I suggest enjoying the antics of the rogue's player. He will attract undue attention from the GM, eventually doomed to die horrible character deaths over and over and over ...
There's a player in my group that almost always plays a sorcerer. She prefers to charge enemies with a pointy stick and still wonders why the fighter is forever having to extricate her from trouble.
It's hilarious.
Yep. When you're a GM, they are an endless source of entertainment (and body counts). When you're a player, one is forced to account for the stupid factor and gear up accordingly.
I suggest enjoying the antics of the rogue's player. He will attract undue attention from the GM, eventually doomed to die horrible character deaths over and over and over ...
There's a player in my group that almost always plays a sorcerer. She prefers to charge enemies with a pointy stick and still wonders why the fighter is forever having to extricate her from trouble.
It's hilarious.
^_^ And as with many things, hilarity makes it all the better.