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My question is this. If you had to choose between either a fighter or a barbarian for the 4th wheel in your adventuring party which would you choose and what is your reasoning?
Also. What type of gear setup would you want them to have and what feat selection would they have. Would be realy nice to hear from people who tend to play non martial characters.
I realy want to play a fighter in pathfinder societys. But I also want to hear players feedback. Mostly on what makes a good fighter\barbarian as opposed to a bad one.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
My question is this. If you had to choose between either a fighter or a barbarian for the 4th wheel in your adventuring party which would you choose and what is your reasoning?
Also. What type of gear setup would you want them to have and what feat selection would they have. Would be realy nice to hear from people who tend to play non martial characters.
I realy want to play a fighter in pathfinder societys. But I also want to hear players feedback. Mostly on what makes a good fighter\barbarian as opposed to a bad one.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
The one whose player shows up reliably! ;)
I would choose whichever one the player wanted. If you are the player, do you want to be a character who runs around and charges things (barbarian) or who runs around and charges things with a little thought beforehand (fighter)?
At this level, gear and feats are all about the same since you are building toward your attack and defense capacities at higher levels. Is your theme "deadling extreme damage", "not getting hit", "one big weapon warrior", "two weapons at once wielder", or something else? That theme helps drive the determination of feats and items.
What I'd choose? Yes!
And why? Because!
It really depends on so many things. I guess I'd have a slight preference for the fighter. A more steady companion, in regards to both performance and personality.
Feats depend a whole lot on what you want to accomplish.
Do you want mobility or will you be more stationary? Do you want to focus more on offence or defence? Will you go for heavy damage or personal staying power? Straight-up attack or fancy manoeuvres? Sword and board, a two-handed weapon or something light in each hand?
There are so many ways to play a fighter (and still more than one to play a barbarian, though he can't really match the fighter's sheer versatility).
One important aspect where good warriors differ from bad ones is how you play them. Know your strengths, know your weaknesses, know the battlefield. A warrior that shows remarkable stupidity on the battlefield can really screw things up for a party, even if the stats are good.
One example for a fighter: "Juggernaut of destruction".
This type of fighter fighters strength and offence without neglecting dexterity and defence too much. He won't bother with fancy stunts like tripping enemies up - he'll just wade in and go for the kill.
Strength is your primary ability, followed by constitution, followed by dexterity. You don't neglect dexterity completely because a fighter learns to move even in full plate, and while you won't hide behind a shield or defensive moves, you won't charge skyclad into the fray, either.
You should not neglect wisdom too much, either, since you don't want to make it too easy for others to enslave your mind. The other abilities don't directly serve the fighter's primary function (hurting people with violence), so what happens to them is up to the player's discretion.
You take Weapon Focus and the follow-up feats, of course, including improved critical. Your weapon of choice is the falchion, because of its crit range. Other feats include Power Attack and later Critical Focus and some [critical] feats.
You'll probably have some feats to spare, and some of the feats that are never a bad idea include Dodge, Combat Reflexes, Step-Up, Disruptive, Spellbreaker, and the feats that let you ignore DR.
It's a fairly straightforward fighter concept - you don't have to think too much about combat options (except whether to use Power Attack and much later what you want to do to enemies you have hit critically) and can get rid of monsters in short order - and while you cannot quite reach the heights of a defensive fighter's AC, you aren't exactly exposed, either.
If I were in a 4 person group and the 4th person was asking whether to play a fighter or barbarian, I'd say whatever one you prefer!
Other than that, I'd look for weaknesses in the party's make up that the 4th player can fill in with the fighter or barbarian, although both classes tend to fill in the same roles. One notable exception is that the Barbarian gets Perception as a class skill, so if thats missing from the party that might be a reason to play Barbarian. Barbs also get more skill points, but fighters tend to have a little better Int (since fighters are more likely to go for combat expertise than Barbs), so it usually works out to a small or no difference in skill points between the two.
But really, whatever one feels like playing would be fine. The fighter will have a little more staying power due to a better AC, although the Barb should have a little more hps. Barbs tend to do a little more damage due to the rage boost, but if the fighter goes for Weapon Spec then he should be able to bridge that gap. Otherwise they should be able to fill the same role pretty well, depending on feat choices and rage ability choices.
I agree with what everyone else has said already, and I think the two classes basically fill the same role. My only advise, and it holds true for either (but particularly barabarian, as they tend to be more mobile), is DON'T BREAK RANK. It's easy to forget that your job as fighter or barbarian is to be a meat shield for the squishy casters, and if you get too eager to cut a bloody swathe of carnage and leave a hole in the line where enemies can get through to the casters, you've failed in your primary duty.
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My question is this. If you had to choose between either a fighter or a barbarian for the 4th wheel in your adventuring party which would you choose and what is your reasoning?
If *I* were gonna do it, I'd play a Fighter. I'm playing a Fighter in my current game where I have access to any 3.5 material I want and it's pretty sweet (mmmm...Slashing Flurry...).
THAT SAID, even in a straight Pathfinder game, I'd probably still go Fighter, so I could stack Power Attack, Cleave, Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, Vital Strike and Improved Vital Strike. Go with a two-handed weapon (probably a Falchion); also consider the Lunge feat. Wear the heaviest armor you can afford. Get the Indomitable Will and Deft Dodger Traits to bump up your Will and Reflex saves.
I also have no idea how Barbarians work, so I'm a bit biased. :)
Both work well, and like other people said, it depends on the party makeup and what you want to play.
I find Barbarians go beter with Bards and Rogues in the party, against things not immune to fear. The demoralizing barbarian stacks with the bard's fear abilities and a sneak attacking rogue quite well (feat to get shaken opponents flat footed) and you can really stack on some debuffs. It takes a couple more levels to this to get off the ground though, but gets nasty arround lvl 9.
Fighters do a great job too. There are a bunch of fun builds with them and they are highly versatile. They can also out-class a barbarian in damage and AC simultaneously with the right build.
My recommendation, come up with a character personality and then make what fits best. To hell with optimazation.