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hi guys. how feasable is it to make a barbarian with on armour? he has prety high con but im just using the core books.
I'm assuming you mean no armor here? I would say it's feasible. But I would make sure you give him a good DEX. In fact most traditional barbarians in literature wear no or, at the most, fur armor which I don't think is included in Pathfinder but would probably count as leather being that fur is usually attached to animal hide.
Good CON and good DEX, reasonable STR. As he progresses he gains uncanny dodge and improved uncanny dodge feats. He might pick up bracers of armor as magical items, or find a ring of Barkskin for natural armor if he didn't wear any armor.
There's no reason why he should wear armor. In fact, of all the melee based classes, the barbarian is the least likely to want to wear armor.
If that's the type of character you want to play I don't think you will be unduly penalized by it. Bear only in mind campaign climate. If he is a cold environment barbarian, he's not likely to be walking around in a loin cloth. There's nothing in a barb's class description that gives him cold resistance.
you might then want to think about piecemeal armor.
In my game, i would at least give you breastplate AC for that get up.
Although I also run a class bonus to defense variant.
As far as core goes, you are going to want to collect the sacred magic items of bracers of armor and rings of protection, otherwise it'll probably be curtains unless you have a gazillion hp or you run a spring attacker.
A bonus with high dex for your barbarian might be that he could be fighting with two kukris, and getting Double Slice, Two Weapon Fighting, and eventually Two Weapon Rend could give some nasty gashes to your foes when combined with power attack while raging...
Just my 2cp
It should be viable.
You may be right about bumping DEX to 14 or 16 being almost irrelevant if you have NO other armor bonuses, but as mentioned, you should probably be getting some AC bonus out of the setup you described (armor kilt alone counts for +1 AC), and other AC boosts (bracers, natural armor amulets, ioun stone) are available as you can afford them, in which case an extra +3 or +4 touch AC would definitely contribute. +2 Dex Ioun Stones are good here, without forcing you into a multi-physical stat belt which is more expensive per plus. And of course, having a semi-decent DEX is good for other things, like Initiative and having multiple AoO's with Combat Reflexes... You probably want to consider maxing out Acrobatics since you will want to take any chance to avoid an AoO, and even if your DEX isn't amazing, any chance is better than no chance.
One option you might consider is the Unearted Arcana Whirling Frenzy Barbarian variant (on d20srd.org), which substitutes an additional attack during Full Attacks and +2 AC BONUS and bonus to Reflex Saves for the normal AC penalty and bonus Rage HPs and Will Save bonus while Raging.
Otherwise, there are items you could consider, like bodypaints granting 20% concealment, or Cloaks of Displacement. The Feat "Wind Stance" (req. Spring Attack) also gives you 20% concealment if you move on your turn (so, good for a Spring Attack/Vital Strike build), but remember miss chance never stacks. Also, you should HEAVILY consider using a Reach weapon, since it will both give you an AoO against any enemies closing with you and prevent AoO's against you because you don't have to move as close. The Rage Power "Unexpected Strike" is also huge for this, but doesn't become available until later levels.
Multi-classing, 1 level in Monk and a good WIS score helps both your AC and Will Save, while getting you good Saves, Stunning Fist (benefitting from good WIS), Imp Unarmed and one other Feat (I like Imp Grapple for this combo, Combat Reflexes is also nice). 1 level in Sorceror can get Mage Armor and Shield (or Enlarge Person, which increases your Reach, and thus AoO opportunities) and 1 level in Druid can get Barkskin.
thanks for the replies. i dont realy want to multiclass for flavor reasons but i did wonder about monk. i quite like the idea of making him a two weapon fighter though. i might give him two shortswords. peicemeal armor i also an option. i will run it past the dm next time i see him
Just don't rule out the kukri ;-) It may seem like a big difference going from 1d6 to 1d4, but it's really only 1 point on average. And once you get either Imp. Crit or Keen on those kukris you will be making a threat on a 15+ roll, and having a relatively high strength (while raging you do) you can cut some serious chunks out of the enemies. I myself toyed with the idea of making a two-weapon fighting barbarian. At higher levels its not unlikely to get near a 30 str while raging, and that's a sweet +10 to damage for both weapons and often enough it'll be +20 on a crit. I have done no math, at-all, to back up my claim that the kukri is the"better" choice, but crittin' is always fun :)