|
As the title says, I am looking for a way to make the rage power "come and get me" viable on my 15 point buy Spirit Totem barbarian. It fits the flavor of the character perfectly, but unfortunately I started rolling the character before the APG came out, and was not able to plan for any such power. So, I was wondering if there was any way to make an awesome rage power viable for a character with the following set up:
Class: Barbarian Lv. 3
Str: 16
Dex: 10
Con: 14
Int: 7
Wis: 7
Cha: 16
Feats:
Skill Focus: Perception
Weapon Focus: Scythe
Extra Rage
Her stats were distributed this way because I was originally looking to multiclass into Undead bloodline sorcerer, but when the APG came out I was able to shift into Superstitious / Spirit Totem and get the ghost flavor I wanted without shifting into Sorc. However, now I also have more rage powers to choose from, and would love to find some way to get access to "Come and Get Me" and maintain a natural character progression.
Thanks,
Trei
With your low base Dex, it's impossible. Combat Reflexes wouldn't give you anything, so you'd sit at 1, and after the first strike you'd just sit there sighing as enemies pummel you with free bonuses.
Minimum Dex, I would say, at low levels would be 15. Enough to level and put a point in for 4 AoO's. Focus on primarily Con, since you're going to take a lot of damage. Focus on trying to raise your AC so that sometimes, not every attack hits you ;P Focus on Strength to kill people before they even land that hit.
I just don't see it happening in any meaningful way with this character due to the 10 Dex, unless you plan on focusing on Dex to the exclusion of stats you actually need to be useful.
|
|
Yea, that is what I was afraid of. I still plan on taking Reckless Abandon, but I'll have to figure out a different thing to synergize off of.
Well, then, I might ask for viable replacements, given the current rage power build:
2: Superstition
4: Lesser Spirit Totem
6: Reckless Abandon
8: Disruptive
10: Spirit Totem
12: ?
16: Spellbreaker
18: Greater Spirit Totem
20: Witch Hunter
I am not 100% on this particular progression, but I know I wanted to emphasize the battle lust and dislike for magic aspects of the character. If there is anything that seems glaringly off, I would welcome input.
First, you didn`t mention what Rage Powers you have,
which is kind of important when discussing your Barbarian build right?
(Edit: OK, now I see you already have Superstitious)
Second, I think the direct route should at least be attempted:
Tell your DM your character was built under faulty assumptions, and ask if you can rebuild Stats.
Third, if you can`t rebuild, consider another way to use your Stats effectively:
Oracle of Bones (Death) is pretty damn close to what you thought you were going for originally, and Rage Prophet makes the multi-class combo pretty effective. Besides Bones, Battle Oracles are very effective amongst others. If you don`t worry your Spell DC`s, i.e. targetting enemies with spells allowing for Saves, you can freely ignore buffing you CHA for quite some time (focusing on buffing STR and DEX).
Fourth, Realize with those stats your character is going to be sub-par at things usually expeted from a Barbarian.
On the other hand, you can be quite handy using things like the Intimidation Rage Powers.
(Which can synergize quite efficiently if you have any Fear type spells/class abilities from a Caster class)
Taking into account that you will be somewhat sub-par as far as melee goes, I disagree with Ice Titans`s advice. I don`t think ¨at low levels¨ anybody needs 4 AoO`s per round. SOMETIMES that COULD be useful, but the vast majority of the time you will not need that many. Since you have a decent CON, focus instead on buffing DEX: with a +2/+4 Belt of DEX and Combat Reflexes (Feat) you will have 2 or 3 AoO`s per round, which is more than decent - just don`t expect to be the guy with a Reach Weapon making 10 AoO`s per round, nor that you will trade blows 1 for 1 with Hydras in addition to your normal attacks. There is also the Rage Power that gives you an extra AoO per round, irregardless of DEX... Obviously using Rage Powers to shore up a low stat is again sub-optimal, but it does do what it says and gives you more AoO`s, which if your focus is on having a DECENT number of AoO`s rather than some super high number, can be just what you need.
You could also ask your DM if you can use the Whirling Frenzy Barbarian Variant (which is from Unearthed Arcana, hosted on d20srd.org), which instead of the Bonus Rage HPs and better FORT / WILL Save, etc, gives you an extra attack when Full Attacking and increases your REFLEX Save and AC / DEX, giving you more AoO`s when Raging. That would be a change to your existing class, so may not be allowed by your DM.
One thing to consider: if you don`t have many AoO`s, the Knockback power can be very good because it get`s them out of your face (so they can`t make further attacks against you) - you aren`t making as many attacks against them, but neither are they. With Greater Bullrush (Feat) not only are you extra likely to succeed on that Knockback, but any allies can make AoO`s from the enemy`s resulting movement.
Also, in many cases the enemy will be making a move action to reach you, so will only have one attack againt you (bar Pounce), so having huge numbers of AoO`s is irrelevant, you only need enough to cover as may enemies regularly attack you at once, likely not more than 3 or 4 max. (Again, you CAN encounter situations where having another AoO would be nice, but MOST of the time you will not need/use this `maximal` number)
Hope that helps...
|
|
Hm. Maybe. I would bet that the direct approach will not work, given that we are three levels in to the game, but it can't hurt to check. I might shift towards the intimidation skills and overpower-style skills, and just leave the charisma for bonuses to my spirits. And as to the Oracle / rage prophet, I will look into it. Thanks for the input!