Kingmaker Barbarian

[Hitokiriweasel]

I'm currently playing a half-orc invulnerable barbarian in Karui Kage's Kingmaker campaign and had a couple questions regarding his later progression.

We're almost 9th level, his 9th and 11th level feats are going to be extra rage power (improved DR). Current plan right now is taking indomitable prowess and then dreadful carnage at 13th and 15th levels, respectively.

And now for the questions.
1) Are Indomitable Prowess and Dreadful Carnage worth taking or should I drop them for the vital strike chain?
2) If I do take them, would a two or three level dip into THF fighter be worth it? It would get me two extra feats for vital strike and improved vital strike and over hand chop (assuming I took three levels of it), but would cost me 1 point of dr.

Current feats and rage powers are: weapon focus (great axe), power attack, raging vitality and furious focus; guarded life, elemental rage, reckless abandon and improved DR.

Thanks

[Jadeite]

1. Unless you already have another totem, I'd take the Beast Totem Rage Powers instead of Vital Strike.
2. If you go Fighter, stay vanilla. Full movement in medium armor is better than a few more points of damage with a standard attack at this point.

[Hitokiriweasel]

So, start taking the beast totem rage powers, possibly at 10th instead of my planned elemental rage and stick with indomitable prowess and dreadful carnage instead of vital strike stuffs?

And that makes sense about the fighter, especially once I get pounce.

[Quandary]

As an alternative to Beast Totem (it`s GREAT, just sometimes you`d like to try something else),
I think the Hurling Charge Power is interesting, it lets you draw and throw a 2nd weapon on a Charge.
(IMHO both attacks would count as a Charge for any special effects)
If you`re worried about hitting because your DEX isn`t so great, get some Splash Weapons. Necklace of Fireball can be nice... especially when you`re not using your entire round to do so, but combining it with your regular Charge attack.

There`s a Feat in the Player`s Guide to Serpent`s Skull that allows Readying a Partial Charge, and VOILA you have a great combo that still works when you`re Staggered. The object-throwing ability also opens the way for Halfling-Ally-Throwing mayhem!!! ;-)

Vital Strike is OK, but I wouldn`t ever take more than the 1st Feat... It isn`t going to work with the Charge stuff, and certain weapons (Falchion) are rather under-whelming with it... you only want it if you consistently use 2d6/1d12/1d10 weapons, ideally if you`re often Enlarged. In all honesty, I don`t think the Elemental Rage Powers are really `all that` great.

If you don`t have it yet, the Power letting you Re-Roll a Will Save
once per Rage is very nice... It should stack with Greater Iron Will if you eventually take that. Unexpected Strike is cool (no more non-provoking 5` Steps vs. you!) though in a way it overlaps with Come and Get Me which you can take later (12th level I think). AoO maximization IS something Barbarians are really great at between Core and APG, though you need Combat Reflexes (and at least a mediocre 14 DEX or so) to realy take advantage of it.