So I just played my first session with a barbarian and had a blast. I was planning to multi-class into fighter but now I think I will stick it out as a Barbarian.
Now, of course, I have to decide what do do with him!
I was thinking of going beast totem master, but I would only get pounce for lvl 10 and 11. Probably not worth it.
I know I am doing Invulnerable Rager and I took Raging Vitality. Anyone have some advice specific to Society play?
Thanks!
Well, I have decided to go straight barbarian. Just trying to figure out which feats/rage powers to take.
Do yourself a favor and never build your prospective characters more than 1-2 levels above where they will actually see play, otherwise you put yourself in danger of artificially speeding up the point where you bore of them.
Not worried about that, thanks. In fact, having only 11 levels to play with I am especially not worried about planning 'too far down the road'
Also, no need to worry about the 'Come and get me' rage power.
I have been considering the fiend beast totem, just for fun, but I think it would probably come down to a pain in society play.
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So I just played my first session with a barbarian and had a blast. I was planning to multi-class into fighter but now I think I will stick it out as a Barbarian.
Now, of course, I have to decide what do do with him!
I was thinking of going beast totem master, but I would only get pounce for lvl 10 and 11. Probably not worth it.
I know I am doing Invulnerable Rager and I took Raging Vitality. Anyone have some advice specific to Society play? Thanks!
* Absolutely, positively take Raging Vitality as your 1st-level feat in PFS. Even if it's you only feat (i.e., non-human) you have until 3rd level. Why? Because you, the player, will lose track of what your "non-raging" HP are, and quickly put yourself in situations where going neg means instant-death if you don't have RV.
* Word on Power Attack ("the feat that helps you miss!"): you don't need it at 1st-level because a strong two-hand attack will slaughter almost everything you hit at Tier 1-2 -- but all non-mook things at Tier 3-4 will need at least two smacks anyway regardless of Power Attack.
* For the same reason, you don't need a 20 STR at 1st level. Or even an 18. Or even a 16. -- Because you are a barbarian, and get free strength from raging. (While a barbarian can do more damage than a fighter, his primary attribute is resiliency.)
* Andoran or Taldor faction recommended, as their missions typically do not rely on sneaking around, bluffing or making lots of Perception checks to find hidden things. (But be careful not to kill everyone who's "slightly bad" in a mod, because the guy you splatter might be your faction "hook".) The first couple sets of Prestige Award points can be cashed on popular 750gp goodies like 50ch wand CLW or a STR+4 MW comp-longbow. Otherwise let them pile up (16 PA is your free "get out of death" Raise Dead ticket).
* Don't have a will-save that sucks if you are a barbarian, because you will slaughter your allies when hostile-controlled.
* Word is out that Pounce can be thwarted by a defender's clever application of Pushing Assault knocking you off your charge line (so three rage powers invested in obtaining Pounce are a tougher sell).
* You can't use your claws (Lesser Beast Totem) in a full attack with your weapon unless you drop the weapon, or have Quickdraw.
* If your DEX is 14 or less, and you dream of being Enlarged, you might as well wear plate, and plate means fighter 1st. Dovetails nicely with Drunken Brute barb variant (which trades away +10 move in exchange for move-action, worry-free potion-swigging). At least half of if not two-thirds of the fights in PFS are "cramped-confines" combats in which lacking a ton of movement isn't a problem.
* Roleplaying: I recommend a flamboyant yet non-offensive (to your allies) personality. It's a lot of fun, and gives you something to do during the out-of-combat portions of modules. The taciturn "strong silent type" is deadly boring, and you'll be squirming within hours of the first session.
* Devote one skill point to a craft, knowledge or profession, and make a "day job" roll after every session to pick up spare cash. Make it an aspect of your roleplay personality.
(My dwarf polearm guy will be barb4/fight7/cler1 when all is said and done. Starting stats 15,12,16,12,15,10. He's a raging-brute, brutal- pugilist weapon-master with Profession wine Taster. He has a tux in his backpack, which he dons to attend Epicurean Society functions in order to apply his keen dwarven alcohol senses in judging the year's vintages.)
Wow, thanks for the detailed reply, Mike! You reassured me quite because I had many of the same ideas.
My first session involved playing up to 3-4, so I took Toughness and Raging Vitality to survive.
I also chose Taldor as my faction, I got to cut the head off an NPC in the first session!
I bought a cure light wand for 2PA, and my wisdom is 14.
I plan to take the Superstition Rage power at 2nd level and put my favored class bonus (as a human) into improving it.
I think I will take power attack at either 3rd or 5th level, take reckless assault as my 4th lvl rage power to off set the attack penalty.
As for role play, I am playing an Int 7, Wis 14, Cha 7 human. He makes every mistake at least once, but learns from it. Should be fun!
Toughness you do not need -- if you're already getting a mountain of "rage hp" every level, an extra 1/lvl on top of that is very weak, percentage-wise.
Elves and wizards need toughness, not you.
Normally I would agree with you, but I changed my feat selection the day of game when I realized I was playing a stupid character who learns from mistakes, but who was also playing with 3 characters who were higher level.
Basically, I needed the 3 hit points at first level to make up for me charging at everything that moved. Combined with Raging Vitality, it Literally saved his life.
He will know better in the future (he has a decent wisdom) but I refused to play smart when he has an Int of 7.
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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But be careful not to kill everyone who's "slightly bad" in a mod, because the guy you splatter might be your faction "hook".
Oh, how I wish I hadn't been at the other table that day. I missed out on the making of a local legend. ;)
I also second the idea of using your first few PA points on items (though the bow will have to be a STR3 MW CompLB, not a STR4). My fighter has been very happy with his bow.
With the Craft/Profession/Perform thing, the cash output can be really low unless you have a decent ability score and/or Skill Focus, but I guess if you just happen to have a skill rank lying around, you may as well. Also, make it something fun. A barbarian with Skill Focus: Craft (Embroidery) would be good times. ;)
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when you're around 200 rage-hp at 12th, you'll sorely wish you were around 188 rage-hp and had a spare feat.Normally I would agree with you, but I changed my feat selection the day of game when I realized I was playing a stupid character who learns from mistakes, but who was also playing with 3 characters who were higher level.Toughness you do not need -- if you're already getting a mountain of "rage hp" every level, an extra 1/lvl on top of that is very weak, percentage-wise.
Elves and wizards need toughness, not you.
Basically, I needed the 3 hit points at first level to make up for me charging at everything that moved. Combined with Raging Vitality, it Literally saved his life.
He will know better in the future (he has a decent wisdom) but I refused to play smart when he has an Int of 7.
If you have decent wisdom, you are "smart". Wisdom means experience, not puzzle-solving (intelligence).
E.g., 1st-level barbarian rages against mooks, but versus Tier 3-4 troll he drops rage and goes full-def (instant +6 AC) to block the corridor while the artillery PCs gun it down.
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I'm becoming convinced that the best armor for upper-level Reckless Abandon barbarians is Quilted Cloth. Especially if they're used to fighting Enlarged with a reach-weapon, and almost nothing can get close to them in melee anyway (unless they want it to). At that point, aside from spells, about the only things that can hurt you are mass volleys of arrows.
-- If your opponents in a Tier 10-12 mod are two or more Hasted archers shooting six arrows each at your fugly easy-to-pincushion raging hide, nicking 3pts off each hit adds up in a hurry.
Well, DR3 against ranged attacks is nice, especially if it stacks with Invulnerable Rager, don't know if it is worth giving up 5 points of AC though.
I will probably just pick up mithril breast plate.
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DR3 against ranged attacks is nice, especially if it stacks with Invulnerable Rager,Unfortunately it doesn't -- but not all barbs are invulnerables.
I will probably just pick up mithril breast plate.
Note that, even though MFP weighs like and counts as medium armor, you still need AP:Heavy or figh1 to wear full-plate.
And a spare 9000gp just laying around.
DR3 against ranged attacks is nice, especially if it stacks with Invulnerable Rager,Unfortunately it doesn't -- but not all barbs are invulnerables.I will probably just pick up mithril breast plate.Note that, even though MFP weighs like and counts as medium armor, you still need AP:Heavy or figh1 to wear full-plate.
And a spare 9000gp just laying around.
I just bought Mithril breast plate. It goes from medium to light, I keep move speed bonus and it is only an extra 4k.