Re: Oceanwolf
And actually, some of us DID say the rolls were fine AND gave advice to them.
Re: Jelani
I agree that Cleave isn't the best route. To really make it worth while it takes several feats (if you get the 'drop a dude to 0 and get a free attack one' it could really shine, but that's 2-3 feats worth of investment above Power attack).
Since Barbarian's don't get a lot of feats and Extra Rage Power is a REALLY powerful choice for most builds (several times even!) need to keep a tight focus on feats.
Re: Bob on raging Vitality
That's a good point. Can you take feats you don't base line qualify for, even if situationially you can? Obviously you only get feats when you do situationially qualify for them (*shakes fist at ability damage*)
I hope the player has fun. This could be an awesome 'face' character for the party too (assuming interest in that kind of thing.)
Re: Totems/Rage powers
The beast line is probably the most solid overall line. Never unarmed, natural armor that scales with other natural armor buffs, and Pounce. It's almost too good as its hard to NOT chose that line.
A lot of the Rage power choices will also depend on the campaign style. (really, most choices are affected by this). The Spell Sunder/Superstition line can be great as there is a lot of powers that branch from it and depending on content can be very amazing...or underused. (If you don't fight a lot of touch armor class and/or incorporal beings, Ghost Rager isn't super useful. If he fighting against a nation of Gun-using imperial expansionists that are trying to tame his wild wilderness in a clash of civilized expansionism vs savage harmony, Ghost Rager would be awesome too as go-go touch AC.
It also depends what feel the player wants. Strength Surge/Smasher + Sunder Enchantment line really means the character is pretty uncontainable. There will come a point where tehy can snap out of adamantine manacles, kick open doors and just smash wards.
Or go the 'unkillable' route.
Re: Archtypes
Lots of good ones. Armored Hulk is a little more than the heavy armor prof as it also ties in some solid movement within the armor. Invulnerable Rager is /really/ good. DR 2/- at 4th level /really/ helps. DR is one of those stats that really pays off at lower levels as you tend to have a bit more swarms of lower hitting stuff.
I like Superstitious as an archetype. The init bonus is nice, and getting uber-senses is cool. (Scent = win in my opinion). He'd lose DR, which could be bad depending on play style.
Again, depends on campaign style. If you are taking on thieve's guilds every other weekend, keeping Uncanny Dodge might be wise. If you don't see it very often, swapping it out for something else might get more mileage
only level 1, so planning on Leadership is out there.
I can see an Oracle dip and potential consideration of Rage Prophet.
(wow, raging Tongues Cursed oracle is just a GOLDEN image).
as far as Mysteries, he could look at Nature (or Lore) and grab the Revelation to use his CHA in place of DEX for defense calculations.
Not to make you spend money, but there is Rite Publishing's 101 Barbarian Feats, which offers lots of options, like using some of your rage powers like ki or arcane points; ie: spend one of your rage uses to give you other abilities. Yeah, I know Barbarians get less feats, but this book is very good for giving more flavor and options to your barbarian.
I'm DMing my own campaign, starting in a months time, and I want to make sure all my players are having fun. We're all relatively new to the game.
One of my players (who isn't incredible strong rules-wise and so needs a little help building an effective character) rolled these stats:
Str 17
Dex 12
Con 12
Int 11
Wis 13
Cha 17I can't recall if these stats are before or after putting a +2 from Human in there, but I think it's after (he might have rolled 10 con).
He's making a Human Barbarian (Invulnerable Rager) and they're starting at level 1. I don't think 17 strength is bad and the charisma is nice for intimidating, but I'm worried he's gonna be in constant risk of dying with so low dex and con. So here's where you guys come in.
I need advice that I can give him on how to build his barbarian effectively (and thoughts on how effective he can possibly get). Any thoughts on gear (magic and otherwise), feats and rage powers would be greatly appreciated (I checked out the barbarian guide here on the boards, but it's unfinished and outdated).
Thanks in advance.
Do you roll the value for every stat individually? I mean the normal means are to just roll 6 times and then assign the 6 numbers as you see fit.