Hey all, I posted about switching from barbarian to ranger in my last thread, but I decided to keep my character as a full barbarian. However, I do need help with reworking him. He is the main melee character in our group and I made him to be offensive and defensive with the archetype Invulnerable Rager. However, not sure if I should add in superstition to my rage powers or do the intimadate route instead. Here is what I have so far. We recently hit level 7.
Level 7 Human Barbarian(Invul. Rager) DR: 3/-
HP: 79 AC: 20 Ini: +7 Traits: Charming, Veteran of Gorum
Str: 21 (+1 level, +2 from belt)
Dex: 14
Con: 16
Int: 12
Wis: 12
Cha: 7
Feats: Power Attack, Iron Will, Raging Vitality, Improved Initiative(free), Step up, and (Open Slot)
Rage Powers: Lesser Beast Totem, Guarded Life, and Beast Totem.
For future rage powers I was thinking of getting these to help supplement my frontliner approach: Clear Mind, Greater Beast Totem, Flesh Wound, Come and Get Me
For feats for the future I was thinking these: Toughness, Combat Reflexes, Dazing Assault
If I wanted to go the intimdation route, how would I approach it. I would need to make room for those feats and sadly one is weapon focus for a prereq and then I would have to make room for the rage powers that benefit from that as well. Can you combine Dazzling Display with Intimadating Glare? Thanks for any advice, because I'm not sure how to make room for these ideas in an optimal way.
I'm not a fan of intimidating. Most of the time, you'll be more effective at killing things than scaring them.
For future feats and rage powers: If you want come and get me (which is pretty good) you NEED combat reflexes. I personally would also add superstition and witch hunter. The save bonus of superstition is too good to not take it and witch hunter should apply to a big number of enemies since you are already level 7. Then just add Greater Beast Totem and few things will be able to stand in your way :)
I agree with Blave, especially with such a low score on CHA, you'd have to invest more ranks into intimidate to really shine at it or invest a feat into specializing into it, which is kind of a waste when you can get better feats to help your character in combat or other ways.
Let me ask you this: Why are you taking Step Up right now are you planning on going and getting the Step Up & Strike in a few levels? Because if you are, then you get potentially more AoOs due to the feat chain and you are basically "super glue" to that NPC you are trying to kill as they try to back away from you and you move up and nail it to the ground.
Combat Reflexes is good if you anticipate getting a lot of AoOs (which is good with the SU&S feat tree), when I built my barbarian/fighter I took it and some teamwork feats with the monk in my group so that we could "feed" them to each other by using tripping, bull rushing, etc.
I'd probably also go ahead and add in superstition, but the drawback to that is you will be resistant to any healing that comes your way from your party healer so you would have to weigh that against taking it.
There are a lot of builds on the forums and I'd actually recommend you look up AM BARBARIAN'S build to get a feel for what Invul Rager can do. Otherwise what do you see yourself doing as far as concept? Are you going for max damage, max survivability, or are you the party's tank? You have to take all of that into account before you really decide what you want to do with your build then the rest of us can give you better feedback on what might be best for you to take in your upcoming levels.
I agree with Blave, especially with such a low score on CHA, you'd have to invest more ranks into intimidate to really shine at it or invest a feat into specializing into it, which is kind of a waste when you can get better feats to help your character in combat or other ways.
Let me ask you this: Why are you taking Step Up right now are you planning on going and getting the Step Up & Strike in a few levels? Because if you are, then you get potentially more AoOs due to the feat chain and you are basically "super glue" to that NPC you are trying to kill as they try to back away from you and you move up and nail it to the ground.
Combat Reflexes is good if you anticipate getting a lot of AoOs (which is good with the SU&S feat tree), when I built my barbarian/fighter I took it and some teamwork feats with the monk in my group so that we could "feed" them to each other by using tripping, bull rushing, etc.
I'd probably also go ahead and add in superstition, but the drawback to that is you will be resistant to any healing that comes your way from your party healer so you would have to weigh that against taking it.
There are a lot of builds on the forums and I'd actually recommend you look up AM BARBARIAN'S build to get a feel for what Invul Rager can do. Otherwise what do you see yourself doing as far as concept? Are you going for max damage, max survivability, or are you the party's tank? You have to take all of that into account before you really decide what you want to do with your build then the rest of us can give you better feedback on what might be best for you to take in your upcoming levels.
Right, I agree that going the intimidate approach would be more work to pull off. I mean i would have to get the feat Intimidate Prowess and then the other 2 feats for that chain as well the 2 rage powers.
My original plan was to be the main melee tank character for my group. I would have high HPs, good armor as least, good DR to help mitigate the damage, and give good raw damage to my attacks. So this was what i thought to be my next levels for feats and rage power. Even though I know superstition is awesome but a double edge sword.
Lvl 7 feat: extra rage power(superstition)
Lvl 8 RP: Clear mind
Lvl 9 feat: combat reflexes
Lvl 10 RP: Greater beast totem
Lvl 11 feat: extra rage power(flesh wound)
Lvl 12 RP: come and get me
Lvl 13 feat: open slot
Lvl 14 RP: witch hunter
Lvl 15 feat: open slot
Lvl 16 RP: spell sunder
Also the reason i took "step up" is because im always in the front fighting and if the boss or spellcaster moves out of the to cast a spell, well i can close that gap. Mainly its for fighting the casters.
I described my concept of being the main melee tank character for the group. However, I also will tell you what his concept is. He was from a nomadic village and trained and lived there all his life. Basically, He messed up in a hunting raid and got exiled but his brother decided to join him because he thought their father made the wrong choice. His brother, being a shaman(cleric) was more knowledgable and wiser than Brauzko(this is the barbarian's name). They traveled around the lands, but sometime got into trouble because of Brauzko confrontations. In the end point basically, Brauzko messed up and ended up fighting a big group of bandits and his brother died in the process. So he is angry in that fact, that he got his brother killed but now tries to understand what his brother's words were about "to not always draw your blade". Later, he joins the adventure group and now he acts as the tank and protects the group but not always rushing in without thinking about it.