Please be gentle, this is my first attempt at making an /optimized/ build. With the Barbarian not being a dwarf/half-orc you can say it is not optimized, but lets just see how it goes.
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Stat Importance: Con, Str, Dex, Cha, Int, Wis
20 Point Buy
Str: 18 – 2 = 16 (+3)
Con: 14 + 2 = 16 (+3)
Dex: 14 (+2)
Int: 7 (-2)
Wis: 7 (-2)
Cha: 11 + 2 = 13 (+1)
6 Barbarian – 3 Horizon Walker – 11 Barbarian
Race: Gnome (Yes, I am legit. The -2 Str can be easily overcome, and the +2 Con and Cha help for this build)
Starting Gear (With Average 105): Greataxe(20), Studded Leather (25), All the other basic gear.
Skills: Pump everything into Intimidate, Acrobatics, Perception, and the first 6 levels Knowledge (Geography)
Level 1: Right now, you are not really special, when raging you have a 20 Str and Con and are rather squishy.
Fast Movement: Already canceled out the negative to speed for being small.
Rage: 7 rounds is rather decent.
Feat - Weapon Focus – Greataxe
Level 2: A nice additional attack with a +3 to hit to deal a possible extra 5 damage is nice.
Rage Power - Spirit Totem, Lesser
Uncanny Dodge: Never hurts to have
Level 3: [Generic Level 3 sentience]
Trap Sense (+1): Do I need to explain why this is useful?
Feat - Power Attack or Extra Rage: I would suggest the latter only if your DM has been sending hordes at you and you need the extra rounds because for some reason your DM hates you. Also, 11 rounds should be plenty for now.
Level 4: One round of a rage deal more damage on top of the spirit totem hitting things? OK!
Rage Power - Elemental Rage, Lesser: Very handy extra d6 elemental damage.
Ability Bonus – Str: Do I need to give a reason?
Level 5: Kind of a blah level, and you had to dirty a feat with Endurance, but don't worry, it will be worth the feat.
Improved Uncanny Dodge: See “Uncanny Dodge”
Feat – Endurance: Wasted feat for now, but you will need it for Horizon Walker.
Level 6: This is your last level as a solo Barbarian, WOO! Get two attacks a round. Remember, Elemental Rage, Lesser works for all attacks in a round.
Trap Sense (+2): Good, duh, lets move on.
Rage Power – Spirit Totem: Ooo, miss chance, pretty!
Level 7: Look at you, now you are a Horizon Walker (and you don't have to keep sacking skill points into Geography, WOOO.) Hope you like the heat? (Or at least pretend you do!)
Favored Terrain – Desert: Well, if you are in a desert campaign, CONGRATS! You are now even better, if your not, well, meh...
Feat – Extra Rage Power – Fiend Totem, Lesser, Extra Rage, Cleave, or Power Attack: If you have not taken Power Attack, now is the time darn it! Assuming your DM has not been an arse, you have 17 rounds of rage and that wont be going up, so unless you think you need 23, I would suggest Fiend Token, Lesser. It gives you another possible d6 of damage on top of your two weapon attacks with Elemental Rage, Lesser damage plus your Spirit Totem slam attacks. It is never too late to take cleave I guess, but I would not suggest it because this build is meant to give you a ton of powerful attacks, not be a mob slayer. Leave that to the blaster mage.
Level 8: Look at you, being level 8 and all! Think you are something special? Well your not... That is, not until next level.
Favored Terrain – ???: This is really up to you. If you think you want to in later levels dip another 3 levels to get Dimension Door, Ethereal Jaunt, Hallucinatory Terrain, Charm Monster, or a Fly, then by all means plan for that now. If not, then choose a terrain you seem to be on often, for most people, Plains, Forest, or Swamp will be what you want.
Terrain Mastery – Desert: Run! Run forever! You will never be exhausted! You will also never be able to sleep again, but wHaTeVeR!!
Ability Bonus – Str: 20 Str, congrats! You are the strongest gnome ever!
Level 9: Oh, now is when you will truly shine, now that your party starts to think you are dead weight, you will be able to show them who is dead weight!
Terrain Dominance – Desert: Immune to Fatigue! OH! The promised day has come. Every “once a rage” ability you have just became “once a round”! Enjoy punching all the things for extra elemental damage! Level 9 feels so much better to do this then level 17, don't ya think?
Feat – Extra Rage Power – Unexpected Strike, Extra Rage Power – Fiend Totem: If you did not get the first stage, it is up to you if you want to go for it, I personally always stop at the second stage unless we are commonly fighting good creatures. If you do get the second stage, you are now a gnome pincushion! If you choose Unexpected Strike, then have a free +1 to any attack this round, and again the next round, and again, and again...
Level 10: Well now your back to Barbarian levels and your second weapon attack can start to get better. You don't get any choices this level, so just let your raging gnome soak more damage. Ahh, it feels good to get more rounds of rage, don't you think?
Damage Reduction 1/--: The best of all the DR!
Level 11: Well, I hope your not afraid to do more damage with that pretty greataxe you have, your not? GOOD!
Rage Power – Elemental Rage: Now another d6 elemental damage that is different from the one you now get every round as it is. Your min damage output in a full round attack action is now 25, with a max of 69 damage (assuming you don't crit or have any vulnerabilities or resistances of course.) That is also not taking into consideration the magic items you have acquired in your 11 levels of traveling.
Feat – Improved Critical - Greataxe: Many of you are yelling at me right now for not giving you this at level 9, and if you want you could take it then if you want to focus heavily on trying to crit and going for critical focus. By now I would have hoped you have a keen greataxe even if you had to buy it.
Level 12: Another level divisible by 4, ya'll know what that means!
Trap Sense (+3): Hey look who is back! Our old friend Trap Sense!
Ability Bonus – Str, Dex, or Cha: At this point you should have come to terms with that fact that you will never be a skill junky, so Int it not worth bumping from a 7. Wis is good for two things; perception and sense motive. By now, your party should understand that you will not see the tree in the field and you that you will believe nearly anything you are told, so leave the wise stuff to that mage we talked about earlier. As for Con, you have a d12 and your not going to wait till level 16 to get 16 more HP. By then you will have enough rages to do anything you want. Dex is an option if your just not getting the magic items to bump your AC and you are feeling the edge of the blade far to often. One point in Cha will make that slam attack that happens around you randomly hurt just a bit more, but at this level does one more HP really matter? You are the beat stick, hit things with big axe, be stronger!
Level 13: Ten levels of Barbarian now, look at you, you have grown so much!
Damage Reduction 2/--: The best of all the DRs, just got better!
Rage Power – Spirit Totem, Greater: Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer, legit! If you do, they will take a d8 damage with no save. Also, now your slam attack has a range of 15 feet and does a d6. I wonder if it is worth the extra Cha damage now?
Feat - ???: At this point, I will leave this for you. Sometimes I like to follow the Critical Focus route and just hurt everything more. If you have a fighter or something of the sort, let him take them, its all he has going for him. It can be fun to play on your Gnome side and grab a few spells.
Well, from here, it is up to you. Chances are your campaign ended some time ago and the last few levels have been rubbish for you. If you made it here, congrats! The original run of this character he was the only melee character left in the party so I ran him with a damage dealing 7 more levels in Barbarian before the campaign came to an end. Gave him a nice keen greataxe and put an enchantment that did extra damage on a crit as well as the final stage in the Elemental Rage power tree that makes crits even worse for damage.
Only one other time did I get my Gnome past level 13, in that campaign we had a very effective monk and a fighter that was build to protect the monk striker. We also had a cleric that was doing a very good job at keeping us buffed and healthy as well as dusting the battlefield with damage while juggling a few utility spells. Although it was not uncommon for us to have to go to bed before we could progress at some points... Seeing that I could experiment a bit, I took a single level in Sorcerer and then the last 6 levels in Dragon Disciple. The total +2 natural armor, +4 Str (26 Str in the end), +2 Con (18 Con in the end), blind-sight, bloodline abilities, bite, breath weapon, and being able to cast 3rd level spells was just enough to take the edge off the Cleric to be a utility caster out of battle so the cleric could save his spells for combat.
Well, I hope you guys enjoy this build, he has served me well as a fun build to mess with people. I will not lie, he has died many times before level 9 where he starts to shine. If you run him, be prepared for the party's arguer to tell you to be a dwarf or half-orc, and then when he dies for the same guy to harass you for making a gnome barbarian.
Dropping wisdom like that also drops will saves. Your will saves will be assaulted by various bad guys especially at higher levels.
Then you will get the chance to kill your buddies whether you want to or not.
I had that problem a few times in early levels, once that did result in the party almost falling to a TPK. Normally what happens is anything that increases wisdom does to me first until he no longer has a negative. In a greedy party, I can see how this can be a problem.
Even so if you start off negative you will still be behind the power curve unless the GM caters fights to the party. If the GM does that then you may be ok starting off with a low will save.
I would also not take improved crit. I would just use money to put keen on the weapon if you really want it.
By now Iron Will might be needed if your will save has not been substantially increased. Furious Focus is also a nice option.
Improved Initiative is never a bad feat. There are other feats, but improved crit is not a top choice.
So at level one should it be Iron Will, level 3 be Weapon Focus? I can see why Improved Crit is not really worth it, what would you suggest at level 11 then?
Yes. That is what I would do with a -2 modifier to wisdom.
Depending on what rage powers you would choose with extra rage power I would drop one of them for unarmed strike since it is a prereq for the next feat.
Dragon Style (Combat, Style)
You call upon the spirit of dragonkind, gaining greater resilience, mobility, and fierceness from the blessing of these great beings.
Prerequisites: Str 15, Improved Unarmed Strike, Acrobatics 3 ranks.
Benefit: While using this style, you gain a +2 bonus on saving throws against sleep effects, paralysis effects, and stunning effects. You ignore difficult terrain when you charge, run, or withdraw. You can also charge through squares that contain allies. Further, you can add 1-1/2 times your Strength bonus on the damage roll for your first unarmed strike on a given round.
Normal: You cannot charge or run through difficult terrain, and you cannot charge through a square that contains an ally. With an unarmed strike, you usually add your Strength bonus on damage rolls.
So what if that caster tried to use magic to create difficult terrain. :)
At 11 I am taking improved initiative. Going first is a good way to end a fight early.
Ooo, that could be fun for a late talent tree!