Ok, so I had this idea of a barbarian who's family was killed by some evil bandit sorcerers. The family then comes back as a bunch of spirits which guide him to power. My kinda spin on Conan, if you will.
The help that I need is with the actual build itself as I'm not 100% sure how effective it'll be, and I was looking for some input. This is for PFS.
Human Barbarian, Invulnerable Rager, Spirit totem
STR 19
DEX 14
CON 14
INT 7
WIS 7
CHA 14
Traits are Indomitable Faith (for the needed +1 will) and Reactionary. (+2 Init)
Feats at lvl 1 are:
Dodge and Power attack.
Planned Rage powers are:
Lesser Spirit Totem
Lesser Elemental Rage
Spirit Totem
Any input would be much appreciated, thank you.
well a quick and dirty on trying to build a cha barbarian is that it does not work to well. Now having said that, there are a few things you can consider since you will have that cha anyways.
2 level oracle of bones. If you want to go ragecycling and want to use the spirit totem chain, I would suggest you look at this. You can get bleeding wounds that grants you bleeding damage whenever you inflict negative energy damage. since all of the spirit totem is negative energy damage, it can be good synergy. It is kinda late for PFS tho...
Another good point is how the attack from lesser spirit totem works. It is the spirits making the attack, not you, so even if you make an attack, charge, or otherwise use your actions, it can make one slam attack at anything adjacent.
Intimidate. you can get some decent intimidate powers and feats that work somewhat well with your improved cha.
Lastly, you might want to look at eldritch heritage since you have a decent cha score to make use of it. You will have to figure out how to get the skill focus tho. I would suggest you look here for information on bloodlines. Some I might recommend would be orc, protean, shadow or even stormborn bloodlines.
Lastly, Lastly you do have a real low wis score and your will saves will reflect that, but you seem to realize that. Just putting it out there.
Conan was a fighter.
Had a good wisdom score, and maybe a level or two into Rogue.
Does PFS specifically allow rage cycling? You can make it work by character level 10 with an oracle dip. Maybe quicker if you are willing to go Horizon Walker.
Do they allow it at the table?
If it's RAW.
RAW is law, in PFS.
Malachi Silverclaw wrote: What is 'rage cycling'? Finding a method (typically immunity to fatigue via the lame oracle curse) by which a barbarian can repeatedly drop and re-enter rage in a single combat. This allows for silly stuff, like making the one/rage powers turn into 1/round powers. Normally, barbarians have to wait till 17 to get Tireless Rage.
Other favorite methods are the Horizon Walker and a belt from Ultimate equipment.
Halflings can do it with that jelly preserve stuff in the ARG. Eat it as a standard action and (if you're a halfling) it cures fatigue.
But anyway, a word on your stats:
First, you don't need 19 STR (especially at 1st level), and as such the points you're spending could serve you better elsewhere. Frankly, you could safely start at 17, bump to 18 at 4th level and then just stop. Your full BAB means you'll be hitting consistently enough, and most of your damage will come from Power Attack, not STR. A better stat spread (for PFS) would be something like this:
STR 18
DEX 14
CON 14
INT 10
WIS 10
CHA 10 (adjust mental scores to taste)
If you buy a stat belt, I'd make it CON rather than STR, and I'd put level bumps there too. But I wouldn't bother investing in more than 18 STR. Another good spread would be this:
STR 17 (bump at 4th)
DEX 14
CON 14
INT 10
WIS 13 (bump at 8th, for will saves)
CHA 10
I'm serious, don't overdo the stat-spiking in PFS. It can come back and bite you on the butt. Ask the two casters I killed who had 20s.
I can't agree with Jiggy entirely on not raising strength above 18, but you certainly aren't helping yourself with a 7 in intellect and wisdom.
First off, thanks so much for the input guys! :)
I was really excited about the oracle idea, but I'd need 5 levels in it for it to really work and... there's only 12 in PFS, lol. I'd end up in doing more damage with just straight barb that way. (Probably the worst part about PFS)
I must ask why it matters what his INT is though... I wasn't planning on this guy being much more than the big-dumb-guy with a soul kind of barb. His only needed skills are Perception and Intimidate. In terms of wisdom, I'm seeing what you guys are saying. And I've actually tried the 17 STR then +1 at 4th with a paladin... he sucked until 4th.
I never even thought of this Rage-cycling thing before though... is there any way that a human can do it without dropping 5 levels in something? If not, I just might try that halfling idea though.
The availability of gear is dependent on your work for your faction. Not having skills makes it hard to accomplish the required faction missions.
You get one effective level on your oracle curse for every two non-oracle levels.
So at character level 9 a Barbarian 8/Oracle 1 with the lame curse would be immune to fatigue.
Another classic way for a human is this alternative racial feature (it replaces the extra skill point per level):
"Heart of the Fields Humans born in rural areas are used to hard labor. They gain a racial bonus equal to half their character level to any one Craft or Profession skill, and once per day they may ignore an effect that would cause them to become fatigued or exhausted. This racial trait replaces skilled."
It's only once a day though.
Really it won't hurt you much to take an oracle level. You lose one bab, but get to use cleric/oracle spells on a wand. Some of the revelations can be really handy. Take this one for example from the Metal mystery:
"Dance of the Blades (Ex): Your base speed increases by 10 feet. At 7th level, you gain a +1 bonus on attack rolls with a metal weapon in any round in which you move at least 10 feet. This bonus increases by +1 at 11th level, and every four levels thereafter. At 11th level, as a move action, you can maneuver your weapon to create a shield of whirling steel around yourself until the start of your next turn; non-incorporeal melee and ranged attacks against you have a 20% miss chance while the shield is active. You must be wielding a metal weapon to use this ability."
If you are wearing light armor you still have a 40' move rate. And if you move 10' which isn't that uncommon you have your lost bab back effectively.
Some other revelations are often used on these one level dips. This one from the Wave mystery, especially if you take Obscuring Mist as one of your two first level oracle spells (I guess you would need an 11 charisma though).
"Water Sight (Su): You can see through fog and mist without penalty as long as there is enough light to allow you to see normally. At 7th level, you can use any calm pool of water at least 1 foot in diameter as a scrying device, as if using the scrying spell. At 15th level, this functions like greater scrying. You can use the scrying abilities for a number of rounds per day equal to your oracle level, but these rounds do not need to be consecutive."
Bear in mind, that unlike the curse, the revelation's level based improvements never get better.
What sieylianna said. PFS play requires skills, and preferably many varied skills. Unless you have several skillful and knowledgeable characters you can leech off of, you're going to be very low on fame and prestige with a mere 3 skill points.
Jiggy wrote:
STR 18
DEX 14
CON 14
INT 10
WIS 10
CHA 10 (adjust mental scores to taste)
This stat array is really freaking boring -- but I like it for PFS. If you can handle dumping CHA (down to a 7), you could boost your WIS and INT to 12 each, for more skill points and a +1 bonus to WILL. A 12 INT will give you 6 skill points per human barbarian level -- that's enough to keep a couple of key skills maxed (Perception, Acrobatics), a couple at decent levels (Climb, Survival, Knowledge Nature?) and spend a couple of points in skills you might need for missions (Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Intimidate, Bluff?). You won't be great at the lesser skills, but you might have a chance when that weird faction mission skill roll comes up.
I'd start with 18 STR and pump it at level 4 and 8: don't just be good at what you do, be very good!
Once again, Thanks a bunch for the input guys! Sorry that it has taken me so long to reply.
I have taken some of the advice given here and I have changed my stats to the following:
STR 18
DEX 14
CON 14
INT 9 (to be increased later)
WIS 7 (I'll be taking the +2 to will saves feat later)
CHA 14 (I still see the power behind 1d4+2 negative energy per round as a non-action)
My skills will be Intimidate, Perception, Knowledge Nature and Survival.
I figure that should hold me over, and insure that I can pull my weight in combat.
I've also been thinking about taking 3 levels of two-handed fighter for overhand chop, but I'm not sure if it's worth the loss of a rage power.
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