Good Evening everybody,
I am currently attempting to make a Barbarian with Amiri as a template mostly for weapon and fighting style[mostly a maybe on this one.]
The real big thing is I love the idea of her alignment being NE but her deity to follow the most is Pharasma. Yes I know people don't like the Alignment Table but we play with it. I see the struggles of this given how Pharasma views death and such but I really want to find a way to make it viable.
I am heavily invested into Strength and Con to basically be a HP tanking brawler who swings to separate bodies at the waist or ribs.
25 Point Buy, DM rule is no stat can be lower than 10.
None of the listed Stats are while enraged.
What I need:
-Equipment recommendations, help with stat finalizing with said equipment.
-Weapon of choice would be like Amiri, 1 Large Bastard Sword. I need help figuring out all the stats on this final piece as well.
-Math double checked
-Second Trait Picked
Gold amount to buy with: 50k
Cassandra Eternan Female Human Barbarian 8 | [Neutral Evil]
Her current level is 8 with the following:
Str: 18[16+2 From Being Human]
Dex: 12
Con: 18[16+2 From Levels 4 & 8]
Int: 12
Wis: 11
Cha: 10
Init: +7
Feats:
Exotic Weapon Proficiency[Bastard Sword]
Improved Initiative
Power Attack
Toughness
Weapon Focus[Bastard Sword]
I know at this point I should have Cleave or Bull Rush/Improved Bull Rush but I feel ensuring a hard hit and acting sooner give me far more options. Even if I get the highest initiative to just "wait until the buff class buffs me."
Traits:
Paragon of Speed
To Be Picked
HP:
8xd12[Rolling the dice manually] = 83
83 + (21[+3 Con bonus level 1-7]+4[level 8 Con bonus] +8[backtracking level 8 con bonus]) = 116
115 + 8[Toughness Feat:3+2{5th level & 7th level HD}+3{6th, 7th, 8th level HD}] = 123
123 + 8[Favored Class Points] = 131
Total HP: 131
Fort Save: +10
Reflex Save: +3
Will Save: +2
BAB: +8
CMB: +12
CMD: +23
For Rage Powers I'm looking at Powerful Blow, Reckless Abandon, Superstition, Surprise Accuracy.
Please, thank you and everything in between in advance.
Your weapon should be a +1 furious bastard sword. Counts as +3 while you are raging (i.e. almost always).
Trade Toughness for Raging Vitality. It's the same effect while you are raging and will keep you alive if your HP ever drop below 0 while raging. I'd also put the 4th and 8th level increase in strength rather than constitution. Con 16 is plenty, especially with the addional bonus while raging.
Cleave and Bull Rush are both a waste of feats, I think. I'd much rather take a couple extra rage powers or improved critical.
Also, trait bonuses don't stack, so you don't get an initivative bonus from 2 different taits.
What rage powers do you have and in what direction do you want to take your character? Do you have an archetype?
I love the Bastard Sword you showed, though the idea of a Large Bastard Sword version so the -2 to swing it from size difference is nearly negated would be more my aim, apologies for not saying so earlier.
No archetype at the moment. I kind of want to try my own style first before doing an archetype. See how I like the roll out before a semi premade build as it were.
For Rage Powers I'm looking at Powerful Blow, Reckless Abandon, Superstition, Surprise Accuracy.
Direction is mostly the beefiest, body separating, single hand swinging a two handed bastard sword frenzy blood happy female barbarian can possibly be. If I can swing to take out as much HP from one or more enemies at once is always a plus to me. Think of a smarter woman version of Groo kind of sort of.
Updated OP with My pick of rage Powers to be suggested on, removed 1 trait which now need suggestion.
You might want to consider the Beast Totem line? I am also in favor of Raging Vitality.
checked your math, you forgot that your first Hit Die is maxed out. So you have 1 automatic 12.
Powerful Blow and Surprise Accuracy aren't very good.
I'd take Witch Hunter over Powerful Blow as a permanant damage bonus instead of a one time per rage bonus. At levels 8+, witch hunter will apply to a big number of foes.
Surprise Accuracy shouldn't be necessary to hit if you use Reckless Abandon anyway. In fact, even without Reckless Abandon you should hardly ever miss when you rage. You could go for Beast Totem instead, which will negate the AC penalty of Reckless Abandon and opens up the possibility of Greater Beast Totem pounce which works extremely well with your high Initiative.
Other good rage powers include Increased Damage Reduction, Knockdown, Strength Surge, Come and get me (only at level 12+ and only if you have at least 3 Attacks of Opportunity per round).
Since you have Superstition, consider taking the human favored class bonus +1/3 to Superstition. It will grant you a BIG bonus to all your saves and will make you almost unstoppable.
Also, consider Heart of the Field instead of the human +1 skill. Ignoring fatigue once per day is great for any barbarian and gets only better if you have good once per rage powers like strength surge.
Equipment wise, keep it simple and just go for a Strength Belt +4, Breastplate +1 or +2, Amulet of Armor +1, Ring of Protection +1, Cloak of Resistance +2 and maybe Boots of Striding and Springing.
You might want to consider the Beast Totem line? I am also in favor of Raging Vitality.
checked your math, you forgot that your first Hit Die is maxed out. So you have 1 automatic 12.
The Beast Totems are interesting to me I will admit my eyes keep passing over them slower and slower.
My math included my first HD at 12. The DM enjoys flexibility in leveling so we get to roll 2 die and take the highest roll.My first was 12 since that is my max.
2nd: 12
3rd: 10
4th: 11
5th: 9
6th: 10
7th: 11
8th: 8
I am currently attempting to make a Barbarian with Amiri as a template mostly for weapon and fighting style[mostly a maybe on this one.
This is a case of style over substances. A regularly-sized greatsword will vastly outperform it. If you can manage 26 strength (not hard with rage and magic items) a power attack with a greatsword will deal 2d6+21 = average 28, while a power attack with a large bastard sword will deal 2d8+21 = 30 average. It's simply not worth taking a feat for +2 damage for -2 to hit when your damage output is already this high.
If you're okay with that, then it will function, but do be aware that a large-sized bastard sword is a effectively power-down from a medium-sized greatsword. Given your high strength, you might want to look at the falchion; the higher chance of critical hits may be well worth the reduced damage dice.
The real big thing is I love the idea of her alignment being NE but her deity to follow the most is Pharasma. Yes I know people don't like the Alignment Table but we play with it. I see the struggles of this given how Pharasma views death and such but I really want to find a way to make it viable.
In and of itself, I don't see an issue. Pharasma is a TN deity, so NE is basically a pre-approved alignment.
Remember that an evil alignment doesn't require you to be a screaming embodiment of darkness, hatred, and suffering. Only anti-Paladins are required to avoid willfully committing an act of good. Everyone else is free to be a complex and interesting character. Heck, some of the most interesting evil characters are those that act good in most cases and completely jump off the deep end on rare occasions, and are totally unrepentent about it.
Con: 18[16+2 From Levels 4 & 8]
I'd put these to strength, personally. A single-class barbarian gets enough hit points, fortitude save, and rounds of rage. Especially if you're going to be taking a -2 penalty for an oversized weapon, every +1 to strength is going to count!
Your feat choices are pretty mundane. Power attack is a no-brainer, and improved initiative is always a solid choice, but given your HP is already quite high toughness is a fairly passable selection. You might consider trading some of those for "extra rage power", which would be especially helpful if you consider rage power chains (like the totems). The loss of cleave isn't really a big sacrifice. If you're looking into the Beast Totem line, it's pretty redundant once you have the Greater Beast Totem anyways.
For Rage Powers I'm looking at Powerful Blow, Reckless Abandon, Superstition, Surprise Accuracy.
Powerful Blow and Surprise Accuracy are just too modest for "once per rage" effects. Maybe if they were a prerequisite for a better rage power they might make sense, but they aren't. For instance, the Elemental Rage power is 1d6 points of damage on every attack when you rage.
Given all your initiative boosts, you might want to consider the Greater Beast Totem. You can't qualify yet, but if you're planning on playing till 10th level it could be an awesome benefit for you.
I'd drop Con back to 15 (boost it at 4th) and put the remaining point-buy into Dex for the initiative and dexterity.
My main advice is to make a character that is fun to play.
Boost Wis at 8th for your Will saves.
Actually, I'd drop INT back to 10, make Wis 13. But that's just me.
Use Traits to give you a few class skills that are interesting for a barbarian, use Favoured Class bonus for skills rather than hp. I find that more fun in the long run.
I recommend Raging Vitality instead of Toughness.
Take the trait Mindlessly Cruel
Also I think I would prefer the religion trait second chance over paragorn of speed / reactionary.
Second Chance has a religious requirement. I don't recall whom exactly, but it's a good-aligned halfling deity if memory serves me.
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Take the trait Mindlessly Cruel
A) the OP's character is human, so she wouldn't qualify for this Orc/Half-Orc trait.
B) Barbarian's don't get a morale bonus to attack: they get a morale bonus to STR -- the +1 damage wouldn't apply very often.
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HP:
8xd12[Rolling the dice manually] = 83
83 + (21[+3 Con bonus level 1-7]+4[level 8 Con bonus] +8[backtracking level 8 con bonus]) = 116
115 + 8[Toughness Feat:3+2{5th level & 7th level HD}+3{6th, 7th, 8th level HD}] = 123
123 + 8[Favored Class Points] = 131
Total HP: 131
You are making that math a whole lot more complicated than it needs to be, although you did come up with the correct number for HP.
Rolled HP: 83
Static Bonuses per level: +4CON+1Toughness+1Favored Class = +6/lvl
83 + (8*6) = 83 + 48 = 131
I agree that Raging Vitality is a very important feat, but would suggest keeping Toughness (or considering Tribal Scars in its place - or both!), and putting your stat bumps into STR rather than CON. HP are important, but a barbarian's best defense is killing things before they kill you. STR helps with that.
If your DM is unpredictable in regard to the (magic) weapons that you might find, I would consider dropping the Exotic Weapon Prof and the Weapon Focus: on of the barbarian's strengths is that they can pickup any martial weapon that they find along the way and use it to kill their enemies - specially with a high STR and reckless Abandon.
Unexpected Strike is one of the best options out there for an 8th level rage power - and certainly better than Surprise Accuracy or Powerful Blow.
There is a merit to stacking con. This feat right here says so: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/raging-brutality
Pretty cool if I do say so my self. If this is on your pounce turn, you can make a lot of damage happen very quickly. It helps that raging vitality assists in this feat's damage.
Here's my barbarian, so I'd recommend something like this:
http://paizo.com/people/AhoteTakoda
I should add that Ahote liberally uses Scrolls of Ablative Barrier and I suggest Potions of Blood Rage.
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a) You take the trait adopted: Mindlessly Cruel. I thought that this is standard issue and wouldn't have to be mentioned.
b) This is a strict interpretation. I could argue that a morale bonus to Str is a morale bonus to attack, or else what is my bonus to attack?
Spending a trait to get a conditional +1 to weapon damage makes sense, if the condition is met frequently (which in this case is not true), but spending TWO traits to get a conditional +1 to weapon damage is not cost effective.
Question: do the effects to a Morale bonus to STR stack with a Morale bonus to Attack? If the answer is yes (and the answer IS yes), then these are two different bonuses - which means that the barbarian's morale bonus to STR is NOT a morale bonus to attack.