It can be done, but I would not use Power Attack, Combat Expertise or Weapon Finnesse. With 27 point buy this is not a problem. Due to the lack of feats I would go with 2 actual weapons and not bother with a shield.
You could go Falcata, and Cestus, and that could help you get some use out of power attack.
The idea is that whenever you are restricted to one attack you just use power attack, but when TWF'ing you do not power attack. The cestus also has a decent crit range, and it means you are always armed so it is not a bad offhand weapon.
The key here is to get just enough dex to qualify for the feats you like to take, but focus on strength. You will do more damage that way.
What level will the barbarian be?
Str 16
Dex 15(get the ioun stone to get the +2 dex and take ITWF) ignore GTWF
Con 14
Int 10
Wis 14
Cha 10
Go half orc and trade out ferocity for the option to get a +1 to saves.
Go with the invulnerable barbarian with the superstition rage power.
PS: I am doing this point buy from memory so it may be off. Take the +2 ability score from the half-orc and put it into strength.
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From Varisia, Birthplace of Legends:
Feat: Thunder and Fang
You use an earthbreaker 1-handed and attack with a klar in the other.
The klar is treated as light and you retain your shield bonus from it when you use it to attack.
Preq: Str 15, 2 Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (Earthbreaker, and Weapon Focus (Klar)
It's an ancient Shoanti barbarian combat style.
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A dual wielding barbarian will be tricky because of the lack of bonus feats to help pick up the necessary feats in the tree.
I can tell you, don't worry or bother with Greater Two Weapon Fighting, in general it's a waste of a feat. Get TWF, ITWF, Double Slice, and Two Weapon Rend.
I see wraithstrike making the same recommendations I was going to make.
Also consider taking Greater Beast Totem so you can pounce on a charge attack and get all of you attacks (including those granted by TWF).
Also, you should probably sacrifice your charisma down to an 8 and raise constitution up to 15 so you can pick up Raging Vitality which is pretty much a necessity as a barbarian.
The easiest sort of dual wielder is the twohanded unarmed barbarian. Via the rage power you get TWF for unarmed without a dex prereq. Later dip 1 level into martial artist to get increased unarmed damage, full strength on all strikes, a bonus feat. Add in dragon style for again 0.5 times strength.
You can wear brawling armor (elven chain?)and an AOMF.
Dex based Urban Barbarian (controlled Rage) with Agile weapon enhancements on both weapons?
You have weapon finesse and power attack as freebies, so you're doing pretty fantastic feat wise at the start.
Maybe a tengu for the swordtraining? Wield a falcata or katana and a wakizashi to start.
I'm just brainstorming here.
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Probably not the best, but certainly the most AWESOME.
Str: 17
Dex: 15 + 2
Con: 17 - 2
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 8 + 2
Charisma: 7
No one suspects the dual-wielding TENGU, one hand gripping a Bastard Sword and the other a Sawtooth Saber.
1: TWF
3: Raging Vitality
5: Double Slice
7: ITWF
9: ???
11: Profit! / Two-Weapon Rend
At level 5, with 18 strength from the level 4 upgrade, and then 22 strength from rage, you'll have one Bastard Sword coming down for 1d10 + 6 and the other 1d8 + 6, AND a beak for 1d3 + 3, which... doesn't seem all that impressive, because it really isn't, but it's super cool and flavorful. If you want, you can take two points out of Dex (and qualify for TWR with a belt or something, not a big deal) and pump your Str or Con by 1 and your Wisdom (meh) by 1, but it isn't really that great.
In comparison (still saying level 5), a barbarian is getting (Greatsword) 2d6 + 15 with the same strength, and isn't spending near as much in the way of feats. So a two-handed barbarian is dealing an average of 22 damage on a hit and the Tengu is doing 11.5 + 10.5 + 5. So, you've get an edge of 5 damage, and you have more critical opportunities, but one less feat (the barbarian had to get Power Attack), you have to full attack, and your PB is spread out much thinner. Also, you're not especially likely to hit with all three of those attacks, so keep that in mind.
You could also use a Two-Bladed Sword, dropping your damage lead by 1 but letting you two-hand for when you move / take AoOs, so that's better (if not as AWESOME). Also, note that you can "two-hand" your beak for similar results, except it's 1d3 (1d6 with Blood Beak) versus 1d8.
A half-orc with 20 strength and Toothy by level 5 deals 11.5 + 11.5 + 5.5 with an Orc Double Axe, but again, not as cool.
EDIT: Wait, I got it. Boar Skinwalker with Extra Feature.
Str: 18
Dexterity: 15
Constitution: 15
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 10 + 2
Charisma: 7 - 2
1: TWF
3: Extra Feature
5: Double Slice
And the Animal Fury rage power.
If you use Scimitar + Kukri (for max crits), you get 9.5 + 8.5 from weapons and then 6.5 + 5.5 + 5.5 + 5.5 from natural attacks when raging + shifting. That's 41 damage! That's twice the damage of of two-handing a Greatsword! Why isn't every Ragebred using this?
Oh right, Lesser Beast Totem.
In addition to what others have said I would recommend human that uses favored class bonus towards superstition.
Tengu have the exact same favored class bonus. Just saying.
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Before this thread gets too old, does anyone else have any more suggestions? I haven't found any dual wielding barbarian guides to help me out lol.
The way Barbarians work, it's generally just way better to go with a 2H and be crazy.
I think DWing Sawtooth Sabers as a Tengu or the 1H+Cestus idea are probably your best bets for a Barbarian. I wish I could help more than that, but I honestly can't think of any easy way to effectively go about doing what you want (stupid Dex requirements).
Before this thread gets too old, does anyone else have any more suggestions? I haven't found any dual wielding barbarian guides to help me out lol.
Unfortunately, that is because they have little to offer a TWF build. TWF is primarily used on classes that get some other kind of static bonuses to attack (ie.- rogue sneak attack, ranger favored enemy, fighter weapon training and weapon specialization, sometimes paladin smite, etc). Since the barbarian has nothing more to offer TWF other than power attack and strength, 2 hand attacks just come out as an almost unilaterally better choice. Almost....
I'll throw a bone here- You can qualify for the Arcane Strike feat using Spell-like abilities. Racial Spell-like Abilities (as well as a couple of trait based ones that tend to be cheesy; if you don't want to worship a dwarven marriage god, grab light bearer) use your character level as your caster level, which would make arcane strike scale at a better rate. With a bonus roughly half the value of power attack on each hit (1-5), you might be able to get the math slightly in your favor.
Another idea, going in line with Umbranus' suggestion, would be to take a dip into Master of Many Styles monk. I suggest this specific path for 2 reasons- 1.) You can get dragon style feats faster. Since you are not going to be using flurry (it needs monk levels to scale; you would never get Improved TWF, which would limit your power), you might as well grab some bonus style feats instead. And, for something that Umbranus missed- 2.) The monk's unarmed ability has an odd clause that makes them never have the attack as 'offhand'. That could well mean that it gets full strength AND power attack damage on the every attack. Again, these are the bonuses that barbarians have in spades, so getting that also improves your chances.
Add in Brawling armor and the Furious property to lower the price of your AoMF, and you could well sit pretty. And if you combine dragon ferocity with arcane strike, your main hand attacks would hit at about the same damage as a 2 handed attack.
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The Savage Technologist (found here) is literally made to do this with a sword and handgun. It might not be quite what everyone is looking for, but it is indisputably a dual-wielding Barbarian, and an effective one at that.
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Rage (Ex): A savage technologist can enter rage as a barbarian, except she gains a morale bonus to Strength and Dexterity instead of Strength and Constitution, and she does not take a penalty to Armor Class. She retains the bonus on Will saving throws. When a barbarian ability would increase the savage technologist's Strength while raging, it increases her Dexterity instead. This ability alters rage.So... you do get Con when it increases? But the STR stays at 4?
I am confused.
Or maybe it's just badly written.
Yeah...there's a bit of a problem there, but I think most GMs can work around it.
27 point buy?
Any Race?
Free Start Feat?
Lets go!
Firstbe Trox
Start large, +6 Str, Burrow speed, can grapple and full attack.
Stats
24 (18+6)
15
16
5
9
5
Feats
Free Bonus Feats
Power Attack
Weapon Finesse
Combat Expertise
1:Two Weapon Fighting
3:Furious Focus
5:Extra Rage Power? I mean you've got your money maker feats (power attack and two weapon fighting) already soooo...
Anyways, wield a a Large Two-Bladed Sword (Stats: 2d6/2d6, 19-20x2)
At level 1 your attack routines are as follows (without rage):
Charging: +11(2d6+12)x2[19-20] (THF bonuses with your sword when charging)
Full Attack: +7/+7 (2d6+8)x2[19-20]/(2d6+8)x2[19-20]
With rage:
Charging: +13(2d6+15)x2[19-20] (THF bonuses with your sword when charging)
Full Attack: +9/+9 (2d6+10)x2[19-20]/(2d6+10)x2[19-20]
Assuming two traits take:
Heirloom Weapon to snag weapon proficiency with the double bladed sword.
Ancestral Weapon - Get a Masterwork Cold Iron Double Bladed Sword. +1 Attack Rolls when wielding Cold Iron Weapons. -from People of the Stars, player companion
Don't worry about AC, it's going to be low due to rage anyhow. I'd shoot for the following rage powers:
Superstitious: Shore up saves
Lesser Abyssal Blood: Get 2 claw attacks when you rage (they'll be basically crit fishing, but it does add 2 more attacks to your full attack routine turning that full attack action into a blistering +9/+9/+4/+4 (2d6+10)x2[19-20]/(2d6+10)x2[19-20]/(1d8+5)x2[20]/(1d8+5)x2[20])
Abyssal Blood: Once per day while raging, Enlarge ala Enlarge Person.
Claws go to 2d6, Sword goes to 6d6. Strength (including rage and level 4 bump) is at 31.
Your defense is making mincemeat out of whatever happens to be in the way.
Several different ways depending upon GM, the two easiest:
1: Trox possess 4+ arms already, 2 main arms (sword) and extra smaller arms for delicate tasks/grappling/etc.
2: On the feet. The rage power doesn't specify where the claws grow, simply that they do (I could see anywhere that could be used for an unarmed strike a valid location for claws to grow)
New rage power out of the ACG. There a collection of rage powers that mimic the bloodrager bloodlines.
If you have an extra set of arms to put the claws on.
Trod have 6 arms so it would work? Terrifying
Those arms are only for grappling. They don't allow extra attacks. You might get a GM to rule otherwise in a home game though.
A friend of mine challenged me to make a dual wielding barb and I'm having trouble with it. He said "I'll give you a 27 point buy, any race, any tactic, and Power Attack/Combat Expertise/Weapon Finesse as freebie feats to start out with." So, any ideas?
I was thinking of Beast Totem for more full attacks with pounce and starting out with 13-14 Dex then relying on a belt for the rest of it. Dual shielding might be an option but I don't know if I have the feat space. To save a feat for a Falcata I could use an Ioun Stone for it (10k) and retrain the feat for it once I got the stone. I'd prefer to shy away from the Kukri's because that's not very Barbarian-y.
What do you think? Having out of combat uses would be nice, but being an effective dual wielder is required. Thanks in advance!
I saw a VERY good Wild Rager the other day - he gets a bonus attack even when not Raging at full BAB, and that can be a STR-based TH Weapon attack as well. Just got to be a little careful with him is all.
So, using your parameters above...
Human Wild Rager
STR - 18
DEX - 14
CON - 12 (+2)
WIS - 14
INT - 12
CHA - 7
Traits:
Threatening Defender
Indomitable Faith
Feats & Rage Powers:
Free - Combat Expertise
Free - Power Attack
Free - Weapon Finesse
1st - Toughness
1st - Weapon Focus: Greatsword (or whatever)
2nd - Reckless Abandon
3rd - Iron Will
4th - Auspicious Mark
5th - Endurance
5th - Diehard
7th - Stalwart
7th - Lunge
9th - Extra Rage Power: Increased Damage Reduction
9th - Clear Mind
11th - Improved Stalwart
11th - Increased Damage Reduction
13th - Extra Rage Power: Increased Damage Reduction
13th - Come and Get Me
...and so on. Take a level of Unbreakable Fighter at 4th to qualify for Stalwart/Improved Stalwart, let your AC floor and lean on your saves, your DR and how fast you kill things.
At just 2nd level, let's say using a great sword, you'll be full attacking at:
Attack: +7/+7
+2 [BAB] +4 [STR] +2 [Rage] +1 [Focus] -2 [Wild] +1 [Reckless] -1 [Power]
Damage: 2d6 + 12
2d6 [Greatsword] +6 [STR] +3 [Rage] +3 [Power Attack]
At just 4th level it'll be something like:
Attack: +9/+9
+4 [BAB] +4 [STR] +2 [Rage] +1 [Focus] -2 [Wild] +2 [Reckless] -2 [Power]
Damage: 2d6 + 15
2d6 [Greatsword] +6 [STR] +3 [Rage] +6 [Power Attack]
And that's with absolutely no magical gear whatsoever. You're going to have a pretty hard time finding a dual-wielder who can match that. Just make sure to save your Auspicious Mark and your Clear Mind Rage Powers for when combat is nearing an end and you might be a threat to your compatriots - they'll both be available every Rage.
Except you might turn all of that damage on one of your buddies, and they will probably not enjoy it. D:
In my experience, with all the safeguards built into the character, its very unlikely.
But... still possible, I'll admit.
If you build your wild rager for nonlethal damage (with the option of doing lethal) you will not see the drawback trigger because you are "never" reducing an opponent below 0.
@Dumpstating: While neither that nor furious focus is THE ONE least helpful suggestion it is not a good one.
If you build your wild rager for nonlethal damage (with the option of doing lethal) you will not see the drawback trigger because you are "never" reducing an opponent below 0.
Will that actually work? RAW and RAI?
What do you think would be the best way to do that? Merciful Weapon?