So, as the subject says a character concept I have wanted to figure out for awhile is an elder barbarian, I think thematically it would be awesome. I would love to find a way to use Wisdom in place of Strength, to symbolize his transition from raw brute force to experienced style of fighting. Any ideas? I would either go human or tiefling (if tiefling then I may say that the bloodline has become so diluted that I show minimum influence of demonic/devil blood, i.e. mostly human blood). Does any one have any ideas on how to optimize this character? I don't like to min/max but I also don't want to build a character that is just gonna be a complete train wreck!
I don't know of a way to help optimize an elderly barbarian, most savages die young y'know.
That being said, a middle aged barbarian would only be taking a -1 to his physical abilities with a +1 to his mental stats, helpful for bumping up his Will saves just a tad. When you combine that with his rage, I don't think it would too damaging for him to be middle aged. Now, old and venerable are different stories all together.
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Read Terry Pratchett books.
+1. Or search for "Cohen the Barbarian" or "Silver Horde".
A ranger, perhaps with the skirmisher and/or guide archetypes, might represent your experienced and wiser barbarian better than the barbarian character class. You could call the guides' Ranger's Focus his rage; wisdom gets used by either archetype.
If you really want to use the barbarian class you might consider the moment of/perfect/ultimate clarity line of rage powers to show his battlefield experience, and the armored hulk archetype seems likely to be appropriate.
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Are you willing to consider going Aasamir, maybe make them scary? Using the 'Immortal Spark' alternative racial gives you Lesser Age Resistance, which will make you nice and safe from taking those age penalties, as it has a 24 hour duration.
Then consider going Angel (+2 Str/Cha), Archon (+2 Con/Wis) or Garuda (+2 Dex/Wis) for nice stat adjustments too.
I think going around the age penalities will be counter produktive for this concept. if you want a old warrior i think embracing that ide is gonna work best. A - 1 or even -3 on the physicals can be worked around with a good build and Lots of talk about how great he was in his Hey Day. I suggest you make the best Barbarian build you can at the apropriate level and then advance him to to the age you want him to be.
Alternatly just agree with the GM that he is old with out giving him bonusses or minusser for it. That is how it would work in my game.
I was looking at Aasimar, thematically I like Tiefling and mechanically I like the oversized limbs... But Aasimar would definitely help with my problem...
Goldmyr I know they do, but think of the meme that says "Warning: Beware of any old person in a profession where one usually dies young"
While we usually roll stats (which typically leads to better stats) I tend to build my characters with a 25 point buy... here is what I got for Tiefling (Demon-Spawn):
Str 16 17 +2(Racial) -3(Old Age)
Dex 10 13 -3(Old Age)
Con 12 15 -3(Old Age)
Int 12 12 -2(Racial) +2(Old Age)
Wis 12 10 +2(Old Age)
Cha 14 10 +2(Racial) +2(Old Age)
I like having a little higher charisma to help with intimidate checks, try to inflict penalties to bring the enemy down to my level...
If I ever get my hands on a Mantle of Imortality then I will become an absolute terror.....
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I think going around the age penalties will be counter productive for this concept. if you want a old warrior i think embracing that ide is gonna work best. A - 1 or even -3 on the physicals can be worked around with a good build and Lots of talk about how great he was in his Hey Day. I suggest you make the best Barbarian build you can at the appropriate level and then advance him to to the age you want him to be.
Alternately just agree with the GM that he is old with out giving him bonuses or penalties for it. That is how it would work in my game.
A -1 can be worked around, a -3 can't, and a -6...no. It won't matter how good they were back in the day if they're dying now. Middle Age is your best bet if you're using the rules, which isn't the best for this idea.
I totally agree with 'just say they're old' since you're not trying to game the system. Age penalties are only for spellcasters and synthesis summoners to squeeze out extra stat points.
I think going around the age penalties will be counter productive for this concept. if you want a old warrior i think embracing that ide is gonna work best. A - 1 or even -3 on the physicals can be worked around with a good build and Lots of talk about how great he was in his Hey Day. I suggest you make the best Barbarian build you can at the appropriate level and then advance him to to the age you want him to be.
Alternately just agree with the GM that he is old with out giving him bonuses or penalties for it. That is how it would work in my game.A -1 can be worked around, a -3 can't, and a -6...no. It won't matter how good they were back in the day if they're dying now. Middle Age is your best bet if you're using the rules, which isn't the best for this idea.
I totally agree with 'just say they're old' since you're not trying to game the system. Age penalties are only for spellcasters and synthesis summoners to squeeze out extra stat points.
If they are level 10+ a -3 on the physicals are gonna be annoying but not game Breaking. But if they start at one it is not gonna work, that is rigth. And -6 will will need a very high level game to be unproblematic.
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I would opt to play this character as a Skald. They can rage, he's been around to tell quite a few tales, and I'm sure there's some other good flavor you could add in there. He's survived many battles and seen many things.
Otherwise find a niche for this character. Maybe it's teamwork feats, combat maneuvers, or something else to overpower his enemies. After all he's an elder barbarian, I'm sure he's picked up some tactics that have allowed him to survive this long instead of all the young Barbarians that run headlong into the fray and die young.
EDIT: Look at angles on how to make this "barbarian" useful outside of using "RAW BRUTE STRENGTH!!!". He's getting older and he knows it, I think a Skald really fits this character concept.
hmm, never thought of Skald, I will check that out... I like the idea of it
Are there any ways outside of Guided Hand (which I can't take) or the guided weapon property to add wisdom to attack?