Need help making a Natural Attack Barbarian

[Gilfalas]

So I had this character idea based on an very old Palladium character I had back in the 90's.

Basically it is a half-orc who beasts out when he rages and terrorizes the enemy so I am working on a build to do this but I am not that good at natural attack stuff or babarians.

Note that my GM wants this to be a Barbarian from 1-20, though she said if I could do the same thing and wanted to use the Bloodrager I could. She is using the Unchained Babarian rules as well.\

Here is what I have so far (any oddities in the number of feats and levels gotten are from her home rules):

Invulnerable Rager Half Orc Barbarian (Class and race are locked in from 1-20 so no suggestions on changing this please unless it is to a Half Orc Bloodrager).

Level 1: Weapon Focus: Natural Weapons, Skill Focus: Survival, Dazzling Display
Level 2: Power Attack, Lesser Beast Totem Rage Power
Level 4: Cornugon Smash, Animal Fury Rage Power
Level 6: Shatter Defenses, Beast Totem Rage Power
Level 8: Intimidating Prowess, Regenerative Stance Rage Power
Level 10: Violent Display, Greater Beast Totem Rage Power
Level 12: Eldritch Heritage: Orc, Unexpected Strike Rage Power
Level 14: Improved Eldritch Heritage: Orc, Increased Damage Reduction
Level 16: Feat X, Increased Damage Reduction
Level 18: Greater Eldrtich Heritage: Orc, Increased Damage Reduction
Level 20: Feat X, Flesh Wound Rage Power.

Character stats are a non issue as she is super generous, assume 20 Str, 14 Dex, 16 Con, 10 In, 10 Wis and 18 Charisma (no stat can be less than 10).

Looking for suggestions on feats and perhaps better ways to do what I am trying. I was looking at Eldrtitch Claws, Rending Claws and extra rage but was not sure what else would be better.

Thanks for any help you will give.

[kestral287]

Since Unchained rules are on the table, what about Variant Multiclass Sorcerer over Eldritch Heritage? That'd let you shuffle stat points (probably something like 18 Con, 16 Dex, 14 Wis or Int). It'd basically let you pick up a feat too; you drop Skill Focus so you can shuffle things to still get Cornugon Smash early, and at 11th you get a bonus feat. The Orc list is mediocre, but it does have Intimidating Prowess, so you can retrain that right before you hit 11th and get whatever feat you want there.

Are traits on the table? If so, less Animal Fury, more Toothy.

[-Grijm-]

Personally, I would not take Weapon focus for natural weapons since it applies only to one type of attack e.g. claws, bite or gore. And as a barbarian with rage, you are already above the curve with chance to hit, not to mention all natural attacks are used at full BAB.

[Dafydd]

Weapon Focus: Natural Attack is not a legal choice btw

I understand you want it for later feats, but I would swap around WF and PA, take WF Claws, and take beast totem at 2nd, get the bite with toothy trait.

[galahad2112]

If you're looking at Bloodrager, you might consider the Primalist archetype. Abyssal bloodline gets you claws and Demonic Bulk (which is just great!), then grab Fiend Totem (Lesser) and another really nice rage power of your choice at level 8. You might not get pounce, but you do get another primary natural attack (and a pretty darn good one at that), plus spells, full rage, and free enlarge person. It's pretty tasty.

If you stick with Barbarian, invest in a Vicious Amulet of Mighty Fists.
If DR is your big thing, invest in Diehard, Stalwart, and Combat Expertise. You can pick up Endurance through an alternate racial trait (Shaman's Apprentice, I think).

[Rynjin]

Too bad you won't reconsider race. The Ragebred Skinwalker makes a great natural attacker.

I would drop Regenerative Stance and a couple of the Increased Damage Reduction and nab the new-ish Animal Fury line. The Stances are basically worthless (they take a Move action to activate. You have Pounce. This removes the ENTIRE ADVANTAGE of Pounce DPR-wise. Plus the benefit is negligible.).

Get Savage Jaw and Raging Grappler and you can, as a Free action, Grapple someone and Trip them at the same time on a successful Bite attack.

You don't qualify for Violent Display, and it's not the greatest anyway. Consider trading it out for Hurtful (Swift action to gain an attack when you Intimidate someone).

That, or move it back to 12th. Then nab Disheartening Display too and start Frightening people.

[kestral287]

I dunno, Accurate Stance with its upgrades (Sharpened Accuracy mostly; I love Lethal Accuracy but for 20/x2 weapons... not so much) might be worth losing round one Pounce. I like it more for Primalist Bloodragers though; easier for them to burn a standard action doing something useful. Though to a degree it depends on the party, as you might be better holding back for a round to let the Wizard do his thing and in that situation... might as well take the setup.

The other stances are all mediocre-to-terrible though.

[Gilfalas]

Dafydd your right, I need the Weapon Focus for later feats. I have updated it to Weapon Focus: Claws as those will be my most numerous attack and switched Power Attack in the order as suggested.

Toothy is attractive but I think I will keep Animal Fury for thematic reasons. This is sort of a Norse based character who goes into beast form when he rages so having the bite part of that works.

galahad2112 I will look over the bloodrager option you mentioned and see. I think I can try to fit in those three feats now. I don't need Extra Rage since I can pick up more rounds with the Racial Favored Class bonus. And my GM is super easy when it comes to minor changes to races so I am sure I can get Endurance as a RP swap for Weapon Familiarity which I won't need.

kestral287 Traits are on the table and I am wondering what ones to take to boost Natural Attacks and Intimidate resutls. As for VMC I think I am going to actually need the feats. VMC trades 5 feats for the full bloodline while the 3 feats I am taking now are getting me only the parts I need.

RynjinYour right about Violent Display, I missed it was weretiger related. I am kinda attached to the DR since they doubled the effect and a full time DR 10/- at 20 would be handy, even better at DR 16/- in rage and 21/- with the feats galahad2112 suggested.

I was thinking that with the High DR and the regening temp HP I would get some extra durability?

[kestral287]

I'm counting you spending four feats on your bloodline: Skill Focus, Eldritch Heritage, Improved EH, Greater EH.

Swap that for VMC, shift Intimidating Prowess to your bloodline feat, and you come out to the same number of feats but a stronger bloodline.

I'm confused on how Animal Fury is more thematic than Toothy. Both of them are "get mad, bite people". Sure, you can use Toothy to bite people when you aren't mad... but let's be honest. You're a Barbarian. You are raging in every fight unless something is catastrophically wrong.

Animal Fury is strong if you invest in it, but you're not-- so Toothy is better and fills the same theme.

Regenerating Stance's issue is that it gets you HP back way too slowly. Even at its cap, 5 HP per round is terrible. If it was triple or quadruple that? Maybe we could talk about it being a decent trade.

[Gilfalas]

kestral287 wrote:

I'm counting you spending four feats on your bloodline: Skill Focus, Eldritch Heritage, Improved EH, Greater EH.

Swap that for VMC, shift Intimidating Prowess to your bloodline feat, and you come out to the same number of feats but a stronger bloodline.

Ah! That makes sense. I totally forgot about the Skill focus prereq.

Quote:

Animal Fury is strong if you invest in it, but you're not-- so Toothy is better and fills the same theme.

I must be missing something since I am not seeing what more there is to invest in Animal Fury? I am using the PFSRD and maybe I should be checking my hard cover? Edit: DOH - I am an idiot. See it now.

Quote:

Regenerating Stance's issue is that it gets you HP back way too slowly. Even at its cap, 5 HP per round is terrible. If it was triple or quadruple that? Maybe we could talk about it being a decent trade.

OK I hear that. Does not keep up. So I swap in Greater Animal Fury for Regenerating Stance?

[Goznaz]

An easy route for horns eventually is

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/h-l/helm- of-the-mammoth-lord

Along with some basic

http://www.archivesofnethys.com/EquipmentMiscDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Tusk%20b lades

To give you a better crit range.

Also if you go bloodrager you have access to the cheese that is

http://www.archivesofnethys.com/ArchetypeDisplay.aspx?FixedName=Familiar%20 Bloodline%20Familiars

Give your familiar the vallet archetype and add

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/amplified-rage-teamwork

[Renegadeshepherd]

::cough:: tiefling ::cough:: ::cough::

[thorin001]

Get the Toothy racial trait for a bite attack
lvl 2 take the Lesser Abyssal Blood Bloodrage power for 2 claw attacks
lvl 4 (or 3 with the Extra Rage Power feat) take the Lesser Fiend Totem for a gore attack

Now you have 4 primary natural weapons, 2 claws a bite and a gore.

[Castilonium]

In order to do the Amplified Rage trick, your familiar has to be able to rage. I don't think any familiars come with rage, so you'll need to dip a level of skald in order to make it rage with Raging Song.