I'm working on putting together an Orc Barbarian/Alchemist.
Considering using Moonscarred Barbarian as an archetype.
I'm going for a character with absurdly high strength, smashing my way through enemies, Grognard style.
I'm not sure if Moonscarred will benefit me in this or not, I thought it would make things far more interesting.
I'm thinking of combining 18 strength at start, with Orc, for 22 Strength, then Mutagen for a +4, Enlarge Person for a +2 and size increase, and rage (either +2/+4 depending on what I pick), for a total of 30/32 strength total, in an ideal prepped combat.
But that's about as far as I've planned, and I'm not sure what else would benefit this build.
What's your planned build? If it's Barbarian-1/Alchemist-X I'd suggest BLOODRAGER. At level 1 it's basically the same as Barb but you also get access to wands without UMD, and you get a bloodline power.
If you take the ID RAGER archetype, you lose the bloodline power, but instead gains the powers of a Spiritualist Phantom when in a bloodrage.
If you pick ANGER that means you get the normal benefits of a rage (+4 Str/Con) as well as +2 Str, -2 Dex and Power Attack.
Right from the get-go your rage gets you +6 Str, -2 Dex, +4 Con & Power Attack. All of this only works during a rage, so I'd recommend taking EXTRA RAGE.
This came up in THIS THREAD I made a little while ago. Very similar concept, so reading through it might be helpful.
How sold are you on full Orc? I made a Bramble Brewer (Half-Elf only)/Savage Technologist for PFS that focused on AC, and it worked weirdly well. Originally I only wanted to dip alchemist slightly for some boosts, but in the end I went with Barb 1/Alchemist 10. It's not exactly what you want, but I found it much more satisfying than dumping AC and getting hit a lot. I only lost out on 2 STR in exchange for a lot of survivability. I grew an extra arm to hold a shield, and together with armour enhancements, natural armour and Mutagen, I'm hitting 37 AC, and I'm not even maxed out yet.
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Look at the orc racial feats, there are some cool ones that allow you to ignore damage using your con, both straight ignoring the damage or gaining temp hp. Also with the alchemist just make sure your building into a melee build as well as taking effects that work off your stats and your "spells" should likely be personal buffs. I would recommend being an invulnerable rager and then using the spell ablative barrier. I would recommend taking the tumor familiar discovery as use the familiar protector archetype. I would say that master chymist is the way to go when available to be taken as well.
What's your planned build? If it's Barbarian-1/Alchemist-X I'd suggest BLOODRAGER. At level 1 it's basically the same as Barb but you also get access to wands without UMD, and you get a bloodline power.
If you take the ID RAGER archetype, you lose the bloodline power, but instead gains the powers of a Spiritualist Phantom when in a bloodrage.
If you pick ANGER that means you get the normal benefits of a rage (+4 Str/Con) as well as +2 Str, -2 Dex and Power Attack.
Right from the get-go your rage gets you +6 Str, -2 Dex, +4 Con & Power Attack. All of this only works during a rage, so I'd recommend taking EXTRA RAGE.This came up in THIS THREAD I made a little while ago. Very similar concept, so reading through it might be helpful.
Interesting, does this grant you the slam attacks of a phantom?
How sold are you on full Orc? I made a Bramble Brewer (Half-Elf only)/Savage Technologist for PFS that focused on AC, and it worked weirdly well. Originally I only wanted to dip alchemist slightly for some boosts, but in the end I went with Barb 1/Alchemist 10. It's not exactly what you want, but I found it much more satisfying than dumping AC and getting hit a lot. I only lost out on 2 STR in exchange for a lot of survivability. I grew an extra arm to hold a shield, and together with armour enhancements, natural armour and Mutagen, I'm hitting 37 AC, and I'm not even maxed out yet.
Its interesting, but I'm not looking for a character built for defense, I'm looking for something to smash, smash, smash.
ID RAGERInteresting, does this grant you the slam attacks of a phantom?
Don't think so. It's still pretty great. This is more of a "I just want to hit things really really hard" dip than anything else (I'm new to the Bloodrager class too - I haven't actually played that character yet so I have no actual experience how it would go, but on paper it looks really fun).
If you're interested in other effects I thought the KYTON BLOODLINE sounded pretty good for my character. Have a look at the bloodline powers & things that you can get.
If only putting 1 level into Barb, the Bloodrager is almost always going to be better (it's a more front-loaded class). If you're planning more levels in Barb things like the INVULNERABLE RAGER Barbarian start to look a lot better. I'd say the first thing you have to decide is how much do you want to go into each class?
(Also as an aside check out INVESTIGATOR as a possible replacement for Alchemist. They're very similar thematically, but Investigator gets a really nice bonus to melee, and a Really strong focus on skills. They're both really strong and flavourful classes, so I won't say one is better than the other, just that they're both worth considering)
Hmm, if I go without improved unarmed strike, would punching be a functional way to deal tons of safe knock outs, in a strength build this heavy?
You may also want to consider a dip in skald (Raging Song/Inspired Rage for effectively more rounds of rage per day; plus, it explicitly works with the Lingering Performance feat) and four levels of dragon disciple (+4 bonus to Str score).
Without IUS remember you provoke attacks of opportunity when making unarmed strikes. The nonlethal damage is more or less safe for your target but not necessarily safe for you.
Without IUS remember you provoke attacks of opportunity when making unarmed strikes. The nonlethal damage is more or less safe for your target but not necessarily safe for you.
Fair Point.
With IUS I can choose to do nonlethal, right?
yes, being able to do lethal damage in no way forces you to do so.
Since you were wondering about the Slam attack for Id-Rager, you might be interested in FERAL MUTAGEN (Sorry I just didn't think of it last time).