Barbarian / Bard

[Heather 540]

I play a dragon sim game called Flight Rising. In one of the forums, someone started up a thread for an RP similar to tabletop RPGs. One of the characters is a very angry dragon with a lot of Cha. And that got me thinking...

Is there a build for a Barbarian/Bard that's feasible?

[Chell Raighn]

Well there is the Skald class... it’s literally a hybrid of Barbarian and Bard...

[avr]

Bard with a bloodrager 1 (mad magic) or barbarian 2 (for a rage power) dip works fine. Or a skald as Chell says. Or bard VMC barbarian, or barbarian VMC bard. You could even throw dragon disciple into the mix if you want to make a very angry but likeable dragon.

[Heather 540]

I will look at the Skald and Dragon Disciple. Not really a fan of VMC though. Giving up half your feats to gain half the features of a second class just doesn't seem worth it to me.

[Toirin]

What about just a dragon blooded bloodrager?

[Quixote]

Back in 3.5, I made up a half-orc bardbarian who consistently did more damage than anyone else, had the best saves, the second best hp, the most viability in non-combat situations, was a decent support caster and made everyone else better at their own stuff.

It is, in my opinion, an extremely viable and enjoyable character.

[Shorticus]

On VMC: It's actually really viable where Barbarian is concerned. You trade your feats for lots of +STR/CON, some rage powers, and other goodies. It's... in your favor if you're playing a martial character in any sense. It's one of the strongest options for VMC on martials, IMO, and one concept I'd love to actually play one day is Paladin VMC Barbarian. Because... yes, you can do exactly that, and you don't lose your Barbarian abilities by being lawful.

However, since you say VMC isn't your thing, let's talk about those other ideas.

Bard in Pathfinder is a class that makes the whole team better and is already a solid martial if you build it for martial combat. There are also archetypes to make the character more of a martial warrior; I think Arcane Duelist is an interesting example of this. Moreover, leveling the Bard straight up will give you more and more benefits.

However, dipping Barbarian isn't a bad option. You normally can't cast while raging, but Furious Spell will fix that problem.

You could alternatively dip into a class that gives Mutagen instead. Or, heck, you could do both. Mutagen + Rage = +8 STR, anyway. Hulk out. Just make sure you're ready for not being able to cast spells while raging.

Skald circumvents the rage-and-spells issues. I don't have much experience with it, but its group buffs are a bit different and not every character will enjoy them. Everyone appreciates +attack/damage from Inspire Courage, but I assure you the wizard doesn't want rage, and it might not be something the halfling rogue wants either.

Skald does let you do the Bardbarian thing without dipping, though, and it looks incredibly fun on paper. You could argue (but not in PFS) that Skald's raging song counts as rage for feats and such, which could perhaps let you convince your GM to do Amplified Rage shenanigans if you want to be mean and green.

Bloodrager plays like Barbarian that dabbles in magic, but that dabbling can have huge effects. Each bloodline plays uniquely, and I'd suggest you read about Bloodrager bloodlines if you decide to pick one. They're... varied in what they do and how they do it.

[Heather 540]

Skald is pretty straight forward, but I'm a little confused on how the rage powers work. So I can't use something that uses standard attacks or rounds of rage to activate. But what about swift actions? Like Lesser Elemental Rage.

[Derklord]

Heather 540 wrote:

Skald is pretty straight forward, but I'm a little confused on how the rage powers work. So I can't use something that uses standard attacks or rounds of rage to activate. But what about swift actions? Like Lesser Elemental Rage.

As written, swift action rage powers are fine.

If you're interested in something closer to your inspiration, you should also look at the Wyrm Singer archetype. Not only does it have the dragon part down, it also works well with Desna's Shooting Star (DSS) to build a high charisma character.

Heather 540 wrote:

One of the characters is a very angry dragon with a lot of Cha. And that got me thinking...

Is there a build for a Barbarian/Bard that's feasible?

Ignoring the obvious answer of "you can play an angry character without a rage class feature, you know?", there's a bunch of possible Ba/Ba builds where I see the multiclass as mechanically beneficial (although a single dip and maybe Extra Rage as a feat wouldn't kill a vanilla Bard):

• Dex-based with either Archaeologist or Dawnflower Dervish and a dip into Savage Technologist or Urban Barbarian.
• Charisma based (via DSS) with Archaeologist and a dip into unBarb.
• Strength based with Speaker of the Palatine Eye and a dip into Armored Hulk.
• Archery build with either regular Bard or Arrowsong Minstrel and a dip into Primal Hunter.

Of course, "very angry [character] with a lot of Cha" doesn't indicate Bard in any way...

[Heather 540]

Neat, dragon singing.

Someone on myth-weavers also suggested Dawnflower and Urban.

I was listening to music at the time so Bard just kinda popped into my head.

[JiaYou]

Just for flavor, I decided to try to build a Half-Orc Arcane Duelist Bard, and I don't think it would do badly swinging a greataxe or falchion, or even dual-wielding since Arcane Strike applies to both weapons.

Skald is also great. I played a Skald in my first Pathfinder campaign and had a lot of fun.