If a half-orc trades away the ferocity racial trait, is there any way to pick it up again later? I have a horc barbarian that could use Ferocious Tenacity, but gave up ferocity.
Thanks Firebug! Super helpful!
Flagellant is interesting. Having to worship Zan-Kuthon may be untenable, though. Playing through Strange Aeons, and while there are plenty of worshipers, our experience with them has not been positive, per se.
Looks like the Atavism Totem is the only reliable way to get that. Hmm...Do I want to spend 2 rage powers in order to pick up Ferocious Tenacity?
Just turned level 5, currently Fighter 1/Barbarian 4.
Have Power Attack, Endurance, Diehard, and Stalwart
First rage power was Reckless Abandon
What do you want Ferocious Tenacity for? Is there something that builds upon it that I'm missing?
What do you want Ferocious Tenacity for? Is there something that builds upon it that I'm missing?
Building a tough-as-nails barb. At level 5 I have DR 7/- while fighting defensively, and that increases by 1 every odd level until I get Improved Stalwart at 11, when that jumps by another 5. My AC is going to suck, so one of the biggest risks, especially with the Die Hard feat, is a critical hit that can just outright kill the character after he's taken some damage already. FT allows for ignoring 5xrage rounds spent in damage, which seems good, but I'm not sure it's good enough to eat 2 rage powers in addition to the feat.
Is there a particular reason your AC is going to suck? Why not do something about that instead of accept it as inevitable? There's Ioun Stones (Dusty Rose), you can enchant a buckler at the same rate as your Reckless Abandon penalty increases, Fortified enchantment to deal with that one critical hit that could take you out... you have options.
Have you thought about investing in Miss Chance? Such as a minor Cloak of Displacement?
What weapon are you using? Reach may help reduce the number of times you get hit. Can still Hulk-Smash $#!+ with a Bardiche.
Did that level of Fighter have any archetype(s) attached to it? If it was, by chance, Weapon Master... you be but two more levels away from Weapon Training and thus Cut/Smash From the Air, giving you a decent missile defense. Or maybe it was Mutagen Warrior, for well, Mutagen to stack on your Rage?
Which traits did you take? And are you willing to spend a feat for more?
I'm not sure it's good enough to eat 2 rage powers in addition to the feat.
The feat you should be looking at is Raging Vitality, which both boosts your HP an lets you stay conscious when dropping below 0 HP, which means you don't lose the Con bonus.
The biggest issue with Atavism Totem is actually that it's a totem rage power, and thus would prevent you from selecting the Beast Totem line, which is pretty much a must-have for Barbarians because pounce reigns surpreme - and killing enemies before they attack you is a form of defense, too. The middle power also helps your AC.
Another form of "proactive defense" is the combination of Come and Get Me and Dazing Assault.
You must be using an older version of Ferocious Tenacity... the most recent version is 1 damage per round of rage, not 5 per.
Yeah, it was nerved for the ARG. The OoG version does a reduction equal to Con mod * rage rounds spend.
I left out some stuff above. The fighter level was for Unarmed Fighter, to pick up Improved Unarmed Strike and Crane Style, which let's me trade -2 attack for +5 AC (with a trait), vs Combat Expertise, which requires investment in Int, and would have me at a -2 attack for +2 AC at level 5 (possibly -1/+2 or -2/+3 depending on some traits available). The attack penalty never increases, and the AC bonus remains higher than CE's until level 12 (or 8 with a trait).
Traits taken were Fate's Favored (+1 Luck to all saves with the half-orc racial trait Sacred Tattoo), and Cautious Warrior (+1 AC when fighting defensively).
Gear is something I'm looking at, but so far we're a bit behind WBL, and I don't know if we'll be catching up. It looks unlikely that we'll have anyone crafting wondrous items or arms & armor, so there's only so much I can plan for there, and I won't plan to buy a feat based on something granted by an item.
Raging Vitality serves largely the same role as Die Hard, but it's in consideration.
CAGM and Dazing Assault are on the list of things I'd like to pick up, but that's likely 6 months to a year away. The feat I'd pick up in advance of those would be Combat Reflexes, which is at the top of the consideration list for level 7 feat, as I am using a Bardiche as my primary weapon.
The party makeup is a shifter(?) with 4 or 5 natural attacks, who will have pounce in a few levels, but the damage/hit is fairly low. Not entirely sure what she's going to look like otherwise in a few levels, but right now has decent AC in the mid-20s; an alchemist, doing alchemist things, an oracle with fire spells, channel energy, and the lifelink(?) ability, so a fair amount of in-combat healing; and a Mesmerist.
I view my role as damage sponge and big hitter. Obviously, barbarian offense falls off a bit as levels progress and other abilities begin to eclipse simply having a high Str, a 2-hander, and Power Attack, but I imagine I'll remain either the primary or secondary damage dealer, and intend to be the hardiest of the group to soak damage.
I'd considered Superstitious, but so far the character has failed maybe 2 saves vs magic (and both fairly minor), while benefiting from several healing and buff spells during combat, so it doesn't look like it makes sense from the character's perspective to have that ability right now, and not a ton of sense from a gameplay perspective, especially with the possibility of fighting at negative HP and needing some healing. That said, the group has a fair amount of supernatural healing available, so it's not necessarily off the table.
I'm looking for which rage powers (and to a lesser degree, feats) to pick up to improve survivability first and offense second.