Lvl 12 Fury Barbarian advices

[HumbleGamer]

Making thing thread for a friend of mine who'd like to play a fury barbarian but is not convinced by it.

To sum up, we are moving from being

Hag Sorcerer ( with heal ) =
Wild Druid ( + AC ) =
Eldritch Archer Ranger =
Polearm Paladin > Laughing Skull Magus
Flurry Ranger > Fighter ( dueling stance + dual handed assault ) or Fury Barbarian.

AoA book 4 ( no spoilers please )

So, the barbarian is going to be the one taking the major numbers of hits.

He doesn't find the barbarian satisfying enough to be a frontliner, and he fears he's going to go down over and over because of the lower AC ( currently, until lvl 13, -6 AC ):

-2 ( still trained rather than expert )
-1 ( Rage )
-1 ( Heavy Armor )
-2 ( Shield )

He considered using a shield, so by lvl 13 it would just be -2 ( -4 until then ).

Any suggestion?

I suggested using the bastion dedication to get quick shield block and reactive shield, alongside with renewed vigor, to get more AC and to withstand an increased amount of damage.

He'd like to have a feat to sleep while armored, and use medium armor ( not heavy ), so it's kinda complicated given how sentinel work ( tax feat to make a proper use of heavy armors ).

I don't know.

Any suggestion?

Even just "how you'd build a human/half orc fury barbarian to tank more than intended".

[Captain Morgan]

I really like Intimidating on a fury barbarian. Raging Intimidation is non-negotiable for such characters, but it competes with the extremely important Sudden Charge at level 1. Fury can take both without going human. And the lack of instinct feats give you more room to take awesome stuff like Terrifying Howl.

If you aren't going for intimidation then I think Dwarves can get more hit points than any other ancestry. I've actually seen a dwarf barbarian stay up longer than a champion and a monk against a APL+3 for. Everyone was getting crit anyway but the extra HP made all the difference.

[HumbleGamer]

I think intimidate could be affordable and fit for the character.

I looked at Terrifying Howl, which seems not only pretty efficient, but also ( not sure whether it's intended or not ) not sharing any CD with demoralize:

Quote:

You unleash a terrifying howl. Attempt Intimidate checks to Demoralize each enemy within 30 feet. Regardless of the results of your checks, each creature is then temporarily immune to Terrifying Howl for 1 minute.

making it pretty solid against different enemies.

I also considered that by lvl 12 he could consider getting a fortification rune, which would help dealing with critical hits.

As for the dwarf barbarian, I don't think he'd like to change the ancestry, but I'd definitely suggest that too ( our DM is way strict when it comes down to adopted ancestry, resulting in characters not be able to pick up the majority of feats. Mountain Stoutness is out of question, just to make an example ).

[Kyrone]

It does share with Demoralize though, because you "attempt intimidation checks to Demoralize".

But anyway, Bastion with quick shield block makes any character very tanky and cuts a lot the incoming damage with the shield. Table.

[HumbleGamer]

I see.

Nice tab there.

Is there also one tab for the AC ( how much is worth a single extra point of Armor Class, to compare the raise shield action with stuff like renewed vigor, for example )?

[Captain Morgan]

If we are sticking to human/half orc, I'd probably go half orc. They have some of the best feats in the game for staying on your feat, and Orc Ferocity is super fitting for a barbarian in particular. Also, depending on party composition darkvsion can be clutch. (On a non-stealth focused character it basically depends whether everyone else has darkvsion, allowing the group to move around without light sources.

[HumbleGamer]

Captain Morgan wrote:

If we are sticking to human/half orc, I'd probably go half orc. They have some of the best feats in the game for staying on your feat, and Orc Ferocity is super fitting for a barbarian in particular. Also, depending on party composition darkvsion can be clutch. (On a non-stealth focused character it basically depends whether everyone else has darkvsion, allowing the group to move around without light sources.

Oh, my bad there. I meant to underline Ancestry/heritage instead than a choice ( he's going to play human half orc heritage ).

He also plans on taking orc sight, so darkvision gogo.

[SuperBidi]

Barbarians are really tough characters. It's true that level 12 especially is creating a big difference in AC. But once at level 13, you get 2 points of AC and Greater Juggernaut compared to the Fighter.
Dual-Handed Assault is strong, but it has the Flourish Trait, so it's once per round. In my opinion, it's a more defensive build than the Fury Barbarian one and a such gets more staying power.
Fury Instinct is quite bad, unfortunately. It doesn't compete with other Instincts when it comes to damage.
Also, the Barbarian can take Heavy Armor Proficiency through Sentinel. Especially on a Fury Barbarian (who doesn't get specific feats for their fighting style) it seems not very costly. Why is the player not considering it? As a GM, if the issue is a visual one, I'd gladly consider that he wears a medium armor with the same stats than a heavy one as long as he takes Sentinel to use it.

[AlastarOG]

A good intimidate build would be going hobgoblin for ancestry.

Terrifying howl specifically calls out the demoralize action as being what's used, which means that agonising rebuke persistent mental damage applies on it.

Barbarians are great frontlines and can definitely hold the frontline for the party, but they might require some love between fights because of their greater HP pool.

With that kind of party I wouldn't worry about being a barbarian.