Talk:Barbarian

Overall Class Thoughts

• barbarian mini-game thoughts:
  • instead of rage being "x rounds per day", earn rage points by being hit, taking damage etc., then spend it on your turn for effects (based on rage powers)
    • possible to earn multiple points per round, or even per attack:
      • one point per time you are attacked
      • one point if you actually take damage (after DR; real hit points, not temps?)
      • one point if it's more points of real damage than twice your level
    • No limit to how many you can accumulate, but they all go away after the fight.
    • You may or may not start with any (maybe at higher levels, or with a particular rage power, you could start fight with one/some?).
  • Spend a point of rage to gain the current rage ability (add STR to damage, higher will saves. Could get rid of AC penalty? Change bonus hp's to a small heal?)
  • Spend a point of rage to gain Bloodthirst
  • other effects require rage powers

• instead of totems being a chain of rage powers that a barbarian can pick, maybe it's a selection path for each barbarian, as a class feature? Something they can then improve with rage powers? (Akin to the Fighter's technique or the rogue's path)
  • possible totems: bear, wolf, fox, rabbit, spider, eagle, etc.
  • we could even make these like bloodlines, essentially stating which rage powers the totems grant at even levels, but with the option to swap the listed one for a 'general' rage power instead. This would let us load the really good rage powers into the totems, making them exclusive to your chosen path.

General Thoughts on Rage Powers

• probably need to rewrite all the rage powers from scratch
• thematically, rage powers should grant either very good offense, or a little bit of defense. Barbars are bad at defense.
• I love the superstitious thing, and have always wanted to flesh it out more -- it harkens back to the whole 'suspicious of magic' thing from D&D 2.0. That never worked, of course, since magic items are mandatory to keep up, but being generally superstitious, believing in lots of weird folksie things, etc. does work really well.

Specific Rage Powers

• headbutt
• bite
• charge-related powers
• combat maneuvers
• demoralize
• movement types (swim, climb, burrow?)
• self-heal
• negate hits

All sounds okay to me! For the rage mini-game, I think they should always start with a point or two of rage, so there's no 'dead' round where their best buff is missing. Aggression should be rewarded! Bloodthirst is VERY good for making me want to get hit, I was desperately fishing for AOO's, deliberately provoking. That's the easiest way to get bloodthirst running. And it's such a cool mechanic, I really want to push that.

That said, I think bloodthirst needs a pretty big boost. I was counting up on my fingers and toes, and with the exact same stats, I could take a chain shirt +1 and a light shield +1, fight with a saber, do almost the same base damage, and hit AC24. six points of AC is much better than 3 points of DR. If I then dump Cha, I can hit more and do way more damage, and we're right back to 'big ugly barbar'. (sigh) Something to think about. I just don't want the barbarian to be draining the healing out of the party. Although that certainly gives the healers something to do! :D

Barbarian Example Build

(Probably not actually a legal build; needs reviewed; keeping it here in case we get around to building a viable sample build later, so we can steal ideas from this one)

Human, base stats: Str 16, Dex 13, Con 20, int 10, Wis 10, Chr 8.

Example Feats

1st Level: Toughness, Weapon Focus:Great Axe. The best axe there is combined with more hit points than God. (35 hitpoints at first level!)

3rd Level: Power Attack. Oh man, you hit like an anvil!

5th Level: Cleave. You're fast on your feet, find clusters of bad guys and cleave them.

7th Level: Combat Reflexes. You're going to be in the thick of things, and your attacks of opportunity are huge. Get more of them!

9th Level: Extra Rage power:DR . Be tougher!

11th Level: Extra Rage power:DR . Be Even TOUGHER!

13th Level: Extra Rage power:DR . HELL YEAH.

15th Level: Dodge. Some more armor class.

17th Level: Mobility. Let's you wander around the battlefield.

19th Level: Great Cleave. Cleave, and then CLEAVE SOME MORE.

Example Rage powers

2nd Level: Scent. You can smell the fear on'em.

4th Level: Renewed Vigor. You shake off some damage.

6th Level: Regenerative Vigor. You become even tougher to stop.

8th Level: Renewed Life. Ignore that pesky life drain crap.

10th Level: Renewed Vitality. Ability Damage? YOU LAUGH.

12th Level: Come and Get Me. Ahh, here it is. THIS is why you've taken all those defensive abilities all this time.

14th Level: Unexpected Strike. Moar damage! Only once a rage, but hey, it's good for when you want to put in a finisher.

16th Level: Flesh Wound. Getting a little low on hit points? Pick a reasonably sized attack. Make save. IGNORE IT.

18th Level: Fearless Rage. Fear is for lesser killing machines than you, my friend.

20th Level: Good For What Ails You. Drink booze, reroll some saving throws.

This build is a high toughness, moderate defense Barbarian. He'll be doing more than okay damage, but the maxed-out DR and defensive feats means he'll be in the fight a good long time.