Backup character I made for one of the campaigns that I'm playing in. Not much in the way of defense, but trying to maximize damage and mobility while keeping some level of survivability present via things like Umbral Sight and and the Stealth.
With the current build, I calculated that before applying anything like Hunters Mark or Dreadful Strike (or the Elemental Cleaver that comes in at the next level of Barbarian) that assuming every attack hits, "Buggy" would be able to deal a bare minimum of 19 damage on every single hit, at the bare minimum, when raging. Which to me, seems like a pretty decent optimization.
The magic items (1 rare + 3 uncommon + 2 common) are pulled from the 2024 PHB starting equipment for the characters level.
In later levels I took a mix of different feats (Slasher and something else, I can't remember what) that enable me to reduce a creatures speed by up to 25ft when I hit it to replicate what the Polearm Master + Sentinel used to do.
Nice character with PAM+GWM but there is still room.
You want to pick GiantBarbarian for oversized weapons that you use while you‘re large. You need to check if there are oversized weapons in 2024. I really think not. Hence, consider Berserker if there are no overdized weapons. It has protection against frightened, charmed and still there is a big damage bonus.
Ditch GreatWeaponFighting and Savage attacker. They are mathematically bad. Consider Defense and Alert to make sure you rage & attack first, Lucky for saving throws or Tough.
SerpentScaleArmor lets you use your full DEX bonus! Togerher with Defense and your CloakOfProtection you will have AC20 and no disadv. with Stealth!
You character has zero protection against frightened, charmed or other shutdown spells. Consider MageSlayer or ResilientWIS instead of Slasher.
The Ranger is build around the „spell“ HuntersMark. There is not so much synergy anymore with Barb. GloomStalker has been nerfed in 2024. So the combi Barb+GloomStalker is not that superb anymore.
Nice character with PAM+GWM but there is still room.
You want to pick GiantBarbarian for oversized weapons that you use while you‘re large. You need to check if there are oversized weapons in 2024. I really think not. Hence, consider Berserker if there are no overdized weapons. It has protection against frightened, charmed and still there is a big damage bonus.
Ditch GreatWeaponFighting and Savage attacker. They are mathematically bad. Consider Defense and Alert to make sure you rage & attack first, Lucky for saving throws or Tough.
SerpentScaleArmor lets you use your full DEX bonus! Togerher with Defense and your CloakOfProtection you will have AC20 and no disadv. with Stealth!
You character has zero protection against frightened, charmed or other shutdown spells. Consider MageSlayer or ResilientWIS instead of Slasher.
The Ranger is build around the „spell“ HuntersMark. There is not so much synergy anymore with Barb. GloomStalker has been nerfed in 2024. So the combi Barb+GloomStalker is not that superb anymore.
Let me please know if that was helpful.
Cheers
Thanks for the tips! I did replace slasher with resilient wisdom but I decided to stick with the ranger multiclass and path of giant.
Path of giant gives me a lot more damage buffs than I'd get with berserker and the benefit of being able to grow large now, and in layer levels, huge - which comes with it a lot of benefits in my campaign.
Ranger was nerfed I think in earlier playtests but as of now it's largely similar to what it was prior to 2024. Still invisible in the dark to those relying on dark vision for easy advantage in most encounters, and the dread striker damage being able to be used anytime now is actually a buff compared to how it was before.
The spellcasting feature of the ranger class I intend to use for out of combat utility. Setting traps, alarms so we don't get surprised during our long rests, etc.
As far as the feats, mathematically they are bad yeah. I think they only add like 0.3 to the average damage every attack iirc. But the way I see it is it also eliminates my chance of rolling underwhelming damage if I get a crit. Too many times have I got a crit on my current PC, and just rolled a bunch of 1s and 2s..for damage that totalled less than I get with a non critical
https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/149569197
Backup character I made for one of the campaigns that I'm playing in. Not much in the way of defense, but trying to maximize damage and mobility while keeping some level of survivability present via things like Umbral Sight and and the Stealth.
With the current build, I calculated that before applying anything like Hunters Mark or Dreadful Strike (or the Elemental Cleaver that comes in at the next level of Barbarian) that assuming every attack hits, "Buggy" would be able to deal a bare minimum of 19 damage on every single hit, at the bare minimum, when raging. Which to me, seems like a pretty decent optimization.
The magic items (1 rare + 3 uncommon + 2 common) are pulled from the 2024 PHB starting equipment for the characters level.
In later levels I took a mix of different feats (Slasher and something else, I can't remember what) that enable me to reduce a creatures speed by up to 25ft when I hit it to replicate what the Polearm Master + Sentinel used to do.
This is a very decent character hopefully you enjoy playing at one point. One hickup though;
The Hunter’s Mark can't be used while you Rage because you can’t maintain Concentration nor cast spells.
Hi JustWeav3r.
Nice character with PAM+GWM but there is still room.
You want to pick GiantBarbarian for oversized weapons that you use while you‘re large. You need to check if there are oversized weapons in 2024. I really think not. Hence, consider Berserker if there are no overdized weapons. It has protection against frightened, charmed and still there is a big damage bonus.
Ditch GreatWeaponFighting and Savage attacker. They are mathematically bad. Consider Defense and Alert to make sure you rage & attack first, Lucky for saving throws or Tough.
SerpentScaleArmor lets you use your full DEX bonus! Togerher with Defense and your CloakOfProtection you will have AC20 and no disadv. with Stealth!
You character has zero protection against frightened, charmed or other shutdown spells. Consider MageSlayer or ResilientWIS instead of Slasher.
The Ranger is build around the „spell“ HuntersMark. There is not so much synergy anymore with Barb. GloomStalker has been nerfed in 2024. So the combi Barb+GloomStalker is not that superb anymore.
Let me please know if that was helpful.
Cheers
Thanks for the tips! I did replace slasher with resilient wisdom but I decided to stick with the ranger multiclass and path of giant.
Path of giant gives me a lot more damage buffs than I'd get with berserker and the benefit of being able to grow large now, and in layer levels, huge - which comes with it a lot of benefits in my campaign.
Ranger was nerfed I think in earlier playtests but as of now it's largely similar to what it was prior to 2024. Still invisible in the dark to those relying on dark vision for easy advantage in most encounters, and the dread striker damage being able to be used anytime now is actually a buff compared to how it was before.
The spellcasting feature of the ranger class I intend to use for out of combat utility. Setting traps, alarms so we don't get surprised during our long rests, etc.
As far as the feats, mathematically they are bad yeah. I think they only add like 0.3 to the average damage every attack iirc. But the way I see it is it also eliminates my chance of rolling underwhelming damage if I get a crit. Too many times have I got a crit on my current PC, and just rolled a bunch of 1s and 2s..for damage that totalled less than I get with a non critical