I'm looking to play a GWM barbarian in an upcoming campaign. I'm really struggling to decide which Path to select - or if I should multiclass out of barbarian after 2nd level. I'm going 2nd level barbarian purely for Reckless Attacks due to how well it synergises with GWM. After that I'm unsure. Possibly stay barbarian to 5th just to rush up for Extra Attack. But I could m/c Fighter (or Ranger or Paladin potentially) and accept that I will put off Extra Attack till 7th level (Bar2/Fig5).
My focus is to maximize GWM; I'm not tied to any particular class.
I'm looking to play a GWM barbarian in an upcoming campaign. I'm really struggling to decide which Path to select - or if I should multiclass out of barbarian after 2nd level. I'm going 2nd level barbarian purely for Reckless Attacks due to how well it synergises with GWM. After that I'm unsure. Possibly stay barbarian to 5th just to rush up for Extra Attack. But I could m/c Fighter (or Ranger or Paladin potentially) and accept that I will put off Extra Attack till 7th level (Bar2/Fig5).
My focus is to maximize GWM; I'm not tied to any particular class.
Any suggestions?
Thanks Blakey
Delaying getting extra attack is generally a pretty bad idea. I'd consider either sticking with Barbarian to level 5 or starting with Fighter until 5 and then taking two levels of Barbarian. Getting that extra attack is effectively a 100% increase in your damage output.
If you stick with Barbarian Totem Warrior is always a strong option. Bear's resistance to everything will help compensate for no shield/always attacking recklessly, and then Tiger at level 14, if your game goes that high, can give you a possible 3rd attack as a bonus action if you move 20 ft straight towards an enemy. Storm Herald could be good using Tundra, use your bonus action every turn you're not getting a 3rd attack from GWM to give yourself some temp HP to help keep you alive. Berserker has the obvious drawback of Exhaustion after Frenzy but the offensive power you can throw out while frenzied is awesome. Maybe you and your DM could work out alternative Frenzy mechanics that involve making a Con save after a frenzied Rage.
If you stick with Barbarian until 5 and still want to multiclass consider 3 levels of Fighter to pick up Champion's improved critical. It doesn't seem like much, but with advantage you'll have an almost 1 in 5 chance of rolling a 19 or 20 and with GWM every turn that you crit you can use a bonus action to make an additional attack.
I'm looking to play a GWM barbarian in an upcoming campaign. I'm really struggling to decide which Path to select - or if I should multiclass out of barbarian after 2nd level. I'm going 2nd level barbarian purely for Reckless Attacks due to how well it synergises with GWM. After that I'm unsure. Possibly stay barbarian to 5th just to rush up for Extra Attack. But I could m/c Fighter (or Ranger or Paladin potentially) and accept that I will put off Extra Attack till 7th level (Bar2/Fig5).
My focus is to maximize GWM; I'm not tied to any particular class.
Any suggestions?
Thanks Blakey
If all you care about is GWM, a Rogue (Assassin) can guarantee crits (but surprise is very hard to pull off in reality). Half-Orcs make excellent Barbarian/Champions, but another approach entirely is an Elven Hexlock, which will let you combine GWM with Elven Accuracy - you use Devil's Sight and Darkness to get your hands on advantage, instead of Reckless Attack. As a bonus, critting will also apply to Hex damage.
As for Path, Totem is always good, but if you're fishing for crits anyway, Zealot will get you another damage die that will double when you crit, but only once per turn and only on your turn. Both Zealot and Storm Herald
You wanna be the hardest hitting slugger barbarian?
Zealot. No contest.
Pick up the acolyte background, and not even death can scare you. Best part is that zealot's a class that kind of reinforces staying as a purebred the whole way thanks to divine fury scaling with your level. It's not exactly necessary to multiclass, it works great. I've got a lvl 9 zealot, 18 STR and GWM, and equipped with a flametongue greatsword. Bro, I'm hitting hard for an average of 43 damage the first hit, and 34 the second hit. Because I'm dealing over 75 damage a round, I'm usually downing my target and proccing the bonus action from GWM, so I'm hitting more like 100 DPR, more often than not.
V human is better cause you can start off with that feat, from a purely mechanical, combat perspective. I personally hate playing as a human in any game out of principle, so I avoid it when possible.Custom lineage is best IMO, though you'd have slightly less stats cause you only get a single +1 in creation, but worth it for starting with GWM and having dark vision.
Half orc gets dark vision, stronger crits, and better staying power with the racial. It's also the choice I went with for my zealot. You can also make use of the+2 str boost in creation to get an odd STR score and pick up a half feat like skill expert or orcish fury.
You can start off with either a great sword, great axe, or pole arm. I like swords, so I went with great sword. Pole arm is pretty useful if only for the extra reach at the coat of a teensy bit of damage, but you can start with both, so I recommend that.
Go full Berserker without worries. Remember you can choose whether to go Frenzy or not, you can manage the Exhaustion issue tightly in case your DM doesn’t alleviate this for you. My DM allows one Exhaustion-free Frenzy per long rest. It will be two by level 6 (once we get 4x Rages per long rest).
Also in level 6, you gain one of the best defensive abilities of any Barbarian: immunity to Charm and Frighten. It’s not resistance, it’s full immunity!
GWM + Reckless Attack + 3x attacks at level 5 is insane. If you go vHuman, you can do all that and still get STR 18 at level 4 instead of PAM. And even when you don’t Frenzy, 2x attacks with GWM will always keep your DPR highly consistent, specially if you are fighting swarms and minions, because then you can leverage the bonus action extra attack from GWM as well.
In a nutshell: hard encounters, go Frenzy and destroy BBEGs. Easy to medium encounters, simply Rage and try to leverage the secondary benefit of GWM with bonus action extra attack after killing as much as possible.
Go full Berserker without worries. Remember you can choose whether to go Frenzy or not, you can manage the Exhaustion issue tightly in case your DM doesn’t alleviate this for you. My DM allows one Exhaustion-free Frenzy per long rest. It will be two by level 6 (once we get 4x Rages per long rest).
Also in level 6, you gain one of the best defensive abilities of any Barbarian: immunity to Charm and Frighten. It’s not resistance, it’s full immunity!
GWM + Reckless Attack + 3x attacks at level 5 is insane. If you go vHuman, you can do all that and still get STR 18 at level 4 instead of PAM. And even when you don’t Frenzy, 2x attacks with GWM will always keep your DPR highly consistent, specially if you are fighting swarms and minions, because then you can leverage the bonus action extra attack from GWM as well.
In a nutshell: hard encounters, go Frenzy and destroy BBEGs. Easy to medium encounters, simply Rage and try to leverage the secondary benefit of GWM with bonus action extra attack after killing as much as possible.
Believe me when I say that unlike the majority of the player base, I don't think berserker is terrible. That charm immunity is very sweet. However, the benefit of frenzy is not as nice if you get PAM with GWM. Essentially, by lvl 8 a vhuman zealot compared to a berserker will only be lagging in STR, which is not a big deal considering reckless makes up for missing accuracy and divine fury (more than) makes up for missing damage. Defensively, you also have your own version of indomitable with fanatical focus. Not as good as immunity, but still good.
I like Berserker as well. PAM + GWM combo is great, but only viable at level 4 for vHuman/Custom or level 8 for any other race. And you’ll have 16 STR, which is annoying. It’s hard to apply and Berserker makes really easier.
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I'm looking to play a GWM barbarian in an upcoming campaign. I'm really struggling to decide which Path to select - or if I should multiclass out of barbarian after 2nd level. I'm going 2nd level barbarian purely for Reckless Attacks due to how well it synergises with GWM. After that I'm unsure. Possibly stay barbarian to 5th just to rush up for Extra Attack. But I could m/c Fighter (or Ranger or Paladin potentially) and accept that I will put off Extra Attack till 7th level (Bar2/Fig5).
My focus is to maximize GWM; I'm not tied to any particular class.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
Blakey
My Homebrew World: The World of Rodinia
Novels Published: Reynard's Fate, Kita's Honour and Callindrill
Delaying getting extra attack is generally a pretty bad idea. I'd consider either sticking with Barbarian to level 5 or starting with Fighter until 5 and then taking two levels of Barbarian. Getting that extra attack is effectively a 100% increase in your damage output.
If you stick with Barbarian Totem Warrior is always a strong option. Bear's resistance to everything will help compensate for no shield/always attacking recklessly, and then Tiger at level 14, if your game goes that high, can give you a possible 3rd attack as a bonus action if you move 20 ft straight towards an enemy. Storm Herald could be good using Tundra, use your bonus action every turn you're not getting a 3rd attack from GWM to give yourself some temp HP to help keep you alive. Berserker has the obvious drawback of Exhaustion after Frenzy but the offensive power you can throw out while frenzied is awesome. Maybe you and your DM could work out alternative Frenzy mechanics that involve making a Con save after a frenzied Rage.
If you stick with Barbarian until 5 and still want to multiclass consider 3 levels of Fighter to pick up Champion's improved critical. It doesn't seem like much, but with advantage you'll have an almost 1 in 5 chance of rolling a 19 or 20 and with GWM every turn that you crit you can use a bonus action to make an additional attack.
If all you care about is GWM, a Rogue (Assassin) can guarantee crits (but surprise is very hard to pull off in reality). Half-Orcs make excellent Barbarian/Champions, but another approach entirely is an Elven Hexlock, which will let you combine GWM with Elven Accuracy - you use Devil's Sight and Darkness to get your hands on advantage, instead of Reckless Attack. As a bonus, critting will also apply to Hex damage.
As for Path, Totem is always good, but if you're fishing for crits anyway, Zealot will get you another damage die that will double when you crit, but only once per turn and only on your turn. Both Zealot and Storm Herald
Bro.
You wanna be the hardest hitting slugger barbarian?
Zealot. No contest.
Pick up the acolyte background, and not even death can scare you. Best part is that zealot's a class that kind of reinforces staying as a purebred the whole way thanks to divine fury scaling with your level. It's not exactly necessary to multiclass, it works great. I've got a lvl 9 zealot, 18 STR and GWM, and equipped with a flametongue greatsword. Bro, I'm hitting hard for an average of 43 damage the first hit, and 34 the second hit. Because I'm dealing over 75 damage a round, I'm usually downing my target and proccing the bonus action from GWM, so I'm hitting more like 100 DPR, more often than not.
Just to add to this as we start the campaign tomorrow, which race should I go?
Half-orc and pick up GWM at 4th level?
Variant human or Custom Lineage and pick up GWM at 1st?
Whats the common wisdom there?
My Homebrew World: The World of Rodinia
Novels Published: Reynard's Fate, Kita's Honour and Callindrill
And which weapon?
My Homebrew World: The World of Rodinia
Novels Published: Reynard's Fate, Kita's Honour and Callindrill
V human is better cause you can start off with that feat, from a purely mechanical, combat perspective. I personally hate playing as a human in any game out of principle, so I avoid it when possible.Custom lineage is best IMO, though you'd have slightly less stats cause you only get a single +1 in creation, but worth it for starting with GWM and having dark vision.
Half orc gets dark vision, stronger crits, and better staying power with the racial. It's also the choice I went with for my zealot. You can also make use of the+2 str boost in creation to get an odd STR score and pick up a half feat like skill expert or orcish fury.
You can start off with either a great sword, great axe, or pole arm. I like swords, so I went with great sword. Pole arm is pretty useful if only for the extra reach at the coat of a teensy bit of damage, but you can start with both, so I recommend that.
Go full Berserker without worries. Remember you can choose whether to go Frenzy or not, you can manage the Exhaustion issue tightly in case your DM doesn’t alleviate this for you. My DM allows one Exhaustion-free Frenzy per long rest. It will be two by level 6 (once we get 4x Rages per long rest).
Also in level 6, you gain one of the best defensive abilities of any Barbarian: immunity to Charm and Frighten. It’s not resistance, it’s full immunity!
GWM + Reckless Attack + 3x attacks at level 5 is insane. If you go vHuman, you can do all that and still get STR 18 at level 4 instead of PAM. And even when you don’t Frenzy, 2x attacks with GWM will always keep your DPR highly consistent, specially if you are fighting swarms and minions, because then you can leverage the bonus action extra attack from GWM as well.
In a nutshell: hard encounters, go Frenzy and destroy BBEGs. Easy to medium encounters, simply Rage and try to leverage the secondary benefit of GWM with bonus action extra attack after killing as much as possible.
Believe me when I say that unlike the majority of the player base, I don't think berserker is terrible. That charm immunity is very sweet. However, the benefit of frenzy is not as nice if you get PAM with GWM. Essentially, by lvl 8 a vhuman zealot compared to a berserker will only be lagging in STR, which is not a big deal considering reckless makes up for missing accuracy and divine fury (more than) makes up for missing damage. Defensively, you also have your own version of indomitable with fanatical focus. Not as good as immunity, but still good.
I like Berserker as well. PAM + GWM combo is great, but only viable at level 4 for vHuman/Custom or level 8 for any other race. And you’ll have 16 STR, which is annoying. It’s hard to apply and Berserker makes really easier.