Hi all. I’ve got a pretty new player at my table that is playing a Goliath Barbarian 3/Path of the storm herald. 

STR: 17, DEX: 13, CON: 15, INT: 8, WIS: 12, CHA: 10

We’ll be hitting level 4 soon and he’s looking at options. He wants to do a little more than “I hit it with my axe and stay where I am”

He could multiclass as a Rogue, Blood Hunter or Fighter with the stats that he’s got, stick with it and improve his abilities, carrying on with the barbarian route and hopefully enjoy the new features more or take a feat but I’m just unsure what to suggest. 

Thanks in advance. 

Hi there, 

I would say it totally depends on his preferred play style. Only he will know what you want out of his character. If he wants to be a beast then sticking with barbarian with give him a ton of hit points. Rouge route gives him different options for rp and exploration play. A fighter multiclass gives him a fight style but at the next level gives him that action surge which is good. Feat wise could take skilled to give him more options out of combat to utilise different proficiences. 

Have a chat with him and find out exactly what it is he wants the character to do that way you can help him out a lot more. 

Not sure what to say, martial characters tend to attack and stay where they are if their position is still good.  Specifically for a storm barbarian they can try to be maneuvering around to maximize the aura pulses. (They are using the bonus action pulses I’m assuming.) They could feat into some maneuvers (or more long term get some fighter levels and go battle master.)

You definitely should hold off on multiclassing until you hit 6th level.  The ASI and Extra Attack at 4th and 5th level, respectively, are just too valuable.

He can't go into blood hunter. You need 13 int. Just stay barb. If they are really bored, then maybe they could put their strength and wisdom up with the ASI. After 6th level, go moon druid. It's very fun.

Thanks everyone for your comments. Really appreciate it. I’ll have a chat with him and find out where he really wants to take it but will definitely advise holding off on the multiclassing until at least 6th Level if at all. 

@Bramblefootdruid - There must be something up with D&D Beyond because it’s giving the option to Multiclass as a Blood Hunter. I was unaware of the intelligence 13 prerequisite until you mentioned it. 

That must be a bug. Either way, RAW, you can't. Good luck!

Take a look through the magic item list. Plenty of those can open up new tactical options that he can use without changing classes. I agree with 6th that he really should stick it out to 5 at least. Bumping STR and DEX or CON at 4 will be huge, as will Extra Attack at 5.

One other option would be a feat at 4, preferably one that at least bumps his STR as well. Tavern Brawler maybe?

So. Many. odd. Numbers.

Take the ability score increase and make two of those odd numbers even. Get the Str to 18, and the Dex or Con to an even number. Extra Dex = Extra AC and Initiative, extra Con equals extra AC and extra HP. For a barbarian, I'd just do that. I know Great Weapon Master is tempting, but your player has an opportunity to pick up +1 to hit, +1 to damage, +1 to AC, and +4 hp (with an additional hp every level thereafter). Those sound small, but they are huge, especially because raging barbarians take half damage, because 4 hp suddenly becomes 8 hp.

And yeah, if you're going to multiclass, do it at 6. Get the ASI and the double attack. If your Barbarian wants some extra options, a Battlemaster or Cavalier Fighter or a Swashbuckler Rogue would give some fun combat options (you need to use a finesse weapon for sneak attack, doesn't mean you need to use Dexterity for your damage), and a Scout Rogue gives you all kinds of mobility options. Blood Hunter, Eldritch Knight, and Arcane Trickster are all bad choices - I don't know if the Blood Hunter's abilities can't be used while raging, but it seems like they'd be somewhat limited - and as stated above, the Blood Hunter requires 13 Int.

Another point to consider is as the dm are you making it interesting for him. What is his background can you tie that into his story line. Draw his character into the adventure and make him more then hack and slash. I play with a player who was a dwarf barbarian in our last campaign. Took it level 20 and had a blast dominating combat. Starting new campaign he said how bored he was as a barbarian. Now he's playing an elf wizard. Story line stated all about him and all he talks about is how much fun his bard was.  Lol. Grass is always greener.

Quote from LukeHez92 >>

Thanks everyone for your comments. Really appreciate it. I’ll have a chat with him and find out where he really wants to take it but will definitely advise holding off on the multiclassing until at least 6th Level if at all. 

@Bramblefootdruid - There must be something up with D&D Beyond because it’s giving the option to Multiclass as a Blood Hunter. I was unaware of the intelligence 13 prerequisite until you mentioned it. 

 There’s a setting you can use to turn pre reqs off.

Ah, didn't know that.

It's under Use Prerequisites ->  Multiclass requirements.  It defaults to being turned on though, so someone had to have made the conscious decision to turn it off.

As someone whose been playing a Storm Herald Barbarian with similar stats, I actually took Tavern Brawler at level 4. It rounded off my STR score to a solid 18. It doesn't get a lot of use in straightforward, fight-to-the-death combat, since in those situations I'm fighting with a Great Axe and using my Aura as a bonus action each round. But it opened up a lot of cool stuff to do in more complex combat... like fighting without plans to kill, or pulling off crazy moves just for fun. With Tavern Brawler you can punch someone in the gut, then grapple them, then pick them up and use them to beat the crap out of someone else, and you're proficient in it. I've lost track of how many times I've picked up a Goblin and thrown them at other enemies.

Tavern Brawler is of a bit more assistance to Battleragers, assuming you want to regularly grab foes to impale them for extra damage.  I'm still not sure I'd call it especially useful, though.

Grappling is one instance where you might want to use a versatile weapon rather than a full up two hander.  You can then switch between two-hand mode, and grapple hack hack hack and back to 2h mode seamlessly.  For the most part I agree though, tavern brawler isn't a very good option.

Quote from RWinnie >>

So. Many. odd. Numbers.

Take the ability score increase and make two of those odd numbers even. Get the Str to 18, and the Dex or Con to an even number. Extra Dex = Extra AC and Initiative, extra Con equals extra AC and extra HP.

And yeah, if you're going to multiclass, do it at 6. Get the ASI and the double attack.

 This is my advice as well.  Pick up Str = 18 and Con = 16 and think about your options after level 5.

Quote from MusicScout >>

Quote from RWinnie >>

So. Many. odd. Numbers.

Take the ability score increase and make two of those odd numbers even. Get the Str to 18, and the Dex or Con to an even number. Extra Dex = Extra AC and Initiative, extra Con equals extra AC and extra HP.

And yeah, if you're going to multiclass, do it at 6. Get the ASI and the double attack.

 This is my advice as well.  Pick up Str = 18 and Con = 16 and think about your options after level 5.

 I second this aswell. The raw stats just give you so much as a Barbarian. Fighter is almost always a nice multiclass-option, personally i would take a look at the Sentinel-Feat for later levels aswell, as it gives you alot of control options and makes the player feel more agency in battle while still keeping the theme of the character.