My Dm has allowed me to give a low level barbarian gauntlets of ogre power, as long as I handicap the barbarian to balance out the 19 str at the low level. Any tips on good handicaps?
Not sure I understand the handicap, given this is just a +4 starting strength which easy enough to get anyway. If ya roll for stats a starting score could even be 20 with racial bonus.
But oh well.
So I dunno, maybe you cannot benefit from the Barb's unarmoured defence bonus while wearing them? I'm guessing that's a better balance since instead of investing in strength you can invest more than normal in dex and con to more greatly improve your AC than what you'd normally start with? This would mean you're less likely to dump everything in those so you have more to invest in mental scores and break away from the "dumb barb" stereotype. That would be interesting and make you having the item at start actually worth something.
Not sure Barbarians need any additional handicap to be honest. They already have practically zero ranged capabilities and if you're out of Rage for the day you are just a bad Fighter anyway.
However if your DM really insists on a handicap, just decrease one of your other stats by 1 (preferably not DEX or CON). Gauntlets of Ogre Power effectively only turn your STR mod from a +3 to a +4 until you put your first ASI into STR where it then becomes obsolete.
Honestly, personally I'd probably just not take the gauntlets on a character that aims to max STR in the first place. The benefit is really really small.
Is this on an existing character or one you are about ot create? What level are you expecting to pay to? How high a magic is your campaign.
Barbarians are fairly MAD so If the Gauntlets allow you to dump strength you are able to put all your strength points elsewhere, with point buy you could go variant human for 8/15+1/15+1/10/12/11 and great weapon master. Putting you significantly better than 15+1/14/15+1/8/10/8 which is the best you could hope for without the gauntlets, not only higher strength but also high dex (for higher AC,better initiative and better saves) but also not sucking at wis saves, perception and charisma checks. As a DM I say they need ot invest at least 14 points into strength though they can choose to have less if for role play reasons they want ot be weak without the gloves.
If the barbarian already has +3 to strength all it does if ut it up to +4, so the buff is much smaller. If you want an equivalent handicap to cancel your gain One option would be to reduce your Con (or possibly Dex) by 2. You gain a +1 modifier in your most important stat but lose 1 in one of your other important stats. This would be a very samll improvement but effectively rules out the option of maxing strength at level 8 (and probably beyond). You could use your ASI at level 4 to get your lost stat back and be in the same position as if you had takes +2 strength without the gloves you also have the option of a feat.
Many barbariance favour feats over max strength at the mid levels and only max strength at maybe level 12 or 16 so effectively you are a little more powerful for levels 1-4 and the ability to essentially trade +2 in dex or con for a feat after that.
The BIG problem is that the gloves take an attunement slot. At low levels that is not an issue, there will come a point where you would like to an extra attunemt slot and some time later you would be hating having to take an ASI just to free up an attunemt slot.
Therefore I think the most balanced option is to sacrifice +2 in Dex or Con but at somepoint (probably around level 8 depending on how high a magic the camapaign is) you can benfit from the gloves without them taking up an attunement slot.
An even better option would be to let all the other players have a magic item of similar power.
I'd really advice against dumping your main stat just because you got such an item. First of all, it means you're never going to max it out so you'll be stuck at the +4 forever. Secondly in case you lose the item or you're in a situation where it doesn't work you'll be basically useless. The initial gain by doing this might be quite high but it really doesn't outweighs the problems it creates.
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My Dm has allowed me to give a low level barbarian gauntlets of ogre power, as long as I handicap the barbarian to balance out the 19 str at the low level. Any tips on good handicaps?
Not sure I understand the handicap, given this is just a +4 starting strength which easy enough to get anyway. If ya roll for stats a starting score could even be 20 with racial bonus.
But oh well.
So I dunno, maybe you cannot benefit from the Barb's unarmoured defence bonus while wearing them? I'm guessing that's a better balance since instead of investing in strength you can invest more than normal in dex and con to more greatly improve your AC than what you'd normally start with? This would mean you're less likely to dump everything in those so you have more to invest in mental scores and break away from the "dumb barb" stereotype. That would be interesting and make you having the item at start actually worth something.
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Not sure Barbarians need any additional handicap to be honest. They already have practically zero ranged capabilities and if you're out of Rage for the day you are just a bad Fighter anyway.
However if your DM really insists on a handicap, just decrease one of your other stats by 1 (preferably not DEX or CON). Gauntlets of Ogre Power effectively only turn your STR mod from a +3 to a +4 until you put your first ASI into STR where it then becomes obsolete.
Honestly, personally I'd probably just not take the gauntlets on a character that aims to max STR in the first place. The benefit is really really small.
I've never encountered a forum where I got this many "talking to a wall" impressions as this one...
Is this on an existing character or one you are about ot create? What level are you expecting to pay to? How high a magic is your campaign.
Barbarians are fairly MAD so If the Gauntlets allow you to dump strength you are able to put all your strength points elsewhere, with point buy you could go variant human for 8/15+1/15+1/10/12/11 and great weapon master. Putting you significantly better than 15+1/14/15+1/8/10/8 which is the best you could hope for without the gauntlets, not only higher strength but also high dex (for higher AC,better initiative and better saves) but also not sucking at wis saves, perception and charisma checks. As a DM I say they need ot invest at least 14 points into strength though they can choose to have less if for role play reasons they want ot be weak without the gloves.
If the barbarian already has +3 to strength all it does if ut it up to +4, so the buff is much smaller. If you want an equivalent handicap to cancel your gain One option would be to reduce your Con (or possibly Dex) by 2. You gain a +1 modifier in your most important stat but lose 1 in one of your other important stats. This would be a very samll improvement but effectively rules out the option of maxing strength at level 8 (and probably beyond). You could use your ASI at level 4 to get your lost stat back and be in the same position as if you had takes +2 strength without the gloves you also have the option of a feat.
Many barbariance favour feats over max strength at the mid levels and only max strength at maybe level 12 or 16 so effectively you are a little more powerful for levels 1-4 and the ability to essentially trade +2 in dex or con for a feat after that.
The BIG problem is that the gloves take an attunement slot. At low levels that is not an issue, there will come a point where you would like to an extra attunemt slot and some time later you would be hating having to take an ASI just to free up an attunemt slot.
Therefore I think the most balanced option is to sacrifice +2 in Dex or Con but at somepoint (probably around level 8 depending on how high a magic the camapaign is) you can benfit from the gloves without them taking up an attunement slot.
An even better option would be to let all the other players have a magic item of similar power.
I'd really advice against dumping your main stat just because you got such an item. First of all, it means you're never going to max it out so you'll be stuck at the +4 forever. Secondly in case you lose the item or you're in a situation where it doesn't work you'll be basically useless. The initial gain by doing this might be quite high but it really doesn't outweighs the problems it creates.
I've never encountered a forum where I got this many "talking to a wall" impressions as this one...