so I've been looking at half orc and variant human. Rules. I'm trying to theory craft from level 1.. Assuming those rules which would you prefer for your barbarian
I kind of figured a human with great weapon feat would be a good choice with similar stats. Who then maxes out his strength and con for the rest of his career.
The half orc in my head would wait til level 4 and then max his stats.
Get a storm giant belt, get a dex blessing, a constitution blessing, read from vecna's book, and get path of the zealot.
Then when you're about to die, activate rage and live for about a minute. Cleric then casts revivify, requiring no material components, and then start over again. Wow... wizards at the coast just made barbarians the MOST overpowered class ever.
DM in the kobold fight club "Yes i know this is insane, but my usual players are murderhobos." Birdman in adventures in faerun "Flapping wings" (telepathy) "The enemies are overwhelming us, i'll go break their minds." Irthos Bladesinger in trouble in timberbottom (DED) (All PbP)
I haven't played a half-orc seriously, though my favorite character is my variant human barb. Taking Great Weapon Master to sometimes increase the number of attacks you can make per round is absolutely killer at low levels. Yes, the half-orc gets his extra dice on a crit and can choose not to die once in a while, but all barbarians eventually get those as class features. At level 1, that big ol' sword your'e swinging is already gonna cleave the average goblin in two with a single stroke. Why not cleave TWO goblins in half while you're at it? The way I see it, taking the feat early gives you more Ability Score Improvements to use for actually improving your ability scores.
Totally thinking the same thing. But at the same time I was thinking sentinel or savage attacker would be cool for flavor. But that extra attack if you kill someone seems like too good of a feat to give up not taking first.
Do you want to remain Barbarian level 1-20 (or whatever you end at)? Or would you be open to multi-classing?
Half-Orcs make really good crit-fishers with their Savage Attacks ability. This paired with Brutal Critical and the Champion's extended critical range make for incredibly high damaging attacks. Also, Barbarians can reckless attack on their turn for advantage on all of their attacks.
I was hoping to make a level 20 barbarian. The thought of 24 str sounds awesome and reality is I may never find a belt of strength or something similar.
Great Weapon Master is fun early game, but at tier one it is most useful for it's ability to use your bonus action to attack than the power attack feature. Personally, I'd still stick with Half-Orc for it's early game survivability. Pick GWM up at level 4 or 8 after you get a strength or proficiency bump.
Yeah. I had the gwm in my first game and never even got to use the bonus attack. Either the DM spread everyone out or they were all dead. Not what I was expecting
I like my Half-Orc a lot. Tornn the Wanderer. At level 4 I maxed out his Con and ignored feats altogether. Path of the Totem Warrior, pick Bear, and reckless attack all day long. In our party he's taken more damage than every other character combined but totally worth it. And the Darkvision, Relentless Endurance, and Savage attacks make a half-orc is so powerful.
Variant Humans are a lot of fun, but if you're going for function, Half-orc.
I like the idea of atypical match-ups between classes and races. I built a female stout halfling barbarian named Lillian Padfoot (Lillypad to her friends). She's a cute little halfling with a short temper and you don't want to piss her off. Good rolled stats helped with her strength. Race bonuses to dex and con helped with unarmored defense, and re-rolling 1s is fantastic!
Barb is a class that I like to take if the Ability rolls come through strong as feats really make the class shine in combat. Given good rolls I like being a Half-Orc and taking three levels of fighter for the Champion archetype then taking Barb to max level. Side note here I have found it is very rare a group will see regular level 20 play and usually end up at 15 or 16 as a max and plan for that instead of 20.
This leaves my beefy Half-Orc barb at F3/B13+ which is a very functional build if you take feats that synergize with already gained features. On average using a Great Axe is un-optimal, but I usually do anyways as it fits the character and works well with GWF to re-roll pesky 1's and 2's they sure are fun to roll critical's with, especially when you are throwing down 5d12.
Interestingly enough Mobile is a great feat for this class, and GWM is a must imo.
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so I've been looking at half orc and variant human. Rules. I'm trying to theory craft from level 1.. Assuming those rules which would you prefer for your barbarian
I kind of figured a human with great weapon feat would be a good choice with similar stats. Who then maxes out his strength and con for the rest of his career.
The half orc in my head would wait til level 4 and then max his stats.
Or how so you RP your barbarian?
Get a storm giant belt, get a dex blessing, a constitution blessing, read from vecna's book, and get path of the zealot.
Then when you're about to die, activate rage and live for about a minute. Cleric then casts revivify, requiring no material components, and then start over again. Wow... wizards at the coast just made barbarians the MOST overpowered class ever.
I'm that cat guy, and i do stuff. Youtube account: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGyrtkNMBOOCxyH4Eueno3w
Tabaxi Bard Level 15
DM in the kobold fight club "Yes i know this is insane, but my usual players are murderhobos."
Birdman in adventures in faerun "Flapping wings" (telepathy) "The enemies are overwhelming us, i'll go break their minds."
Irthos Bladesinger in trouble in timberbottom (DED)
(All PbP)
Yeah actually I'm not talking about imagining something for some broken campaign you play...
Just What's better for the early play. Would the feat trade off as a variant be human outweigh the half orc racial traits.
I haven't played a half-orc seriously, though my favorite character is my variant human barb. Taking Great Weapon Master to sometimes increase the number of attacks you can make per round is absolutely killer at low levels. Yes, the half-orc gets his extra dice on a crit and can choose not to die once in a while, but all barbarians eventually get those as class features. At level 1, that big ol' sword your'e swinging is already gonna cleave the average goblin in two with a single stroke. Why not cleave TWO goblins in half while you're at it? The way I see it, taking the feat early gives you more Ability Score Improvements to use for actually improving your ability scores.
Totally thinking the same thing. But at the same time I was thinking sentinel or savage attacker would be cool for flavor. But that extra attack if you kill someone seems like too good of a feat to give up not taking first.
If you have the opportunity to take another feat after GWM, I'd recommend Sentinel just because MOAR ATTACKS.
Do you want to remain Barbarian level 1-20 (or whatever you end at)? Or would you be open to multi-classing?
Half-Orcs make really good crit-fishers with their Savage Attacks ability. This paired with Brutal Critical and the Champion's extended critical range make for incredibly high damaging attacks. Also, Barbarians can reckless attack on their turn for advantage on all of their attacks.
I was hoping to make a level 20 barbarian. The thought of 24 str sounds awesome and reality is I may never find a belt of strength or something similar.
Great Weapon Master is fun early game, but at tier one it is most useful for it's ability to use your bonus action to attack than the power attack feature. Personally, I'd still stick with Half-Orc for it's early game survivability. Pick GWM up at level 4 or 8 after you get a strength or proficiency bump.
Yeah. I had the gwm in my first game and never even got to use the bonus attack. Either the DM spread everyone out or they were all dead. Not what I was expecting
I like my Half-Orc a lot. Tornn the Wanderer. At level 4 I maxed out his Con and ignored feats altogether. Path of the Totem Warrior, pick Bear, and reckless attack all day long. In our party he's taken more damage than every other character combined but totally worth it. And the Darkvision, Relentless Endurance, and Savage attacks make a half-orc is so powerful.
Variant Humans are a lot of fun, but if you're going for function, Half-orc.
I like the idea of atypical match-ups between classes and races. I built a female stout halfling barbarian named Lillian Padfoot (Lillypad to her friends). She's a cute little halfling with a short temper and you don't want to piss her off. Good rolled stats helped with her strength. Race bonuses to dex and con helped with unarmored defense, and re-rolling 1s is fantastic!
Pain Heals, Chicks Dig Scars, Glory Lasts Forever!
Barb is a class that I like to take if the Ability rolls come through strong as feats really make the class shine in combat. Given good rolls I like being a Half-Orc and taking three levels of fighter for the Champion archetype then taking Barb to max level. Side note here I have found it is very rare a group will see regular level 20 play and usually end up at 15 or 16 as a max and plan for that instead of 20.
This leaves my beefy Half-Orc barb at F3/B13+ which is a very functional build if you take feats that synergize with already gained features. On average using a Great Axe is un-optimal, but I usually do anyways as it fits the character and works well with GWF to re-roll pesky 1's and 2's they sure are fun to roll critical's with, especially when you are throwing down 5d12.
Interestingly enough Mobile is a great feat for this class, and GWM is a must imo.