I'm currently playing through Stork King's Thunder right now and we're currently level 3. I've decided to be the parties main meat shield but am having a hard time wrapping my head around how I'm supposed to mitigate the most damage possible. With a 27 point buy Goliath combination I have 15 Dex and 16 Con which is giving me 15 AC. If I use a shield that's 17. I guess that's pretty decent with the DR to everything (Primal Path: Bear) not Physic. Once we hit level 4 I plan on bumping my Str and Dex both one to put them in the next modifier threshold. This will put my AC at 18 with a shield. That might be fine; however, I just had a Paladin die in this game who was using shield of faith to boost AC to 21 so I'm a little nervous.
Your rage damage resistance makes all the difference for being a damage sponge, paladins can't even compare. So yes, you may take a few more hits, but since many of the hits are at half damage you'll still be fine.
Thanks. I assumed that was the case I just really couldn't tell without playing through it. I never played a Barbarian before. Also what do you guys think about multi classing into Fighter after level 5? Action Surge, Fighting Style (probably +1AC via Defensive fighting), Combat maneuvers, and two ASI's if I stay until 11. That's my current plan I'm just not sure yet.
I wouldn't multiclass. Nearly all of the Barbarians 11+ features are insane for someone who really wants to tank, and the lvl 20 feature is like four ASI with a cap increase! Heck, at lvl 18th I'd even drop the shield to always grapple a foe with the free hand, since you'll never "roll" lower than 20.
And the 14th level totemic Bear feature is one of the precious few features that straight up force an enemy to hit you or suffer disadvantage.
Barbarians mostly do damage mitigation, where the paladin dies from taking a shot that does 50 damage, you are able to tank two of those hits because you take reduced damage while enraged. Plus as a goliath you can reduce that damage even further.
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Hell yeah I am going to Polymorph the boss into a Rabbit. I have always wanted a being a pure evil stuffed into a ball of fluff.
Forget about AC, focus on HP, because when you attack recklessly, as you nearly always should if you're above 50% hp, they're probably going to hit you anyway. Go Con and Str and don't worry so much about Dex or AC in general. Keep a hand free for grappling, and remember that the dodge action is your friend, then get into the thick of it and see if you aren't the last man standing!
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'Don't do something you can't undo until you've thought about what you can't do once you've done it.' -Prince Regal, the Farseer Chronicles
You can stack a ridiculous amount of HP as a barb, especially when you factor in all of your dmg resistance. You're going to take hits, they just aren't going to hurt you nearly as much as they will others. Ditch the shield and grab a great axe, you're a goliath so grapple folks, knock em down then drag them around for your teammates to pound the hell out of. I wouldn't multi class either the capstone talent for barbs is one of the best in the game. Also don't forget when you increase your Con you get to re-calculate your HP for all of the previous levels as well. I didn't realize this at first until I was re-reading the PHB, adds a nice chunk of extra HP when you hit max level.
As said above, the dodge action and a huge CON is your best bet. I've been the main tank, halfling barbarian, in my most recent campaign. The Lucky trait (or get the lucky feat when possible) is amazing.
Also, our campaign is high enough level that our Wizard has polymorph. This spell is super amazing as the HP total for the polymorphed version of me is completely separate from my normal body... this essentially gives us a free reset in my tanky HP total (we're high enough level that they can turn me into a T-Rex.... so damn good at being a meat shield).
Always go for lots of HP since you take half damage when raging. That effectively means that any healing item (and temp HP) is twice as effective for you. Then use your awesome mobility to soak an opportunity attack here and there to make sure you're pissing off all the people all the time. Let your party worry about killing stuff, you're just there to look pretty with blood streaming down your face.
I just played through SKT as a barbarian, retired at 11, and there was no problem tanking the module.
I'd never played a barbarian before, it was actually shockingly fun. I was worried about relying on rage too much, but it wasn't ever a problem...the cleric or wizard invariably needed a rest long before I did.
Role play fun: Play dumb a lot. My character was fine on wisdom and charisma, but I played completely stupid on anything urbane and cultured and man was it fun mocking the wizard for grabbing coins in the middle of the tundra when he could be grabbing weapons and goats. So much fun.
Being a DM and having TWO Barb's in our Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat (same party) adventures has been serious. Our team comp isn't really balanced but the Barbs do a whole lot to mitigate what I throw at them. We have one totemist and one berserker and they can take a beating. I haven't made either of them fall yet and not for lack of trying.
If your DM offers up any chance for additional magic items beyond what's in the book (haven't played Storm King myself) go for any health or AC boost you can, but I doubt you'll need much.
Don't know if you've hit your lvl 4 yet but I'd advise strongly to take the tough feat if your group is using those variant rules. If not, I'd dump your two points in con for the HP increase and 1 to AC. That being said I don't know your str, or party make up.
The best way to be a 'tank' in a non-videogameMMO environment is to kill everything fast. Using the bear totem - picking up Great Weapon Mastery - foregoing a shield for damage is what I'd suggest. You already get double the HP of anyone else through damage reduction while raging. May as well use those extra turns you're alive to smash everything and be the biggest threat to the DM's monster mash.
Current campaign has us at lvl3 soon 4 as well. I am running Mountain Dwarf Bear Totem. Through my own ignorance I too much emphasis on AS balance 15,14,15,9,9,8. I know my mistakes now...so I simply plan on dealing with it.
My plan for party protection is to use the Sentinel feat for continuous damage potential while giving the Swashbuckler and Fighter more room to move.
Reading above it seems folks look at a defensive Barbarian differently. Is Tough going to offer that much more?
Here is are a couple of good links to check out, one on feats and another barb class guide that I found to be pretty useful. I don't think Tough is all that great myself.
I'm currently playing through Stork King's Thunder right now and we're currently level 3. I've decided to be the parties main meat shield but am having a hard time wrapping my head around how I'm supposed to mitigate the most damage possible. With a 27 point buy Goliath combination I have 15 Dex and 16 Con which is giving me 15 AC. If I use a shield that's 17. I guess that's pretty decent with the DR to everything (Primal Path: Bear) not Physic. Once we hit level 4 I plan on bumping my Str and Dex both one to put them in the next modifier threshold. This will put my AC at 18 with a shield. That might be fine; however, I just had a Paladin die in this game who was using shield of faith to boost AC to 21 so I'm a little nervous.
Thoughts?
Your rage damage resistance makes all the difference for being a damage sponge, paladins can't even compare. So yes, you may take a few more hits, but since many of the hits are at half damage you'll still be fine.
I am one with the Force. The Force is with me.
Thanks. I assumed that was the case I just really couldn't tell without playing through it. I never played a Barbarian before. Also what do you guys think about multi classing into Fighter after level 5? Action Surge, Fighting Style (probably +1AC via Defensive fighting), Combat maneuvers, and two ASI's if I stay until 11. That's my current plan I'm just not sure yet.
I wouldn't multiclass. Nearly all of the Barbarians 11+ features are insane for someone who really wants to tank, and the lvl 20 feature is like four ASI with a cap increase! Heck, at lvl 18th I'd even drop the shield to always grapple a foe with the free hand, since you'll never "roll" lower than 20.
And the 14th level totemic Bear feature is one of the precious few features that straight up force an enemy to hit you or suffer disadvantage.
I am one with the Force. The Force is with me.
Also, Defense fighting style won't work if you aren't wearing armor (as sounds likely if you're a Barbarian).
Barbarians mostly do damage mitigation, where the paladin dies from taking a shot that does 50 damage, you are able to tank two of those hits because you take reduced damage while enraged. Plus as a goliath you can reduce that damage even further.
Hell yeah I am going to Polymorph the boss into a Rabbit. I have always wanted a being a pure evil stuffed into a ball of fluff.
also if you get the tough feat your health becomes MASSIVE given that most damage is halved it essentially gives you 4hp per lvl
WHAT IT DO?
Forget about AC, focus on HP, because when you attack recklessly, as you nearly always should if you're above 50% hp, they're probably going to hit you anyway. Go Con and Str and don't worry so much about Dex or AC in general. Keep a hand free for grappling, and remember that the dodge action is your friend, then get into the thick of it and see if you aren't the last man standing!
'Don't do something you can't undo until you've thought about what you can't do once you've done it.' -Prince Regal, the Farseer Chronicles
You can stack a ridiculous amount of HP as a barb, especially when you factor in all of your dmg resistance. You're going to take hits, they just aren't going to hurt you nearly as much as they will others. Ditch the shield and grab a great axe, you're a goliath so grapple folks, knock em down then drag them around for your teammates to pound the hell out of. I wouldn't multi class either the capstone talent for barbs is one of the best in the game. Also don't forget when you increase your Con you get to re-calculate your HP for all of the previous levels as well. I didn't realize this at first until I was re-reading the PHB, adds a nice chunk of extra HP when you hit max level.
As said above, the dodge action and a huge CON is your best bet. I've been the main tank, halfling barbarian, in my most recent campaign. The Lucky trait (or get the lucky feat when possible) is amazing.
Also, our campaign is high enough level that our Wizard has polymorph. This spell is super amazing as the HP total for the polymorphed version of me is completely separate from my normal body... this essentially gives us a free reset in my tanky HP total (we're high enough level that they can turn me into a T-Rex.... so damn good at being a meat shield).
Always go for lots of HP since you take half damage when raging. That effectively means that any healing item (and temp HP) is twice as effective for you. Then use your awesome mobility to soak an opportunity attack here and there to make sure you're pissing off all the people all the time. Let your party worry about killing stuff, you're just there to look pretty with blood streaming down your face.
Storm King't Thunder is targeting at ending at level 11. While everyone's points are still valid I won't have that many ASI's.
I just played through SKT as a barbarian, retired at 11, and there was no problem tanking the module.
I'd never played a barbarian before, it was actually shockingly fun. I was worried about relying on rage too much, but it wasn't ever a problem...the cleric or wizard invariably needed a rest long before I did.
Role play fun: Play dumb a lot. My character was fine on wisdom and charisma, but I played completely stupid on anything urbane and cultured and man was it fun mocking the wizard for grabbing coins in the middle of the tundra when he could be grabbing weapons and goats. So much fun.
Being a DM and having TWO Barb's in our Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat (same party) adventures has been serious. Our team comp isn't really balanced but the Barbs do a whole lot to mitigate what I throw at them. We have one totemist and one berserker and they can take a beating. I haven't made either of them fall yet and not for lack of trying.
If your DM offers up any chance for additional magic items beyond what's in the book (haven't played Storm King myself) go for any health or AC boost you can, but I doubt you'll need much.
Don't know if you've hit your lvl 4 yet but I'd advise strongly to take the tough feat if your group is using those variant rules. If not, I'd dump your two points in con for the HP increase and 1 to AC. That being said I don't know your str, or party make up.
Speaking of Goliath Barbarian, how does Stone Endurance work, does the damage it reduce apply before or after you half the damage when you are raging?
The best way to be a 'tank' in a non-videogameMMO environment is to kill everything fast. Using the bear totem - picking up Great Weapon Mastery - foregoing a shield for damage is what I'd suggest. You already get double the HP of anyone else through damage reduction while raging. May as well use those extra turns you're alive to smash everything and be the biggest threat to the DM's monster mash.
New to the forums as well as new to Barbarians.
Current campaign has us at lvl3 soon 4 as well. I am running Mountain Dwarf Bear Totem. Through my own ignorance I too much emphasis on AS balance 15,14,15,9,9,8. I know my mistakes now...so I simply plan on dealing with it.
My plan for party protection is to use the Sentinel feat for continuous damage potential while giving the Swashbuckler and Fighter more room to move.
Reading above it seems folks look at a defensive Barbarian differently. Is Tough going to offer that much more?
Pain Heals, Chicks Dig Scars, Glory Lasts Forever!
Here is are a couple of good links to check out, one on feats and another barb class guide that I found to be pretty useful. I don't think Tough is all that great myself.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?370020-a-feat-analysis-first-impressions-of-a-wannabe-optimizer
http://www.tribality.com/2015/10/26/dd-5e-character-optimization-barbarian/#4