I'm building a character for a one shot christmas theme, i was making an elf present wrapper (halfling fighter/barb) who rips his scissors in half and goes ham on the bad guys.
But in reading a bit further i've noticed that everything is strength based for rage damage.
Are there any sub classes that make an exception to this?
There aren't any subclasses that remove the dependence on Strength. It would be sorta missing the point of Barbarian otherwise...
If you're wanting an unarmored melee killing machine whom uses Dexterity, I'd suggest going Monk.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
Finesse weapons just mean you *can* use DEX, if you want. But you don't HAVE to. So I'd totally just use the stats for a pair of scimitars and call it shears.
It could be argued that a DEX Path of the Ancestral Guardian is optimal. Stand back and shoot arrows at the fiercest monster.
But for what the opening post requests, staying barbarian only, Path of the Zealot is the only way to get additional damage.
I mean, no. It would be optimal for them to also get their Rage Damage and benefit from Reckless Attack. Using anything Dexterity based, ranged or melee, prevents the barbarian from using two of their main things. Barbarians should always be using Strength in melee or else they're hugely hindering themselves.
Just out of curiosity, would there be anything broken in a homebrew allowing rage damage bonus to work from dex based attacks?
I've not really done anything much with barbarians so i don't really know if it would break anything or not.
Would reduce the MAD from barb making it easy to increase both their AC and damage. Would also let them combine rage damage with elven accuracy, which isn't really a big deal unless you extend the changes to allow reckless attack with dex as well.
Just out of curiosity, would there be anything broken in a homebrew allowing rage damage bonus to work from dex based attacks?
I've not really done anything much with barbarians so i don't really know if it would break anything or not.
Would reduce the MAD from barb making it easy to increase both their AC and damage. Would also let them combine rage damage with elven accuracy, which isn't really a big deal unless you extend the changes to allow reckless attack with dex as well.
Thanks, i didn't have an elf in mind and i wouldn't change reckless attack, just the rage damage bonus, but yeah, it does decrease the MAD reliance. So, for a one shot, probably fine, for a long term, probably not.
The rage damage imo, is the least compelling reason to use str. I'd definitely consider a dex barbarian for certain character concepts. Now giving up reckless attack...that's something that catches my attention and gives me pause.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Focusing on Dex over Strength for a Barbarian is basically just sacrificing a lot of stuff in return for a little bit of AC. It's one thing if you just magically get some Dex from somewhere (like if you rolled for stats and did amazingly), but if you're sacrificing your Strength to up your Dexterity...
Can't see why you don't think rage damage is an appealing reason to attack with Strength. +2 or more damage on every attack is exceptional.
So a few things I love the flavor of tearing apart the scissors and two weapon fighting with them.
First the scissors are obviously a reskin of a current 5E Weapon. What weapon are you basing them off? If the weapon has finesse then you can use STR or DEX instead of just DEX. This is why Barb 5/Rogue X is a popular multiclass because you can rage and reckless attack using a finesse weapon as long as you use your STR modifier to attack and still get sneak attack.
Second if you take the dual wielder feat then the scissors can be a reskin of rapiers or longswords and use STR as your modifier.
Third there is not a big difference between using DEX or STR when attacking but since you are a barb you will want to use STR which is fine. If you are purposefully wanting a DEX fighter then I suggest maybe dual wield fighter or rogue.
Fourth just as a side note make sure that when you rage you can't take your bonus action attack from dual wielding.
Focusing on Dex over Strength for a Barbarian is basically just sacrificing a lot of stuff in return for a little bit of AC. It's one thing if you just magically get some Dex from somewhere (like if you rolled for stats and did amazingly), but if you're sacrificing your Strength to up your Dexterity...
Can't see why you don't think rage damage is an appealing reason to attack with Strength. +2 or more damage on every attack is exceptional.
I can get +2 damage on every hit from a fighting style. It's pretty meh. Reckless attack however, is exceptional.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Focusing on Dex over Strength for a Barbarian is basically just sacrificing a lot of stuff in return for a little bit of AC. It's one thing if you just magically get some Dex from somewhere (like if you rolled for stats and did amazingly), but if you're sacrificing your Strength to up your Dexterity...
Can't see why you don't think rage damage is an appealing reason to attack with Strength. +2 or more damage on every attack is exceptional.
I can get +2 damage on every hit from a fighting style. It's pretty meh. Reckless attack however, is exceptional.
Yeah but you can only get that with dueling fighting style. A barbarian can get that on top of using a heavy weapon. But rage damage can be applied to all three attacks if you are two weapon fighting.
Yeah, but I still find it to be lack-luster. That small amount of damage alone is not a reason to insist on str vs dex. It's a pretty small number in the overall scheme of things.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Yeah, but I still find it to be lack-luster. That small amount of damage alone is not a reason to insist on str vs dex. It's a pretty small number in the overall scheme of things.
The best part of rage is not the damage on your strength attacks.
but everything else it does to your strength based checks. As a dex based barb. You don’t get “full” advantage of that.
but really. Unless you’re going pure barb. Level 20. To get indomitable light and the capstone. Str based vs dex. Play whatever you want. Doesn’t really make a grand difference. Mentioned this in a thread abo it champions too. But most DMs don’t use strength/athletics check situations often enough and half buttedly let you use acrobatics for anything even when it’s not appropriate
With the recent Unearthed Arcana subclass, "Path of the Wild Soul", you have at least have a peripheral reason to justify a Dexterity barbarian...
...and that is because the subclass seems to focus on Constitution more than Strength.
I'd hazard to say that this subclass emphasizes a barbarian who is an eladrin, more than anything, or a Wood Elf.
With the focus on Constitution AND Dexterity, you gain a barbarian who is particularly sturdy with the unarmored features, and who can dual-wield weaponry like some graceful feyrager.
...now, this lessens the usefulness of the Barbarian capstone somewhat, so a multiclass would be in order.
This makes both a Fighter multiclass useful for the Archery Fighting style, since you'd be forgoing Great Weapon Fighting and giving your barbarian something to do, both at range and while not raging...
...or a Rogue multiclass, for Expertise, and the always useful Cunning Action...which really nails-home this nimble barbarian concept.
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I'm building a character for a one shot christmas theme, i was making an elf present wrapper (halfling fighter/barb) who rips his scissors in half and goes ham on the bad guys.
But in reading a bit further i've noticed that everything is strength based for rage damage.
Are there any sub classes that make an exception to this?
Why do you want to use dex? You can dual-wield just fine with strength.
There aren't any subclasses that remove the dependence on Strength. It would be sorta missing the point of Barbarian otherwise...
If you're wanting an unarmored melee killing machine whom uses Dexterity, I'd suggest going Monk.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
Finesse weapons just mean you *can* use DEX, if you want. But you don't HAVE to. So I'd totally just use the stats for a pair of scimitars and call it shears.
The Path of the Zealot's Divine Fury works with DEX.
Lots of things WORK with Dex, but it's still super suboptimal for a barbarian to use Dex as their combat stat.
As has been stated, the best bet is two scimitars. Or another class
It could be argued that a DEX Path of the Ancestral Guardian is optimal. Stand back and shoot arrows at the fiercest monster.
But for what the opening post requests, staying barbarian only, Path of the Zealot is the only way to get additional damage.
Just to add to the problems, if you use dex to attack, you also lose the ability to (effectively) use reckless attack.
I mean, no. It would be optimal for them to also get their Rage Damage and benefit from Reckless Attack. Using anything Dexterity based, ranged or melee, prevents the barbarian from using two of their main things. Barbarians should always be using Strength in melee or else they're hugely hindering themselves.
Just out of curiosity, would there be anything broken in a homebrew allowing rage damage bonus to work from dex based attacks?
I've not really done anything much with barbarians so i don't really know if it would break anything or not.
Would reduce the MAD from barb making it easy to increase both their AC and damage. Would also let them combine rage damage with elven accuracy, which isn't really a big deal unless you extend the changes to allow reckless attack with dex as well.
Thanks, i didn't have an elf in mind and i wouldn't change reckless attack, just the rage damage bonus, but yeah, it does decrease the MAD reliance. So, for a one shot, probably fine, for a long term, probably not.
The rage damage imo, is the least compelling reason to use str. I'd definitely consider a dex barbarian for certain character concepts. Now giving up reckless attack...that's something that catches my attention and gives me pause.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Focusing on Dex over Strength for a Barbarian is basically just sacrificing a lot of stuff in return for a little bit of AC. It's one thing if you just magically get some Dex from somewhere (like if you rolled for stats and did amazingly), but if you're sacrificing your Strength to up your Dexterity...
Can't see why you don't think rage damage is an appealing reason to attack with Strength. +2 or more damage on every attack is exceptional.
So a few things I love the flavor of tearing apart the scissors and two weapon fighting with them.
First the scissors are obviously a reskin of a current 5E Weapon. What weapon are you basing them off? If the weapon has finesse then you can use STR or DEX instead of just DEX. This is why Barb 5/Rogue X is a popular multiclass because you can rage and reckless attack using a finesse weapon as long as you use your STR modifier to attack and still get sneak attack.
Second if you take the dual wielder feat then the scissors can be a reskin of rapiers or longswords and use STR as your modifier.
Third there is not a big difference between using DEX or STR when attacking but since you are a barb you will want to use STR which is fine. If you are purposefully wanting a DEX fighter then I suggest maybe dual wield fighter or rogue.
Fourth just as a side note make sure that when you rage you can't take your bonus action attack from dual wielding.
Your secret is safe with my indifference - Percy
I can get +2 damage on every hit from a fighting style. It's pretty meh. Reckless attack however, is exceptional.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Yeah but you can only get that with dueling fighting style. A barbarian can get that on top of using a heavy weapon. But rage damage can be applied to all three attacks if you are two weapon fighting.
Your secret is safe with my indifference - Percy
Yeah, but I still find it to be lack-luster. That small amount of damage alone is not a reason to insist on str vs dex. It's a pretty small number in the overall scheme of things.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
The best part of rage is not the damage on your strength attacks.
but everything else it does to your strength based checks. As a dex based barb. You don’t get “full” advantage of that.
but really. Unless you’re going pure barb. Level 20. To get indomitable light and the capstone. Str based vs dex. Play whatever you want. Doesn’t really make a grand difference. Mentioned this in a thread abo it champions too. But most DMs don’t use strength/athletics check situations often enough and half buttedly let you use acrobatics for anything even when it’s not appropriate
Blank
With the recent Unearthed Arcana subclass, "Path of the Wild Soul", you have at least have a peripheral reason to justify a Dexterity barbarian...
...and that is because the subclass seems to focus on Constitution more than Strength.
I'd hazard to say that this subclass emphasizes a barbarian who is an eladrin, more than anything, or a Wood Elf.
With the focus on Constitution AND Dexterity, you gain a barbarian who is particularly sturdy with the unarmored features, and who can dual-wield weaponry like some graceful feyrager.
...now, this lessens the usefulness of the Barbarian capstone somewhat, so a multiclass would be in order.
This makes both a Fighter multiclass useful for the Archery Fighting style, since you'd be forgoing Great Weapon Fighting and giving your barbarian something to do, both at range and while not raging...
...or a Rogue multiclass, for Expertise, and the always useful Cunning Action...which really nails-home this nimble barbarian concept.