I'm playing in a campaign that just started. I created a Barbarian and am torn between Bugbear and Half-Orc for race. I like the idea of using a pole arm for the reach and taking pole arm mastery. I guess the question is does the Bugbears reach and sneak attack compare to Half-Orcs Relentless Endurance and Critical buff?
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Do you dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?
the bugbear polearm 15ft reach means that you counter other polearmers, and sneak attack can give you some decent damage for a blitz strategy. On the orc side the critical buff isn't that amazing, but it is some damage that can happen at any time, and the relentless endurance keeps you up for maybe another turn. Is another turn worth much? depends on if you are needing to survive three more attacks. In the end I think both are fine options, but bugbear works better with a group actually inclined to try stealth as a strategy.
As a bugbear your reach also affects grappling. So if you grapple someone, they're stuck 10 feet away from you unable to move. Unless they have a ranged option, you can literally smack them around with impunity.
That is an interesting exploit. I don't think it holds water, a grappled opponent can attack AND is in contact the grappler. Therefore it is not reasonable to say the bugbear cannot be be reached for an attack. I, personally would give the grappled opponent advantage on attacks against the bugbear's grappling arm given the situation.
the bugbear polearm 15ft reach means that you counter other polearmers, and sneak attack can give you some decent damage for a blitz strategy. On the orc side the critical buff isn't that amazing, but it is some damage that can happen at any time, and the relentless endurance keeps you up for maybe another turn. Is another turn worth much? depends on if you are needing to survive three more attacks. In the end I think both are fine options, but bugbear works better with a group actually inclined to try stealth as a strategy.
the half-Orc trait is basically “death insurance”. After level 11. All barbs get a DC check to do this as a class feature... and then a half Orc can just be like “nope. Dc check fail doesn’t matter”
As to the stealthy option of bugbears, that’s up to DM interpretation of “primal ferocity”.
cheeky hamster: yes. Once per short rest, then back to the “low” 4d12 damage.
which is (with a 20 str and raging) between 24 damage (rolling all 1s, +5 +3+5+3), to 112 damage, (12+12+12+12+5+3 +12+12+12+12+5+3) and with the frenzy berserker extra attack 36-168 damage. no magic weapons, not including savage attacker or orcish fury.
the other question for OP:
with the bugbear and PAM, would you be going reckless every attack? Since your reach neutered people? Or would you not? For the half orc, going reckless has a high yield reward of extra crit damage. Which is worth the guarantee of being hit (for half Damage usually) more often. As Barbarians are built to take while they Dish- the double edge sword tank.
As a bugbear your reach also affects grappling. So if you grapple someone, they're stuck 10 feet away from you unable to move. Unless they have a ranged option, you can literally smack them around with impunity.
So... explain how even in game world. You can’t just slit the wrists on the arms choking you? Why do you need to attack a head or body 10 feet away?
Yes. Once per short rest, then back to the “low” 4d12 damage.
which is (with a 20 str and raging) between 24 damage (rolling all 1s, +5 +3+5+3), to 112 damage, (12+12+12+12+5+3 +12+12+12+12+5+3) and with the frenzy berserker extra attack 36-168 damage. no magic weapons, not including savage attacker or orcish fury.
This is for a friend who isn't very good at keeping track of features, so we are switching up his character (currently a Bard) and he wants to be up in the mix doing damage...
How well does this compare to Champion Fighter (wont be multi-classing, because of the aforementioned desire for simplicity). Yes he will be loosing some health, guaranteed advantage and some d12s but doubling the crit range... so how does that compare mathematically?
Yes. Once per short rest, then back to the “low” 4d12 damage.
which is (with a 20 str and raging) between 24 damage (rolling all 1s, +5 +3+5+3), to 112 damage, (12+12+12+12+5+3 +12+12+12+12+5+3) and with the frenzy berserker extra attack 36-168 damage. no magic weapons, not including savage attacker or orcish fury.
This is for a friend who isn't very good at keeping track of features, so we are switching up his character (currently a Bard) and he wants to be up in the mix doing damage...
How well does this compare to Champion Fighter (wont be multi-classing, because of the aforementioned desire for simplicity). Yes he will be loosing some health, guaranteed advantage and some d12s but doubling the crit range... so how does that compare mathematically?
Mathematically champion crits 2x as often. But using the same weapon kinda damage has only 4d6 plus (same 5 str x 2 for argument) Damage on hit. But gets more attacks At the level in question I think tighter has 3 attacks. So 6d6 + str x3
if GWF fighting style, some dice re-rolls for Damage to average higher. so same crit scenario there. 6d6 +15 dice cannot be a 1 so 27 min to 51 on non crit. On crit 39 min- 87 max. But crits twice as often, but doesn’t have the built in advantage on attacks at expense of getting hit.
Half Orc... add extra 6d6 to 18d6 which is 51 min 123 max
damage wise a Battlemaster does better than Champion if he wants to go fighter route.
also Paladins do solo damage great with smite factored in and if Oath of vengeance/conquest
avg for champion on crit 78
for berserker half Orc... 124.5
also of note, champion has action surge, so once per short rest you could potentially double all those numbers. And they also get up to 5 attacks later on. Which also helps. As in this gwf half Orc champion scenario is an extra 12d6 of damage plus 2 more strength mods. Course Barbarians get another improved crit too
though once champions crit on 3 different numbers. Mathematically it’s better than the berserker barbarian period.
strongly depends on what you are going for. Half orc abillities strongly overlap with late game barbarian abilities, an thing to keep in mind is that the suprise attack can only really be done once per combat and can only be done if you roll higher than the opponent in an initiative, since at the end of the opponents first turn they cease being surprised and can take reactions as normal, so for an bugbear your really want bonuses to initiative. Reach can be incredible if you use it right, or it can just not be worth it, if you take a weapon with reach you are assumed to use that reach to your advantage, letting the opponent come to you and retreating a bit, defenetly a fun build but if you just wanna run arround and stab things in melee you are probably better of with half orc
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i am soup, with too many ideas (all of them very spicy) who has made sufficient homebrew material and character to last an thousand human lifetimes
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I'm playing in a campaign that just started. I created a Barbarian and am torn between Bugbear and Half-Orc for race. I like the idea of using a pole arm for the reach and taking pole arm mastery. I guess the question is does the Bugbears reach and sneak attack compare to Half-Orcs Relentless Endurance and Critical buff?
Do you dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?
the bugbear polearm 15ft reach means that you counter other polearmers, and sneak attack can give you some decent damage for a blitz strategy. On the orc side the critical buff isn't that amazing, but it is some damage that can happen at any time, and the relentless endurance keeps you up for maybe another turn. Is another turn worth much? depends on if you are needing to survive three more attacks. In the end I think both are fine options, but bugbear works better with a group actually inclined to try stealth as a strategy.
I hadn't thought of it that way. Thank you for the input.
Do you dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?
As a bugbear your reach also affects grappling. So if you grapple someone, they're stuck 10 feet away from you unable to move. Unless they have a ranged option, you can literally smack them around with impunity.
That is an interesting exploit. I don't think it holds water, a grappled opponent can attack AND is in contact the grappler. Therefore it is not reasonable to say the bugbear cannot be be reached for an attack. I, personally would give the grappled opponent advantage on attacks against the bugbear's grappling arm given the situation.
Jesus Saves!... Everyone else takes damage.
Level 9 Half Orc Berserker Barbarian with Orcish Fury... am I right on thinking that on a crit you could roll 6d12?
the half-Orc trait is basically “death insurance”. After level 11. All barbs get a DC check to do this as a class feature... and then a half Orc can just be like “nope. Dc check fail doesn’t matter”
As to the stealthy option of bugbears, that’s up to DM interpretation of “primal ferocity”.
cheeky hamster: yes. Once per short rest, then back to the “low” 4d12 damage.
which is (with a 20 str and raging) between 24 damage (rolling all 1s, +5 +3+5+3), to 112 damage, (12+12+12+12+5+3 +12+12+12+12+5+3) and with the frenzy berserker extra attack 36-168 damage.
no magic weapons, not including savage attacker or orcish fury.
the other question for OP:
with the bugbear and PAM, would you be going reckless every attack? Since your reach neutered people? Or would you not? For the half orc, going reckless has a high yield reward of extra crit damage. Which is worth the guarantee of being hit (for half Damage usually) more often. As Barbarians are built to take while they Dish- the double edge sword tank.
Blank
So... explain how even in game world. You can’t just slit the wrists on the arms choking you? Why do you need to attack a head or body 10 feet away?
Blank
This is for a friend who isn't very good at keeping track of features, so we are switching up his character (currently a Bard) and he wants to be up in the mix doing damage...
How well does this compare to Champion Fighter (wont be multi-classing, because of the aforementioned desire for simplicity). Yes he will be loosing some health, guaranteed advantage and some d12s but doubling the crit range... so how does that compare mathematically?
Mathematically champion crits 2x as often. But using the same weapon kinda damage has only 4d6 plus (same 5 str x 2 for argument) Damage on hit. But gets more attacks At the level in question I think tighter has 3 attacks. So 6d6 + str x3
if GWF fighting style, some dice re-rolls for Damage to average higher.
so same crit scenario there. 6d6 +15 dice cannot be a 1 so 27 min to 51 on non crit. On crit 39 min- 87 max. But crits twice as often, but doesn’t have the built in advantage on attacks at expense of getting hit.
Half Orc... add extra 6d6 to 18d6 which is 51 min 123 max
damage wise a Battlemaster does better than Champion if he wants to go fighter route.
also Paladins do solo damage great with smite factored in and if Oath of vengeance/conquest
avg for champion on crit 78
for berserker half Orc... 124.5
also of note, champion has action surge, so once per short rest you could potentially double all those numbers. And they also get up to 5 attacks later on. Which also helps. As in this gwf half Orc champion scenario is an extra 12d6 of damage plus 2 more strength mods. Course Barbarians get another improved crit too
though once champions crit on 3 different numbers. Mathematically it’s better than the berserker barbarian period.
Blank
strongly depends on what you are going for. Half orc abillities strongly overlap with late game barbarian abilities, an thing to keep in mind is that the suprise attack can only really be done once per combat and can only be done if you roll higher than the opponent in an initiative, since at the end of the opponents first turn they cease being surprised and can take reactions as normal, so for an bugbear your really want bonuses to initiative. Reach can be incredible if you use it right, or it can just not be worth it, if you take a weapon with reach you are assumed to use that reach to your advantage, letting the opponent come to you and retreating a bit, defenetly a fun build but if you just wanna run arround and stab things in melee you are probably better of with half orc
i am soup, with too many ideas (all of them very spicy) who has made sufficient homebrew material and character to last an thousand human lifetimes