PDA

View Full Version : Help for Barbarian/ToB mesh in Eberron



Zephyros
2009-10-02, 01:10 AM
Hello dear Playground.

The RL campaign I am running in Eberron is about to begin the Eyes of the Lich Queen. Due to the fact we will be missing one player cause of personal issues I invited one friend D&D-newbie to join. He is a Berserk "otaku" :smallbiggrin: so when I asked him what character he wanted to play he said: "Someone like Gatsu, skilled with the sword and prone to bursts of effin' RAGE :smallfurious:"

So what sprung to my mind is a mix of ToB and Barbarian. Since the group is already powerful I think I ll have to make his character to make him able to contribute (and not just play a weapspec fighter/barbarian).

TLDR: I'd really appreciate some suggestions about ToB/Barbarian/FunkyPrC:smallbiggrin: builds at level 7 with all WotC books available and set on Eberron.

Pharaoh's Fist
2009-10-02, 01:26 AM
I sense a disturbance in the Force...

elliott20
2009-10-02, 01:35 AM
barbarian/warblade

focus Stone Dragon for the majority of his maneuvers.

If you want, pick up some iron heart for taste.

Keep in mind that while you can definitely pick up diamond mind, the skill related to it is concentration, which means that he can't use it during his rage.

If he's not hung up on using a big sword, tiger claw has some nice TWF stuff he can pick up too.

I suggest he does all of his barbarian levels first, and then jump into warblade to start off at a higher IL.

As for jumping off point from Barbarian, that we should see what the rest of the board says.

If you want to make a charging barbarian, shock trooper, bullrush, leap attack, power attack and go all ubercharger on the enemy.

If you want to push this further, take the lion totem barbarian and pick up pounce so you can full attack off of a charge.

Mongoose87
2009-10-02, 01:35 AM
Barb2/Warblade x will get him some pretty shiny things.

Pharaoh's Fist
2009-10-02, 01:44 AM
Lion Totem trades fast movement for Pounce. Wolf Totem trades Trapsense for Improved Trip. Ask your DM if these to ACFs stack with each other.

Faleldir
2009-10-02, 01:45 AM
As an otaku, he'll probably want to use a bastard sword, so tell him to take one level of Exotic Weapon Master for tripping. Two-level Barbarian dips should always contain Improved Trip.

Fishy
2009-10-02, 02:10 AM
Warblades love Exotic Weapon Proficiency anyway, if it works the way I think it works with Weapon Aptitude.

"What the heck is that thing, anyway?"

"I don't know what it's called, I just found it two hours ago. But now I'm the world's greatest master at killing people with it."

Zephyros
2009-10-02, 02:29 AM
@Pharaoh's Fist: I am the DM and I, too, sensed the disturbance, but having played a solo-rp-session with him, I can say we aren't in danger :smallbiggrin: he seems to be a natural rper and also made a pretty good backstory for his Shifter . (which to my slight disappointment reminds me of a certain ex-blademark shifter of the Eberron novels bonus cookie if u find him :smallcool:)

So.. He wants to use a bastard sword, he will blow a feat on and he also wants to use a spiked gauntlet that also grants mundane AC (is there any weapon like that? Otherwise I ll just have to make it deffending...).

The combat plan is to use the bastard sword two handed to power attack etc etc and switch to TWF with sword and claw-gauntlet for Tiger Claw strikes/boosts.

I see that the general consensus is stay in barb for 2 levels or 4 and then jump out.

He will be a Lion Totem barbarian (i ll make him be one, he needs the power boost) Is ferocity/whirling frenzy worth it for such a build and can you stack 'em both?

SurlySeraph
2009-10-02, 02:38 AM
If he wants to be Guts, he should use a Fullblade instead of a bastard sword. It's exactly like a greatsword, except it does 2d8 damage and requires Exotic Weapon Proficiency.

Fishy
2009-10-02, 02:59 AM
There's the Shield Gauntlet from Races of Stone. Grants +2 AC without hindering your hand at all, and you can enchant it, Shield Bash with it, and put on armor spikes or whatnot. It can't be used without Exotic Shield Proficiency, which will either cost yet another feat, or you can get it with a Fighter level by turning in your Tower Shield Proficiency.

Or he could just suck it up and use a buckler.

Kaiyanwang
2009-10-02, 03:35 AM
Lion Totem trades fast movement for Pounce. Wolf Totem trades Trapsense for Improved Trip. Ask your DM if these to ACFs stack with each other.

From a Crunch standpoint, they should. It makes less sense from the "fluff behind the ACFs" standpoint.

And only in an extent - after all, couldn't have a barbarian tribe more than a totem?

Otherwise you coul have the tribe of the [insert animal name] that brings exactly those ACFs.


If he wants to be Guts, he should use a Fullblade instead of a bastard sword. It's exactly like a greatsword, except it does 2d8 damage and requires Exotic Weapon Proficiency.

Definitively. IMHO, Fullblade has been designed with Guts in mind..

Zephyros
2009-10-02, 06:35 AM
Shifter . (which to my slight disappointment reminds me of a certain ex-blademark shifter of the Eberron novels bonus cookie if u find him :smallcool:)


I quote myself for the Gutsu proposals (otaku-ism haters should rejoice :smalleek:) since now we are on a more eberron-novel approach and as such the Bastard sword is preferred. Two feats for exotic weapons seem a bit too much for me, may be I ll just homebrew a bucklery-spikey-gauntlet.

And just now I remembered the shiftery prc (bloodclaw?) which might fit or might be a waste in comparison with more warblade levels (with fighter splash for stance-tinkering)

Eldariel
2009-10-02, 06:49 AM
Tiger Claw could honestly mimic Rage all by itself. There are the "Rabid Wolf Strike"-line effects which are almost precisely that. But yeah, Barbarian 1-2 (depending on whether you wanna pick up Improved Trip from it or not)/Warblade rest seems to be the order of the day picking up Pounce from Barbarian and giving him Whirling Frenzy and tossing Extra Rage to the deal.

There's no PrC that advances martial progressions and rage, but as you get ½ martial progression on all levels, you could go with some Barbarian PrC if interested, or just straight Warblade (honestly, Barbarian 1/Warblade 19 is just fine). You could dip a level in Fighter for extra feat too, and to get the maneuver progression back in track.

Foryn Gilnith
2009-10-02, 06:58 AM
Get two levels before Warblade 1. Warblade gets a stance at level 4, and if you have two levels before that, you can snag a 3rd-level stance.

Fishy
2009-10-02, 08:00 AM
Warblade 1 for skills. Barbarian at level 2 for rage and pounce, Fighter at level three for a bonus feat, heavy armor if you want it, and Exotic Shield Proficiency, and then Warblade again for the 2nd level maneuver.

Of course, that's three classes in four levels, and the saves are wonky and ridiculous if you don't use Fractional Saves, but that's what Moment of Perfect Mind and Action Before Thought are for.

Zephyros
2009-10-02, 12:06 PM
Yea we use fractional saves and bab cause otherwise the warrior types can't will-save for the love of god, casters can't hit touch-AC 8 most of the time and scoundrels...well, they multiclass and get to evade fireballs...

@Eldariel: I always thought Tiger Claw has a more predatory feel about it and not the coocoo-hulk-smash-crazy we need from time to time :smallbiggrin:

Thanks for the help everyone.

Keld Denar
2009-10-02, 12:55 PM
Tiger Claw has just as much smash as some of the other schools. Look at a lot of the single attack strikes within TC, like Swooping Dragon and a few others. The bonus dice are similar to other strikes around that level and the status effects are generally pretty decent in a team game.

A lot of people dismiss TC as the "duel wield" school, but there ARE a number of good things for a 2hand wielder to snag and run with that measure up to what some of the other schools are doing. Even from as early as Sudden Leap, which helps 2hand wielders as much as duel wielders get their sweet sweet full attacks, to a number of strikes like Fleshripper and Swooping Dragon.

If you are going Warblade, you should really be focusing on 2 schools, with a little dabble in a 3rd or 4th. I'd recommend 2 of the 3 of Diamond Mind, Tiger Claw, and Iron Heart, with a little dabble in White Raven (mostly for WRT and WRHammer) and Stone Dragon (Mountain Hammer is AMAZING early game).

Darrin
2009-10-02, 04:22 PM
A lot of people dismiss TC as the "duel wield" school, but there ARE a number of good things for a 2hand wielder to snag and run with that measure up to what some of the other schools are doing. Even from as early as Sudden Leap, which helps 2hand wielders as much as duel wielders get their sweet sweet full attacks, to a number of strikes like Fleshripper and Swooping Dragon.


Tiger Claw can actually be rather poor for TWF, since most of the strikes prevent you from making a full attack (particularly the jump-related ones). And any two-handed fighter can take advantage of TWF by just buying armor spikes. The *-Mongoose boosts don't really come into play until much later (IL 9).

Another Tiger Claw Tip: reread Wolf Fang Strike carefully, as there are some features that often get overlooked. It allows you to TWF even if you don't have the feat. It supercedes the usual TWF penalties with a blanket -2, so you can TWF with a pair of one-handed weapons without taking Oversize TWF (and they still both qualify for PA). Also works with two-handed + armor spikes.

Zephyros
2009-10-02, 10:54 PM
Yea that I have noticed... I also played an Elven Swordsage that used that strike a lot at low level when he wanted to move and slash twice with his kukris - and Sudden Leap was expended.

However, he eventually took up TWF cause Shadow blade/Assassins Stance and Desert Wind needs the attacks to make a difference.

For a Warblade (who is STR focused and doesn't have that much of boosts n weapon dmg enhancers) though, tis a decent emulation of TWF without having to spent on the TWF-tree (which when I DM its just one feat which scales with level).

woodenbandman
2009-10-03, 10:20 AM
What sword style does he want?

He could try the Valenar elves, with their funky double-scimitars.