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Christopher K.
2010-09-21, 08:43 PM
Alright, for D&D Encounters, since we're allowed to make our own characters this chapter, I'm working with a character concept I've had in the back of my head for a while now - a member of a nomadic tribe that has lived out in the mountains, who has gleaned knowledge of the arcane throughout his life, much to the disdain of his peers. Eventually he set out from his tribe as part of their ritual for passage into manhood. (The rest is pretty much a wildcard so that it fits in with the relevant game content)

Kuruk, level 1
Eladrin, Barbarian|Wizard
Background: Geography - Mountains (+2 to Athletics)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 12, Con 10, Dex 13, Int 20, Wis 10, Cha 11.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 12, Con 10, Dex 11, Int 18, Wis 10, Cha 11.


AC: 15 Fort: 12 Reflex: 15 Will: 12
HP: 22 Surges: 7 Surge Value: 5

TRAINED SKILLS
Stealth +6, Acrobatics +6, History +12, Arcana +12

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Bluff, Diplomacy, Dungeoneering, Endurance, Heal, Insight, Intimidate, Nature, Perception, Religion +5, Streetwise, Thievery +1, Athletics +3

FEATS
Level 1: Eladrin Sword Wizardry

POWERS
Hybrid at-will 1: Ray of Frost
Hybrid at-will 1: Pressing Strike
Hybrid encounter 1: Force Orb
Hybrid daily 1: Sleep

ITEMS
Longsword, Cloth Armor (Basic Clothing), Accurate orb, Adventurer's Kit

If anyone sees anything vital that I'm missing about this character that will probably kill him within the first session, please let me know, but be aware that I'm not going to ditch the hybrid class as I'm firstly concerned with the story idea.

Delcan
2010-09-21, 08:49 PM
Mixing Barbarian and Wizard is going to give you a lot of pain, since Barbarians (major Str, minor Con/Cha) and Wizards (major Int, minor Dex/Wis) have absolutely nothing in common on the stat scale. To be even mediocre at both classes, you'd have to have all your stats be important, which just isn't doable.

To keep the basic character concept of tribal man with arcane gleanings, I strongly suggest Sorceror instead of Wizard. A sorceror will mix quite well with Barbarian in the long run, and is a little easier to rationalize - a barbarian with an innate talent he's been exploring and honing all his life is more believable than a barbarian who's been hitting the books all his life. (Which is doable, mind you, but the weirdness combined with the crippling multiple-attribute dependency might just be too much.)

RebelRogue
2010-09-21, 08:50 PM
I'm sort of wondering what you need the barbarian hybrid for. With your low Str and Cha, it's going to be hard to use for much.

Edit: ninja'ed... Really, if you want a barbarian background, that's fine, but keeping it flavour is probably better. Barbarian multiclass perhaps, but that take Str 13 and Con 13.

Urpriest
2010-09-21, 08:51 PM
Eladrin Sword Wizardry just gives you the sword as an implement, right? So you're quite unlikely to hit with Pressing Strike, and Barbarians have relatively few non-attack-roll powers, so you're essentially dumping half your hybrid in the trash.

I would have suggested a Barbarian|Sorceror, but I suppose that doesn't fit your concept.

Hzurr
2010-09-21, 08:59 PM
Yeah, your current stat array is basically geared 100% to the wizard side, and not at all to your barbarian side. Consequently, almost all your barbarian stuff will be near useless

If you really want to hybrid, I'd suggest going Barbarian|Sorcerer like some have suggested, and split your stats between Str and Cha. There's a Barbarian build (Thaneborn?) that uses Cha secondary for a lot of powers, and a Sorcerer Build (Dragon?) that uses Str secondary for damage (I believe).

If you do this, I'd recommend going...just about anything but Eladrin. Dragonborn would work very well; Half-elf would be ok if you want to stay slightly elf-y (and more con never hurt anyone).

At any rate, try to have whatever your primary stats to be at least 16 (some people say 18, but you'll be ok if you choose more accurate weapons. Sword instead of Ax, for example) If you're ever going with a Hybrid character, and the primary stat doesn't line up, never spend the points to make it a 20, because your other stats suffer too much. (I actually rarely have any stat a 20, even after racial modifiers, because you become a bit of a one-trick pony)

If you want to stick with Eladrin, and stick with Wizard, I'd say drop the Barbarian part completely, and stick with the initial stats you posted.

AtopTheMountain
2010-09-21, 09:01 PM
You could get away with only having high Str/Int/Cha if you could retool your concept to be an Illusionist. Other than that, +1 for Barb|Sorc.

Christopher K.
2010-09-21, 09:21 PM
Alright, REALLY glad that I posted this here before charging in blindly to Encounters without giving it a second thought. Giving Barb|Sorc a try because I'm really entranced by the idea of having both arcane and primal power sources.

Here's what he's looking like thus far:
Kuruk, level 1
Dragonborn, Barbarian|Sorcerer
Sorcerous Power: Sorcerous Power Strength
Hybrid Talent: Soul of the Sorcerer
Soul of the Sorcerer: Dragon Soul
Dragon Soul: Dragon Soul Lightning
Dragonborn: Dragon Breath
Dragon Breath Key Ability: Dragon Breath Strength
Dragon Breath Damage Type: Dragon Breath Lightning
Background: Geography - Mountains (+2 to Athletics)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 20, Con 13, Dex 10, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 15.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 18, Con 13, Dex 10, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 13.


AC: 15 Fort: 16 Reflex: 10 Will: 13
HP: 26 Surges: 8 Surge Value: 7

TRAINED SKILLS
Perception +4, Intimidate +9, Athletics +12

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics, Arcana, Bluff +2, Diplomacy +2, Dungeoneering -1, Endurance +1, Heal -1, History +2, Insight -1, Nature -1, Religion, Stealth, Streetwise +2, Thievery

FEATS
Level 1: Hybrid Talent

POWERS
Hybrid at-will 1: Pressing Strike
Hybrid at-will 1: Lightning Strike
Hybrid encounter 1: Pinning Bolt
Hybrid daily 1: Chromatic Orb

ITEMS
Cloth Armor (Basic Clothing), Broadsword, Accurate orb, Adventurer's Kit
(My eyes kinda glazed over at the point of choosing Chromatic Orb; character building is obviously not my forte)

Mando Knight
2010-09-21, 09:41 PM
Again, you do not need to start with a 20 in any of your stats, especially if you're a dual-stat attacker like a Hybrid or mix-Paladin (or -Cleric or -Warlock).

Change that to a 16/16/else array, and you lose 1 attack/damage on your Barbarian attacks but gain 2 on your Sorcerer attacks.

Furthermore, you can't use an Accurate Orb. First you'll need to be able to use Orbs as an implement in general, and then you would need to get the Superior Implement (Accurate Orb) feat. Daggers and Staffs are better for you anyway.

Reluctance
2010-09-21, 11:27 PM
You're in a one-shot game, first level characters are short on game resources, and hybrids are notably more complicated than straight-classed characters. I'd really suggest just picking one class and consigning the other half to background fluff. It'd be a good deal simpler and more effective.

Jaidu
2010-09-21, 11:59 PM
When I played in the first season of Encounters, one of our players had a genasi swordmage/barbarian hybrid that was pretty effective at switching roles. It's not really what you described, but it did manage to handle being the second defender and second striker. The trick is that switching a versatile weapon to two hands is a free action, so he would hold it in two hands to attack, then back to one after to retain the swordmage warding.

I tried to rebuild his character as closely as I can remember, but I might have made some mistakes. Here's the build, as far as I can recall:

level 1
Genasi, Barbarian|Swordmage
Swordmage Aegis (Hybrid): Aegis of Assault
Hybrid Talent: Swordmage Warding
Elemental Manifestation: Windsoul
Background: Born Under a Bad Sign (Born Under a Bad Sign Benefit)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 18, Con 12, Dex 12, Int 18, Wis 8, Cha 10.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 16, Con 12, Dex 12, Int 16, Wis 8, Cha 10.


AC: 19 Fort: 15 Reflex: 14 Will: 11
HP: 33 Surges: 9 Surge Value: 8

TRAINED SKILLS
History +9, Athletics +9, Arcana +9

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +1, Bluff, Diplomacy, Dungeoneering -1, Endurance +3, Heal -1, Insight -1, Intimidate, Nature +1, Perception -1, Religion +4, Stealth +1, Streetwise, Thievery +1

FEATS
Level 1: Hybrid Talent

POWERS
Hybrid at-will 1: Greenflame Blade
Hybrid at-will 1: Howling Strike
Hybrid encounter 1: Flame Cyclone
Hybrid daily 1: Burning Blade

ITEMS
Longsword, Leather Armor, Adventurer's Kit

Dracons
2010-09-22, 12:31 AM
I had a friend that did a elf wizard/barbarian in 3.5.

He was abandoned as a child and had to learn to survive by being a barbarian. He then was found and forced to be a wizard to get away the taint of the wild off of him.

Anyway, no tips or advice. Just stating a character I DM for.

Kurald Galain
2010-09-22, 03:57 AM
Alright, REALLY glad that I posted this here before charging in blindly to Encounters without giving it a second thought. Giving Barb|Sorc a try because I'm really entranced by the idea of having both arcane and primal power sources.
Don't play a hybrid of two striker classes: it doesn't work well (even moreso since sorcs are ranged and barbs are melee). Instead, play a sorcerer and take the barbarian multiclass feat (+2 damage for one encounter, yum!). You'll end up being much more effective.

I'd suggest taking a few area effect spells as well as a better daily than Chromatic. Also, sorcerers can't use orbs.

serok42
2010-09-22, 06:22 AM
If you are planning on playing this character in the upcoming Encounters (season 3) you have to make essentials characters. Barbarians and Hybrids are not available in Essentials format yet.

Christopher K.
2010-09-22, 07:13 AM
If you are planning on playing this character in the upcoming Encounters (season 3) you have to make essentials characters. Barbarians and Hybrids are not available in Essentials format yet.

Really? My DM just said Forgotten Realms-legal.

BlckDv
2010-09-22, 08:06 AM
Really? My DM just said Forgotten Realms-legal.

I don't know if your local folks are doing something unique; but the next official Encounters season is "Keep on the Borderlands" and only the Heroes of the Fallen Kingdoms (could you or your DM have confused Fallen Kingdoms with Forgotten Realms?) builds and races are legal, they are trying for a "retro" feel that mimics original D&D with 4e rules.

Tiki Snakes
2010-09-22, 09:21 AM
I would assume they are just sticking it to the man, personally. At the end of the day, it's not like they will be sending inspectors round to validate character sheets. :smallwink:

Christopher K.
2010-09-22, 09:35 AM
It might be that Joel just thought the nomadic spellcaster concept was interesting enough that he'd let it slide.

Mando Knight
2010-09-22, 10:38 AM
Actually, if it's a spellcaster with some nomadic flavor to it that you want, you could just play an arcane class of choice, then add in Nature and/or Perception training, possibly with an MC feat into a Primal class or Ranger. Easy, and doesn't require you to fiddle with Hybrids. Hybrid Barbarian|Caster is more for "HULK SMASH... WITH MAGIC!" characters or Noble Savage (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NobleSavage)Magic Knights (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagicKnight) than "Spellcaster who happens to have come from a nomadic tribe."

Either way, I have to say that Dragonborn is definitely a better thematic choice than Eladrin. The latter are the "blueblood Grey/Sun/Moon/Whatever Elf mages," which rarely meshes with "nomadic barbarian tribe." The former, however, have "scaly element-spitting Conan" written over half of their fluff. The other half are "Proud Warrior Race Guys (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ProudWarriorRaceGuy) who still yearn for their long-dead empire of GLORY."

Meta
2010-09-23, 02:18 PM
A fey pact warlock might be a good choice to consider