prestige class for the barbarian?

[jhardin87]

I like playing a barbarian but though they are massive at low levels, at higher levels they tend to take a back seat to the fighters and palladins. i'm looking for a prestige class for my barbarian to help level the playing feild but i cant find any source material for one in 3.5. can anyone point me in the right direction?

[nyarlathotep]

Frenzied Berserker is the standard build.

Runescarred Berserker is good for giving you buff spells.

Frost Rager is also okay

Bear Warrior lets you turn into a ****ing bear.

[Dusk Eclipse]

I like playing a barbarian but though they are massive at low levels, at higher levels they tend to take a back seat to the fighters and palladins. i'm looking for a prestige class for my barbarian to help level the playing feild but i cant find any source material for one in 3.5. can anyone point me in the right direction?

Frenzied Berseker (CWar) for when you need to obliterate your enemies into fine red mist.

Runescarred Berseker (Unapproachable East I think) to get a bit of divine casting to support yourself.

Bear Warrior (CWar) get SO angry you turn into a BEAR!!!

Edit: ¬.¬ hey a swordsage.

[Daftendirekt]

Fist of the Forest is pretty neat too, if you want to do some unarmed shenanigans.

[Escheton]

There is also the barb/totemist prestige from MoI.
Fun if you prefer natural attacks and unusual combat/buff options

[I, Dashing Cube]

The barbarian/totemist prestige class is called Totem Rager.

Another good barbarian prestige class is Champion of Gwynharwyf (BoED), and it is essentialy a barbarian ++, with some casting and other goodies.

[Eldariel]

The Street Fighter (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a) ACF makes straight Barbarian a bit more enticing, as well. So there's that. I'm personally a huge fan of Runescarred Berserker, btw; sure, it's a huge feat investment to enter but it gets you all the normal Barb-goodies, and runescars which are:
1) Badass
2) Anti-Magic Fields

Also, I left something here on the forums: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176941

Just a little PrC stack to see what we can make happen with no magic whatsoever. Lacks the usual charger-line feats but those would be easy enough to add.

[comicshorse]

Seem to remember Primeval from Frostburn is good ( apart from having to get some awful feats to enter)

[TehLivingDeath]

The Street Fighter (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a) ACF makes straight Barbarian a bit more enticing, as well. So there's that. I'm personally a huge fan of Runescarred Berserker, btw; sure, it's a huge feat investment to enter but it gets you all the normal Barb-goodies, and runescars which are:
1) Badass
2) Anti-Magic Fields

Also, I left something here on the forums: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176941

Just a little PrC stack to see what we can make happen with no magic whatsoever. Lacks the usual charger-line feats but those would be easy enough to add.

Runescarred Berserker is awsome in both mechanics and fluff.

Quick question: have you played it enough to know if the XP loss adds up? I'm a bit paranoid towards anything involving loss of experience points, except for the ocasional contingency.

[Eldariel]

Runescarred Berserker is awsome in both mechanics and fluff.

Quick question: have you played it enough to know if the XP loss adds up? I'm a bit paranoid towards anything involving loss of experience points, except for the ocasional contingency.

The XP loss does not add up because XP is a river. You go below in level for a small amount of time and get enough extra XP to make up for the lost XP for being lower-leveled. The same principle is why crafting is so awesome. XP is quite cheap, in the end.

[LordBlades]

The XP loss does not add up because XP is a river. You go below in level for a small amount of time and get enough extra XP to make up for the lost XP for being lower-leveled. The same principle is why crafting is so awesome. XP is quite cheap, in the end.

That's not very true in practice sadly. It works in theory, but in most games, unless you're really optimizing the way you lose XP, you will end up with less XP than you would have had if you hadn't done any stuff costing XP.

[Eldariel]

That's not very true in practice sadly. It works in theory, but in most games, unless you're really optimizing the way you lose XP, you will end up with less XP than you would have had if you hadn't done any stuff costing XP.

In my experience, it's not a major deal. You may be behind a level for one encounter or two but that's about it. Then again, my DMs tend to run the XP gain close to RAW so it may be a bigger deal with those who handwave it.

[Darth Stabber]

In my experience, it's not a major deal. You may be behind a level for one encounter or two but that's about it. Then again, my DMs tend to run the XP gain close to RAW so it may be a bigger deal with those who handwave it.

Having run games with xp by raw, and by just handing out what seems right, I can firmly state that RAW is significantly friendlier to xp spenders than any variant. Yes, it's true that once you spend even 100xp you will likely never catch up (assuming every one gains xp for each encounter, and no rp xp). But the difference will be minimal, and any time you are a level behind, your xp rate is enough better that you wil likely never be more than an equal cr encounter away from leveling (assuming you play it smart).

[gallagher]

this thread made me wonder, what would be the best way to stack prestige classes for a barbarian? i was thinking of making a barbarian with frostrager, frenzied berserker and runescarred berserker. unfortunately i dont have unapproachable east, so i dont know the prereq's for the RB...

[Eldariel]

this thread made me wonder, what would be the best way to stack prestige classes for a barbarian? i was thinking of making a barbarian with frostrager, frenzied berserker and runescarred berserker. unfortunately i dont have unapproachable east, so i dont know the prereq's for the RB...

FotF/Deepwarden into Runescarred is pretty solid. Adding both FB and RB is too many prereq feats as the build I linked demonstrates. Cool as all hell but unfortunately unwieldy.

[Hawk7915]

While these are all probably the best PrCs for a Barbarian, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Hellreaver (FCII) or Champion of Silly Spelled Gwarwhatev Gwynharwyf (Book of Exalted Deeds). They're both reasonably strong, entertaining classes for the "Noble Paladin-esque" sort of hero barbarian.

[gallagher]

FotF/Deepwarden into Runescarred is pretty solid. Adding both FB and RB is too many prereq feats as the build I linked demonstrates. Cool as all hell but unfortunately unwieldy.
FotF looks like it would also work well with frostrager, what with the unarmed fun

[gallagher]

FotF/Deepwarden into Runescarred is pretty solid. Adding both FB and RB is too many prereq feats as the build I linked demonstrates. Cool as all hell but unfortunately unwieldy.
FotF looks like it would also work well with frostrager, what with the unarmed fun

[Darth Stabber]

Bear Warrior + FotF + Frostrager offers a nice set of benefits, especially with spirit lion totem. Full iterative of unarmed attacks + 2*Claw + Bite all with cold damage added all of them. If you can squeeze in the feat that gives you fire subtype while raging, you will have immunity to fire and cold, and your anger will finally overcome logic.

Something like barbarian6/fighter2/bearwarrior5/FotF3/frostrager4

[jhardin87]

wow. i didnt expect so much feedback. i like the idea of thr runescarred berserker but i'm not familliar with alot of the terms and feats everyone is using. i'm a bit of a newb and i only have access to the basic 3.5 players handbook dmg and monster manual. where can i find all this other information you guys are refferencing?

[Psyren]

wow. i didnt expect so much feedback. i like the idea of thr runescarred berserker but i'm not familliar with alot of the terms and feats everyone is using. i'm a bit of a newb and i only have access to the basic 3.5 players handbook dmg and monster manual. where can i find all this other information you guys are refferencing?

You need supplements to access the other stuff. With just PHB + MM + DMG there isn't a whole lot out there for barbarians, unfortunately.

The two that I recommend are Runescarred Berserker (Unapproachable East) and Champion of Gwynharwyf (Book of Exalted Deeds.) Frenzied Berserker is in Complete Warrior IIRC.

Ask your friends what books they have, and if any of them have the books we mentioned, see if you can borrow it or read out of it.

[Runestar]

I like the idea of a barb/frenzied berserker/bear warrior/warshaper myself. :smallcool:

[Darth Stabber]

Warshaper is just as good (if not better) than frost rager, you only really benefit from the first 3-4 levels though (it really depends on how you value fast healing 2. if you want it take 4 if not 3). But at the 5th level you lose another point of bab and gain an ability that is not relevant to you, so it is pretty much dead. None of it's abilities are level dependant and the first 3 are amazing, so it's a great prc to fill in those extra levels in your build.

Bear warrior and warshaper = CWar
Fist of the Forest = CChamp
Frost rager = Frostburn

Feats you need
Shock trooper - CWar
Leap Attach - CAdv

[LordBlades]

The problem with the Frenzied Beserker is that you need other supplements to make it work nicely (minimize the risk of killing party members). Unless you manage to get either Steadfast Determination (PHB 2 I think) or Martial Study for Iron Heart Surge (Tome of Battle) you'll have some problems making the required Will save to end frenzy.

[Psyren]

The problem with the Frenzied Beserker is that you need other supplements to make it work nicely (minimize the risk of killing party members). Unless you manage to get either Steadfast Determination (PHB 2 I think) or Martial Study for Iron Heart Surge (Tome of Battle) you'll have some problems making the required Will save to end frenzy.

Your friends can also carry marbles or command-use items of Grease to lay Conan's ass out. :smallbiggrin:

[Dusk Eclipse]

Fear not for WotC has released a lot of content free and legally, so you don't need that many books to play a good character, so here I present you the Guide to free D&D (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=1109.80)

[Darth Stabber]

So I did some practical optimization last night and came up with this build

Spirit lion barbarian4/fighter1/fist of the forest2/bear warrior5/fist of the forest1/frost rager2/warshaper4/warblade1.
Feats (assuming 1 flaw)
Lvl1-power attack, great fortitude, improved unarmed strike
Lvl3-improved bullrush
Fighter-leap attack
Lvl6-shock trooper
Lvl9-extra rage
Lvl12-frozen berzerker
And the rest is based on need, though I reccomend blazing berzerker (to give you fire immunity to cover up the weakness of frozen berzerker and to be a flaming ice bear)
The only skills you need are jump, survival, handle animal.
Honestly the last level of warshaper and the level in warbalde are easily replaceable. The fighter level at 5 is just to grab leap attack at 5 and still get shock trooper at 6. The build is playable at any point, but really gets going at 8 when you can throw out a full iterative of unarmed strikes and claw claw bite on a charge.

[jhardin87]

You need supplements to access the other stuff. With just PHB + MM + DMG there isn't a whole lot out there for barbarians, unfortunately.

The two that I recommend are Runescarred Berserker (Unapproachable East) and Champion of Gwynharwyf (Book of Exalted Deeds.) Frenzied Berserker is in Complete Warrior IIRC.

Ask your friends what books they have, and if any of them have the books we mentioned, see if you can borrow it or read out of it.

ya i asked around and none of my friends have any of those sourcebooks. my friends and i are all poor college students and can barely afford gas for our cars let alone a $40 book. plus it seems almost a waste when all i want from it is a single prestige class. is there an online source where i could find just the runescarred berserker or champion, or even someone on here who has that info who can just email it to me? or would that violate any copywrite laws? if it does or if its against the rules of this forum i'm sorry for suggesting it, i'm still new to all this stuff. but any help at all would be deeply appreciated. thnx

[Draconi Redfir]

Trollblood (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=190082) is always a fun one:smallcool: play the spore games

[Dusk Eclipse]

ya i asked around and none of my friends have any of those sourcebooks. my friends and i are all poor college students and can barely afford gas for our cars let alone a $40 book. plus it seems almost a waste when all i want from it is a single prestige class. is there an online source where i could find just the runescarred berserker or champion, or even someone on here who has that info who can just email it to me? or would that violate any copywrite laws? if it does or if its against the rules of this forum i'm sorry for suggesting it, i'm still new to all this stuff. but any help at all would be deeply appreciated. thnx
Point's to the link to free D&D

[Rowsen]

What about the most hilariously named Prestige Class?


RAGE MAGE

Complete Warrior, pg72
Requires arcane casting though, so it may not be for you.

[Akal Saris]

Here's the Frostrager (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20040911a&page=3)

Here's the Rage Mage (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20031116a&page=7)

The other barbarian PrCs aren't free, unfortunately.

[Sacrieur]

I'm a long time supporter of FB. Grab a fullblade and just go nuts man.