War Hulk for Medium creatures

[Morph Bark]

I've been thinking about the War Hulk PrC from the Miniatures Handbook and thought "hey, why couldn't you use this with a Medium character with Powerful Build?" or perhaps just a Medium or Small character without Powerful Build.

Would you allow a non-Large character like that to take the PrC?

[Darth_Versity]

Personaly, no. But thats because I see the War Hulk as an NPC class. While it can be used for PCs, it wouldnt fit in with any of my games as I like puzzles and tactics, not plain dungeon crawling.

I guess it wouldn't make much difference, but the real question is why would you want to?

[prufock]

I've been thinking about the War Hulk PrC from the Miniatures Handbook and thought "hey, why couldn't you use this with a Medium character with Powerful Build?" or perhaps just a Medium or Small character without Powerful Build.

Would you allow a non-Large character like that to take the PrC?

I don't see that it would be overpowered or anything. Actually, it would be less powerful, as you'd threaten a smaller area for your Great/Mighty/Massive Swing abilities.

But normally, I follow RAW for PrC prerequisites, so I personally wouldn't allow it.

[FMArthur]

Eh, it's somewhere for a Barbarian to go that isn't Frenzied Berserker at least, which can be problematic for damage overkill and teamplay - FB is better suited to be a 'strictly NPC' class than War Hulk, come to think of it.

There aren't a lot of 'pure brute' ways to advance from Barbarian that are worthwhile. War Hulk still isn't spectacular, but for a man whose only goals in life are to hit people harder and break stuff and doesn't want any extra tricks thrown in, it can serve a purpose.

[Fax Celestis]

I particularly enjoy using Goliath Barbarian's Mountain Rage substitution level to turn War Hulk's features on and off via rage.

[Person_Man]

I particularly enjoy using Goliath Barbarian's Mountain Rage substitution level to turn War Hulk's features on and off via rage.

I think that's a real fun idea for a Bruce Banner build, especially if you're going to be playing in the ECL 10ish range. Play a 5HD mook most of the time, who suddenly becomes a 10 HD monster when he rages. You could pull it off with a Psychic Warrior as well, negating the need for any Level Adjustment. I wouldn't play with it beyond that ECL though - the chance of first round death before you have a chance to Rage would just be ridiculous.

[Cieyrin]

I'm still of the opinion that Powerful Build treats the character as Large, due to the feats in Races of Stone explicitly pointing out that Powerful Build counts. Thus, Goliaths, Half-Giants and Eneko can take feats with the Large size requirement despite not actually being Large.

That's just my opinion and I seem to be in the minority on that front.

[Fax Celestis]

I think that's a real fun idea for a Bruce Banner build, especially if you're going to be playing in the ECL 10ish range. Play a 5HD mook most of the time, who suddenly becomes a 10 HD monster when he rages. You could pull it off with a Psychic Warrior as well, negating the need for any Level Adjustment. I wouldn't play with it beyond that ECL though - the chance of first round death before you have a chance to Rage would just be ridiculous.

Actually, stuff you fail to qualify for lets you keep HD, saves, and BAB, but you lose class features.

So basically, "hulking out" (as it were) gives you a massive STR bonus, turns on No Time To Think, and basically emulates the Hulk in the best way possible.

[Cieyrin]

Actually, stuff you fail to qualify for lets you keep HD, saves, and BAB, but you lose class features.

So basically, "hulking out" (as it were) gives you a massive STR bonus, turns on No Time To Think, and basically emulates the Hulk in the best way possible.

I'd find suddenly losing skill points from No Time To Think bizarre, to say the least.

[Fax Celestis]

Yeah, but it turns off when you exit rage.