[PF] Anger Management: A Pathfinder Guide to the Barbarian

[Novawurmson]

Edit: I have heard rumors of a barbarian rage that improves ranged attacks called the Savage Technologist. It isn't on the SRD at the time of this writing (9/13/14), so I'm not taking down the rest of the "No archery!" section yet. Bloodrager stuff will be added slowly.
Edit (1/11/13): After some deep soul-searching, I would prefer if you would consider any reference to an "Archery Barbarian" as purely facetious. I will try to remove them as time permits.
Addendum: Added a bonus section on why you shouldn't play an "Archer Barbarian."

“When angry, count to four. When very angry, swear.”
-Mark Twain

As part of an ongoing process to bring Pathfinder guides to classes that don't have them (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=233029), here is an attempt at a comprehensive Barbarian guide, including content from the Core Rulebook, APG, UM (when applicable), and UC.

When reading this guide, please keep the Standard Pathfinder Optimization Color Guide in mind:

Red - A poor choice. You have limited resources to create your character; nine times out of ten you'll regret this.
Orange - Situational choice. You'll get some mileage out of this option, but there might be something better you could have had instead.
Green - Good choice. Most of the time, this choice will be useful.
Blue - Excellent choice. Probably the best option. You can't go wrong with Blue!


What is a Barbarian?

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltwbrj7Uva1qebszt.jpg
-Your average Barbarian

A Barbarian can fill a very limited number of roles in a party, but is almost always an incredibly handsome, high-damage melee character, with a caveat: If you played a Barbarian in 3.5 (especially one that utilized sources like the excellent Being Bane: A Guide to Cracking Small Men (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=8753.0)), you'll be doing significantly less damage in Pathfinder than in 3.5. Why? Well, traditional sources of damage multiplication such as Leap Attack+Shock Trooper are absent from Pathfinder, as well as almost all methods of obtaining Pounce (a Full Attack on a charge). Most Pathfinder Barbarians are not going to be doing hundreds of damage per round, especially at low levels. In this way, Pathfinder was a significant nerf to the Barbarian. Pathfinder Barbarians serve a slightly different purpose: Though they will contribute a significant amount of damage in a fight, they also can bring utility in their rage powers - mostly 1/rage abilities with a variety of purposes. We'll get into rage powers more a little later.

Besides melee damage and limited combat utility, Barbarians have a few options. Ranged Barbarians can be decent, usually by throwing large objects at people; Archery is a terrible choice for most Barbarians. Mounted Barbarians can put out some incredible damage, but need the Mounted Fury Archetype and are dependent on being in an open field to maneuver their mount. Pure lockdown builds have problems with most lockdown-style rage powers being once a rage. Grappling Barbarians have the same problems as normal grapple builds - eventually everything's CMD is ridiculous because of size, BAB, and absurd Str and Dex modifiers - and then Freedom of Movement comes along; besides Tetori Monk, there's no RAW way to deal with it; it can be fun before that, though. There's a number of feats to create some sort of Drunken Barbarian, which, though the flavor is cool, require you to sit around and drink (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/afflictions/drugs/alcohol) during battle to achieve your minor bonuses. Unless your DM just lets you stagger around drunk all the time with no penalties, skip these options.

Let's review the important points:


Barbarians are a class that specializes in doing damage.
Pathfinder Barbarians do not have the raw power of a 3.5 Barbarian, but bring limited combat utility through rage powers.
Barbarians are incredibly, incredibly handsome.


Stats

http://blog.zlti.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/burning-computer.jpg
-BARBARIANS DO NOT CARE FOR YOUR STATISTICS, PUNY SPREADSHEET MONKEY

Barbarian statistics are fairly easy to quantify

Strength - It makes you smash things harder and more often. What else do you need?
Dexterity - Helps with initiative, AC, Reflex saves and a few useful skills. Becomes more important with Combat Reflexes builds, but Initiative is the main reason to invest
Constitution - HP is good, but you've already got a D12 hit die and good Fortitude save. You're aiming for a 15 in Con so that you qualify for Raging Vitality (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/raging-vitality).
Intelligence - Eh. You get 4+INT skills/level; throw your favored class bonus in here if you want more skills.
Wisdom - Helps with Perception checks, but more importantly: You have a bad Will save. If you get Dominated, you'll be ripping the faces off your friends instead of your foes.
Charisma - Though it's not as good an option as in 3.5, there are some nice Intimidate-based feat chains out there. Unfortunately, not everything can be intimidated. If you're building around Intimidate, this can be useful. Otherwise, dump it. BARBARIAN NO NEED SOCIAL SKILLS. BARBARIAN HAVE SMASHING GOOD MANNERS.

Races

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f1/Barbarian_-_The_Ultimate_Warrior_Coverart.png
-Two Human Barbarians

Core Races
-Dwarf - Not bad. They've got slow speed, but Barbarian gives you that right back. Bonuses to two secondary stats (Con and Wis) with a penalty to a dump stat (Cha). +2 on saves against spells is great. Favored Class bonus is decent.
-Elf - Bleagh. Penalty to Con, bonus to Dex and Int? Favored Class bonus is terribad.
-Gnome - Penalty to Str and small weapons. Pass unless you're going mounted and want to run around on a medium animal.
-Half Elf - Floating +2 can go straight to Strength. Drop Skill Focus for Exotic Weapon Proficiency using Ancestral Arms. If you end up multiclassing, Multitalented is nice.
-Halfling - Same as the gnome. Don't even think about it unless you're going mounted; between the two, I'd probably pick Halfling for the bonus to saves and mount-related Alternate Racial features.
-Half-Orc - Floating +2 to Str. Orc Ferocity isn't bad, nor is the bonus to intimidate. Chain Fighter isn't bad as an Alternate Racial feature. If you don't mind giving up Orc Ferocity, Toothy and Sacred Tattoo are both nice.
-Human - Floating +2 to Str. Free feat and bonus skills? Yes, please. As if it couldn't get any better, take a look at Heart of the Fields: "Humans born in rural areas are used to hard labor. They gain a bonus equal to half their character level to any one Craft or Profession skill, and once per day they may ignore an effect that would cause them to become fatigued or exhausted. This racial trait replaces the skilled racial trait." Your rage fatigues you, and can't be entered into while fatigued; very nice for a low-level Barbarian.

Monster PC Races (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/monsters-as-pcs):
-Talk with your DM before using one of these races; some may not be appropriate for all campaign settings.

-Aasimar - Nothing bad, but nothing great.
-Catfolk - Penalty to Wisdom hurts, but there's nothing especially bad. The big bonus they got through the Advanced Race Guide was a feat chain for Pounce, but you already get that through a Rage Power.
-Changeling - Constitution penalty is a little annoying, but +1 on melee damage rolls, natural AC, and a claw are all nice.
-Dhampir - Barbarian Vampire? Only useful if the party healer channels negative energy. Penalty to Con, making it harder to sit on the front line.
-Drow - Notice I said Drow and not Noble Drow. Another +2 Dex, +2 Cha, -2 Con race. Spell resistance is mostly there to be an annoyance when the Wizard tries to buff you.
-Drow Noble - Not dignifying this with a color. It's both significantly more powerful than the other Monster races and gives you little in return. The DM should shake his head in shame if you ask to play this.
-Duergar - Enlarge Person 1/day is great, Invisibility is game-breaking at low levels, and they're immune to Paralysis, Poison, and Phantasms. It's a big Charisma penalty, so don't expect to be Intimidating much. Light Sensitivity is annoying.
-Fetchling - The resistances are nice, but you're not getting much in return. Disguise Self 1/day is useful for RP, but then how are people going to see your bulging muscles?
-Gillman- You're getting nothing to become a slave of DM-controlled forces. Skip.
-Goblin - Mostly for mounted builds. There's the Feral Gnasher (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/featured-races/arg-goblin/feral-gnasher-barbarian-goblin) archetype, which is decent, and the Roll With It and Ankle Biter Feats for fun.
-Grippli - Climb speed does not make up for being Small with a Strength penalty.
-Hobgoblin - Not bad. +4 on Stealth? Weeeeeee! If you DM allows the Hobgoblin War Draught from the Advanced Race Guide (and you have a reliable source of it), these guys jump to good to excellent, as they can rage-cycle earlier than any of the other races listed here.
-Ifrit - Oh goody, your Charisma score is treated as two higher for Sorcerer class abilities! Skip.
-Kobold - -4 to Str. Skip.
-Merfolk - Great in an underwater campaign, but 5ft. base land speed hurts.
-Orc - Sexy bonus to Str, and it gets Ferocity.
-Oread - Bonus to Str and Wis, penalty to Cha. You can do better, but you can definitely do worse.
-Ratfolk - Penalty to Str and Small. We've seen this before.
-Strix - You're only here for one reason: Fly speed of 60ft.
-Suli - Str bonus, free Shock weapon and resistance to most energy types/5? Sign me up.
-Svirfneblin - It's got some nice spell-like abilities, but it doesn't make up for Small with a Str penalty.
-Sylph - If you want Feather Fall, play a Strix. They've got actual feathers!
-Tengu - The bite is nice, as is the Wisdom bonus. Gets proficiency with a few decent exotic weapons. Plus, you can speak lots of languages! Insult everyone in a way unique to their own cultural heritage.
-Tiefling - Bonuses to things you don't need, penalties to things you don't need. There's a massive table of Alternate Racial features from Pathfinder 25: The Bastards of Erebus that you'd need to clear up with a DM first. Qlippoth-Spawn and Oni-Spawn stand out as good choices. Most of the random table is great.
-Undine - Penalty to Str, nothing you need. Moving on...
-Vanara - Nothing bad, nothing good.
-Vishkanya - The poison is interesting. Hard to optimize around without about 6 levels of Alchemist for poison as a Swift action.

Races of the Dragon Empires
-Kitsune - Vulpine Pounce is ok, but it comes way too late to save this Str penalty race.
-Nagaji - You're here for the Strength and natural armor bonuses.
-Samsaran - Nothing you need, plus a penalty to Constitution!
-Wayang - It's...it's...a small race without a Strength penalty! Still not that great for a regular Barbarian, but a holy grail for a Mounted one.

Psionic Races
(http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/races)
-Talk with your DM before using these races. These are Third Party races released by Dreamscarred Press, not Paizo. Also, they may not be appropriate for all campaign settings.

-Blue - Sing it with me! I know you know the words! Penalty to Str and Small sized.
-Dromite - Natural Armor is nice, as is scent, but you can pick up scent with a rage power. Penalty to Str and small size.
-Duergar (Psionic) - Not to be confused with the previously explained Duergar. They're like a standard Dwarf, only they get Expansion 1/day as a psi-like ability and Wild Talent.
-Elan - Floating +2 to Str, Wild Talent, and the ability to boost saving throws or gain temporary HP. Plus, you can burn PP to not need to eat! More time spent smashing people!
-Half-Giant - Big weapons, bonus to Str and Wis, and Wild Talent. And Stomp. Hard to go wrong with a Half-Giant Barbarian.
-Maenad - Floating +2 to Str, their own mini-rage, a bonus to Barbarian rage, Wild Talent, and they can shout so hard it hurts you.
-Ophiduan - The bite's great, as is Wild talent and the AC boost.
-Xeph - Penalty to Str. Not Small. They can make themselves really fast. Yay?


Class Features

http://www.incrediblehulkonline.com/incarnations/greyhulka.GIF
-Barbarians have class


Alignment must be non-lawful - Most people don't prestige/multiclass in Pathfinder, but this restricts your access to multiclassing into Paladin and Monk. Lawful people sometimes don't want you to smash things.
D12 Hit Dice - Best in the game!
4+INT skill points / level - Not bad. Skills aren't your focus, but at least you're not the Fighter with a piddly 2+INT skills/level. I'll talk more about skills later.
Full BAB - Best in the game. Makes you hit accurately and frequently.
Good Fortitude save, poor Reflex and Will - Your Fortitude saves should be off the charts with the benefits of rage. Poor Reflex hurts against traps and casters, but you should be putting a few points in Dex anyway. Rage helps with Will, but you should be putting something decent in Wisdom to help prop up your poor Will save.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency - All martial weapons and up to medium armor. Assuming you're not a Dwarf, try getting mithral armor so you can wear medium armor without the penalty to speed.
Fast Movement - Not bad. Helps reduce the amount of time spent not hitting people.
Rage, Greater Rage, Mighty Rage - If there was a color above Blue, I would use it. This is your bread-and-butter ability as a Barbarian, allowing you to hit harder, take blows, and shrug off negative effects. Watch your usage though - it makes you fatigued afterwards. More on that later.
Rage Powers - Bonus abilities you can use only when raging. Rage powers, truth be told, range from Red to Blue. We'll discuss them in more detail later.
Uncanny Dodge/Improved Uncanny Dodge - Being unflankable makes it harder for cowardly Rogues to bring you down. Also helps against invisible foes.
Trap Sense - Eh. Helps offset your low Reflex save, but it's nothing to write home about. Most groups I've played with rarely (if ever) use traps. YMMV.
Damage Reduction - By the time you get it, it's almost worthless, unless you dive into hordes of 1 HD enemies all the time.
Indomitable Will - Again, by the time you get it, you're not going to notice it that much.
Tireless Rage - Entering and leaving a rage are both free actions, meaning your rage powers can now be used a ridiculous number of times a day.


To be completed:

Stats
Races
Class Features
Natural Weapons/Manufactured Weapons
Rage powers
Skills
Feats
Equipment
Example builds
-Core only
-Crit-fisher
-Mounted
Archetypes

Comments, suggestions, builds, and feedback always appreciated.

[Novawurmson]

Skills

http://thetalentcode.com/wp-content/uploads/hammer_break1.jpg
-Unfortunately, "Breaking Things (Str)" isn't a real skill

Skills come in two flavors: Class skills and cross-class skills. The only difference is that if you have at least one skill point in a class skill, you get an untyped +3 bonus to that skill.

What does it matter? Just about nothing, except that it's often useful to put just one point in most of your class skills to get that +3 bonus.

Class skills:

Acrobatics (Dex) - Tumbling for avoiding attacks of opportunity is the big draw here. Balance and jump checks are nice, as well.
Climb (Str) - Negated by the ability to fly; semi-useful before that's an option.
Craft (Int) - Unless you're thinking of picking up Master Craftsman (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/master-craftsman---final) and Craft Magic Arms and Armor (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/item-creation-feats/craft-magic-arms-and-armor-item-creation---final) don't bother. Hobgoblins wishing to create Hobgoblin War Draught should find a way to reliably hit the DC 15 Craft (Alchemy) check.
Handle Animal (Cha) - Useful for avoiding unnecessary fights. Important if you've got a mount you need to train yourself.
Intimidate (Cha) - You probably don't have the best Cha...unless you're going for an Intimidate build, in which case it's important.
Knowledge (nature) (Int) - Int is a dump stat, so be wary about putting points here. Campaign-specific; coordinate with your party and DM.
Perception (Wis) - You should be maxing this every level.
Ride (Dex) - Of course, if you're going for a mounted build, this is vital.
Survival (Wis) - Not bad if your party needs a tracker; terrible if your group never follows trails.
Swim (Str) - Negated by spells and magical items; semi-useful before they're available.

Notable Cross-Class Skills:

Any skill that can't be used untrained (the Knowledges, Disable Device, Spellcraft) is worth a look over if no one else in your party can use them. Mostly your points should be going into Perception, Acrobatics, and then your choice of Ride, Handle Animal, Intimidate, and Survival.

Stealth - Not bad for getting the drop on your opponents.
Use Magic Device - Plenty of people can use it better, but it's too good a skill to ignore completely.

Natural Attacks, Unarmed Strikes, and Weapon Attacks

http://aslancross.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/pathfinderbarbarian.jpg
-"Of COURSE they're natural!"

Before I get into rage powers, it's a good idea to understand the difference between a natural attack, an unarmed strike, and a weapon attack (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/rules-for-monsters/universal-monster-rules#TOC-Natural-Attacks). My understanding of natural attacks originally came from Saph's Summoner's Handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=184592), so credit where credit is due.

Natural Attacks
-Natural Attacks can be either Primary or Secondary.
-Primary natural attacks are made using your full base attack bonus and add your full Str modifier on a hit.
-Secondary natural attacks are made at your full base attack bonus -5 and add 1/2 your Str modifier on a hit.
---Example: You are a level 1 Medium Barbarian with a Str of 18 (modifier of 4) with a Bite and two Tentacles (somehow, not important). On a Full Attack, you can use all three, with a modifier of +5 on the bite attack (doing 1d6+4 damage on a hit) and +0 on each of the claw attacks (doing 1d4+2 damage per hit).
-If you only have one natural attack and use only it, you use your full base attack bonus on the attack and add 1.5 times your Str modifier on a hit.
---Example: You are a level 1 Medium Barbarian with a Str of 18 (modifier of 4) while raging. If you just have a Bite, your attack roll is 1(BAB)+4 (Str). Your bite does 1d6+6 (1.5 times your Str) damage.
-Natural attacks do not get iteratives.

Combining Natural Attacks and Manufactured Attacks
-If you have both natural attacks and manufactured attacks, you can use both as part of a Full Attack action, but you cannot use any part of your body for more than one attack (i.e. If you're holding an axe in your pincers, you can attack either with the axe or with the pincers, not both. If you have a one-handed axe in one pincer and the other pincer free, you can make one attack with the axe and one with the pincer), and the natural attack is made as a secondary attack.
---Example: You are a level 1 Medium Barbarian with a Str of 18 while raging (modifier of 4), a Greatsword, and a Bite. You attack with the Greatsword at a modifier of +5, dealing 2d6+6 damage on a hit and the bite at a modifier of +0, doing 1d6+2 damage on a hit.

Unarmed Strikes

An Unarmed Strike (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/weapons/weapon-descriptions/strike-unarmed) is not considered a natural attack for anyone but a Monk (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/monk). You cannot deal lethal damage with an unarmed strike unless you take the Improved Unarmed Strike feat.

Why do I care?

Because quite a few rage powers give or enhance natural attacks or unarmed strikes, it's important to know the difference between them and how they work.

In a campaign that will take place purely under level 6, natural attacks can be a viable damage source. It's pretty easy to get 3 natural attacks as a Barbarian, doing quite a bit of damage on a full attack.

After level 6, the battlefield starts changing, unfortunately, due to a number of factors.


Iteratives - At level 6, a full BAB class like a Barbarian will get a second attack with his melee weapon.
Damage Reduction - Multiple attacks don't look as nice when each of them is reduced by a flat amount. To breach damage reduction like DR/Cold Iron with natural attacks, you need at at least a +3 enhancement bonus (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/special-abilities#TOC-Damage-Reduction) on your attacks, while a Barbarian who uses manufactured weapons can just pull out a Cold Iron weapon.
Magic Weapons - At level 6 and beyond, you should easily have access to a +1 or more magic weapon. Natural attack builds need an Amulet of Mighty Fists, which is 2.5 times as expensive per point of ehancement. With a DM who's trying to do a "low-magic" campaign setting, this might be different, but nine times out of ten you need to run as soon as you hear "low-magic campaign setting."


However, the bonus attacks are still a great source of damage output at low levels. I generally recommend picking up at least one natural attack from a part of your body other than your limbs - such as a bite - so that at all levels you get your full manufactured weapon attacks, plus a free attempt at some bonus damage from the natural weapon.

Rage Powers

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_komboe44671qzhsn4o1_r1_400.jpg
-The hell does a little old gnome know

Tips about rage powers
-Some rage powers function all the time while you are raging. These are generally the best rage powers, because you are not limited except by the number of rounds you can rage per day.
-Some rage powers function once per rage; these are second because dropping your rage (before level 17) exhausts you, meaning you are generally only going to be using these once per combat. Of course, once you hit 17, you can use them, drop rage as a free action, start rage as a free action, and it's refreshed and ready to go! This also works if you are immune to exhaustion and fatigue through one means or another.
-Some rage powers function only once per day. These are very limited rage powers and should be looked over carefully before taking them.
-Some rage powers function only after consuming alcoholic beverages; these should be ignored unless your DM hand-waves the requirement as long as you personally consume the alcoholic beverages yourself. Even then, though your character will gain benefits, your judgement may be impaired because of the OOC effects of alcohol. [Always drink and game responsibly - Palanan]
-Many rage powers have prerequisites that may or may not be useless; consider if your character will ever be high enough level to gain the benefits of the end of the tree.
-Superstition is powerful and useful rage power that can potentially kill you; be very careful with its use, and talk with your party about its implications before taking it. Rage powers that require Superstition as a prerequisite have been marked.

Animal Fury (Ex) - Not bad. A nice little bite attack. Prerequisite for Dragon Totem and Hive Totem rage power trees.
Auspicious Mark (Su) - 1/rage ability to add +1d6 to any one roll of a d20. Its real value comes from the fact that you choose to use it after you see what you rolled. Rolled a 1 or a 20 on a save? Don't bother. Rolled 2 points away from a successful hit? Use it!
Beast Totem, Lesser (Su) - Claw attacks; better if it's a low-level campaign that's never going to reach high levels. However, its real value is that it's a prerequisite for Beast Totem, Greater, which is one of the best in the game.
Beast Totem (Su) - Scaling natural armor bonus; again, you're here for its big sister, Beast Totem, Greater.
Beast Totem, Greater (Su) - Full Attack on a charge. Probably the best rage power in the game. Every Barbarian level 10 or above should have this.
Bestial Climber (Ex) - Problem is, it comes in at level 6, by which point the Wizard should have Fly. If you lack a primary spellcaster, it has its uses in a mid-level campaign.
Bestial Leaper (Ex) - If someone can find a reason to use this, I'll gladly add it. It's like a poor-man's Spring Attack, which is very poor indeed.
Bestial Swimmer (Ex) - Unless you're in an aquatic campaign or your DM frequently throws submerged temples at you, avoid this.
Bleeding Blow (Ex) - The only caveat that saves this rage power is that it gets around damage reduction, meaning it can save a party's life in very specific circumstances. Mostly, skip this one.
Boasting Taunt (Ex) - Nice "tanking" ability for an Intimidate build, sort of like Iron Guard's Glare for any ToB fans out there. Note that the alcohol is just icing on the cake, not a requirement.
Body Bludgeon (Ex) - This is the most amazing rage power ever written, but should probably never be attempted in a real game*.
Brawler (Ex) - There are ways to make unarmed strike Barbarians...but you really need to take Improved Unarmed Strike so that you meet prerequisites of other feats. The damage boost from 1d3 to 1d6 is nice, though.
Brawler, Greater (Ex) - Most of the time, you're just going to want to take the feat.
Chaos Totem, Lesser (Su) - Unless you're fighting Devils and Inevitables constantly, you're not getting much out of this.
Chaos Totem (Su) - Light Fortification is always good; remember, crits kill characters. If you take an Archetype that replaces Uncanny Dodge/Improved Uncanny dodge, the chance to negate sneak attack helps, too.
Chaos Totem, Greater (Su) - The DR is nice; the usefulness of chaotic-aligned attacks depends on your campaign.
Clear Mind (Ex) - Reroll a Will Save 1/rage. You get to see the result before you choose to reroll.
Come and Get Me (Ex) - Used correctly, this rage power can grant you a full attack routine when it's not even your turn. Its greatest strength is that it makes your AoO happen before their attack hits, potentially killing them and avoiding the attack all together. Be careful about using this rage power in areas where creature with range or reach can take advantage of the extra damage without fear of counter-attack or when there are more opponents than you have AoO's.
Crippling Blow (Ex) - Dealing ability damage can be very powerful. Works off Powerful Blow, a 1/rage ability, so this becomes even better if you can keep dropping and restarting your rage.
Deadly Accuracy (Ex) - Not bad for a crit-fishing built, but there is better.
Disruptive - This is very nice rage power, especially when coupled with feats like Step Up, allowing a Barbarian to be fairly effective at countering unoptimized spellcasters. Note that it requires Superstition, so coordinating with your party is a must.
Dragon Totem (Su) - Not a bad rage power on its own. Remember that it scales if you take the other two.
Dragon Totem Resilience (Su) - This power (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/rage-powers/paizo---rage-powers/dragon-totem-resilience-su) depends on how you read it. If it really means you get +2 DR/- for every Dragon Totem rage power, this is great. If it just means your DR is treated as two higher for the purposes of your energy resistance, it remains just OK.
Dragon Totem Wings (Su) - Flight is almost a necessity at high levels. It costs quite a bit in terms of rage rounds, but if you use it wisely, it's amazing.
Eater of Magic (Su) - Reroll a save 1/rage after you've failed it, and you gain temporary HP if you succeed the second time. Requires Superstition, so best after rage-cycling is available or with good party coordination.
Elemental Rage, Lesser (Su) - Nice for crit-fishing and natural attack builds because both of them are hoping for a high number of attacks. Helps that it can be used in conjunction with Elemental Rage.
Elemental Rage (Su) - Very nice that you can switch it at the beginning of a rage; switch it around to whatever you're facing isn't immune or resistant to.
Elemental Rage, Greater (Su) - Excellent for crit-fishing builds, not quite as good for everyone else.
Energy Resistance (Ex) - I would not recommend picking this up unless you know you're going to be facing a lot of the same kind of element ("Hey guys, this next campaign is taking place on the Elemental Plane of Fire!").
Energy Resistance, Greater (Ex) - Its main saving grace is that it halves the damage before resistance is factored in.
Energy Absorption (Su) - By the time you can get this, it's worthless. You should be using rage powers on better.
Energy Eruption (Su) - Again, by level 16, you've got most of the rage power trees ripe for the picking. Get your DM to port in the Dragonfire Adept if you want a breath weapon.
Fearless Rage (Ex) - Comes a little late, but these are common status conditions you want to avoid.
Ferocious Mount (Ex) - Amazing for Mounted Barbarian builds, will quickly outlive its usefulness for others. Lets your mount share the rage-love.
Ferocious Mount, Greater (Ex) - Again, if you're going for a Mounted Barbarian route, this is basically doubling the effectiveness of your rage powers.
Ferocious Trample (Ex) - Wonderful for dealing with multiple opponents while mounted. Combine with the Trample feat for OPness.
Ferocious Trample, Greater (Ex) - By now, you're probably fighting Large creatures, so this is quite the boon.
Fiend Totem, Lesser (Su) - It's a bonus natural attack, so it's not bad, but I prefer Animal Fury because it's a prerequisite for Dragon Totem, while the Fiend Totem line never gives anything as useful as wings.
Fiend Totem (Su) - Stack it with armor spikes and Come and Get me for...mediocre damage.
Fiend Totem, Greater (Su) - Well, there's no listed save for the shaken condition, but in most games at least one of your allies is going to be Good or Neutral. It's got potential for a BBEG, I guess.
Flesh Wound (Ex) - You have to wait until you see the damage...and make a Fortitude save...which your armor check penalty applies to? It's not the worst thing I've ever seen, but it's still not worth your time.
Ghost Rager (Su) - Not bad. The bonus to touch AC should help regularly, while the ability to hit incorporeal creatures will probably trivialize a few encounters. Requires Superstition, so be careful.
Good for What Ails You (Ex) - Not bad. Go blind? Take a drink and you're good to go until the rage ends. Also, there's no limit to the number of times you can try per rage, making this an effective way of removing poison.
Ground Breaker (Ex) - I love this rage power. It's two crowd-control methods rolled into one;
Ground Breaker, Greater (Ex) - If you're taking Ground Breaker, I recommend taking this at least once to make it hard for opponents to five-foot step out of your difficult terrain. Remember this also increases the radius of where enemies will be affected.
Guarded Life (Ex) - This one made me go and re-read the rules on non-lethal damage. This a potentially life-saving power, not so much for the stabilization, but for the conversion to non-lethal damage that scales with Barbarian level.
Guarded Life, Greater (Ex) - Not bad; if you find yourself in a rough campaign where Guarded Life is being activated frequently, this can give an even bigger boost to your survival chances.
Guarded Stance (Ex) - Dodge bonuses are great, but these only apply to melee attacks and require a move action to activate. Most of the time, I would prefer Beast Totem, as it scales faster anyway.
Hive Totem (Su) - I don't feel like swarms are a common enough to make this great, but the bonus against trip is semi-useful.
Hive Totem Resilience (Su) - Again, swarms aren't the biggest threat in my experience, but if your Druid loves to summon swarms all the time, this will help you play nice with them.
Hive Totem Toxicity (Su) - This I really like. It can potentially do 12 points of Con damage, the save scales off of your Con and your Barbarian level, and you don't have to activate it until the bite has already hit. Plus, it's a bite attack, meaning you can use it during a full attack with your weapon.
Hurling, Lesser (Ex) - Lets you throw objects and deal damage as if it was a falling object (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/environment/environmental-rules#TOC-Falling). It has some very nice things going for it (you can Power Attack with it, it adds your Str to damage, it's a ranged touch attack), but remember they get a Reflex save for half. It's also a full-round action.
Hurling (Ex) - It's a step up in damage. If you find yourself chucking boulders frequently, go for it.
Hurling, Greater (Ex) - Again, for the Medium Barbarian, this means you're lifting objects larger than yourself and throwing them at enemies. You'll do more damage by whacking them with a Greatsword repeatedly, but which is cooler?
DarkOrange"]Hurling Charge (Ex)[/COLOR] - Throw a weapon at an enemy while charging. If your never going to get Pounce, then this is the next best thing; carry a set of throwing axes.
Increased Damage Reduction (Ex) - It's a nice increase to your damage reduction. The biggest bonus is if you already have Dragon Totem Resilience, which scales off of your DR.
Inspire Ferocity (Ex) - Like Reckless Abandon, the biggest benefit is that the bonus to attack rolls is untyped; however, you're not likely to have the biggest CHA bonus in the world. Slightly better for Rage Prophet builds.
Internal Fortitude (Ex) - Nauseated is a terrible condition; situationally useful. Becomes amazing if your DM allows you to get a A Flawed Scarlet and Green Cabochon (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/h-l/ioun-stones/scarlet-and-green-cabochon). Rage-cycling for one rage power and 8000g? Do it.
Intimidating Glare (Ex) - One of the foundations of Intimidate-builds. Remember that if you Intimidate a shaken creature, it becomes frightened.
Knockback (Ex) - Rare for a rage power, it's useful 1/round. Str damage on a successful Bull Rush is nice, but there's a bit of a RAW question: The text says that the movement does not provoke an AoO, but Greater Bullrush (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/greater-bull-rush-combat---final) says that whenever you Bullrush an opponent, it provokes an AoO from your allies. Either way, the crowd control is very nice.
Knockdown (Ex) - Another great crowd-control option, but unfortunately only 1/rage. Once you can rage-cycle, this gets even better.
Lethal Accuracy (Ex) - For many builds, this is a significant investment in resources that might be too much for what you get; for crit-fishing builds, this great.
Liquid Courage (Ex) - Bonuses to saves are nice, but bonuses that require you to spend actions drinking are not. Rage-cycling Superstition is far better.
Low-Light Vision (Ex) - A Dull Gray Ioun Stone with Continutal Flame cast on it shouldn't cost much more than 225g.
Mighty Swing (Ex) - Once a rage auto-confirm a crit. Very nice for crit-fishers, though.
Moment of Clarity (Ex) - You're a Barbarian. Why are you spending resources to not rage? Well, the main reason is to get into the Rage Prophet prestige class. Other than that, you're probably better looking elsewhere.
Night Vision (Ex) - Slightly better than Low-Light Vision, but generally unnecessary.
No Escape (Ex) - I love this rage power, but I (and the DMs I've played with) tend to have mooks run from hopeless fights.
Overbearing Advance (Ex) - I'm generally not a big fan of Overrun, but this is very nice for Mounted Barbarians with Greater Ferocious Mount and Greater Ferocious Trample.
Overbearing Onslaught (Ex) - If you find your opponents lining up like pins, waiting to be knocked down, then this is great. If not...Greater/Ferocious trample are generally superior.
Perfect Clarity (Ex) - Miss chance is a terrible foe, but giving up the benefits of your rage in order to do so hurts.
Powerful Blow (Ex) - It's a minor damage boost. It gets much better after you can rage-cycle and if you pick up Crippling Blow.
Primal Scent (Ex) - Not bad if you're fighting invisible creatures regularly.
Quick Reflexes (Ex) - Syncs well with rage powers that grant attacks of opportunity. Even without them, it's a solid choice.
Raging Climber (Ex); Raging Leaper (Ex); Raging Swimmer (Ex) - I'll take on all of these at once; if you find yourself using them frequently, they're worth a look, but you're probably better off with other options. Climbing and jumping are both ultimately replaced with flight.
Reckless Abandon (Ex) - This is best in a situation where you're receiving as few attacks as possible; against a "boss" who is probably hitting every time anyway, the AC penalty is negligible, and the attack roll bonus (note that it's untyped) is more useful than against mooks who you can probably hit regularly anyway.
Reflexive Dodge (Ex) - You've got a low Reflex save; this can help fix that.
Regenerative Vigor (Ex) - The big problem here is that it lasts until your current rage ends, making rage-cycling a no-go; however, if you use Renewed Vigor at the end of the day and use all of your remaining rounds of rage, you could heal a significant chunk of damage.
Renewed Life (Ex) - If you've already sunk two rage powers into the tree, pick this one up; potentially a life-saver in combat against a spellcaster or a vampire.
Renewed Vigor (Ex) - I like the healing rage powers because they give a Barbarian more options in combat, but most of the time you're probably better pooling with your party for a wand of cure light wounds. The real killer is that it's only once per day. If your party has no healing options whatsoever, you might get some mileage out of it.
Renewed Vitality (Ex) - The bonus saving throw is what really sells me on this rage power; ignore it until you've got time to deal with it. I take a -6 penalty to my Str from Bestow Curse? Not until you're dead, I don't!
Roaring Drunk (Ex) - Basically alcohol problems. Using up actions to gain minor bonuses to Intimidate is not optimal. Just use your actions for additional Intimidate checks.
Rolling Dodge (Ex) - Slightly better than Guarded Stance because it's a prerequisite to Reflexive Dodge, but you're still trading actions for a small bonus. Use your move action to get to the ranged attacker and give them an axe in the face.
Roused Anger (Ex) - If you're never going to get high enough level to properly rage-cycle, this is the next best thing.
Scent (Ex) - Useful in-combat against invisible foes and out-of-combat to track trails.
Sharpened Accuracy (Ex) - Ignore miss-chance once a rage.
Smasher (Ex) - Break down doors, open chests...this is how a Barbarian smashes the world around him.
Spell Sunder (Su) - Hit a spell so hard you break it with your axe. Great for post-battle dispels. Requires Superstition.
Spellbreaker - If you've already got Disruptive, this is the next step to hurting casters. Not entirely necessary, but fun.
Spirit Steed (Su) - It's another mounted feat, meaning it's much better if you're optimizing around being mounted. You mount gets a bit of easily ignored DR, and its attacks count as magical for ignoring DR.
Spirit Totem, Lesser (Su) - It's free damage, but it's not big damage. Better in the low levels of a campaign where 1d4+CHA damage has a chance of killing an enemy outright.
Spirit Totem (Su) - Miss chance is great, plus it affects creatures larger than you trying to hit you with reach.
Spirit Totem, Greater (Su) - Again, minor but consistent damage to living foes nearby.
Sprint (Ex) - I don't see this getting much use, especially with the base movement speed bonuses a Barbarian gets anyway. Might be fun for setting some kind of Pathfinder land speed record.
Staggering Drunk (Ex) - Because Barbarians are always casting spells and provoking attacks of opportunity?
Strength Surge (Ex) - 1/rage, add your Barbarian level to a combat maneuver check or to your CMD. Great synergy with abilities like Knockdown and Spell Sunder. Once you can rage-cycle, this is just mean.
Sunder Enchantment (Su) - The big advantage here is that you can suppress a magical item without destroying it completely. Requires Superstition.
Superstition (Ex) - This rage power is both blue and red. On the one hand, it's a tasty, scaling boost to your saves and opens up a number of useful rage-power chains. On the other, it forces you attempt to save against every spell your party drops on you. If you've got a reliable source of rage-cycling, or a coordinated and understanding party that will drop buffs on you before you enter your rage, this is a wonderful rage power. If not, it's potentially life-threatening (if your party can't buff and heal you in combat).
Surprise Accuracy (Ex) - By itself, it's not that great of a rage power (1/rage boost to an attack roll), but it has some nice rage powers that require it.
Swift Foot (Ex) - You're already getting a +10 bonus to your base land speed. How much more do you really need? If you have Dragon Totem Wings, your flight speed is based off your base land speed, making this a better choice. World Serpent Totem Unity is another good choice for a speed boost.
Terrifying Howl (Ex) - So sexy for Intimidate builds. Remember that Intimidating Glare is a move action while Terrifying Howl is a standard, meaning as a full-round action you can (Ex) Fear someone.
Unexpected Strike (Ex) - It's Pathfinder's Thicket of Blades once you can rage-cycle.
Witch Hunter (Ex) - It's a minor bonus to damage, but remember it works on anything with even a spell-like ability, meaning just about every Fey, Outsider, Dragon, and many Monstrous Humanoids and Abberations are going to be taking bonus damage (not to mention gnomes; tee hee hee). Requires Superstition.
World Serpent Totem (Su) - Outsiders are frequent foes, but a minor AC boost isn't always the best way to fight them.
World Serpent Spirit (Su) - Cutting through 4 kinds of damage reduction for one rage power? I can dig it.
World Serpent Totem Unity (Su) - Never get knocked prone again AND double your fast movement bonus, plus some other minor bonuses.



*It's difficult to pull off, and you have to be level 10 before you even pick it up, but if you pull off this ability in a game, I will add your name to this optimization guide. If, in a real game, you level a Barbarian 1-10, pick this rage power, and dual-wield enemy gnomes in combat, calling them "Gnome-Chucks," and provide proof of your epic deed, I will mail you a cookie if you live in the continental United States.

[Novawurmson]

Archetypes

http://i3.squidoocdn.com/resize/squidoo_images/-1/lens18792042_1320018955Conan_the_librarian.jpg
-Urban Barbarian 19/Scrollmaster Wizard 1

-Armored Hulk
---Losing Uncanny Dodge and Improved Uncanny Dodge for Heavy Armor Proficiency. It's probably best to just take Heavy Armor Proficiency as a feat if you want it that badly.
-Breaker
---There are some decent feats related to improvised weapons. Not a great archetype on its own, but it can be optimized around.
-Brutal Pugilist
---Great for a grapple-focused Barbarian, but it can be useful for other combat maneuver builds (Drag, Bullrush, Trip, Overrrun, etc.)
-Drunken Brute
---Just take the Extra Rage feat if you find yourself needing more rage this badly. Giving up your move action/full attack to maintain your rage is just bad. True, it lets you chug potions without provoking attacks of opportunity, but potions are the most expensive form of magical enhancers. Buy your spellcaster a wand of the buff you want.
-Elemental Kin
---If you're not in a trap-heavy campaign and not taking another archetype that conflicts with this one, there's no reason not to take this. Especially nice at low levels (Oh, no! I took 1 fire damage! Looks like I get another round of rage...)
-Hurler
---It's a nice little buff to thrown weapons. Nothing crazy.
-Invulnerable Rager
---Makes your damage reduction scale to 1/2 your Barbarian level. Invest in fortification-eqsue abilities early though, as being able to be flanked makes you far more vulnerable to Rogues.
-Mounted Fury
---The go-to option for Mounted Barbarians, though under review because of the suggestion from Stack of a four level Cavalier dip. Either way, if you want to do mounted combat, you need a mount that's going to scale with you.
-Savage Barbarian
---For DMs, this is a great way to increase the AC of a Barbarian your players are going to fight while giving them less loot (assuming your players are rolling in money, and they need to be curbed back a bit). Unless your DM is not following the WBL table (and even still...), you'll get better AC by wearing armor.
-Scarred Rager
---Gives some nice benefits out of combat, but the big benefit is the bonus saves. By fifth level, every effect that causes you to become nauseated, sickened, fatigued, exhausted, dazed, frightened, shaken, or stunned you get a bonus roll on? Amazing.
-Sea Reaver
---If your entire campaign is taking place on board a ship, this is admittedly better, but otherwise, you're just going to be a fish out of water.
-Superstitious
---Initiative often wins battles. Blindsense and Blindsight come a little too late to optimize around, but if you make it to level 16/19, you'll appreciate them.
-Titan Mauler
---The benefit of this class is less in the ability to use oversized weapons (though it is cool), and more the fact that at a certain level everything you fight is bigger than you. Free Enlarge Person is great if you're rage-cycling.
-Totem Warrior
---This tidbit is from Ultimate Combat, page 26:


Rage Powers: Any barbarian who meets the powers’ prerequisites can select and use the following new rage powers. Totem rage powers grant powers related to a theme. A barbarian cannot select from more than one group of totem rage powers; for example, a barbarian who selects a beast totem rage power (see the Advanced Player’s Guide) cannot later choose to gain any of the dragon totem rage powers (any rage power with “dragon totem” in its title), unless she has the totem warrior archetype.

However, if we take a look at said Totem Warrior (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/archetypes/paizo---barbarian-archetypes/totem-warrior) Archetype, we find that being a "totem warrior" gives no penalties or benefits, except apparently being able to mix-and-match any power with totem in its name, and it stacks with every other archetype.

So, every single Barbarian-to-be out there? Take the Totem Warrior Archetype just in case you ever want to take more than one totem rage-power. There is absolutely no reason not to, and it will save you a headache from arguing with your DM when they find that highly unnecessary paragraph. Right? Moving right along...
-True Primitive
---Give up fast movement and trap sense for favored terrain, limited weapons and armor, the ability to read and write, and a scaling +1 bonus to damage or saving throws. You're not giving up much, but you're not getting much.
-Urban Barbarian
---An OK option for a Dex-based Barbarian build, such as an Archer. Losing the penalty to AC during rage helps. You give up a scaling bonus to one stat for flexibility as to what stat you get the bonus to..
-Wild Rager
---Yeah, the extra attack is really nice, but "going crazy and potentially killing allies, not to mention not being able to control your character" isn't a class feature. Class features are supposed to improve your ability to reduce creatures to less that 0 HP, not punish you for doing so.

The Rage Cycle

http://www.cotf.edu/ete/images/modules/msese/earthsysflr/EFCycleP3.gif
-It's like this, only full of fury and destruction

If you've read this far into the guide, you've probably heard the phrase "rage-cycle" a number of times. I'd like to define rage-cycle clearly, as well as give a list of ways to effectively rage cycle. We'll use Phil the Average Barbarian (a level 17 Barbarian) in our example.

1. Phil wakes up after a long night of feasting, wine, and song. He has all of his resources for the day ready.
2. Phil the Average Barbarian is attacked by monsters from beyond time. He uses his Powerful Blow rage power (usable once per rage) for a little extra damage.
3. On his next turn, he wants to use Powerful Blow again, but he can't...or can he?
4. Because Phil is no longer fatigued when he stops raging (as a level 17 Barbarian), he drops his rage as a free action, ending his rage.
5. Phil immediately begins his rage as a free action. Because this is a separate rage, his Powerful Blow (and any other 1/rage abilities he might have used) are refreshed.

However, you too can rage-cycle as a Barbarian, dropping and renewing your rage as free actions, so long as your rage no longer fatigues you, or you are immune to fatigue. "So," you ask, "How do I become immune to fatigue?" Well, I'm glad you asked.

1. Horizon Walker (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/e-h/horizon-walker) - Three levels of Horizon Walker (choosing Desert for Terrain Mastery/Dominance) makes you immune to fatigue and exhaustion.
2. The Lame (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/oracle/oracle-curses) Oracle Curse will make you immune to fatigue after 5 levels. Usually this is achieved by a one-level dip into Oracle followed up with the Rage Prophet (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/n-r/rage-prophet) prestige class.
3. Five levels of Martial Artist (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/monk/archetypes/paizo---monk-archetypes/martial-artist) Monk (note that Martial Artists are not required to be Lawful).
4. A Flawed Scarlet and Green Cabochon (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/h-l/ioun-stones/scarlet-and-green-cabochon) - It's not from any of the big books, but it's fully Pathfinder Society legal. Any affect that makes you fatigued instead makes you sickened. Say, wasn't there a rage power that makes you immune to being sickened when in a rage? :smallcool: Again, it's not in any of the big books (Core, APG, UM, UC) so not all DMs may be OK with it.
5. Heart of the Fields allows you to ignore one affect that would cause you to become fatigued or exhausted 1/day. It's only once a day, but it's nice for low-level rage-cycling.
6. The Wayfinder (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/r-z/wayfinder-standard) has an interesting interaction with ioun stones, especially the pale green prism, which allows the bearer to remove the fatigued condition from himself as a free action twice per day. The Wayfinder only costs 500g! The pale green prism? 30,000g. Ouch. If your DM will let you get away with a cracked pale green prism, that's only 4,000g+500g for the Wayfinder.
7. Allnight (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/goods-and-services/herbs-oils-other-substances)...all night...ooooh every night (http://youtu.be/atxUuldUcfI?t=1m). Eliminates the "effects of fatigue" for 8 hours in exchange for a -2 to skill checks and a crash afterwards. 75g a bottle.
8. The Hobgoblin War Draught from the Advanced Race Guide allows the drinker to ignore all penalties resulting from the fatigued and shaken conditions for 10 minutes - if you have the goblinoid subtype. If not, it requires a DC 15 Fortitude save to get the effects for one minute, and you're sickened afterwards. Only 10 gp a bottle.

[Novawurmson]

Feats

http://health.kerals.com/beauty/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/build_muscle.jpg
-When you've got muscles this big, even moving them that much is pretty impressive.

In you career as a Barbarian, you'll have 10 feats gain from levels (with possible additional feats from race or multiclassing), so you need to spend them wisely - don't go for things like Acrobatic that give +2 to two skills.

The only "necessary" feat in a game that allows the APG is Raging Vitality (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/raging-vitality), though standard damage increases like Power Attack should be snagged pretty quickly for most builds.

Power Attack is the single biggest damage increase a full BAB class can get from a Pathfinder feat; Raging Vitality is the single biggest increase to survivability a Barbarian can get from a Pathfinder feat.

To be completely clear: You only need two feats to be a competent Barbarian - Power Attack and Raging Vitality. Everything else is pure bonus.

Once you have those two down, consider some of these:

Always Good

- Improved Initiative - The creature that acts first usually wins battles. Make sure you're that creature

For Increased DPR

Furious Focus - Removes the Power Attack penalty for the first attack of a round. Best at levels 1-5 when you're probably only getting one attack to begin with and your first attack of the round has a decent chance of missing. Worse later on when you'll almost always hit with your first attack in the round.

Weapon Focus - It's a bonus on attack rolls. If you're in a position to use the same weapon all the time (and you're not going to be switching to a better weapon every few encounters), it's a decent pick-up.

Core Feats

Bleeding Critical/Blinding Critical/Deafening Critical/Tiring Critical-> Exhausting Critical/Sickening Critical/Staggering Critical-> Stunning Critical -
Blind Fight -
Catch Off-Guard-> Improvised Weapon Mastery -
Cleave -> Great Cleave-
Combat Expertise -> Improved Trip -> Greater Trip -
Combat Reflexes-> Stand Still-
Master Craftsman-> Craft Magic Arms and Armor -
Critical Focus -
Weapon Focus -> Dazzling Display-> Shatter Defenses -
Endurance -> Diehard
Dodge -
Double Slice -
Exotic Weapon Proficiency -
Extra Rage -
Improved Bull Rush -> Greater Bull Rush -
Improved Disarm -> Greater Disarm -
Improved Grapple -> Greater Grapple -
Improved Overrun -> Greater Overrun -
Improved Sunder -> Greater Sunder -
Great Fortitude/Lightning Reflexes/Iron Will (and Improved GF/LR/IW)->
Two-Weapon Fighting-> Improved Two-Weapon Fighting-> Greater Two-Weapon Fighting -
Vital Strike-> Improved Vital Strike-> Greater Vital Strike -
Improved Critical -
Intimidating Prowess -
Leadership - Probably the most broken feat in the game. A second character for the cost of one feat? Sure. Don't take it unless you're in an extremely high-power campaign, and even then.
Lunge -
Deadly Aim/Point-Blank Shot/Rapid Shot/Many Shot/Other archery feats - If you're an archer, take them. If not, don't.
Mounted Combat-> Ride-By Attack-> Spirited Charge -
Step Up -
Strike Back -
Toughness -
Trample -

Equipment

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/goldenaxe/deathdealerII.jpg

-Every bit helps.

-

Bonus: Why Not the Archer Barbarian?

http://minutillo.com/steve/weblog/images/archer-confused.jpg
-A confused Barbarian attempts to learn the Way of the Bow. Soon, he will learn the Way of the Smack People with Stick

There are three very important reasons why an Archer Barbarian does not belong in an optimization guide.

1. Archery builds require at least two feats to be competent (Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot), and generally two more to be good (Rapid Shot and Deadly Aim). If you are not Human (or another race that gets a bonus feat), you will not be competent until level 3, and you will not be good until level 7; that's a long time to wait. "But! But!" you say. "I can dip Fighter for bonus feats!" Yes, my son, but why not just play a class that's good at what you want to do in the first place?

2. You get bonuses to Str and Con when raging, not to mention fast movement and a whole slew of Rage Powers that mostly only work with melee attacks (and occasionally thrown weapons), all of which synergize perfectly with melee. Yes, you could be an Urban Barbarian, but then you're giving up half your stat bonuses (you'll only get the bonus to Dex, not to Con or Str as well); that's not to say you couldn't try it to have fun, but this is an optimization guide, not a fun guide (though I try my best).

3. There are other classes that do it better - Fighter, Ranger, Zen Archer Monk, Gunslinger, hell, even the Paladin has a decent ranged archetype. If you want to play a wilderness guy who shoots arrows, go for the Ranger and focus more on grunting and flexing your muscles; we'll understand.

Bonus: The Bloodrager

A few quick thoughts about the bloodrager:
-Overall, you should treat the bloodrager as a very involved archetype of the barbarian.
-Bloodrager makes you a little more MAD because you actually need Charisma.
-Spells are good, even if they come online late. You don't get many of them, but you still have a total of 13 per day at level 20 before bonus spells from Charisma.
-You do not get rage powers (one of the defining features of the barbarian) baseline. This is sad.
-You can immediately get them back with the Primalist (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/bloodrager/archetypes/paizo---bloodrager-archetypes/primalist). This is good!
-However, you must give up some of your normal bloodrager bloodline abilities to do so. This is a dilemma.

Look at it this way: You can either pick a bloodline with really awesome abilities that you wouldn't want to give up anyway, or you can pick a bloodline with complete sh*t abilities and trade them away for awesome rage powers. This means that ultimately, your level 1 bloodline power is the only one you really have to care about.

[grarrrg]

Seriously?
A picture of freakin Yoda, but not ONE of the Hulk yet?

For shame!

[Novawurmson]

Seriously?
A picture of freakin Yoda, but not ONE of the Hulk yet?

For shame!

I was trying to avoid pictures of the Hulk - thought it would be too cliche. But if the communty demands it...I think a picture of the Hulk would be appropriate under Archetypes :D

Either that or if you can find me a classy picture of the Hulk in a tuxedo, I'll replace the random guy under "Class Features"

[jmelesky]

Either that or if you can find me a classy picture of the Hulk in a tuxedo, I'll replace the random guy under "Class Features"

Grey hulk (http://www.incrediblehulkonline.com/greyhulk.html) wore a suit all the time...

[CheshireCatAW]

Google has answered your plea.

Hulk in a Tuxedo (http://www.google.com/imgres?q=hulk+in+a+tuxedo&hl=en&safe=off&sa=X&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS457US457&biw=1600&bih=775&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=vpx1_JM_2TiAZM:&imgrefurl=http://www.weeklycrisis.com/2011/04/cover-of-week-incredible-hulks-birds-of.html&docid=5zuHPvMKJye1KM&imgurl=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--1X8nv2jDLo/TadYoXJL6yI/AAAAAAAACyk/3N11vWbyQt4/s1600/incredible%252Bhulk%252B626.jpg&w=900&h=1367&ei=xp0-T9rgD4bjiAKi6pyyAQ&zoom=1)

[Palanan]

First sentence in the first paragraph, if I'm not missing something:

"A Barbarian can a limited number of roles in a party...."



Fill, I assume?

[Novawurmson]

I saw the "Hulk with a gun" picture on Google yesterday, but...why does the Hulk need a gun? It's like giving Superman a switchblade: It's kind of cool on one level, but completely unnecessary on most. :smallsigh:

I did make a promise though, so Grey Hulk has replaced Random Guy in a Suit.

[Novawurmson]

First sentence in the first paragraph

::head desk::

Keep 'em coming XD

[CheshireCatAW]

I saw the "Hulk with a gun" picture on Google yesterday, but...why does the Hulk need a gun? It's like giving Superman a switchblade: It's kind of cool on one level, but completely unnecessary on most. :smallsigh:

I did make a promise though, so Grey Hulk has replaced Random Guy in a Suit.

The gun is a lighter. He uses it as an in to seduce the ladies.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Novawurmson
Keep 'em coming XD

Heh. Be careful what you wish for. ...:smalltongue:

Here's a list of fairly minor items; my corrections and/or suggestions are in red.


First post, end of second paragraph:


There's a number of feats to create some sort of Drunken Barbarian, which, though the flavor is cool, require you to sit around and drink during battle...

First post, in Races, for the Dwarf:


Favored Class bonus is decent.

First post, in Races, for the Half-Orc:


If you don't mind giving up Orc Ferocity, Toothy and Sacred Tattoo are both nice.

First post, in Races of the Dragon Empire, for the Nagawhatsis:


You're here for the Strength and natural armor bonuses.

First post, under Class Features:


# Full BAB [remove line return]
- Best in the game. Makes you hit accurately and frequently.

Good Fortitude save, poor Reflex and Will

Second post, under Skills:


Craft (Int) - Unless you're thinking of picking up Master Craftsman and Craft Magic Arms and Armor don't bother.

Ride (Dex) - Of course, if you're going with a mounted build, this is vital.

Any skill that can't be used untrained (the Knowledges, Disable Device, Spellcraft) is worth a look over...

Second post, under Natural Attacks:


Natural Attacks can be either Primary or Secondary.

-Natural attacks do not get iteratives.

In a campaign that will take place purely under level 6, natural attacks can be a viable damage source. It's pretty easy to get 3 natural attacks to rampage through your foes with [???] as a Barbarian, doing quite a bit of damage on a full attack.

To breach damage reduction like DR/Cold Iron with natural attacks, you need at at least a +3 enhancement bonus on your attacks, while a Barbarian who uses manufactured weapons can just pull out a Cold Iron weapon.

-Some rage powers function only after consuming alcoholic beverages; these should be ignored unless your DM hand-waves the requirement as long as you personally consume the alcoholic beverages yourself. Even then, though your character will gain benefits, your judgement may be impaired because of the OOC effects of alcohol. [--A little confusing; joke? Always drink and game responsibly.]

Many rage powers have prerequisites that may or may not be useless; consider if your character will ever be high enough level to gain the benefits of the end of the tree.

Beastial Climber
Beastial Leaper
Beastial Swimmer



Also, cool guide. I've always avoided barbarians in 3.5 (thanks in part to a cohort who went horribly wrong) but it's nice to know there's still hope in Pathfinder.

[DrDeth]

Thank you for this. And esp thank you for doing this as a post and not a link to a google doc or some other site somewhere I can’t read.

[grarrrg]

I was trying to avoid pictures of the Hulk - thought it would be too cliche.

I would have been content with no Hulk pics.

But then you threw a Yoda pic of all things in there. We needed a Hulk to balance things out again.

[Novawurmson]

Palanan, thank you for your help editing :D

I wasn't sure what you meant by the following.



First post, under Class Features:

[INDENT]# Full BAB [remove line return]
- Best in the game. Makes you hit accurately and frequently.


Everything else should be changed.

I've been digging through my books looking for interesting build ideas. I think I've got a few...how optimal they are remains to be seen. I've got the write up for 80% of the rage powers on paper, just need to type them up.

[Palanan]

Sure, glad to help. Most of those were very minor on the scale of things.

What I meant about the "line return" was to change this entry:


Full BAB
- Best in the game. Makes you hit accurately and frequently.

to the following:


Full BAB - Best in the game. Makes you hit accurately and frequently.

just to match the standard formatting of the other lines. Wasn't quite sure how else to describe it.



Also, I'm spoilering the edits, just so future readers can move past them without any trouble.

And again, cool guide to the PF barbarian. Looking forward to your build ideas. They may find a home in my campaign. :smallbiggrin:

[deuxhero]

-Urban Barbarian 19/Scrollmaster Wizard 1



Is that build actually viable?

[Novawurmson]

Is that build actually viable?

Have you seen UHF (http://youtu.be/mZHoHaAYHq8)? (YouTube link).

Barbarian 20 is a viable build in Pathfinder, but one level of Scrollmaster Wizard would do absolutely nothing for the build. It's just there to be silly :smallsmile:

[Arbane]

So... I take it you don't like Superstition?

[Novawurmson]

So... I take it you don't like Superstition?


While raging, the barbarian cannot be a willing target of any spell and must make saving throws to resist all spells, even those cast by allies.

So...you have to save if you get Haste, Fly, Invisibility, Heal, Bull's Strength, Enlarge Person, Barkskin or just about any other buff your party would want to cast on you? And you have to pay a rage power for this "privilege," and the rage power increases your chance to resist those spells?

I'm going to include a "homebrew" section with some suggested fixes to rage powers. Superstition would be a great rage power if it didn't include the above clause.

[jmelesky]

So...you have to save if you get Haste, Fly, Invisibility, Heal, Bull's Strength, Enlarge Person, Barkskin or just about any other buff your party would want to cast on you? And you have to pay a rage power for this "privilege," and the rage power increases your chance to resist those spells?

Only if you're raging. Most buff spells are likely to be cast in the first round or two of combat (or even prior), which means that you just need to wait till round two to start raging. After that, no worries.

And, as you've noticed, the big benefit of Superstition isn't the save bonuses (though those are really handy for preventing charmed barb syndrome), it's the rage powers you get access to. Lots of good stuff there, especially Spell Sunder (Wall of Force? Fly spell on the enemy mage? Prismatic Sphere? HIT IT SO HARD IT GOES AWAY).

[deuxhero]

Have you seen UHF (http://youtu.be/mZHoHaAYHq8)? (YouTube link).

Barbarian 20 is a viable build in Pathfinder, but one level of Scrollmaster Wizard would do absolutely nothing for the build. It's just there to be silly :smallsmile:

I know of it, I just was genuinely asking about the build.

[Curious]

So...you have to save if you get Haste, Fly, Invisibility, Heal, Bull's Strength, Enlarge Person, Barkskin or just about any other buff your party would want to cast on you? And you have to pay a rage power for this "privilege," and the rage power increases your chance to resist those spells?

I'm going to include a "homebrew" section with some suggested fixes to rage powers. Superstition would be a great rage power if it didn't include the above clause.

It's not actually that bad. By about 8th level or so, when you can rage-cycle via levels of Horizon Walker, you just get your team-mates to prepare actions to buff you when you drop out of rage, then hit it right back up again when they're done. Simple.

[Blyte]

First off, I am glad you are making this guide. I think the PF barbarian is grossly underrated and is an absolute BEAST. I am educating my gaming group more to this fact every night we play.

There were a few things I disagreed with but two I whole heartily endorse are "come and get me" and "superstitious"

"Come and Get Me (Ex) - There are better "tanking" powers than this. If you're getting attacked by lots of little critters, remember that you may run out of attacks of opportunity."

This is the best rage power in the game. I can't believe you rated it red on your scale. It is better than some level 20 class abilities.

"Come and Get Me (Ex)

Prerequisite: Barbarian 12

Benefit: While raging, as a free action the barbarian may leave herself open to attack while preparing devastating counterattacks. Enemies gain a +4 bonus on attack and damage rolls against the barbarian until the beginning of her next turn, but every attack against the barbarian provokes an attack of opportunity from her, which is resolved prior to resolving each enemy attack."


I used to be wary of superstition as well, but it is an amazing power, (especially for human barbs opting for the alternate favored class bonus.) My level 7 barb is getting +5 saves vs all supernatural stuff thrown at him, and he has better saves than anyone in the party coupled with his +3 resistance cloak. They all were butchered at the hands of my last barbarian who was dominated by a giant guppy (aka Aboleth) and I promised them it wouldn't happen again.. (I still blame the cleric for never tossing me a pro-evil) All the casters consistently beat my barbarian on initiative, so first round buffs aren't a problem for me to receive and we use forethought and pre-buff before encounters we can anticipate. Healing isn't an issue since I am an invulnerable rager with a ton of HP and the cleric keeps shield other up on me.

I fully intend to have "come and get me" at level 12. I already get 3 AoOs with my 14 dex and combat reflexes. By 12 I will likely have a +4 Dex/Str belt and have 2 more AoOs. After 12 I might even invest in the rage power that gives additional AoOs, because "come and get me" is so ridiculously over powered.

In your scenario where the barbarian is attacked by "a lot of little critters", that is now a lot of dead little critters and the barbarian never even gets touched because his counter-attacks resolve first. That's a lot of carnage the barbarian just dished out, and it wasn't even his turn!

In another scenario the barbarian with 5 AoOs just dropped the pouncing infernal dire tiger that attacked him (and it wasn't even his turn.)

In another scenario the dragon just hit the barbarian for an extra 12 more points of damage to his total, but the barbarian was able to return an extra 100 points to the dragon, and once again it wasn't even his turn.

I honestly can't see any game going past 12 with a barbarian, because this power is a game breaker... if anything make it red because it's just not fair to bring this ability to the gaming table.

[Chained Birds]

As a Barbarian aficionado, I truly hope you rethink Superstitious.

I made myself a Barbarian Dwarf with the [Steel Soul] Feat just so he can be the bane of all casters. And you can't have all those awesome anti-magic stuff without it. Sort of like taking [Power Attack] at level 1; just something that feels right for a Barbarian.

So if you are doing Ground Breaker and are going to have to end your rage before you can do a new one this battle, why not have your buffer/healer throw you some combat support for the brief moment you're lucid.
Also, isn't turning off Rage a free action? And if it is a free action to turn it off, then let's say:
The ground begins to shake and suddenly falls under your feet mid-combat vs the BBEG spellcaster and his mooks. Your Wizard prepared Mass Feather Fall for some reason today, but Oh No! You're Raging! Well, just say, "I'm not angry anymore" and take your ally's spell without having to save against it. Sure you're fatigued for a bit (If you didn't go down the Horizon Walker Path or other Anti-Fatigue/Exhaustion Path), but at least you're alive, and that evil spellcaster you were fighting in the last battle sure was scared of you.

Maybe I can't really change your mind about this, but I at least wanted to throw in my 2 cents about that Rage Power before you label it completely worthless...

[Novawurmson]

@jmelesky/Curious - Very good points. I'll have to go back to go back to the drawing board on Superstition; for low-level Barbarians who can't rage-cycle yet, I still feel that it's a terrible and possibly fatal rage power, but for ones who can through one way or another of immunity to fatigue/exhaustion, it's not that bad.

As an aside, I also post on the Dreamscarred Press forums where they were talking about a proposed psionic power called Alienation that forced you to save whenever a spell or power was cast on you; it was debated whether that was too powerful for a 4th level power.

@deuxhero - I just put it up as a joke, but I'm sure there are ways taking a level of Wizard might help a Barbarian build. There actually is a decent reason to get a familiar in as a Pathfinder Barbarian: Familiars share you BAB, and their health is equal to one half yours, meaning a Barbarian's familiar will have about the health of the average Wizard XD

@Blyte - How much damage are you doing on the average attack? :smallconfused:

Obviously it becomes a lot better if you've got a party member specifically buffing and protecting you, but that is a resource that every Barbarian isn't going to have. Also note that enemies still get the bonus on ranged attacks where you will be unable to take your AoOs against them - or Large or larger creatures (or creatures with reach) - or if you get disabled - or on spells/powers with ranged touch attack rolls. I can agree that it can be a very powerful in the right situations, but there are (over the course of the campaign) going to be many more attack rolls on your character than on any one enemy.

Still, you're right that it's better in more situations that I made it out to be; can you post your build(s) here? I'd like to run some simulations with a real Barbarian that has seen play.

[ranger557]

I agree that "superstition" and "come and get me" are much higher ranked rage powers.

One is that "Come and get me" is basically the equivalent of the 3.5 robilar's gambit feat, and with that feat you could practically smack any opponent trying to attack you and kill them without even using your turn :smallsmile:. That's a big boon to melee characters, especially the "tanky" ones.

Second is the "Superstition". Right it hurts them when their allies try to buff them, but its suppose to be a double edge sword in that sense. However, its more of a PRO than a CON, because of the fact of the increasing bonus you have against many Fortitude, Reflex, and Will save spells and ripping apart magic against the "all-powerful casters" :smallbiggrin:. Honestly, its teamwork and the casters would buff you before you raged and while you raged with all the bonus from the chain of the superstitious powers, you will have amazing defensive and offensive abilities against magic (which is a big weakness for mundanes all on their own).

[Doorhandle]

I'm with the guy above me.

Alone, superstious is worthless, but when the chain is taken it's FANTASTIC.

For one, it could help with wrasslin' builds as Sunder Magic would allow you to sunder that pesky "Freedom-of-movement" thing, or regeneration, and doesn’t allow spell resist. Also, sunder enchantment will play merry hell with any magic items they opposition has, while eat magic give you a reroll on a save and a buff as icing, while witchhunter is an untyped damage bonus (not that high, granted, but still nice.)

[Mystify]

I'm used to gold being the best choices, but you have orange as really bad choices, making it really confusing to read.

[stack]

Barbarian levels won't count for the familiar.

For a multi-classing section, don't forget the Horse Master (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/horse-master-combat) feat. If you want to go mounted, four levels of cavalier and one feat get you a full-power mount instead of either having 1-hit wonders or begging the DM to let you buy exotic (expensive) mounts.

[Blyte]

"@Blyte - How much damage are you doing on the average attack? "

at level 12 a 2handed barbarian with any degree of optimization can easily average ~33 per attack. that's barring criticals. from a falchion with improved crit, you are likely going to avg higher.

I guess I will do the math... (I am not a math wizard but I will try)

ok for this example we will use a 12 barbarian human with a 22 base strength and improved critical feat, wielding a +2 furious falchion.

at 12 he gains 6 str from rage, and has a +4 str item so he has a 32 str. (+11)

2d4(weapon)+16(str)+12(powerattack tier4)+4(weapon bonus)

(4.5+16+12+4) = 36.5avg damage non-crit

add in the ~25% chance to crit and you get 45.625 avg damage

I will gladly trade 4 damage to do 45.625 damage back.. as an invulnerable rager I am still subtracting 6 from thier damage at lvl12 anyhow.

now you scenario about ranged attacks, of course I will not be entering my "come and get me" stance while I am charging a hill with archers at the top of it.

[Novawurmson]

@ranger557 - The more I think about Come and Get Me, the better it becomes. Even with only 3 AoO's a turn, that means you could get an extra Full Attack when it isn't your turn. Plus, if they were going to attack you anyway, it gives you a chance to punish them.

@Doorhandle - I love the Superstition chain to death, I'm just very wary about the rage power itself.

@Mystify - Most Pathfinder guides that I've read take Treantmonk's Red-> Orange-> Green -> Blue format. Orange doesn't mean that something is bad, just that it's situational; it might only come up a few times over the course of the campaign. Red means it's almost always a bad investment, while Green is usually a good investment, and Blue means it's almost always a great investment. I think it's good that most of the list is Orange - there are very few "must have" rage powers, letting a variety of builds develop.

@stack - Surprisingly, they do.

Familiar Basics (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/wizard/familiar)


Familiar Basics

Use the basic statistics for a creature of the familiar's kind, but with the following changes.

Hit Dice: For the purpose of effects related to number of Hit Dice, use the master's character level or the familiar's normal HD total, whichever is higher.

Hit Points: The familiar has half the master's total hit points (not including temporary hit points), rounded down, regardless of its actual Hit Dice.

Attacks: Use the master's base attack bonus, as calculated from all his classes. Use the familiar's Dexterity or Strength modifier, whichever is greater, to calculate the familiar's melee attack bonus with natural weapons. Damage equals that of a normal creature of the familiar's kind.

Saving Throws: For each saving throw, use either the familiar's base save bonus (Fortitude +2, Reflex +2, Will +0) or the master's (as calculated from all his classes), whichever is better. The familiar uses its own ability modifiers to saves, and it doesn't share any of the other bonuses that the master might have on saves.

Skills: For each skill in which either the master or the familiar has ranks, use either the normal skill ranks for an animal of that type or the master's skill ranks, whichever is better. In either case, the familiar uses its own ability modifiers. Regardless of a familiar's total skill modifiers, some skills may remain beyond the familiar's ability to use. Familiars treat Acrobatics, Climb, Fly, Perception, Stealth, and Swim as class skills.

I wouldn't know this except that I have a Rogue who picked up a familiar through a Rogue talent. If you don't want to take a level of Wizard, you can get a familiar as any class through Skill Focus (Any Knowledge) -> Eldritch Heritage (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/eldritch-heritage) (Arcane Bloodline (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/sorcerer/bloodlines/bloodlines-from-paizo/arcane-bloodline)). Requires Cha 13 and character level 3rd. A nice way to put the Half-Elf Skill Focus to work!

[Mystify]

Every guide I've seen has used gold as the best. I was seriously confused when I saw that charisma was marked at the best, esp since the description didn't line up with it. I was further confused due to the repeated statement that barbarians were very good looking.

[stack]

@stack - Surprisingly, they do.

Familiar Basics (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/wizard/familiar)



I wouldn't know this except that I have a Rogue who picked up a familiar through a Rogue talent. If you don't want to take a level of Wizard, you can get a familiar as any class through Skill Focus (Any Knowledge) -> Eldritch Heritage (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/eldritch-heritage) (Arcane Bloodline (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/sorcerer/bloodlines/bloodlines-from-paizo/arcane-bloodline)). Requires Cha 13 and character level 3rd. A nice way to put the Half-Elf Skill Focus to work!

Well, look at that. I stand fully corrected. Post was mainly about the feat anyway, so I don't look completely ignorant.:smallbiggrin:

[Blyte]

"Overbearing Advance (Ex) - I'm generally not a big fan of Overrun, but this is very nice for Mounted Barbarians with Greater Ferocious Mount and Greater Ferocious Trample.
Overbearing Onslaught (Ex) - If you find your opponents lining up like pins, waiting to be knocked down, then this is great. If not...Greater/Ferocious trample are generally superior."

these powers are amazing for an overrun barb, just as amazing as the mount powers are for a mounted barbarian. I think they should both be color rated at whatever you are using for situational/build-dependant. they easily become blue for the right build, but they are definately not something that every barbarian should be taking regardless of build.

your opponents do not have to "line up like pins" because you don't have to charge to overrun, you can use a move action to overrun. as a result in conjunction with the greater overrun feat, you can get multiple AoOs on your movement action, and then end your turn with a standard attack action like vital strike or cleave.

if they do happen to be lined up, you can charge through them then end your turn with the beast totem pounce. that's just bonus though... I often don't bother with the beast line when I am building an overrun barb, because knocking over all your large sized and smaller opponents and doing them damage is much better than charging one with a full attack.

these powers and feats, coupled with strength surge and auspicious mark, allow the barbarian to knock over giants and make them think twice about standing back up.. assuming they aren't dead.

overrun barbs I have played in the past were able to dominate the battlefield, especially if a wizard is a team player and throws them an enlarge person. (allowing them to take down the giant sized critters).. enlarge person permanacied is nice to have in the upper levels.

[jmelesky]

your opponents do not have to "line up like pins" because you don't have to charge to overrun, you can use a move action to overrun.

Is there something that allows you to overrun as a move action? Normally, it's a standard action. From the combat rules:


As a standard action, taken during your move or as part of a charge, you can attempt to overrun your target, moving through its square.

[Blyte]

good catch, but they still don't have to be lined up... darn I have been abusing overrun ;)

edit: it doesn't say that overrun is reduced to less than a standard action with the rage power overbearing onslaught, but the rules get fuzzy because it says you get to overrun multiple opponents, which would seem to allow you to take multiple standard actions. wierd.

either way, it is an amazing rage power because it in effect gives you a multitude of standard actions. by allowing you to make multiple overruns.

[Novawurmson]

@stack - In my excitement over familiars, I neglected to check on the feat you linked. That's actually not a terrible idea for Barbarians...potentially better than the Mounted Fury (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/archetypes/paizo---barbarian-archetypes/mounted-fury) archetype as well. It's kind of the Swift Hunter of Cavaliers, isn't it? :P

[jmelesky]

good catch, but they still don't have to be lined up... darn I have been abusing overrun ;)

edit: it doesn't say that overrun is reduced to less than a standard action with the rage power overbearing onslaught, but the rules get fuzzy because it says you get to overrun multiple opponents, which would seem to allow you to take multiple standard actions. wierd.

either way, it is an amazing rage power because it in effect gives you a multitude of standard actions. by allowing you to make multiple overruns.

I'm pretty sure Paizo was stuck in the level 1-6 mindset when they were putting the combat maneuver rules together, since practically everything ended up being a standard action. I'm all for houseruling it as allowed during a move action.

Melee should have nice things, and it's not like you're even doing damage without feat or rage power commitment.

[Blyte]

I like to also take the "spiked destroyer" feat with my overrun builds which let's you make a swift attack with your armor spikes.

so the first guy you overrun you deal STR+1d4+STR+PowAttk+Weapon+STR(1.5)+PowAttk(1.5).. I end up really messing up the first guy I truck over.

[stack]

@stack - In my excitement over familiars, I neglected to check on the feat you linked. That's actually not a terrible idea for Barbarians...potentially better than the Mounted Fury (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/archetypes/paizo---barbarian-archetypes/mounted-fury) archetype as well. It's kind of the Swift Hunter of Cavaliers, isn't it? :P

I figure its great for the various fighters, barbarians, and monks who can get nice things while mounted, but have a hard time getting nice mounts. I wouldn't likely use it for a mounted fury barb though, as you could just take boon companion and not lose barbarian levels. Unless you have a conflicting archetype you want to take, since it conflicts with many.

[jmelesky]

I like to also take the "spiked destroyer" feat with my overrun builds which let's you make a swift attack with your armor spikes.

Nice. Presumably those armor spikes are adamantine, so you can bust through walls like the Juggernaut.

[Novawurmson]

The initial run-down on the rage powers is more or less complete (barring revisions ::cough cough Come and Get Me::). Keep the input coming.

I'd also welcome suggested builds, choice feats, and rage-cycling tricks.

[Blyte]

One "Rage Cycle" trick that is doable in the early game is, Human alternate racial trait "Heart of the Fields" which let's you prevent exhaustion or fatigue once per day.

"Heart of Wilderness" is also worth mentioning as it lessens the chance of the barbarian suffering death by unconciousness.

There are a few races with good alternate favored class features for barbarian. Humans, Half-Orcs & Dwarves have some nice alternatives.

Are you looking for pure barbarian builds or is dipping an option?

[Novawurmson]

One "Rage Cycle" trick that is doable in the early game is, Human alternate racial trait "Heart of the Fields" which let's you prevent exhaustion or fatigue once per day.

"Heart of Wilderness" is also worth mentioning as it lessens the chance of the barbarian suffering death by unconciousness.

There are a few races with good alternate favored class features for barbarian. Humans, Half-Orcs & Dwarves have some nice alternatives.

Are you looking for pure barbarian builds or is dipping an option?

/facepalm

I included that in the "Races" section, but not in the rage-cycyle section. Both full-Barbarian and dip builds are welcome. At the very least, I'll include links to the builds posted.

[bhh39]

couple of things I want to add to the discussion:

1. The herb/plant allnight (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/goods-and-services#TOC-Allnight) is fantastic for rage cycling from level 1. Take a dose and you are immune to fatigue for 8 hours, after which you are exhausted. However you can then use "Heart of the Fields" if you are human to avoid the exhaustion and then take another dose. Thus 16 hours per day of fatigue free adventuring for all you human barbarians out there. The only downside is that it costs 75gp a dose, cheap for anyone but a 1st level character, but if it's an issue take the rich parents trait to start off with an extra 900gp.

2.One huge difference between the 3.5 Barbarian and the PF Barbarian is that the hp gained from the con bonus from rage are no longer temporary hp and are no longer lost first. Thus if you drop out of rage by hitting 0hp you lose those bonus hp and are usually deep enough in the negatives to be dead. Thankfully the feat raging vitality (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/raging-vitality) gives you a constitution bonus while raging and lets you keep raging while unconscious so you can get healed after the battle so that you won't die if you take a lot of damage.

3.One thing that makes barbarians absolutely ridiculous is the way the feat spirited charge and greater beast totem interact. Spirited charge gives you x3 damage at the end of a mounted charge using a lance and greater beast totem lets you make a full attack. Do the math and you'll see that this will kill basically anything remotely in your league.

4. There has been some talk of taking cavalier for a mount at full druid level, but this is silly since a mounted fury barbarian can take the boon companion (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/boon-companion) feat at level 5 giving him a mount at his full level. No multiclassing required.

5.Just a note for an equipment section that the furious (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-weapons#TOC-Furious) enhancement is perfect for a barbarian. Weapon counts as +2 higher when raging. I'm not sure if this would work to make a +5 furious weapon into effectively +7, but it might and if it did I would think that would pierce through DR/epic since that only requires a +6 weapon.

6.Also on equipment a furious amulet of mighty fists is perfect for a mounted barbarian's mount, if he/she has the furious mount rage power. 5k to treat all my mount's natural attacks as +2 weapons sign me up. Extra special goodness if you have furious mount, greater and beast totem, greater so that your mount can full attack on your charges as well.

[deuxhero]

Worth noting for mounted Barbarians that [Teamwork] feats can be used by you and your mount.

Amplified Rage+Ferocious Mount is the obvious one.

[Arbane]

Great guide!

Are you going to try a mini-guide to the Rage Prophet, also? I like the idea a lot, but it seems to me like they'd miss out on a lot of the cool stuff high-level Oracles or Barbarians get.

[bhh39]

any ideas on how to get your mount to count as orc or half-orc so that it can take amplified rage?

[deuxhero]

Forgot that. Cavalier 1 if nothing else workss though (and gives it as a bonus feat).

[grarrrg]

4. There has been some talk of taking cavalier for a mount at full druid level, but this is silly since a mounted fury barbarian can take the boon companion (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/boon-companion) feat at level 5 giving him a mount at his full level. No multiclassing required.

Yes and no.
Mounted Fury Barb loses Uncanny Dodge.
Also, you might want to be a Mounted Barb, but use a different Archetype that can NOT be stacked with Mountd Fury (Invulnerable Rager anyone?).

So there are valid reasons for either Horse Master or Boon Companion.

[Blyte]

couple of things I want to add to the discussion:

1. The herb/plant allnight (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/goods-and-services#TOC-Allnight) is fantastic for rage cycling from level 1. Take a dose and you are immune to fatigue for 8 hours, after which you are exhausted. However you can then use "Heart of the Fields" if you are human to avoid the exhaustion and then take another dose. Thus 16 hours per day of fatigue free adventuring for all you human barbarians out there. The only downside is that it costs 75gp a dose, cheap for anyone but a 1st level character, but if it's an issue take the rich parents trait to start off with an extra 900gp.


amazing find.. will try my best to get it allowed in my game.. BANE

[Blyte]

any ideas on how to get your mount to count as orc or half-orc so that it can take amplified rage?

it's all in the breeding.

[grarrrg]

I'd like to point out that Spirit Totem, Lesser (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/rage-powers/paizo---rage-powers/spirit-totem-lesser-su) (apparently) makes its attack REGARDLESS of what the Barbarian did that round.
Granted, if you're Raging you are probably attacking things anyway, but there may be times when you need to down a potion, or take other non-smash actions.

[Arutema]

Looking at the available rage powers, none of them seem suited to an archer or gunslinger barbarian. Did I miss any, or do I need to homebrew a bunch of ranged rage powers when I create my homebrew ranged barbarian archetype?

[Blyte]

you can build a decent enough hurling barbarian, but not many rage powers lend to archery except for reckless abandon and the accuracy line(which doesn't develope well until around level 8), which with rage cycling is a pretty nice bonus to hit coupled with cover/concealment negation. In an upper level game you could pull off some pretty big hurling attacks with enlarge person or a dip into druid(ape shaman) for dire ape form.

I built a character who would use ground breaker, and then throw the pieces of rubble from the surrounding difficult terrain. Range can be an issue, but you are making a touch attack and with suprise+sharpened accuracy you don't have to worry about a bunch of archery feats.

You can take the hurler archetype (which stacks with invulnerable rager) for extra range, at level one you can take power attack and throw anything focus a lot of your other feats on extra rage powers. the hurling line(2+), accuracy(2), and ground breaker(1+).. but you want to develope the vital strike line as you only get to fire 1 hurled object per round anyhow.

basically you smash the ground to make a mote around you, then opperate as a turret, throwing very large pieces of junk at people. Since the junk has a size category I got my DM to allow me to attack areas with it like I was throwing mini-fireballs.

read the section on falling object damage in the SRD. the hurler is a decent switch hitter because power attack applies to both thier melee and thier hurled objects. but they don't develope until late game, and I wouldn't want to play one in the early game, where they are basically an underpowered slugger. but throwing 2x2 or even 3x3 pieces of rock on top of people can be neato in the late game.

1 power attack
1 throw anything
3 raging deathblow
5 extra rage power
7 vital strike
9 extra rage power
11 improved vital strike

2 reckless abandon
4 hurling lesser
5 suprise accuracy
6 strength surge
8 ground breaker
9 sharpened accuracy
10 hurling
12 hurling greater

with an enlarge person you are doing 18d6+STRx1.5+2handPowAttk to a 3x3 area.

[KutuluKultist]

As an aside, if you get a mount and if you get it to have 13+ charisma, you can give it the orc subtype (via skill focus: survival, eldritch heritage), allowing you to utilize the amplified rage teamwork feat.

The only animal companion type that allows this from the get go is the deinonychus (which is not a bad critter over all), starting with a 14 cha. There are three more dinosaurs with cha 12, hence only 2 ability score increases away from eldritch heritage. They are Dimorphodon, Pteranodon, Quetzalcoatlus.
Also, I noticed that the dinosaurs all seem to have a comparatively high charisma, in particular compared to classic fluffy animals such as the big cat and the wolf. Is it all the Jurassic Park fame?

You would still need a way to get a deinonychus for a mount, though. Dipping druid would get you that. Starting with a level druid, adding boon companion by level 3 the latest will keep your mount up to speed until level 5 and by level 6, the mounted fury archetype can carry the slag.

Problem with this: The deinonychus starts out at small and gets to medium at 7th and you need to be an orc yourself in order to use amplified rage.
Solution: Well, there really is no solution to not being able to ride the deinonychus before level 7, but you can solve you orclessness problem in the same manner that your mount did: get eldritch heritage (Orc). Be a halfling, that gives you charisma. At higher levels add improved eldritch heritage for up to +6 untyped bonus to strength.

[grarrrg]

As an aside, if you get a mount and if you get it to have 13+ charisma, you can give it the orc subtype (via skill focus: survival, eldritch heritage), allowing you to utilize the amplified rage teamwork feat.


Sadly, that doesn't quite work.

Eldritch Heritage gives the 1st level bloodline power.

The Orc Subtype is granted via the Bloodline's Arcana, which is NOT given via the Heritage.

[Acanous]

Animals considered hard to control are typically assigned a higher charisma. Big cats and dogs are considered easy to control. Don't ask me why.

[KutuluKultist]

Sadly, that doesn't quite work.

Eldritch Heritage gives the 1st level bloodline power.

The Orc Subtype is granted via the Bloodline's Arcana, which is NOT given via the Heritage.

Ah, curse ye, oh my miserable oversight.

Too bad.

[jmelesky]

Animals considered hard to control are typically assigned a higher charisma. Big cats and dogs are considered easy to control. Don't ask me why.

Charisma is fluffed as force of personality (as opposed to likability).

[Novawurmson]

Blaugh. I have let this slide while working on some other Pathfinder projects. I'll try to get at least core feats done tonight.

[Starbuck_II]

Armored Hulk makes you faster. No really, you get 35 speed in heavy armor.
Non-Armored Hulks get 30 speed in medium.

Two reasons: Armored Swift (+5 ft). Improved Armored Swiftness (+10)=+15.
Add it up: 20 ft (30 ft lowered from heavy armor) + 15 =35.

Add in Boot of Springing/Striding =45 ft
So Armored Brutes are faster. And better armored. And ignore Crits sometimes (Resilience of Steel).

[grarrrg]

Armored Hulk makes you faster. No really, you get 35 speed in heavy armor.
Non-Armored Hulks get 30 speed in medium.

Two reasons: Armored Swift (+5 ft). Improved Armored Swiftness (+10)=+15.
Add it up: 20 ft (30 ft lowered from heavy armor) + 15 =35.


Just a quick addendum. Armored Swiftness is NOT a bonus, it only reduces penalties. So if you take levels in Fighter for Armor Training (or happen to be a Dwarf), to ignore speed penalties, then Armored Swiftness does nothing for you. (Imp. Armored Swift still works though)

Armored Swiftness:

When wearing medium or heavy armor, an armored hulk can move 5 feet faster than normal, to a maximum of her speed.

[Peat]

First off, thanks to Novawurmson for this. Very helpful.


Yes and no.
Mounted Fury Barb loses Uncanny Dodge.
Also, you might want to be a Mounted Barb, but use a different Archetype that can NOT be stacked with Mountd Fury (Invulnerable Rager anyone?).

So there are valid reasons for either Horse Master or Boon Companion.

Also - presumably, if you're looking at either of these options, mounted combat is playing a big part in your thoughts. Cavalier has quite a few useful benefits for the mounted warrior and is worth considering on its own benefits.

Something I've been tinkering in with the last few days is a Barbarian 12/Cavalier 8 build. At level 8, a Cavalier with Order of the Sword can add his mount's Strength modifier to his own for the damage roll when charging when mounted. Which is quite useful when your Horse is Raging as well - and particularly if you've Pounce. A level 20 Barbarian has +8 Strength when Raging all the time; this guy would only have +6 Strength, but should he be charging on horseback, he is getting a better to hit roll thanks to Cavalier's Charge and a far better damage roll.

It's a bit specialised to say the least - you need to always be Mounted and to charge as often as possible - but within those parameters it looks good to my noobish eyes, and I'd be interested to see how you make the Mounted Barbarian do better.

Note: The Mounted Barbarian might be better at lower levels. I haven't worked out all of this in full in terms of comparisions, or how the build work would in full.

Also, you might well want to take Mounted Barbarian as well as the Cavalier steed. It's a little speed bonus on horseback, it gets you through the lower levels, and it means you always have a spare horse should your first one get killed!

[deuxhero]

Animal Companions stack, not overlap in PF (which makes EH:Sylvan hilarious as it gives you an effective sorcerer level based on character level)

[Peat]

Animal Companions stack, not overlap in PF (which makes EH:Sylvan hilarious as it gives you an effective sorcerer level based on character level)

Thanks for pointing that out.

So - just to check I've got this straight - a Cavalier8/Barbarian 12 w/Mounted Fury would have a single mount at level 16 (8 from each)? Would that still apply if the Cavalier was using an Animal Companion that the Barbarian wouldn't be able to get i.e. Beast Rider Archetype riding a Tiger?

Because, honestly, a level 16 Tiger strikes me as cooler and more Barbarian than a level 20 Horse.

Bonus points for everytime you shout "I Have the Power!"

[grarrrg]

Animal Companions stack, not overlap in PF (which makes EH:Sylvan hilarious as it gives you an effective sorcerer level based on character level)

Slight correction:
Animal Companions Stack.
Mounts Stack.
Animal Companion and Mount do NOT stack. They are two different things. Lots of Mechanical overlap yes, but NOT the same thing.


So - just to check I've got this straight - a Cavalier8/Barbarian 12 w/Mounted Fury would have a single mount at level 16 (8 from each)?

Correct.
But, take a look at the Horse Master (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/horse-master-combat) feat. It allows you to use character level instead of Class level to determine how strong your mount is.
It requires Expert Trainer, which is only available through 4 levels of Cavalier. Be careful when choosing Archetypes though, as some trade away Expert Trainer.
So you could be Cavalier 4/(NOT Mounted Fury) Barbarian 16 and still have a level 20 Mount.

In a situation where Horse Master is not useable, then Boon Companion (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/boon-companion) is your next best choice, counting you as +4 levels for your Animal Companion or Mount (to a maximum of your Character level).


Would that still apply if the Cavalier was using a Mount that the Barbarian wouldn't be able to get i.e. Beast Rider Archetype riding a Tiger?
(corrected wording)
This is something you would have to ask your DM about. Paizo (as far as I know) has seen fit to NOT clarify much of ANYTHING with regards to mismatched mounts.

(rant about Companion/Mount rules spoilered due to size/craziness)
I could theoretically be a Cleric/Bat Shaman Druid/Falconer Ranger/Beast Rider Cavalier/Mounted Fury Barb (various levels).
The Cleric has Scalykind domain, meaning the Animal Companion would have to be a Snake.
The Druid would have to choose a Bat for their Companion.
The Ranger would get a Falcon as Companion.
The Cavalier can choose a variety of Mounts.
The Barbarian much have a Horse/Camel Mount

Of the 5 the only class that has any choice is Cavalier.
So how many of what Companions and Mounts do I have?

[Peat]

Right, cheers Graarg.

And yeah, I knew about Horse Master - its the reason I started looking at Cavalier anyway! However, I just wanted to be sure I knew where I stood... and whether I could be a Tiger riding barbarian.

[grarrrg]

Right, cheers Graarg.

Who? (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RunningGag) :smallconfused:

[Infernalbargain]

Well Stalwart and Improved Stalwart allow you to rack up some mad DR. Intelligent barbarians can get the dodge bonus from Combat Expertise. A more feat intensive build can get it through the crane style tree, it eats less attack bonus and gets the AC bonus faster. So when you go Invulnerable Rager, you get a total of DR 20/- (stalwart explicitly stacks with Barbarian DR).

Quick build:

Master of Many Styles 2 / Invulnerable Rager 18

Human feat: Power attack
Level 1: Endurance
Bonus: Crane Style
Bonus: Crane Wing
Level 3: Diehard
Level 5: Stalwart
Level 7: Dodge
Level 9: Crane Riposte
X
Level 13: Improved Stalwart
X

Not much DPR there, but you will be pretty unkillable until late game.

[grarrrg]

Well Stalwart and Improved Stalwart allow you to rack up some mad DR. Intelligent barbarians can get the dodge bonus from Combat Expertise. A more feat intensive build can get it through the crane style tree, it eats less attack bonus and gets the AC bonus faster. So when you go Invulnerable Rager, you get a total of DR 20/- (stalwart explicitly stacks with Barbarian DR).


Don't forget, you can take the Increased Damage Reduction (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/rage-powers/paizo---rage-powers/increased-damage-reduction-ex) Rage power up to 3 times.

[Peat]

Who? (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RunningGag) :smallconfused:

Sorry, I confused you with your evil twin brother.

Does anyone have good examples of an Intimidate build?

[Beowulf DW]

Sorry, I confused you with your evil twin brother.

Does anyone have good examples of an Intimidate build?

I intend to follow through on an intimidate build using a level 1 Oracle that I'm currently playing. I intend to multiclass into Barbarian and then head straight for Rage Prophet. My charisma score (necessary for Oracle spells) should compliment an Intimidate build nicely.

I'm planning on picking up Weapon Focus, Dazzling Display, Gory Finish, and Shatter Defenses as soon as I can, in addition to all the Intimidate-based rage powers. I might throw Intimidating Prowess in there if I can.

Here are my character's stats, if you're interested:

Str:16
Dex:10
Con:12
Int:10
Wis:10
Cha:16

Perhaps not the best for a straight Barbarian build, but I'm confident I can make it work for a Rage Prophet build.

[grarrrg]

I intend to follow through on an intimidate build using a level 1 Oracle that I'm currently playing. I intend to multiclass into Barbarian and then head straight for Rage Prophet. My charisma score (necessary for Oracle spells) should compliment an Intimidate build nicely.

I'm planning on picking up Weapon Focus, Dazzling Display, Gory Finish, and Shatter Defenses as soon as I can, in addition to all the Intimidate-based rage powers. I might throw Intimidating Prowess in there if I can.

Here are my character's stats, if you're interested:

Str:16
Dex:10
Con:12
Int:10
Wis:10
Cha:16

Perhaps not the best for a straight Barbarian build, but I'm confident I can make it work for a Rage Prophet build.

You are going to have a massive Feat problem.

Rage Prophet does not grant Rage powers. It stacks levels with Barb for effectiveness of Rage Powers and such, but does not give you any.
So you'd want/have to take the Extra Rage Power feat.

But, you'll be spending a lot of feats towards optimizing Intimidate. "picking up Weapon Focus, Dazzling Display, Gory Finish, and Shatter Defenses....throw Intimidating Prowess in there if I can."

Unless you spread out/delay Rage Prophet levels you will no have enough to work with for quite a while.

[Beowulf DW]

You are going to have a massive Feat problem.

Rage Prophet does not grant Rage powers. It stacks levels with Barb for effectiveness of Rage Powers and such, but does not give you any.
So you'd want/have to take the Extra Rage Power feat.

But, you'll be spending a lot of feats towards optimizing Intimidate. "picking up Weapon Focus, Dazzling Display, Gory Finish, and Shatter Defenses....throw Intimidating Prowess in there if I can."

Unless you spread out/delay Rage Prophet levels you will no have enough to work with for quite a while.

Oh, dear. I missed the part about no new rage powers. That does limit me, doesn't it? Hmmm...could I just take Intimidating Prowess and rely on the Rage powers instead of the feats?

[grarrrg]

Oh, dear. I missed the part about no new rage powers. That does limit me, doesn't it? Hmmm...could I just take Intimidating Prowess and rely on the Rage powers instead of the feats?

The lack of new Rage Powers/Revelations is just one of the things that kills Rage Prophet as being actually useful.
It's a Barb/Oracle hybrid, the problem is that when combining the two they erred on the side of caution power-wise for EVERY. SINGLE. THING.

Barb has Full Bab and d12HD, Oracle has 3/4 Bab and d8HD.
Prophet has 3/4 Bab and d10HD. The lower Bab wouldn't be so bad if the Casting was Full progression.
But it's not. Taking Rage Prophet for the full 10 levels loses 3 caster levels. Add on the minimum 2 lost from the Pre-Reqs (Barb 2), and your Oracle casting only has level 7 spells.
Heck, just taking the FIRST LEVEL of Rage Prophet means you can never get 9th level spells.

Prophet levels stack to determine the power of any Curse/Revelations/Rage Powers you have.
But the class grants NO new Revelations or Rage Powers.

The class grants various abilities that allow you to Cast spells during a Rage (without having to use Clarity of Mind).
But the class doesn't grant you ANY extra rounds of Rage. Until level 6 of Prophet, when you can sacrifice spell slots to extend your Rage.

There are abilities that can enhance your casting, adding CON to Concentration checks, Barb level to effective Caster Level, and CON to save DC of spells.
But, even with Barb to casting level you are STILL behind due to the lost casting of Prophet itself, and while the CON to save DC sounds nice, it only works while Raging, and you don't get it until level 7 of Prophet.


You are almost universally better off by going Barb +1/Oracle +3/Barb +1/Oracle +3. You'll have the same Casting, slightly better Bab, more Rage Powers, more Rage Rounds, more Revelations, etc...

[Beowulf DW]

Hmm...maybe I'll just go straight Oracle, then. Or perhaps I could convince my GM to let me switch to a Barbarian next time we level.

[Larpus]

It really saddens me to see a great class (in concept and fluff) be castrated by a poor mechanic execution, especially after they managed to make Arcane Archers, of all things, interesting (perhaps even good).

[NeoSeraphi]

I apologize, but I'm going to have to disagree (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/skills/intimidate) with your assessment of the Intimidating Glare rage power. Pathfinder has nerfed the Intimidate skill to prevent fear-stacking, explicitly.

[grarrrg]

Hmm...maybe I'll just go straight Oracle, then. Or perhaps I could convince my GM to let me switch to a Barbarian next time we level.

Well, you could try working with your GM to modify Rage Prophet to be useable.

Giving it Full Bab or Full Casting would be a start.

Giving even +1 round of Rage per Prophet level would be nice.

Getting a choice of new Rage Power OR Revelation every few levels (every 2nd? every 3rd?).
Possibly reduce the 'Prophet stacks with..." to only count 1/2 Prophet levels (this is a minor nerf, but may help get additional Powers/Revelations approved).

Doing any/all of the above would be a good start on making Rage Prophet playable, not necessarily good, but at least useable.

[Beowulf DW]

Well, you could try working with your GM to modify Rage Prophet to be useable.

Giving it Full Bab or Full Casting would be a start.

Giving even +1 round of Rage per Prophet level would be nice.

Getting a choice of new Rage Power OR Revelation every few levels (every 2nd? every 3rd?).
Possibly reduce the 'Prophet stacks with..." to only count 1/2 Prophet levels (this is a minor nerf, but may help get additional Powers/Revelations approved).

Doing any/all of the above would be a good start on making Rage Prophet playable, not necessarily good, but at least useable.

Maybe. We're not especially stiff-necked when comes to rules in our group, but I can't remember any of us doing anything like that, before.

EDIT: Talked things over with my GM. I think we're going to swap out my character. I'll still be going for Rage Prophet, but mostly for the rage cycling. Any ideas on what would be a good mystery for a barbarian going into Rage Prophet?

[KnightOfV]

I like the guide a lot, but I can't believe the Invulnerable Rager Archetype isn't blue. Lose the very situational immunity to Sneak attacks for half your level in DR? Yes. Please. I'm playing one right now in a game, and it's stupid how many hit points the DR saves you over a full session.

On a related note, Flesh Wound looks awesome, especially with the Invulnerable Rager. By the time you qualify for it, Level 10, Inv. Ragers have DR 10/- for nonleathal damage. Barbarian will also be making DC 20 Fortitude saves all day. So if something hits you for about 15-20 damage, activate flesh wound, and BAM pass an easy save, take the half nonlethal which negates the attack completely. Even at level 10, shrugging off 20 damage a turn is pretty good. Rage cycle as the guide suggests and do this every turn.

Bestial Leaper seems greenish to me since it improves your mobility so much for battlefield control. Run up to an enemy, cleave/vital strike/whatever, and if the enemy dies, continue your move to the next enemy, block off a chokepoint, or set up a flank. It's actually better than Spring attack to me, because less of an investment and Spring attack got errated to be a full round action. I am strongly considering that power in my current game.

The guide pointed me to a lot of rage cycle tricks I didn't know, and other cool stuff. Just adding my 2 cp as a fellow Rager! :smallbiggrin:

[Peat]

Maybe. We're not especially stiff-necked when comes to rules in our group, but I can't remember any of us doing anything like that, before.

EDIT: Talked things over with my GM. I think we're going to swap out my character. I'll still be going for Rage Prophet, but mostly for the rage cycling. Any ideas on what would be a good mystery for a barbarian going into Rage Prophet?

Presumably you want things that enhance your ability to use people's heads as tasteful kitchenware, right?

Battle is the obvious one. Plenty of buffs in there. The others would be Ancestor, Metal, Stone and Time imo. Have a look. Which is best depends a) on your flavour and b) How many levels you'll be in Oracle.

[Novawurmson]

Peat hit the highlights, though Dark Tapestry for Many Forms has uses (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/magical-beasts/chupacabra/chupacabra-giant-winged); Beast Shape III at level 11 means pounce.

[Beowulf DW]

I'll probably only go for a few oracle levels for some out-of-combat healing ability. We have a base complete with a river of lava and a rope bridge, so if it comes to it, we can just go into siege mode for a while and heal up for a few days.

The Ancestor mystery looks interesting, so I think I'll go for that.

[Krazzman]

Peat hit the highlights, though Dark Tapestry for Many Forms has uses (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/magical-beasts/chupacabra/chupacabra-giant-winged); Beast Shape III at level 11 means pounce.

Nova, sorry if this is being rude, but when will you be able to continue with the Feat section of this guide?

On another note:
Being an Invulnerable Rager and having only Core + APG material to work from, how would you build a rather simple smashing Barbarian?
Power Attack being mandatory as a choice... but what to take for 3rd and 5th level? Which Ragepowers? And what gear should one buy (assume 10.000 GP)?

I for my Part would probably go for Power Attack, Furious Focus and Extra Ragepower (if I need one more) or Raging Vitality.
A +1 Weapon, an +1 Armor, a +2 Strength Belt and something to spend ~3000 for.

[Dragvandil]

To bump the previous and ask my own question.


I am diving into Pathfinder for the first time, should I play the Barb as classic, or should I use an Alt?

[grarrrg]

I am diving into Pathfinder for the first time, should I play the Barb as classic, or should I use an Alt?

There is nothing wrong with "plain" Barbarian.
But chances are there is an archetype that will better fit whatever it is you want to do.
The only exception, and it's a weird one, is Totem Warrior.
EVERY Barbarian EVER should be Totem Warrior. But that's more due to Totem Warrior being really odd than anything else.

And that goes for pretty much every class (cept the Totem Warrior part). The 'plain' version is always a perfectly viable choice.

[The Random NPC]

I'm messing around with a Ape Shaman Druid, it gets the ability to rage as a Barbarian equal to it's level and can choose 2 rage powers at 12 and 16. It can't choose any rage power with a level requirement, and counts as 1/2 Barbarian for bonuses from level. What would you suggest I grab, and should I grab the feat Extra Rage Power?

[Doorhandle]

Depends on what powers are helpful!

If you want even more natural attacks from a form lacking in them, you could try animal fury and lesser fiend totem (beast totem is likely to clash with wild-shape, spirit totem relies upon charisma.)

You may or may not want moment of clarity if you need to heal/buff someone mid-rage and don;t want to STOP raging.
In a tripping/reach build, quick reflexes may be nice but probably sin;t worth it otherwise.

Reckless abandon is quite good, particularly if combined with power attack, as it is effectively shock-trooper for pathfinder. combine with guarded stance and it has no penalty so long as you are in melee.
Powerful blow/lethal accuracy probably aren't worth it unless you have the add ons, and you can't get those so...

Knockback may be worth it (bull rush +str in damage), knockdown may not (as you can Trip with every attack already.)

Strength surge is always, ALLWAYS worth it. If the foe doesn't have freedom of movement, it will basically guarantee at least ONE grapple or other combat maneuver, and it's pretty nice for picking heavy things up in general.
Smasher is also good for the rare occasion when your pissed-off monkey-man need to bash down that door NOW.

[Stone Heart]

There is nothing wrong with "plain" Barbarian.
But chances are there is an archetype that will better fit whatever it is you want to do.
The only exception, and it's a weird one, is Totem Warrior.
EVERY Barbarian EVER should be Totem Warrior. But that's more due to Totem Warrior being really odd than anything else.

And that goes for pretty much every class (cept the Totem Warrior part). The 'plain' version is always a perfectly viable choice.

They errata'd the Totem Warrior or rather, the line in Ultimate Combat. The Totem Warrior now does only what it originally said it did. Which is nothing.

[Novawurmson]

I've been off the forums for some time. I'll try to do some minor updates now, but I'm not sure when a full feat section will be in place.

[The Random NPC]

Depends on what powers are helpful!

So taking your advice into consideration, I think I'll take the feats Cleave, Power Attack, Natural Spell, 4 Extra Rage Power, Raging Vitality, Furious Focus, and the Powers Reckless Abandon, Animal Fury, Guarded Stance, Knockback, Strength Surge, and Smasher. For the Bonus Druid feats, the only useful ones seem to be Toughness, Endurance, and Diehard, and if I choose human as a race, I'll grab some feat like Combat Reflexes.
EDIT: Oh, and if the DM allows it, Multiattack.

[Fasteraubert]

Hi all - bit of a virgin post here - but a couple of things to add and ask.
Preamble: I was a big big time 3.0-3.5 dnd player and my friends and I all ended up swapping over several games to pathfinder in the last year or so. I used to think barbarians were horrible but pathfinder barbarians with their rage powers are kind of amazing and I've
1) made a barbarian for a low level game and 2) in an ongoing (curently level 12) campaign I'm using several tribes of barbarians as enemies.

So to look at 1) for a little bit - I made a human invulnerable rager with superstition as an 'antimage' sort of character. Were doing a game where Mages rule everything so it was appropriate. Superstition + the favored class bonus make it stuck up super fast - 2 +7/12per level bonus to all saves vs most everything. I pretty much have to roll 1's to fail saves. I also have auspicious mark...which I personally think is pretty overpowered and lets me roll ones on saves and still succeed. I have yet to have a time its interfered with getting a buff - either I chug potions - someone casts spells beforehand - or I voluntarily end rage and then get a spell cast on me.

** Here is one thing to share I haven't seen on this forum yet**
After doing that - rage is over - I'm fatigued - probably damaged from being the BSF - and about to get buffed... kind of a bummer right? Actually not a bummer at all. We have a paladin in the party - paladins have lay on hands - lay on hands REMOVES FATIGUE!! So I charge in - waste something - take all the damage - use up my 1/rage powers like auspicious mark - then end my rage and get healed/fatigue removed and I can keep going. This worked so well that our halfling paladin (holy gun) and I ended up putting a saddle on my barbarian so he could always be there to do this. Adding in the human luck feats (reroll 1's/make enemies reroll crits, add +8 to any roll) and good equipment/decent stock of potions and I've been been killing enemies CR 4-6 higher than I am when I was level 3-6. I hadn't even seen the Scared Rager which gets all the reroll/ 1/2 duration which seems to end up being just kind of silly added on to the superstition bonuses.... Although DR 1/2 level is pretty amazing and hard to give up.

Second section: Alternate Barbarian Builds
In a game I'm running some of the enemies/allies are Barbarian tribes with their own Totem animals (lesser gods essentially with their own domains) and highly varied tactics. Here are some of the ones I have to share that you guys might appreciate.

1) Titan Mauler Archtype: -use larger weapons, focus on attacks of opportunity with enormous weapons

Rage Powers:
(inspire ferocity, reckless abandon) - these are amazing for any barbarian that has a group that needs attack bonus....
**Come and Get Me
**Unexpected Strike (Ex): The barbarian can make an attack of opportunity against a foe that moves into any square threatened by the barbarian, regardless of whether or not that movement would normally provoke an attack of opportunity. This power can only be used once per rage. A barbarian must be at least 8th level before selecting this power

new feats Feats: Combat Reflexes, dodge, mobility, Combat Patrol
**Combat Patrol (Combat)
You range across the battlefield, dealing with threats wherever they arise.
Prerequisites: Combat Reflexes, Mobility, base attack bonus +5.
Benefit: As a full-round action, you may set up a combat patrol, increasing your threatened area by 5 feet for every 5 points of your base attack bonus. Until the beginning of your next turn, you may make attacks of opportunity against any opponent in this threatened area that provokes attacks of opportunity. You may move as part of these attacks, provided your total movement before your next turn does not exceed your speed. Any movement you make provokes attacks of opportunity as normal

**charge in and attack at range 10-15+, when enemies move towards you hit with unexpected strike, activate come at me and hit them again before they hit you, then get hit. Next turn set up combat patrol and take a 5ft step away move. as they provoke AOE you move with them to ensure continued provoking.

**I feel that the best builds always have several options as opposed to one really really strong thing. This build can charge in and deal high VS damage, full round set up to protect allies, unexpected strike anyone at anytime in the area each time you rage cycle, and uses very very large weapons efficiency which adds lots of extra dice to each attack. Heaven forbid you get a crit threat with a VS and use furious finish for ~20ish D6 maxed.

2) similar to my barbarian - I used a level 12 scarred rager template with superstition and class bonus. It had eater of magic, ghost rager, superstition, auspicious mark, the human luck tree line, and room for the lesser/normal/greater beast rage powers for pounce.
+9 bonus to almost all saves you will ever make, +9 bonus to touch ac, a second save on most debilitation effects (sick/scared/ fatigues/frightened/ exhausted/nauseated /dazed/stunned) and you ignore most bleeding, and then ANOTHER save once per rage on almost any magical effect from eater of magic that gets you temp HP. And once per rage auspicious mark +1d6, once per day +8 from human luck feats, and a http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/h-l/ioun-stones/scarlet-and-green-cabochon to let it continue raging.

I play with alot of optimizers/min-maxers. This barbarian ignored/dodged/saved/survived/ate something like 8+ rounds of spells from a high DC evocer wizard 12 , a high DC focused save or die cleric 12, and a STUPIDLY high DC Binder12 (we ported it in from 3.5) and only died to a scout/ranger who finally killed it with arrows after full round attacking it with haste for 8+ rounds and because the binder/cleric swapped over to using vital strikes as well near the end.

I was very impressed with how hard a challenge this was for a CR11 against a very strong level 12 party.


Sorry for the super super long post and the host of spelling and grammar mistakes I've probably made....

[The Random NPC]

lay on hands REMOVES FATIGUE!!

Fun fact, the only downside to not sleeping is Fatigue.

[Feliciano]

Hello everyone! First post here, so forgive me if this is the wrong place for this.

I'm gonna be starting a campaign soon with a group of friends I've played with before, and I'm toying with the idea of making a half-orc urban barbarian (based on this (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/archetypes/paizo---barbarian-archetypes/urban-barbarian) build my DM found, which isn't exactly the same as what's on the original post). The basic character idea is to turn the stereotype of the half-orc barbarian on its head by making her someone who, in addition to typical barbarian things, also enjoys reading/writing poetry, but has awful stage fright (I'm thinking her mother was a bard), so she's usually quite stoic. Can anyone give me some advice about the build? I know I want good STR, CON, and DEX, but won't I also want semi-decent INT, WIS, and CHA to take advantage of the new Diplomacy, Knowledge, Linguistics, and Profession skills?

I don't know much about the actual campaign itself, but I do know that:

-- this group is VERY heavily based towards character and story (our DM's wife hates combat with a barbarian-worthy rage...)

-- we will be starting at level 4

-- the campaign will take place entirely in and around a single city/town

-- there will be a lot of emphasis on mysteries and puzzles, but there will be a low-to-reasonable amount of combat

-- other members of the party include a mounted samurai (mounted because she's missing a leg), a sorcerer (played by our DM's wife, who's usually a diplomancer), a druid (a crazy old lady who lives in a swamp with a toothless crocodile), and a multiclassed ninja/alchemist (a small frog person race that I forget the name of).

Sorry if this is a little long...but thanks for reading! Any help is appreciated.

[lluoc]

Umm, just to point out.


An oracle's curse is based on her oracle level plus one for every two levels or Hit Dice other than oracle

So a barbarian can gain fatigue immunity by taking a single oracle dip at level 9. Not 5 levels.

Also under life revelations there is this:


Life Link (Su): As a standard action, you may create a bond between yourself and another creature. Each round at the start of your turn, if the bonded creature is wounded for 5 or more hit points below its maximum hit points, it heals 5 hit points and you take 5 hit points of damage. You may have one bond active per oracle level. This bond continues until the bonded creature dies, you die, the distance between you and the other creature exceeds medium range, or you end it as an immediate action (if you have multiple bonds active, you may end as many as you want as part of the same immediate action).

This will depend on your GM's interpretation but the type of damage is left unspecified so you can try to negate it with DR. So, if you get 5 DR/- (say a level 10 invulnerable rager) then you can effectively grant someone nearby free 5 fast healing with no cost to yourself.

[Manflesh]

Does anyone have good examples of an Intimidate build?

Hobgoblin
-Switch out sneaky for fearsome (+4 to intimidate)

Str: Primary Cha: Secondary Con: Tertiary

Select "Scarred Rager" Archetype

Feats
1st: Intimidating Prowess
3rd: Weapon Focus
5th: Dazzling Display

Rage Powers
2nd: Intimidating Glare
8th: Terrifying Howl

At 3rd level, dip into Rogue and take the archetype "Thug". That one level will get you this Rogue ability:

Frightening (Ex): Whenever a thug successfully uses Intimidate to demoralize a creature, the duration of the shaken condition is increased by 1 round. In addition, if the target is shaken for 4 or more rounds, the thug can instead decide to make the target frightened for 1 round. This ability replaces trapfinding.

Combine this with Intimidating Glare (and later Dazzling Display) and you have a low level Barb that can already cause a majority of his/her opponents to flee instead of fight. Plus, since you took the feat "Intimidating Prowess", raging actually increases your Intimidate bonus. So when you consider that your intimidate bonus will be +4 racial, +str mod, +cha mod, +archetype bonus, +ranks, (Plus traits if you use them) you're looking at a level 1-2 character that already has an Intimidate bonus 12+.

I don't include any rage powers or feats to take at later levels because if you continue to specialize your barb with only intimidate attacks, you'll only end up handcuffing their effectiveness, since later monsters tend to be immune to such attacks.

To comment on the guide in general, I think Scarred Rager is better than you give it credit. Specifically when you look at its second ability.

Tolerance (Ex): At 2nd level, a scarred rager who fails a save against an effect that causes her to become nauseated, sickened, fatigued, or exhausted can make a second save to negate the effect on the start of her next turn. Only one additional save is allowed. If the effect does not allow a saving throw, its duration is halved instead (minimum of 1 round). This ability replaces uncanny dodge.

So when the Barb stops raging and becomes fatigued, you no longer double the amount of time you spent raging to determine the length of time having the condition due to the Tolerance ability essentially cancelling it out. Pretty sweet.

[Karoht]

Intimidate Build?
Intimidating Prowess and Dreadful Carnage seem like excellent candidates as well.
Intimidating Prowess adds your STR to your Intimidate checks (an absolute MUST have for such a build).
Dreadful Carnage gives you a free action Intimidate to everything within 30ft when you drop someone. Wade into the crowd of weak and easy to kill enemies. Start chopping them down first, get lots of free Intimidates. Hilarious when you can drop 3-4 creatures per round.
http://www.pathfindersrd.com/feats/combat-feats/dreadful-carnage-combat

Back that up with Intimidating Glare and Terrifying Howl and you're laughing.

Combo that all up with Improved Overrun, Overbearing Advance and Overbearing Assault, you make things run for their lives, you then run around and knock them prone so they can't run, chop them to bits, cause more Intimidates, repeat. Think of it like an Ubercharger, but much less of a one trick pony.

Pushing Assault + Come and Get Me + Combat Reflexes and a reach weapon and a decent Dex = Hilarious. Enlarge Person take it all the way to 11. Nothing like covering a massive area with your reach weapon, and pushing enemies away from you and your friends every round. Makes Step Up/And Strike incredibly useful as well.


@Rage Cycling
Internal Fortitude makes you immune to Sickened/Nauseated
There is an Ioun Stone, it's one of the flawed or cracked ones. Any time you would be Fatigued/Exausted you are instead Sickened/Nauseated. Which you are immune to. The stone costs 8K if I'm not mistaken.
Internal Fortitude is available at level 8. One rage power slot, one Ioun stone, instantly immune to 4 different effects, Fatigue being one of them.
Then you take rage powers like Flesh Wound and other 'once per rage' abilities.
Enjoy making your DM throw books at you.

[Manflesh]

I'm not as much a fan of Dreadful Carnage, only because you have to wait so long to get it. Especially considering, in my opinion, the only worthwhile way to build an intimidate build is to dip into one level of rogue; you are essentially waiting till level 12 to get that ability. At that point, what little weak enemies are going to be realistically be around to warrant needing the feat?

[Arbane]

Also under life revelations there is this:

(Life Link SNIP)

This will depend on your GM's interpretation but the type of damage is left unspecified so you can try to negate it with DR. So, if you get 5 DR/- (say a level 10 invulnerable rager) then you can effectively grant someone nearby free 5 fast healing with no cost to yourself.

I'm pretty sure the devs have ruled somewhere that the damage you take from Life Link is from the link itself, so it's magic damage. DR won't work on it.

[Karoht]

I'm not as much a fan of Dreadful Carnage, only because you have to wait so long to get it. Especially considering, in my opinion, the only worthwhile way to build an intimidate build is to dip into one level of rogue; you are essentially waiting till level 12 to get that ability. At that point, what little weak enemies are going to be realistically be around to warrant needing the feat?
The one level dip is probably the better way to go.
At at level 15, our party Barbarian is killing at least one thing per round, usually 3 per round. That's 1-3 checks, for free, every round. Fun times.

[Manflesh]

I guess I don't see liberally handing out the shaken condition at later levels to your enemies as an effective strategy. Sure -2 to most rolls is annoying, but not nearly as much as compared to early levels.

Again, if you have the Rogue ability that allows you to cause higher versions of shaken within one roll, then it's okay. But I feel like their are better combat feats when you start going past level 11-12.

[hatchetman240]

Hi! Long time forum lurker, first time poster. I'm here to fix the error in judgement about the archer barbarian. The problem is they're gear dependant, moreso than any other archer. If you've got access to standard gear compliant with WBL, you can do something no one has mentioned here. You can be a BETTER archer because of being a barbarian.

Truth be told, I'd take 1 level as a fighter first to kick start the build and then follow with barbarian, but for the purposes of this build I'll ignore that obvious dip and go straight barbarian to prove it can be done. In doing so, I'll get to the cool stuff one level early.

He's barely civilized, and has chosen to retain his tribal name: Makes It Rain

Race:
Human. We're feat starved. Half elf is an option though, as long as you take focus in your bow. Human makes superstition rock, and you want that.

Stats:
20 pt build
16 Str
18 Dex
14 Con
7 Int
13 Wis
7 Cha

You don't need to min max really, 14 Str would be okay and allow you to bring up Int and Cha.

Class Options:

You're going urban barbarian for the additional flexibility. You can take invulnerable rager, and it's a good idea. Eventually you're going to be taking a hefty amount of damage, and you want that extra DR.

Traits:

Barbarian of the Society is nice for extra rage, but really just take what you like.


I'll cover the build in broken incriments and note improvements to playstyle:
Barb1 Point blank/Precise shot
Barb2 (Reckless Abandon)
Barb3 Rapid shot

In the first three levels, things are pretty standard. You're using Reckless Abandon to mitigate the cover bonus people get while you're firing into melee. It's also mitigated by raging Dex. I'm assuming you have an avenue by which you can improve magic weapons, but if you don't you need to tighten your belt and take what the campaign gives you for equipment until you can afford to buy what you need.

Every time you sell an item you're losing half the gold you invested. You are saving your money. The only thing you need is really a +1 bow with adaptive
enchanted on it. This allows you to throw some strength into your rage when you know you'll hit but want some extra damage.

Barb4 (Superstition)
Barb5 Deadly Aim
Barb6 (Witch Hunter)
Barb7 Weapon Focus
Barb8 (Internal Fortitude)

Again, we're still building up to better things, but witch hunter is allowing you more damage against the most important targets and your rage/reckless is allowing you to hit often. We're not differentiated from other archers by our class abilities alone, but we're not doing terrible here. Our gear is upgraded obviously.

At this point we've poured our wealth into our bow getting +2 Courageous/Furious. Now whenever we rage our bow is acting as +4 and also lending us a +2 to all our moral bonuses. You should buy potions/scrolls of heroism, or make sure the party member who can cast heroism knows it's now giving you +4 to all skills, attacks and saves (doesn't stack with Superstition, but it's a base moral bonus to the saves instead of just vs magic). Internal Fortitude will be of use later.

At this point you should be on par with an archer fighter in terms of raw bonuses when it counts. Heroism is a long lasting buff, and Courageous is giving you more bonuses than you can reasonably keep track of.

Your superstition is up by that same +2, so are your stats in rage, which means you should really be splitting your rage so you get +2 Dex/Str (making it +4 Dex/Str thanks to Courageous. You can swap to single stat rage if you like when you know you can/can't hit, but I like bigger benefits, so I stay 2/2 here.


Barb9 Combat Reflexes
Barb10 (Unexpected Strike)
Barb11 Snapshot
Barb12 (Come and Get Me)

Internal Fortitude ties into unexpected strike and snapshot. You're going to be using the Ioun Stone mentioned in the guide to fuel your nausea inducing rage cycle to trigger an additional AOO every round via Unexpected Strike once you can snapshot. Obviously we're buying that ioun stone by the time we hit 9th level, it's within WBL.

With the early capstone of Come and Get Me We're now able to fully utilize the build. Drawing people into combat to hit us, so we can dish more damage to them. Of course, we provoke when we shoot, which in turn allows us to shoot again if our enemies use the attack of opportunity on us. You can bait this by intentionally positioning yourself to provoke, but don't exceed your AOO's or hit points in doing so.

Fully fuelling dex with your highest rage allotment at this level is is a great idea. You're always wanting more attacks. You'll need to look closely at how much damage you're taking vs how much you're dishing out.

Barb13 Improved Snapshot
Barb14 (Quick Reflexes)
Barb15 Clustered shot
Barb16 (Anything)
Barb17 Manyshot

If you weren't using all your AOOs before, improved snapshot should fix that. Since half your attacks on a given round should be AOOs, clustered shots has a somewhat diminished value in regard to what a normal archer would see, but I'd still take it.

Once you have Improved Snapshot it becomes possible for you to fight a retreating battle by using the withdraw action repeatedly and making the enemy pay for every inch they advance on you with your reach, unexpected strike, and again if they manage to get off a melee attack (via CAGM).

All in all the build begins slow, but it builds up to a point. A point no other class can really make. I can't imagine an archer that can get so many AOOs so consistently, while still making use of the full attack action.

[evilash]

I like the guide a lot, but I can't believe the Invulnerable Rager Archetype isn't blue. Lose the very situational immunity to Sneak attacks for half your level in DR? Yes. Please. I'm playing one right now in a game, and it's stupid how many hit points the DR saves you over a full session.

Agreed, especially since most barbarians have a crappy AC. It also has a nice synergy with Come and Get Me and Reckless Abandon. There's no reason to play a regular barbarian when the Invulnerable Rager archetype is available.

[Arutema]

Animal Archive introduces the Mad Dog archetype.

You get slower rage and rage power progression, and slower DR progression. and lose Uncanny Dogde.

What do you get in exchange for all that? A full-progression animal companion that known some special tricks and the ability to share your rage and DR with that animal companion.

AM MAD DOG smash puny action economy!

[Noth]

When are you gonna do feats/equipment? ):

[Darlos9D]

Body Bludgeon (Ex) - This is the most amazing rage power ever written, but should probably never be attempted in a real game*.

That, sir, sounds like a challenge.

I give you: the Body Bludgeon Barbarian. It's probably awful in a lot of ways but by god who cares. I think my choices up to barbarian level 10 are pretty clever, at least. Let's see what you guys think.

Race: Half-Giant. One could take Human for the extra feat, but for reasons you'll see below that's not entirely necessary for this build. Half-Giants are huge doods who get a special race feature (Powerful Build) that's pretty useful for a grappler. Also, with a little DM haggling it might even affect Body Bludgeon? Only way to find out is ask.

Class: Well, Barbarian, obviously. You'll want to take the Brutal Pugilist archetype, of course. And also of course, it'll be your favored class. Once you hit barb level 5, you'll get Greater Savage Grapple. This states "She also is treated as one size larger than her actual size when determining whether she can grapple or be grappled by another creature." So it's like getting Powerful Build twice. Would that affect the Body Bludgeon size limit though? Again, you'd have to haggle with your DM on that one, probably.

But...

... you'll want to START with 1 level in Monk, using the Martial Artist archetype. All the level 1 benefits of a Monk without the Lawful alignment requirement! I'm sure I'm not the first person to think of this, but it's important because it really helps this build come together something fierce, due to the abilities, feats, and the nice little bump in Will.

Starting Ability Scores: with a 15-point start, this is a decent spread I came up with:

Str 18 <- +2 from Race
Dex 12 <- -2 from Race
Con 10
Int 10
Wis 12 <- +2 from Race
Cha 10

Unfortunately you need to get Dex up to 13 for the later grapple feats (since just having Improved Grapple isn't enough). But since you start as a monk, you can get Improved Grapple without needing Dex 13. This lets you start with Dex 12 and add the extra point from ECL 4 before you get the rest of the Grapple feats. This lets you start with more Str or Wis or whatever. Also you could just pull some points out of Int and/or Cha for more points in Str and Wis.

Traits: Grab the combat trait Coherent Rage, which lets you use Escape Artist freely while raging. Then grab the Religion trait "The Flexing Arm" to be able to add your Strength bonus to Escape Artist. Proceed to break out of everything.

Feats:
1 - Catch Off-Guard. Use this to hit things with other things when not grappling. Preferably things that give you more than 1d6 damage or have reach or something. Then you can just drop said thing on the floor when it comes time to grapple, because it's probably some crap you just picked up off the environment. Also, this is important for later, as the creature used as the bludgeon in Body Bludgeon counts as a two-handed improvised weapon. You want to avoid that -4 penalty on the attack roll.

Monk Bonus Feat: Improved Grapple. Remember you don't need Dex 13 to get this one. But you do need Dex 13 to get other grapple feats.

3 - Extra Rage Power: Animal Fury. First of all, you had to wait for ECL 3 to get your first rage power, so you can use this handy feat to make up for some lost time. Furthermore, Animal Fury lets you make a free 1d4 + 1/2 str bonus bite attack BEFORE every grapple check. Nice early on, and even better later when you get extra grapple checks per round and Elemental Rage. Nothing like giving your victim an electric nibble before slamming them into something else.

5 - Uh... this is actually kind of a free spot that I have no idea what to do with. You could move Catch Off-Guard here and get something else you'd rather have at level 1, if you want. Heck, get Extra Rage Power again. Whatever.

7 - Greater Grapple! This lets you do grapple checks with move actions, allowing you to do two checks a round to do two grapple actions. This is key, as Body Bludgeon's description SEEMS to imply that you can get an attack out of Body Bludgeon for every individual grapple check as long as the enemy is pinned. At your highest attack bonus each. Crazy.

9 - You've got a few options here. Either take Improvised Weapon Master, or one of the grappling feats listed below in "13 and onward." Improvised Weapon Master will net you raw damage off of your Body Bludgeon attacks, both against the target of the attack AND the creature being used as a bludgeon.

Note: YOU DON'T WANT VITAL STRIKE. Vital Strike only applies when you take an "attack action." This is a specific type of standard action. Bite attack and Body Bludgeon attacks don't count because they're both part of grapple actions. Sucks, but dems da breaks.

11 - Rapid Grappler. If you succeed at a grapple check using Greater Grapple (which should be all your grapple checks), you can then make ANOTHER grapple check as a swift action. This means even more bludgeoning.

13 and onward: Take whatever. You've got all the key feats for Body Bludgeon at this point. There's a lot of grapple feats to choose from: Chokehold, Body Shield, Sleeper Hold, and Pinning Rend. Especially Chokehold, since it lets you pin an enemy a size larger than you. Which... may apply to Body Bludgeon? I'm not sure. Might be something to discuss with your DM.

Rage Powers:
2 - Either Guarded Life or Superstition. Guarded Life to help deal with raw damage, or Superstition to deal with unwanted magic effects. Of course, Superstition kinda sucks if you actually want help from a friendly caster.

4 - Lesser Elemental Rage. Mostly you're taking this to get Elemental Rage in four levels, but it's still probably going to help you harm the crap out of something for one round, since while it doesn't apply to regular grapple damage, it will apply to the bite attack from Animal Fury (since it counts as a melee attack). And then, of course, it applies to Body Bludgeon attacks (since those also count as melee attacks). Also its good even after you get Elemental Rage, since you can use it to gain TWO types of extra elemental damage for one round, instead of the usual one.

6 - Greater Guarded Life or Ghost Rager, depending on what you got at barb level 2. The former will make you pretty damn hard to kill, and the latter will help you out a lot with your lack of magical weapons (as well as bolster the effects of Superstitious). If somebody can think of some other way to make your Body Bludgeon magical though (or otherwise useful against weird higher-level stuff), the Guarded Life route may be better? I dunno. Depends on how worried you are about saves. Also, hey, you could always do something totally different with barb levels 2 and 6.

8 - Elemental Rage. Now you can apply elemental damage to all your melee attacks, all the time. I mentioned this in the Lesser version, but: that's both the pre-grapple bite attacks AND the Body Bludgeon attacks. So not only can you bite them with your acid teeth, you can then proceed to SET THEM ON FIRE AS YOU SWING THEM INTO ANOTHER UNLUCKY CLOD. And remember: all the damage done to the target of the melee attack from Body Bludgeon is ALSO done to the creature used as the bludgeon. ALL of it. That fire WILL hurt.

10 - Flesh Wound. HAHAHA JUST KIDDING BODY BLUDGEON.

12 and onward: who cares BODY BLUDGEON.

Final Thoughts:
Well, I'd say that's the crux of it. Now, how effective this build is is going to hinge a LOT on what you can convince your DM to do regarding the interaction between Powerful Build, Greater Savage Grapple, Chokehold, and Body Bludgeon. You can possibly get some pity-points due to the fact that you're even attempting such a pants-on-head ridiculous build. Or you could pick him up and slam him into the table until he complies. Either way.

Also it goes without saying, but: you probably want to get your hands on stuff that makes you bigger. Even magical effects, since even if you get Superstition you're only FORCED to resist the effects of spells that are CAST on you.

At any rate: once you're able to pick up, say, a normal-sized creature and use it to body bludgeon (and you succeed on your grapple checks and attack rolls) your going to be making these damage rolls 3 times per round that you have something grappled and pinned:

pre-grapple check bite: 1d4 + 1d6 + 1/2 str bonus
body bludgeon (vs grappled creature AND target of melee attack): 1d12 + 1d6 + 1-1/2 str bonus

Crank those 1d6s up to 2d6s if you stack on Lesser Elemental Rage for that round. Also... since I think the pinned status persists after you succeed at it the first time, could you also do grapple damage on each check as well? That'd be another 1d6 if you used your monk unarmed damage. (not sure if str bonus gets added to the grapple damage)

I imagine that, in action, it'd look something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsNdLbvdxbA
Or this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WStTBOWdW5g

A final quandary regarding Body Bludgeon: according to its description, the grappled creature used as a bludgeon is dealt the same damage as the damage done to the target of the attack. Would that be BEFORE or AFTER the target's damage reduction? Or an inanimate object's hardness? It'd be kinda weird for a DM to argue that the bludgeon creature would take LESS damage from being slammed into a HARDER object, but I could somehow see one trying to argue that for the sake of some kind of weird sense of "balancing." What do you guys think?

[midnight68652]

*necros* After reading this i made a good one.

Lvl 10 Invulnerable Rager, Hurler. Teifling with large arms

Rage powers: Hurling, Lesser; Hurling; Beast totem, lesser; Beast totem; Body Bludgeon

Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike; Improved Grapple; Greater Grapple; Rapid Grappler; (must get polymorphed other up one size)Snatch

The rest is up to you.

Though Body Bludgeon you can't duel weild gnomes because it uses them as a two handed weapon reguardless of size. Size only effects damage.

But With this charater I can attack 3 times (2 claws, 1 bite) With snatch all three have grab. and all you need is 2 grapple checks to pin in the round. With 4 checks a round (if you grapple them with an attack.

[The Random NPC]

I wanted to point out that 2 levels in Horizon Walker gets you immunity to Fatigue. That lets you Rage Cycle at 8th level for the cost of 2 levels, a feat, and 6 skill points. Plus with the new retraining rules you have the option to get rid of those when they're no longer useful to you.

[Novawurmson]

I wanted to point out that 2 levels in Horizon Walker gets you immunity to Fatigue. That lets you Rage Cycle at 8th level for the cost of 2 levels, a feat, and 6 skill points. Plus with the new retraining rules you have the option to get rid of those when they're no longer useful to you.

It takes three levels of Horizon Walker - 2 just gets you immunity to exhaustion, 3 gets you immunity to fatigue. Still a potential choice for many Barbarian builds.

[The Random NPC]

D'oh, I mentally put the Terrain Dominance one level lower.

[Kyros731]

First, I'd like to say thanks for the guide. It helped me alot in forming my new barbarian.
Second.
"Body Bludgeon (Ex) - This is the most amazing rage power ever written, but should probably never be attempted in a real game*.

*It's difficult to pull off, and you have to be level 10 before you even pick it up, but if you pull off this ability in a game, I will add your name to this optimization guide. If, in a real game, you level a Barbarian 1-10, pick this rage power, and dual-wield enemy gnomes in combat, calling them "Gnome-Chucks," and provide proof of your epic deed, I will mail you a cookie if you live in the continental United States."
Challenge Accepted.

I will be playing my barbarian in a new campaign gmed by a friend I met on roll20. We will be starting at level 1, and assuming we make it to level 10, my group has agreed to let me attempt this if we come across any gnomes.

[Karoht]

Believe me, every time I read through Barbarian Rage Powers I want to make Body Bludgeon a thing.

Godspeed to you sir. May your cookie be delicious.

[Gabe the Bard]

If I wasn't one of only two melee tanks in our party, I would totally go for a drunk body-bludgeoning barbarian brawler, chugging ale and enlarge person potions before battering my enemies with my enemies.

[Novawurmson]

First, I'd like to say thanks for the guide. It helped me alot in forming my new barbarian.
Second.
"Body Bludgeon (Ex) - This is the most amazing rage power ever written, but should probably never be attempted in a real game*.

*It's difficult to pull off, and you have to be level 10 before you even pick it up, but if you pull off this ability in a game, I will add your name to this optimization guide. If, in a real game, you level a Barbarian 1-10, pick this rage power, and dual-wield enemy gnomes in combat, calling them "Gnome-Chucks," and provide proof of your epic deed, I will mail you a cookie if you live in the continental United States."
Challenge Accepted.

I will be playing my barbarian in a new campaign gmed by a friend I met on roll20. We will be starting at level 1, and assuming we make it to level 10, my group has agreed to let me attempt this if we come across any gnomes.

Make sure to record your epic deed :D

[Karoht]

What form of recording are you aiming for?

I fully expect that the DM (and probably the party) might be taken by surprise on this one. I mean, 10 levels of fully functional monster truck barbarian. Followed by BAM! Dual-Wielding Gnome-chucks. I really want to see the look on the face of pretty much everyone at the table.

[Kyros731]

Update: As of now I'm level 3 and the campaign is still going strong.

As for recording, as I said we're playing on roll20 virtual table top, and using skype and roll20 chat for talk. I will most likely find a good audio/video recording program when I hit level 10.

[vikrattlehead]

Not sure if this has been addressed but wouldn't the superstitious and moment of clarity rage powers work well together? If you need healing or whatever, you can avoid making the save by temporarily ignoring all benefits and restrictions rage bestows. What do you guys think?

[Mighty-Beowulf]

Nice guide!

I loved your entry on body bludgeon and I am happy to say that I played a character about a year ago in a campaign that went to level 12 and took body bludgeon. I also took greater grapple. Grapple and pin in round 1, then in round two I could make two grapple attempts every round and therefore use my foe as a club twice every round. Not only was it pretty powerful, but hilarity ensued. I highly recommend the power for any mid-high level barbarians.

I can share my build with you if you'd like. Cheers!

[Beowulf DW]

I can share my build with you if you'd like. Cheers!

Please do. No gaming group should have to go without seeing such wonders.

[CGNefarious]

So I'm making an Invulnerable Rager/Superstition and anti-mage focused barbarian for when my sorcerer inevitably dies or retires, and I have a question about Ghost Rager. Does the morale bonus to touch AC apply all the time, or only while raging?

[Novawurmson]

Regarding Ghost Rager:


Ghost Rager

While raging, the barbarian deals normal damage to incorporeal creatures even when using nonmagical weapons. She also gains a morale bonus to touch AC equal to her saving throw bonus from her superstition rage power.

I'd think the "while raging" clause closes this out nicely, if it wasn't for the Superstition wording:


Superstition

Benefit: The barbarian gains a +2 morale bonus on saving throws made to resist spells, supernatural abilities, and spell-like abilities. This bonus increases by +1 for every 4 levels the barbarian has attained. While raging, the barbarian cannot be a willing target of any spell and must make saving throws to resist all spells, even those cast by allies.

Superstition seems to apply all the time. Ghost rager grants a bonus to touch AC equal to the superstition bonus, but it specifically states that part of the rage power applies only when raging.

Unless there's been an FAQ about it, I'd say it's a 50/50 split. Talk with your GM about it. For what it's worth, as a GM, I'd rule it applies when not raging because of the wording of Superstition, but I can't 100% prove it via RAW.

[Cog]

It's in the description of Rage Powers in general:

As a barbarian gains levels, she learns to use her rage in new ways. Starting at 2nd level, a barbarian gains a rage power. She gains another rage power for every two levels of barbarian attained after 2nd level. A barbarian gains the benefits of rage powers only while raging, and some of these powers require the barbarian to take an action first. Unless otherwise noted, a barbarian cannot select an individual power more than once.

[Novawurmson]

It's in the description of Rage Powers in general

We have a winner!

[Kyros731]

7 months ago I attempted and failed the body bludgeon gnome-chuck cookie challenge due to a group fallout and our gm mysteriously disappearing and deleting his roll20 and skype accounts.
But the gods of pathfinder shine on me, for now I have a second chance. I will keep you all updated as the campaign moves forward.

[Karoht]

7 months ago I attempted and failed the body bludgeon gnome-chuck cookie challenge due to a group fallout and our gm mysteriously disappearing and deleting his roll20 and skype accounts.
But the gods of pathfinder shine on me, for now I have a second chance. I will keep you all updated as the campaign moves forward.
How far did you get?
Grats for trying.

[Kyros731]

Only level 4 before the gm went MIA. This time we're gonna be better prepared though, we have another guy on standby to dm just incase something happens to this one.

[The Random NPC]

I too was attempting this challenge, it died when our wizard's familiar died and she freaked out. Our GM eventually had to make up some kind of excuse as to why it hadn't died, but the damage was done.

[Novawurmson]

The legend of the Gnome Chucker lives on.

[BeardRex]

Thanks for the guide. I'm making a Jotunkin barbarian now and even though you don't go into that it helped a lot.

However, I have to point out that a lot of the critique is based on an error. Totem Warrior does not get multiple totem lines. http://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1fn#v5748eaic9qdg

[The Random NPC]

Thanks for the guide. I'm making a Jotunkin barbarian now and even though you don't go into that it helped a lot.

However, I have to point out that a lot of the critique is based on an error. Totem Warrior does not get multiple totem lines. http://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1fn#v5748eaic9qdg

It used to, now it doesn't and therefor does nothing. Though it should probably be changed in the guide to reflect that.

[Novawurmson]

I will eventually be updating the guide to include the Bloodrager, but for now, I'd like to bring up Psyren's excellent breakdown of the Bloodrager spell list (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18008639&postcount=28).

I will most likely not be adding the Skald to the guide, as the Skald is much closer to the Bard than the Barbarian.

Edit: Also, all bloodragers shall henceforth be primalists (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/bloodrager/archetypes/paizo---bloodrager-archetypes/primalist). This should just be a class feature of the bloodrager, but basically you can give up any of your regular bloodline powers to get 2 rage power instead. Just cherry-pick your bloodline powers and laugh your way to the bank with rage powers. Heck, it sometimes might be worth picking a bloodline with bad powers just to get more rage powers.

[Sayt]

Any plans to add the elemental totems from People of the Elements? They all seem to be more or less decent.

Air totem gets you 1 round per rage of air walk, greater earth totem damages manufactured weapons that hit you, greater fire totem surrounds you by smoke which inhibits others breathing and vision (But not yours!).

[Novawurmson]

Any plans to add the elemental totems from People of the Elements? They all seem to be more or less decent.

Air totem gets you 1 round per rage of air walk, greater earth totem damages manufactured weapons that hit you, greater fire totem surrounds you by smoke which inhibits others breathing and vision (But not yours!).

I had not even heard of the book before you brought it up. I might - it depends on time.

Edit: Found them (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/rage-powers/paizo---rage-powers/elemental-totem-lesser-su).

[Kyros731]

I apologize for not keeping you informed.. unfortunately right before the campaign started hybrids came out and i decided to switch to a draconic bloodrager. And now my lizardfolk (almost)half-dragon is quite literately tearing people in half. We are nearing lvl 9, unfortunately at lvl 10 i will not be getting body bludgeon, as i get better things.. I will however be getting it at level 18. Gods help any gnomes that cross my path at that time.

[FancyChicken]

Love this guide, using it to play a Dwarf Barbarian in a campaign I'm playing with some newbies tonight. I'd like to point out my last adventure I made an archer Barb, it wasn't that hard. Everybody else had more solid builds but they were all magic-based so the DM constructed enemies that would deal with them instead of myself, I ended up being the hero with my assortment of arrows to get almost any job done.

Granted, I went mostly Str and the DM ruled that I could buy higher scored composite longbows at an ungodly increased price (only went to a maximum of +7 though). Still, I was surprised I pulled it off.

[stack]

I believe there is an enchant that costs 1,000 go to make bows auto adjust to strength rating. Adaptive (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-weapons/magic-weapon-special-abilities/adaptive)

Beats worrying about strength ratings once you can afford it.

[Casper_Darken]

Hey all. New to Pathfinder and our group has just rolled for new level 1 characters. I want to play a human barbarian but I have the following (odd) rolls to work with:

17, 16, 11, 11, 11, 10

(Before racial bonus)

My question is, if you were me would you put 16 in Dex and up Con to 13 with my +2, or vice versa? Or something else completely? I don't ain't to cripple my character at the start by not being able to get good feats but I also don't want to die too soon!

Thanks!

[CGNefarious]

What feats are you wanting that require a 16 in Dex?

Personally I prioritize Str and Con when I go Barbarian. So my stats would look like this with your rolls

Str: 17 +2
Dex: 11
Con: 16
Int: 11
Wis: 11
Cha: 10

For first level feats you could do something like Power Attack and Raging Vitality, giving you 23 Strength and 22 Constitution while raging (assuming you're a standard barbarian and not unchained). That way you'll have 18 effective HP and will deal something like 2d6 + 12 damage and have a +6 to hit, just going off the top of my head. Not bad at all for level one.

Of course this changes if you have a specific build in mind, but the above is pretty standard for me when I run a Barbarian.

[Casper_Darken]

I wasn't thinking specific feats, just the advantages to initiative, AC, reflex etc. I did consider maxing Str with my +2 but was worried that would give me such a low AC that I'd get hit waaaay too often.

Cheers for the advice!

[Florian]

I wasn't thinking specific feats, just the advantages to initiative, AC, reflex etc. I did consider maxing Str with my +2 but was worried that would give me such a low AC that I'd get hit waaaay too often.

Cheers for the advice!

With a Barbarian, you might actually want to be mid to last in the initiative order.
Depending on your final build, chances are good that AC is as low as can be :D

[Novawurmson]

I would agree with putting the bonus into Constitution. Dexterity is a great stat, don't get me wrong, but for the Barbarian, its benefits can be kind of nebulous. It grants you a higher chance to go first, but you aren't guaranteed it with the level of investment you're doing. It gives you a higher AC, which is a higher chance to not get hit, but no guarantee. It gives a bonus to skills that may come in handy, etc. Constitution increases your Fort and HP, full stop - more HP means more "not die," which means you're more likely to live long enough to buy better armor and items to increase your AC, ranks for your skills, and initiative boosters.

[Starbuck_II]

I was thining about it:
Best I can think for combining archetypes for Barbarian is 5:
Totem Warrior (Changes nothing due to errata)
Raging Drunk (Changes Fast Movement)
Elemental Kin (Trapsense)
Liberator (Skill, Uncanny +Improved, Indomitable Will)
Pack Rager (Rage Power 2-6-10-14-18, DR)

Not sure, how effective that would be to change that much of Barbarian though.

[Polysanity]

Re: body bludgeon DR issues

I had to look this up to make sure, but i believe there's a solution built into this problem from the start. Any creature with DR/magic, epic, or alignment overcomes the same with their natural attacks. Logically, if this only applied to things like claws and bites, this would not help us. However, this is not the case; slams, tail slaps, and tentacle attacks all use just another bit of a creatures flesh to deal damage. It bears reasoning that using a creature that has DR/magic should, therefore, overcome DR/magic, etc. Facing fiends? Have your cleric summon some expendable celestials. Or use your handy - dandy neighborhood stick in the mu... err paladin. Or not. Your call really.

As with all interpretations of rules that were never meant to be applied in a given situation, your mileage may vary, always talk it out with your DM, and remember we're all here to have fun.

Citation: gonna have to wait, because i didn't realize my post count was so low.

[thiamael]

Hello, first of all, really nice job with this guide.

I wanted to react about te ranged archetype that you've heard about., here it is :
"paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/technologyGuide/archetypes.html#"
(sorry, unable to post links at my current poster lvl).

As you can see, it improves one-handed firearms specifically and it can be taken with the superstitious archetype.
i've made a build around it with a 2 lvl dip in rogue (for the mien of despair rogue talent) and found it really fun to play if your DM accept the following point

- "sword and gun" enable you to take improved two-weapons fighting and greater (as long as you use it only in respect of the "sword and gun" ability and limitations).

By using dazzling display, violent display and shatter defenses with the potentially high intimidating score of the barbarian and intimidating prowess, most of your foes will be flat-footed and as you are potentially in front line, your gun attacks will be on the touch AC. so, except for some specific builds, consider an AC of ten for the gun part.

As a con, i use the quick draw to shoot with several guns in one of my hands (using the sword in the other) (you know, draw it as a free action, shoot, drop it, draw the next one..) so it can be quite expensive to have that much guns (without talking about getting them enchanted). i'd like to not totally seeing it as a con, because it is flavourful and it limits your total potential damages with guns in a fight to two or three rounds only ( that can help your DM to accept it if he does not like over optimized builds). also it can be fun to search for your guns once you've got back your temper at the end of the fight :smallbiggrin:.

the primal magnetism thing is only icing on the cake, as it make you feel like some kind of gaston (beauty and the beast). it is limited at first (working only with "tribes". yay, you're some kind of conquistador!) but the second part can give you the little help you need when you need it. and as as plus, it replace nothing.

finally, crack shot is the thing that enable you to not have to 5lvl dip in gunslinger. yeah, you get your dex on gun damages only while raging, but why wouldn't you be raging in a fight, after all ? :smallsmile: and don't forget that the rage of the savage technologist improve your dex bonus. so win win...


I hope you'll enjoy this archetype as much as i do.