Should I Go Full Barb?

[rmaunus]

This is for 3.5 and I want to go into the Bear Warrior prestige. I was thinking of a goliath going 6 levels of the dungeon crusher variant of fighter and 3 levels of barbarian before getting into Bear Warrior. Can I do this? Or is there a better way to get this? We're starting our characters off at lvl 10.



I see myself raging, bearing up, and then charge/dungeon crushing into people. 3x the strength mod of a bear-form goliath?

[HunterOfJello]

Screw Bear Warrior you should play a Barbie Barbarian

[Urpriest]

Seems like a fine setup, but you'll definitely want Extra Rage.

[rmaunus]

Seems like a fine setup, but you'll definitely want Extra Rage.

I have my feats picked out up to a point. I don't know exactly what to get now. It goes like this so far.


Fighter 1 Power att
improved bullrush
Fighter 2
Barb 1 extra rage
Barb 2
Fighter 3 Knockback
Fighter 4 Shock Trooper
Fighter 5

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Use Wolf-Totem Barbarian (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#wolfTotemClassFeatures ) to get Improved Trip instead of Uncanny Dodge. With that you can get Knock-Down (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/divineAbilitiesFeats.htm#knockDown), which combined with Knock-Back and Dungeoncrasher will make a single attack, including AoO's, look something like the following:

Regular melee attack, deal weapon damage.
Knock-Back bull rush, deal dungeoncrasher damage.
Knock-Down trip.
Melee attack via Improved Trip, deal weapon damage.
Knock-Back bull rush, deal dungeoncrasher damage.

Granted this is assuming you have an obstacle to knock them against so they'll stay within reach. Otherwise you could gain flight (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=187851) and flying above them will allow you to bull rush them into the ground. The above attack routine can also be used on attacks of opportunity.

[rmaunus]

Use Wolf-Totem Barbarian (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#wolfTotemClassFeatures ) to get Improved Trip instead of Uncanny Dodge. With that you can get Knock-Down (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/divineAbilitiesFeats.htm#knockDown), which combined with Knock-Back and Dungeoncrasher will make a single attack, including AoO's, look something like the following:

Regular melee attack, deal weapon damage.
Knock-Back bull rush, deal dungeoncrasher damage.
Knock-Down trip.
Melee attack via Improved Trip, deal weapon damage.
Knock-Back bull rush, deal dungeoncrasher damage.

Granted this is assuming you have an obstacle to knock them against so they'll stay within reach. Otherwise you could gain flight (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=187851) and flying above them will allow you to bull rush them into the ground. The above attack routine can also be used on attacks of opportunity.
Wouldn't Wolf-Totem clash with the flavor of my bear warrior?

[Hiro Protagonest]

Wouldn't Wolf-Totem clash with the flavor of my bear warrior?

Is a goliath fighter 6/barbarian 1/Bear Warrior 2 forced to have been a merc/town guard/whatever for most of his life, then go off to some tribe in the deep wilderness and live wtih them for a few years? How you answer that will decide the answer to your question.

[Ravens_cry]

What is your plan if you go unconscious?
Losing rage at negatives would likely kill you, *especially* at higher levels.

[rmaunus]

What is your plan if you go unconscious?
Losing rage at negatives would likely kill you, *especially* at higher levels.

I... I don't know...

[Urpriest]

I... I don't know...

It's not as much of a problem as Ravens_cry suggests. Just keep track of your base hit points, and heal up before you exit rage. High Con means your duration will be good enough you can heal up after combat.

[Ravens_cry]

It's not as much of a problem as Ravens_cry suggests. Just keep track of your base hit points, and heal up before you exit rage. High Con means your duration will be good enough you can heal up after combat.
So the best way to play a frothy chaotic warrior is to . . . plan meticulously.
I lol.:smallbiggrin:
Seriously though, a surprise crit can really mess things up.

[Worlok]

First things first: There never is a reason not to go Full Barb.

Second things second: In this case, though, why not go full roleplaying? Say, your character's goliath tribe hails from the rolling, forested foothills of a large mountain range, and as a young boy, your dude heard the Dawncallers and the Tent-Mother speak of the Great Grim Bearwolf, a beast with the maw of the wolf and the claws of the bear, yet walking as a goliath would. This terrible spirit combines all the bad things in goliath life, for he is the one that tracks down lost young ones in the night, he is the one that inspires the weak to cheat and the capable to be afflicted by bad fortune, he is the one that howls in the mountains to bring down the avalanche, and he is the one that chases the elk away and thus brings starvation. What is worse, though, is that the Bearwolf may not be slain by mortals, and knows a thousand tricks to lead a warrior astray. He is foe to all living things, and both Bear and Wolf despise him for the mockery he forms.

So, being a goliath worth his salt, and the adventurous sort to boot, your character took what is actually just ye olde bedtime mythology (or is it?) as a challenge: He would be the one to find and slay the Grim One, Caller of the Avalanche, and he would do so by learning the ways of the Bear and the Wolf, so as to champion the causes of these mighty warrior totem spirits and deliver the world from this terrible blight. Gives you a motivation, irons out some of the troubles with the fluff, allows you to justify a combined bull-rush/trip routine based on hitting like a goddamn truck, then making sure the other guy stays down, running under the header "My Barbarian Philosophy". It also potentially allows your DM to cook up a fun little side-plot / boss fight / worldbuilding exposition, up to and including encounters with whacky lycanthropes or evil spirits, which are always fun. And it neatly hooks into the nature of the goliath race, which is a plus.

This just as an idea to make the concept work. :smallbiggrin:

[rmaunus]

It's not as much of a problem as Ravens_cry suggests. Just keep track of your base hit points, and heal up before you exit rage. High Con means your duration will be good enough you can heal up after combat.
Ok, I still need one more feat after knockdown.

[Slipperychicken]

Is a goliath fighter 6/barbarian 1/Bear Warrior 2 forced to have been a merc/town guard/whatever for most of his life, then go off to some tribe in the deep wilderness and live wtih them for a few years? How you answer that will decide the answer to your question.

He was a mercenary who was bitten by a Were-Bear. Later on, he learned to control the transformation through sheer force of will. However, he can only force himself into bear-form so many times before it wears him out.

[Fouredged Sword]

Another rage feat could be useful. Something nice like intimidating or sudden are not bad uses of a feat if you have a spare. Get never outnumbered.

Sudden intimidating rage means never having to start combat without someone scared.

[Lateral]

First things first: There never is a reason not to go Full Barb.

Yes, there is. Full Barbarian sucks. You get crappy damage reduction, a more powerful rage (and Bear Form gives better bonuses anyway), extra uses of rage that can be replaced with Extra Rage (and besides, many Barbarian prestige classes give you extra uses), and trap sense.