Suggestions for a Goliath Barbarian

[Drestlin]

One of the guys i play with has recently started playing D&D - he wanted to play a Barbarian so i suggested a Goliath - he rolled an astounding

21+1 (4th lvl)
13
18
14
15
16

i had him pick up improved initiative and power attack since he's lvl 4 (buyback, we are 5th) + mountain rage

i'm looking into some prestige classes other than barbarians ones...we don't want a FB and he's pretty into his huge 2handed axe so no bear warrior :smallbiggrin:

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

War Hulk from the Miniatures Handbook. Otherwise just plain ol' Warblade.

Switch Dex and Cha, assuming you've already applied the Goliath adjustments to what you have there.

Use Wolf Totem Barbarian (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#wolfTotemClassFeatures ) and only get two levels in it, along with Knock-Down (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/divineAbilitiesFeats.htm#knockDown). Whirling Frenzy (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/classFeatureVariants.htm#rageVariantWhirlingFrenzy ) is a huge improvement on the standard Rage. Include two Fighter levels with the Dungeoncrasher ACF in Dungeonscape, and work on getting the feat Knock-Back in RoS. Take two flaws (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/characterFlaws.htm) (City Slicker and No Time for Book Learning (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=258440#30) if aiming for War Hulk) to have two additional feats starting out, which will help get Knock-Back sooner and help qualify for whatever prestige class(es) you pick. Extra Rage in CW can also be useful if he has any feats to spare. I'd have him go Barbarian 2/ Fighter 2/ Warblade 2/ War Hulk.

[Fax Celestis]

The funny thing about War Hulk is that he'll only qualify for the features when he's raging, so he'll only get the class' benefits when he hulks out rages. Which is awesome.

(Cue argument about temporarily qualifying for PrCs and whether or not you keep the stuff even when you don't qualify.)

[Daebu]

Champion of Gwynharwyf. Mix some nice Divine Wisdom-based Spellcasting with that Barbarian skullbreaking. CoG advances just about everything a base Barbarian does as well, so it's a straight upgrade. Even gets Divine Grace (Cha to saves). Typically can have mild MAD issues, but he's got the WIS/CHA to make good use of it.

As he'll only typically use his spells for buffing/utility he doesn't need tonnes of Wis, just enough to be allowed to cast the spells. This of course requires him to be a "Good" Barbarian, which I don't mind, but can cramp some folks style.

Warblade Offers lots of stuff for Uber Charge types, assuming Tome of Battle is allowed. His decent INT will get put to good use here. No need to grab any more of it, though.

Leap Attack, Improved Bull Rush+Shock Trooper. Good feats if he hasn't got 'em already. And on that note...

Pounce Specifically Spirit Lion Totem Barbarian Pounce from Complete Champion. Trade away his Fast Movement to get it. Combine with the above feats for massive damage potential. Yes he's gone a couple levels without it (if he has indeed gone without it), but retraining rules from PHBII and a nice enough DM means it should go easily enough.

Combine all of the above for good Melee damage and some tricks to throw in.

[Drestlin]

forgot to say that we are in an evil campaign, im a cleric necromancer, elf wizard generalist, human raumathari battlemage (or going for that, he's a battlesorcerer for now) and a halfling rogue.
all NE/CE

[Drestlin]

War Hulk from the Miniatures Handbook. Otherwise just plain ol' Warblade.

Switch Dex and Cha, assuming you've already applied the Goliath adjustments to what you have there.
we can't, already reroll an 8 and switched a 17 with a 14 so that's it


Use Wolf Totem Barbarian (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#wolfTotemClassFeatures ) and only get two levels in it, along with Knock-Down (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/divineAbilitiesFeats.htm#knockDown). Whirling Frenzy (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/classFeatureVariants.htm#rageVariantWhirlingFrenzy ) is a huge improvement on the standard Rage. Include two Fighter levels with the Dungeoncrasher ACF in Dungeonscape, and work on getting the feat Knock-Back in RoS. Take two flaws (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/characterFlaws.htm) (City Slicker and No Time for Book Learning (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=258440#30) if aiming for War Hulk) to have two additional feats starting out, which will help get Knock-Back sooner and help qualify for whatever prestige class(es) you pick. Extra Rage in CW can also be useful if he has any feats to spare. I'd have him go Barbarian 2/ Fighter 2/ Warblade 2/ War Hulk.

also no flaw - war hulk is very nice but with that char i find it a waste to not being able to use anything car-wis-int related...

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

forgot to say that we are in an evil campaign, im a cleric necromancer, elf wizard generalist, human raumathari battlemage (or going for that, he's a battlesorcerer for now) and a halfling rogue.
all NE/CE

In that case, maybe check out the Fear Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=3809.0), especially considering Goliath gets a size bonus to Intimidate.

[Daebu]

In that case, maybe check out the Fear Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=3809.0), especially considering Goliath gets a size bonus to Intimidate.

Seconded. Great use of the Cha stat.

A couple of weak feats will get you into Runescarred Berserker, another casting Barbarian prestige class. This time no need to be good. On the other hand, it has a bit of a wonky casting mechanic that might be a bit too much for a new guy. But hey, it'll use that Wis stat.

I'm still fairly certain he'd love Warblade. Crusader or even Swordsage are also possibilities. Is ToB allowed material? The advantage of ToB is that while it's harder to build, it's easy to play. Thus martial initiators tend to be really good in the "I-build-it-for-a-new-player" vein.

If he's into being a skald, he could take some Bard and transition into Warrior Skald. Maybe with some Doomspeak for a metalhead feel. This would mesh well with Fear-based tactics.

You haven't answered about Pounce. Does he have it? If not, would the DM be amenable to retraining for it? (PHB2)

Edit: With a group like that, a Frenzied Berserker would fit right in. No need to worry about him going off and killing innocents, you're all evil. If built properly, his chance of actually TPK'ing would be low indeed. And you folks have enough highly powered characters to not die.

[Deca4531]

take a look at Black Blood Cultist (http://dndtools.eu/classes/black-blood-cultist/) it basicly turns you slowly into an feral creature and lets you rip stuff apart really easly.

[Daebu]

take a look at Black Blood Cultist (http://dndtools.eu/classes/black-blood-cultist/) it basicly turns you slowly into an feral creature and lets you rip stuff apart really easly.

He's already nixed Bear Warrior on account of it not swinging an axe Grom-style. I don't know if he wants another PrC that gives up the axe in favour of natural attacks.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

I would second War Hulk. Hitting everything within reach as an attack action is pretty darn spiffy.

Overwhelming Attack Style Monk2/Spirit Lion Totem Mountainous Rage Barbarian1/Fighter2/Warblade2/Exotic Weapon Master3/Warhulk10

Feats:
Cleave (bonus feat from OA Monk)
Improved Bull Rush (bonus feat from OA Monk)
EWP: Spiked Chain (bonus fighter feat)
Shock Trooper (bonus fighter feat)
Leap Attack, Intimidating Rage (with Never Outnumbered skill trick)

Exotic Weaponmaster Tricks:
Exotic Weapon Reach
Flurry of Strikes
Trip Attack

Weapon: Spiked Chain with the enhancement that allows it to be used as a monk weapon, and Skillful (since BAB is only +9 at level 20).

In effect, he gets his 3 attacks from BAB of +15, a bonus attack from the monk Flurry of Blows ability, another from Flurry of Strikes trick, and another from Whirling Frenzy as a haste effect, for a total of 6 attacks a round.

He's still got plenty of feats to burn if you want to do something cheesy with Aptitude weapon.

[Drestlin]

Seconded. Great use of the Cha stat.

A couple of weak feats will get you into Runescarred Berserker, another casting Barbarian prestige class. This time no need to be good. On the other hand, it has a bit of a wonky casting mechanic that might be a bit too much for a new guy. But hey, it'll use that Wis stat.

I'm still fairly certain he'd love Warblade. Crusader or even Swordsage are also possibilities. Is ToB allowed material? The advantage of ToB is that while it's harder to build, it's easy to play. Thus martial initiators tend to be really good in the "I-build-it-for-a-new-player" vein.

If he's into being a skald, he could take some Bard and transition into Warrior Skald. Maybe with some Doomspeak for a metalhead feel. This would mesh well with Fear-based tactics.

You haven't answered about Pounce. Does he have it? If not, would the DM be amenable to retraining for it? (PHB2)

Edit: With a group like that, a Frenzied Berserker would fit right in. No need to worry about him going off and killing innocents, you're all evil. If built properly, his chance of actually TPK'ing would be low indeed. And you folks have enough highly powered characters to not die.

sadly, i don't think our dm will permit pounce.
I'll ask for ToB and if he's into skalding, or maybe we could come up with a warhulk less stupid without some other things (half the str boni? no rockthrower feats?)
I think he might be into all the fear inducing rage stuff, so a champion of $some_evil_god based on Champion of Gwynharwyf might be really good for him.

(we are lvl 5, not really highly powered enough...i still don't have a magic weapon, even if i have 2 nice Skums as personal bodyguards)
Also, i saw the eyes of my DM when he saw the 3d6+20 on rage damage :smallbiggrin:
The FB +80 might be too much (and i don't want my precious undeads to die :D)

thx everyone!