Pimp the Orc - Advice on Levelling a Barb/Fighter!

[JW86]

So I've just managed to level my favourite Half-Orc Barbarian, Zakulnar, from Level 17 to Level 19.

This is my first D&D character, so is very unoptimised from generally ignorant selection of feat, ability distribution, and so on. I just recently added the wonderful "Leap Attack" ability to him, but am finding his survivability quite poor in recent high-challenge encounters.

Being as he has just crowned himself Barbarian King of an entire city-state, I do have some gold I can spare towards items.

I am considering an Amulet of Health, as the dude needs more health. His AC is only 18 when raging - is it even worth bothering to spend money increasing this considering enemy melee combatants at this level are frequently rolling in the 30s and above? Or do I just need to focus on absorbing more damage via my chest muscles?

Build as follows.

Zakulnar Thrombeksson, Level 17 CN Half-Orc
Barbarian 10 / Fighter 7

Barbarian King of Khare, Bastard of Khul, The Breaker of Chains and the Slaver's Bane, Besieging Annihilator of Drow, Windwalker, The Thrice-Born Champion of the Void, The Guardian of Gillibrand and Defender of the Ironhelm, The Shape-Shafter, The Slayer of Flayers, The Loser of Virginity, The Crusher of Minotaurs and Champion of The Arenas.

(Sorry, he has to have his titles, every single one was earned from a previous adventure, and everyone in the game world has to know about it. His poor herald)

STR 24 (16+2racial+6item), DEX 14, CON 15, INT 11, WIS 11, CHA 12

Speed 40ft. (30ft in full plate)
AC 20 (10 + 9 (Mwk +1 Full Plate) + 1 (dex) (or 18 in Rage)
Grapple 24 (17+7) (or 26 in Rage)
BAB: +17/+12/+7/+2
HP: 140 (or 174 in Rage)
Fort: 15, Ref: 7, Will: 5 (or 7 in Rage)

Attack: +24/+19/+14/+9 (+17bab, +1 weapon focus, +1MW Greatsword, +7STR, -2 Penalty for Large Weapon)
Rage Atck: +26/+21/+16/+11/ (+17bab, +1 weapon focus, +1MW Greatsword, +9STR, -2 Penalty for Large Weapon)
Damage: 12 + 3d6 (10 (STR/2 handed weapon) +2 (weapon specialisation))
Rage Dmg: 15 + 3d6 (13 (STR/2 handed weapon) + 2 (weapon specialisation)
Power Attack Damage: (P.A Mod x 2) + 12 + 3d6
Rage Pwr. Atk Dmg: (P.A Mod x 2) + 15 + 3d6
Leap Power Attack Dmg: (P.A Mod x 3) + 12 + 3d6
Rage Leap Pwr Atk Dmg: (P.A Mod x 3) + 15 + 3d6

3d6 damage as he is wielding a LARGE GREATSWORD (Chainbreaker), that he uses to free the slaves from their chains of bondage. Death to the slavers. Death to the oppressors.

Traits:
Darkvision, Fast Movement, Improved Uncanny Dodge, Trap Sense +3, Rage 3/day, DMG Reduction /-2

Feats:
Exotic Weapon Proficiency - Chain Spike, Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus - Greatsword, Weapon Specialisation - Greatsword, Quick Draw, Cleave, Great Cleave, Power Attack, Leap Attack
(Wild Talent) - had a run in with Illithids, had a bizarre experience, so can now call on his Intelligent Panther (which he summons by blowing a horn) and attempt to use its Enlarge Power to become Large (successful maybe 30% of time but funny when it happens - DM'd in for amusement)


At next level I get a feat. I could put one level in Barb, one level in Fighter, effectively gaining 2 feats and Mighty Rage. Of those two feats, I could go Improved Bullrush / Shock Trooper.

As an aside, how the hell would you even work out a "Leap Attack, Power Attack, Two-Handed Weapon, Critical Hit"

Leap Attack "Triples the extra damage from a Power Attack if you have a two-handed weapon, and with Power Attack you "add twice the number" from the subtracted attack role. I always went with the less OTT option of simply tripling the number deducted from the attack role, not quadrupling. But at what stage in the process does the critical hit multiplier, apply? At the end? Because that would be ridiculously damaging.

I'm also thinking as DM is introducing some AC 35+ enemies into the campaign, it might be worth taking shock trooper, so I can deduct from my already pansy AC instead of Attack, increasing chance of hitting enemies for big damage.

Just throwing some ideas around... I know I have the spiked chain, but I'm thinking that thematically and effectively, the charging leaping shock troopering option would suit him better and be more useful against the kind of High AC, High HP epic enemies we're now facing.

[Ortesk]

1 items. Pick up wrathful healing on your great sword, +3 bonus, half damage comes back in hp. your a self sustaining juggarnaut. Personally, i would swap swords to +1 Valorous Wrathful Healing Greatsword. You wont notice 2 damage gone mate. Have a wizard/cleric/paladin cast greater magical weapon

2 Feats. You want shock trooper. Power attack for full PA man, hell yes right? So your level 19, you power attack for 19*2 because two handed, so 38, now add str and weapon spec for 11 more, now leap attack doubles that so we have 3d6+98 damage a swing, if you get valorous weapon it doubles again for 3d6+196 damage, if you charge you get valerous. remember that. For level 18 feat, get ettercap beserker. It gives an additional 6 con when raging, will bump your HP a good bit

3 Pounce. Easiest way i know is an ACF, drop fast movement, get pounce. Discuss with dm if you can rewrite it, if not just use spells.

for AC, well sorry man you cant wear heavy armor and rage. rules say so. pick up breastplate and a buckler (lose 1 to hit, Oh my). Accept barbarians ac kinda suck, if you wanted ac be a weak monk :smallbiggrin:

[JW86]

Had a re-read of the rules.

I can rage in heavy armour, but I lose the fast movement. So really, I should be 20ft when in heavy armour, 40ft when not.

Also re: leap attack.

I would have thought it would be 19*3 with leaping power attack - that's my impression of the rules. So 19*3 + 17 (15STR/twohanded, 2 for weapon spec) = 74+3d6. Still impressive. :smallcool:

I will discuss the pounce acf swap with DM, but I'm guessing that'd be a no. Besides, if I hit with say 3 of 4 attacks, that's 222+9d6 damage, which for our low-mid op group is insane and could cause issues. haha.

Need to look at amulets of protection/natural armour, mithril medium armour if possible, etc. or just any +5 armour, to hopefully get AC to 30-35.

[lytokk]

I think mithril full plate would work. If I remember right mithril drops the category of armor from heavy to medium for the purposes of calculating penalties. It'll also raise the max dex bonus to ac by 1, so If you've got the extra dexterity it'll help.

Damage reduction can become your friend if you want to increase your hit points without actually increasing your hit points. I don't have my books in front of me, but I think there is an enchantment to grant that.

*edit Raises the Max dex by 2 and does make it one category lighter.
But I guess if this isn' really going to up your AC by enough to make a difference against your attackers, there's no real point to wearing armor at all, and you should just beef up damage reduction

[Grod_The_Giant]

Instead of AC, it can be useful to try to pick up something that gives you a miss chance-- a ring of blinking, for instance. It doesn't matter how big your enemy's to-hit bonus is if they have a flat 50% chance of missing you.

[Ortesk]

No Power attack doubles what you give up in BAB, leap attack says you do 100 percent more, so it doubles regular damage. Add in valerous, you double first damage on a charge, and leap attack doubles that damage. Building a half orc charger is alot of math, and some complicated results, which results in pownage. my personal advice, just use leap attack and keep valorous in reserve, i was nowhere near maxed and was doing 3000 damage a round, which needless to say pissed my group off

[Captnq]

So you’re into rage. So lets look at what you can get to be an effective raging warrior dude. First, lets look at your best mundane weapon selections.

Martial Weapon vs Exotic

You have a wide selection of weapons that seem to work with your average raging barbarian. First you should go with something two handed or one-handed that you can wield with two hands. A good damage range is in the 2d6, or 1d12, depending on if you like having greater variability or like a more average spread.

Martial Two Hand 2d6/1d12:
Greatsword, Greataxe, Ripper are your standard barbarian raging weapons. No need for extra feats, high damage, no bells and whistles. I’d go with the greatsword, simply because if you build up any feats around it, you are far more likely to come across magical greatsword, but the axe is a nice choice as well.

Martial Two Hand 1d10:
If you lower the damage slightly, you have some other options. Bobby the barbarian aside, the greatclub isn’t that impressive, having no bells or whistles. If you are going this route, buy a hurl club and use the chain to pull your weapon back after you throw it. If you never plan on upgrading, get an etherblade. 50 charges of force damage might come in handy.

However, your two best choices are glaive for the reach, or halberd so you can set and trip.

Now, you might think about going with an exotic weapon. Now, don’t get me wrong, but is a whole feat worth a mere +1 average damage? There are some exotic weapons that give you great crit ranges and spiked chain gives you range. Those weapons aren’t best for a charging/pouncing type. The point of a two-handed weapon is to run up to someone and hack them to bits. So, that leaves us with Greatsword and Fullblade as our top two choices.

First we're going to start off with a standard greatsword. We are selecting it because it has good damage, is slashing, which opens up certain avenues later, and is a martial weapon, so you don't have to waste a feat on it. Add gloryborn so you have a +1 damage while charging, then make it out of Baatorian Green Steel. Yes, getting Baatorian Green Steel into Heaven so you can have an angel craft you a Gloryborn Greatsword will be a little tricky, but we're talking about the best you can make, and I'm sure you quest for it.

Or, if you want to blow an exotic Weapon feat, I would recommend a Gloryborn Gold Fullblade. Now, contrary to popular belief, you don't need two exotic feats. You get the exotic weapon feat (Gold Fullblade) which means you cannot use normal fullblades, only gold ones. Now, a Gold Fullblade should turn out to be a 2d10, which is a respectable amount of damage. However, math-wise, it's still only an average +2 damage over the Baatorian Green Steel Greatsword. If you consider the cost of the feat, it really isn't that good of a deal. Still, if you like overkill, you could do worse.

Of course there's a reason for the Bigger Exotic weapon, and that's if you plan on using the WSA balanced or Monkey Grip. The Greatsword becomes 3d6, whereas the Gold Fullblade becomes 4d8. A difference of an average damage of 11.5 vs 18. Now a swing of 6 points is worth considering. You need to tailor your weapon to the direction you wish to go with your barbarian. As a side note, a Gloryborn Gold Fullblade has got to be the ultimate Bling Weapon.

So, the Base Masterwork (300), Gloryborn (1,500), Baatorian Green Steel (1,000), Greatsword (50) is 2,850 gp
The base Masterwork (300), Gloryborn, (1,500) Gold (7,000) Fullblade (100) is 8,900 gp.


Now that we have our base Weapon, lets look at what WSAs would be good for a Two-handed fighter.

We need a base +1 EB
Berserker [+1 bonus] - This gives us +1d8 damage while raging.
Brash [+1 bonus] - This adds +3 rounds of rage and makes you immune to fear
Fury [+1 bonus] - This adds a +1d6 while raging.
Jumping [13,750 gp] - This gives us an untyped +30 bonus to jumping every other round and continuous feather fall.

These are the standard WSAs. All good choices for a barbarian Weapon. However, if you have a DM who is willing to allow you to extrapolate from existing weapons, there are a few more to add.

The Axe of Anger allows us to extrapolate the WSA Angry. This is a +1 bonus for +2 rounds of rage and unlimited jump height. This can be very useful when pouncing.
The Halberd of Vaulting allows us to figure out that for 12,000 gp, you can add +30 to your jump, ignore the maximums for jumping distance, and double damage if you jump more then five feet into the air when you attack. This would stack with the jumping WSA, giving you +30 to jump checks, and +60 every other round.
Soldier's Rest gives us the WSA Soldier for 2,500 gp. While holding the weapon, you can ignore the condition of fatigue, which is useful for when the rage wears off.

So the total cost is a +5 bonus and 28,250 gp Put it all together and we have:
Greatsword Version: 81,100 gp
Fullblade Version (Oversized with balance): 109,150 gp


So, what does this give us in total?

+5 rounds to every use of rage
+1d8 +1d6 damage while raging
+60/+30 to jump.
Unlimited height and distance when jumping.
x2 damage when you jump to attack.
Immune to fear
Feather Fall
Ignore fatigue.

So you could long jump a total of 60 feet without trying, or jump straight up 15 feet. Both of these assume you have no skill in jumping, or strength, and roll a 1 on the d20. Now, normally if you wanted to jump say, 70 feet, it would take someone with a movement of 30 feet a round 3 rounds to jump that far. However, with this weapon and no maximums in hight or distance, you can complete it in one round. Which means that, in theory, you could move your full movement, then jump and on a good day jump anywhere from 60 to 90 additional feet. And finally, at post rage-fatigue is no longer a concern with Soldier's rest. Truly an impressive weapon. Combine that with the lion totem and you'll be making one of the most impressive pounce charges ever.

For more suggestions, check out my Weapon Handbook (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=9053.msg183871#msg183871)

[JW86]

Haha.. so many many suggestions.

I've gone with Improved Bullrush and Shock Trooper, combined with Leap Attack.

Full Mithril Plate, Amulet of Nat Armour/Health and Ring of Protection for anywhere up to an additional 15 - so 35ac, or 33 if raging.. once/if I acquire all of these items. Possible ring of blink or cloak of concealing amorpha as well for 20% miss chance.

I had a Large Greatsword anyway, and only just realised that's not allowed (this was my first character, everyone playing including DM is a first timer) - so he has allowed me to swap out weapon specialisation for monkey grip - at least the build is legal, even if -2 to damage!

Cannot swap out spiked chain for fullblade, and not spending more feats now, but thank you.

Zak already has awesome jump modifiers, as well as a cloak of jumping, so he's sorted in that regard, +32 to his jump, and the wizard of the party loves casting "jump" on me to augment it further, heh!

The Orc is succesfully levelled. Thank you everybody for your assistance.. and Captnq I admire the enthusiasm is posting such a long and informative answer - thanks!

[Captnq]

The Orc is succesfully levelled. Thank you everybody for your assistance.. and Captnq I admire the enthusiasm is posting such a long and informative answer - thanks!

Not every suggestion is workable with every DM, so you have to mix and match.