Barbarian, now with 150% more beef (3.5, PEACH)

[Grod_The_Giant]

Barbarian

http://freneticarts.com/files/illustration/bd/FA_illustration_000187.jpg
RRRRAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!-- unidentifiable bloodsoaked man with a large axe

Hit Die: d12
The Barbarian’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Geography) (Int), Knowledge (Nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), and Use Rope (Dex).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) ×4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier.



Level
BAB
Fort
Ref
Will
Special
Brute Powers


1st
+1
+2
+0
+0
Mortal Rage, Brute Powers (Mortal), Power Attack
1


2nd
+2
+3
+0
+0
Fearless, Uncanny Dodge
2


3rd
+3
+3
+1
+1
Mettle
2


4th
+4
+4
+1
+1
Bonus Feat
3


5th
+5
+4
+1
+1
Heroic Rage
3


6th
+6/+1
+5
+2
+2
Brute Powers (Heroic), Pounce
4


7th
+7/+2
+5
+2
+2
Shrug it Off
4


8th
+8/+3
+6
+2
+2
Bonus Feat
5


9th
+9/+4
+6
+3
+3
Improved Uncanny Dodge
5


10th
+10/+5
+7
+3
+3
Legendary Rage
6


11th
+11/+6/+1
+7
+3
+3
Brute Powers (Legendary)
7


12th
+12/+7/+2
+8
+4
+4
Bonus Feat
7


13th
+13/+8/+3
+8
+4
+4
Unstoppable
8


14th
+14/+9/+4
+9
+4
+4
Take it Like a Man
8


15th
+15/+10/+5
+9
+5
+5
Mythic Rage
9


16th
+16/+11/+6/+1
+10
+5
+5
Brute Powers (Mythic), Bonus Feat
10


17th
+17/+12/+7/+2
+10
+5
+5
Juggernaut Soul
10


18th
+18/+13/+8/+3
+11
+6
+6
Fueled by Slaughter
11


19th
+19/+14/+9/+4
+11
+6
+6
Endless Rage
11


20th
+20/+15/+10/+5
+12
+6
+6
Epic Rage, Bonus Feat
12



Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Barbarian is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and with light and medium armor.

Rage (Ex): A Barbarian can drive himself into a berserk rage as an immediate action. A Rage lasts for a number of rounds equal to the Barbarian’s Constitution score (including the bonus from the Rage). At the end of a Rage, a Barbarian is fatigued for one minute per round he Raged. This condition may not be negated by any ability, and affects even creatures normally immune to fatigue. He may not attempt to Rage again while under the effects of this fatigue.

There are five levels of Rage a Barbarian can enter— Mortal, Heroic, Legendary, Mythic, and Epic. A first level Barbarian may only enter a Mortal Rage. At 5th level, he may enter a Mortal or Heroic Rage. At 10th, he may also enter a Legendary Rage, with access to a Mythic Rages coming at 15th and Epic Rages at 20th.

When Raging, you gain the benefits and drawbacks of all lower-level Rages.

When beginning a Rage, a Barbarian can enter any level of Rage he has access to. At any point while raging, he may enter a higher level of Rage that he has access to as a free action. He may also attempt to calm down to a lower level of Rage or end his current Rage as a swift action. Doing so requires a Will save, with a DC based on his current level of Rage. A Barbarian’s Rage also ends if he is killed, panicked, cowering, or knocked unconscious.


Mortal Rage
Save to End: 10
Save to Reduce: n/a
Benefit: You gain a +4 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution, and a +2 morale bonus to Will saves.

Drawback: You take a penalty to Armor Class equal to the morale bonus to Will saves granted by your Rage— -2 in a Mortal Rage, -3 in a Heroic Rage, and so on. You may not fight defensively, use the Total Defense option, or use the Combat Expertise feat should you possess it.

In addition, you may not use any skill or ability which requires patience or concentration, or any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (except for Balance, Escape Artist, Intimidate, and Ride). You may not cast spells or activate magic items that require a command word, a spell trigger (such as a wand), or spell completion (such as a scroll) to function. Finally, you may not feint in combat.

Heroic Rage
Save to End: DC 15
Save to Reduce: DC 10
Benefit: You gain Damage Reduction (DR/—) equal to the morale bonus to Constitution granted by your Rage— DR 6/— in a Heroic Rage, DR 8/— in a Legendary Rage, and so on.

In addition, you gain a +2 bonus to Strength and Constitution (total +6), and a +1 morale bonus to Will save (total +3).

Drawback: You cannot take any action that’s not either offensive or an attempt to close with a foe. You may attack, attempt combat maneuvers such as trips and bull rushes, charge, and so on, but you cannot stop to drink a potion or attempt to aid another.

Legendary Rage
Save to End: DC 20
Save to Reduce: DC 15
Benefit: You gain immunity to Mind-Affecting and Death effects.

In addition, you gain a +2 bonus to Strength and Constitution (total +8), and a +1 morale bonus to Will save (total +4).

Drawback: You must attack those you perceives as foes to the best of your ability. Should you run out of enemies before your frenzy expires, your rampage continues. You must then attack the nearest creature (determine randomly if several potential foes are equidistant) and fight that opponent without regard to friendship, innocence, or health (the target's or your own).

Mythic Rage
Save to End: DC 25
Save to Reduce: DC 20
Benefit: Once per round, you may reroll an attack or damage roll. You must accept the results of the new roll, even if they are worse than the original.

In addition, you gain a +2 bonus to Strength and Constitution (total +10), and a +1 morale bonus to Will save (total +5).

Drawback: After choosing a target, you must continue attacking it until it stops moving due to death, unconsciousness, or paralysis. A target may make a Bluff check to play dead, opposed by the Barbarian’s Sense Motive.

Epic Rage
Save to End: DC 30
Save to Reduce: DC 25
Benefit: You cannot die. You are immune to death effects and massive damage, and gain Regeneration equal to your Constitution modifier. This Regeneration is not bypassed by any damage type.

In addition, you gain a +2 bonus to Strength and Constitution (total +12), and a +1 morale bonus to Will save (total +6).

Drawback: You cannot distinguish between friends and foes— instead, you simply attack the nearest, largest, or most threatening target. You may make a DC 25 Will save to tell if a target is a friend or a foe, but you forget as soon as you attack a different target.

Brute Powers: A Barbarian possesses a variety of special techniques and abilities, known as Brute Powers. All Brute Powers are Extraordinary Abilities, unless otherwise specified. The save DC against a Brute Power (if relevant) is 10 + 1/2 Barbarian level + Strength modifier.

The four grades of Brute Powers, in order of their relative power, are Mortal, Heroic, Legendary, and Mythic. A Barbarian begins with knowledge of one Brute Power, which must be of the lowest grade (Mortal). As a Barbarian gains levels, he learns new Brute Powers, as summarized on the table above and described below.

At any level when a Barbarian learns a new Brute Power, he can also replace an Brute Power he already knows with another Brute Power of the same or a lower grade. At 6th level, a Barbarian can replace a Mortal Brute Power he knows with a different Mortal Brute Power (in addition to learning a new Brute Power, which could be either Mortal or Heroic). At 11th level, a Barbarian can replace a Mortal or Heroic Brute Power he knows with another Brute Power of the same or a lower grade (in addition to learning a new Brute Power, which could be Mortal, Heroic, or Legendary). At 16th level, a Barbarian can replace a Mortal, Heroic, or Legendary Brute Power he knows with another Brute Power of the same or a lower grade (in addition to learning a new Brute Power, which could be Mortal, Heroic, Legendary, or Mythic).

Power Attack: At 1st level, a Barbarian gains Power Attack as a bonus feat.
Giants and Graveyards: Discard this ability

Fearless (Ex): Beginning at 2nd level, a Barbarian gains immunity to fear, magical or otherwise.

Uncanny Dodge (Ex): At 2nd level, a Barbarian retains his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if he is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, he still loses his Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized. If a Barbarian already has uncanny dodge from a different class, he automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead.

Mettle (Ex): At 3nd level at higher, a Barbarian can resist magical and unusual attacks with great willpower or fortitude. If he makes a successful Will or Fortitude save against an attack that normally would have a lesser effect on a successful save (such as any spell with a saving throw entry of Will half or Fortitude partial), he instead completely negates the effect. An unconscious or sleeping Barbarian does not gain the benefit of mettle.

Bonus Feat: At 4th level, and every subsequent 4th level, a Barbarian gains a bonus feat, drawn from the list of Fighter bonus feats or the list below. He must meet all prerequisites, save for one— he may qualify for Improved Disarm, Improved Trip, and Whirlwind Attack as though he possessed the Combat Expertise feat.

Blazing Berserker (Sand), Channeled Rage (RoD), Cobalt Rage (MoI), Destructive Rage (CWar), Dragon Rage (ECS), Dragonmark Rage (Dragonmarked), Ettercap Berserker (UE), Frantic Rage (Faiths of Eberron), Frozen Berserker (Frost), Furious Inhalation (RoD), Gnoll Ferocity (RotW), Great Stag Berserker (UE), Ice Troll Berserker (UE), Intimidating Rage (CWar), Mad Foam Rager (PHB2), Owlbear Berserker (UE), Raging Luck (ECS), Rampaging Bull Rush (RoS), Reckless Rage (RoS), Shifter Savagery (RoE), Snow Tiger Berserker (UE), Stone Rage (RoS), Tiger Blooded (ToB), Wolf Berserker (UE)

Pounce (Ex): Beginning at 6th level, a Barbarian may make a full attack at the end of a charge.

Shrug it Off (Ex): Beginning at 7th level, whenever a Barbarian would be affected by one of the conditions listed on the table below, he may immediately reduce it to the lesser version listed alongside it, even if the condition would not normally allow him to take actions. A “—“ indicates that he is unaffected by the condition. He may only do so once per condition, so a Barbarian may not, for example, reduce a Panicked condition to Frightened and then to Shaken and then to nothingness.



Condition
Reduce to:


Ability Drained
Ability Damaged


Blinded
Dazzled


Confused
Fascinated


Cowering
Dazed


Dazzled
—


Exhausted
Fatigued


Fascinated
—


Fatigued
—


Frightened
Shaken


Immobilized
Entangled


Nauseated
Sickened


Panicked
Frightened


Paralyzed
Stunned


Shaken
—


Sickened
—



Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex): Beginning at 9th level, a Barbarian can no longer be flanked. This defense denies a rogue the ability to sneak attack the Barbarian by flanking him, unless the attacker has at least four more rogue levels than the target has Barbarian levels. If a character already has uncanny dodge from a second class, the character automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead, and the levels from the classes that grant uncanny dodge stack to determine the minimum level a rogue must be to flank the character.

Unstoppable (Ex): Beginning at 13th level, a Barbarian can move and attack normally, even under the influence of magic that usually impedes movement, as well as while underwater, as though affected by a freedom of movement spell. He does not gain any other benefits of the spell, however, such as resisting or escaping grapple checks.

Take it Like a Man (Ex): Beginning at 14th level, when affected by an attack, spell, or ability used against you, a Barbarian may choose to delay its effect one turn. He may simultaneously delay a number of effects equal to one-half his Constitution modifier.

If he has the feat “Mad Foam Rager,” he may immediately retrain it for another feat from the list of Fighter or Barbarian bonus feats.

Juggernaut Soul (Ex): Beginning at 17th level, when making saving throws, a Barbarian may roll twice and take the better result.

Fueled by Slaughter (Ex): Beginning at 18th level, whenever a raging Barbarian kills a foe with a CR of at least one-half his Barbarian level, he regains a number of hit points equal to his Barbarian level plus his Constitution score (not modifier). Excess healing is gained as temporary hit points, to a maximum of your normal maxiumum hit points (before the adjustment for rage). These temporary hit points last until you end your rage.

Endless Rage (Ex): Beginning at 19th level, a Barbarian no longer faces a limit on how long he can Rage.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Mortal Brute Powers

Bleeding Strike— As a standard action, make a melee attack. If it hits, you deal normal damage, and your target bleeds for a number of rounds equal to your Strength modifier, losing one point of Constitution each round. If you use this ability on a target who’s already bleeding, you extend the duration of the bleed effect by your Strength modifier. Bleeding targets may make a Fortitude save or a Heal check (DC as normal for a save against a Brute Power) to stop the bleeding at the end of each round. Any healing which restores at least one hit point also stops the bleeding.

Brawler— You gain Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat, and your unarmed attacks deal 1d8 damage. At 5th level, and every subsequent 5th level (10, 15, and 20), this damage improves as though you had gained the Improved Natural Weapon feat.

Crushing Strike— As a standard action, make either a sunder attempt without provoking attacks of opportunity, or a melee attack against an object. If you hit, ignore hardness and deal bonus damage equal to your Barbarian level. In addition, if the object is nonmagical and weighs less than 10 pounds per Barbarian level, it must make a Fortitude save or be instantly shattered.

Extended Intimidation— A target you successfully intimidate suffers lasting effects. Instead of ending when the you leave, as is normal for the Intimidate skill, the intimidation effect lasts for 24 hours after your departure. Thereafter, the target’s attitude toward you shifts to unfriendly, but a lingering fear remains. Whenever you return to someone you previously intimidated, you gains a +4 bonus on your Intimidate check to re-establish the effect.

Eye of Hate— You may use your Strength modifier in place of your Charisma modifier when making Intimidate checks. You may also make an Intimidate check in place of a Gather Information check.

Fast Movement— Your base land speed improves by 10 feet, plus another 10 feet for every five levels of Barbarian.

Hamstring— As a standard action, make a melee attack. If it hits, it deals damage as normal, and the target must make a Fortitude save or be entangled for one round per Barbarian level. If affected by this ability again before the penalty wears off, he is instead immobilized for 1 round per point of your Strength modifier. This penalty can be removed by magical healing that restores more than (Barbarian level) hit points, or by a lesser restoration spell or its like. Plants, constructs and oozes are not affected by this ability.

Hunter Tracker— You gain Track as a bonus feat, and a bonus to Survival checks equal to your Barbarian level.

Mighty Thews— You gain a bonus to Climb, Jump, and Swim checks equal to twice your Barbarian level. In addition, you don't take penalties for accelerated climbing, can make all jumps as though you had a running start, and only take the normal armor check penalty to Swim checks.

Powerful Build— You gain the Powerful Build ability, counting as one size category larger whenever it would be beneficial (except for reach). At 11th level, you count as two size categories larger. This enables you to take feats with prerequisites such as "Large. "

Primal Senses— You gain the Scent extraordinary quality.

Resourceful Brute— You take no penalty for wielding improvised weapons. For a medium sized Barbarian, a light improvised weapon deals 1d6/x3 damage, a one-handed improvised weapon deals 1d8/x3, and a two-handed improvised weapon deals 1d12/x3. You may also treat any weapon, real or improvised, as a throwing weapon with a range increment of 15 feet.

Stealthy Hunter— You may add Hide and Move Silently to your list of class skills, with a number of skill ranks equal to your Barbarian level. Each time you gain a new Barbarian level, gain one rank in Hide and Move Silently.

Trapkiller— You gain Trapfinding, as the Rogue class feature, except that you can use Survival (at a -5 penalty) instead of Search to locate traps. Once you find a mechanical trap, you can you can attempt to disarm it by making an attack roll. You succeed if the result exceeds the Disable Device DC of that trap. Only traps with moving mechanisms or gears (such as shifting floor panels, dropping portcullis gates, or arrow traps) can be disarmed in this manner; simple pitfalls and most magic traps have no mechanism to be so disrupted. You must be able to reach the trap with a melee attack to make a disarm attempt. If you fail to disarm the trap, you automatically spring it.

Wild Heart— You gain Wild Empathy, as the Druid class feature except using your Barbarian levels.


Heroic Brute Powers

Bite Yourself— As a standard action, make a melee touch attack against a foe. If you succeed, the two of you make opposed grapple attempts. If you succeeds, you cause your enemy to injure itself with its own weapon, dealing damage equal to the weapon's base damage plus your Strength modifier, +4 for every size category larger than your foe you are. You may use this ability with natural and manufactured weapons alike.

Blinding Strike— As a standard action, make a melee attack. If it hits, it deals damage as normal, and the target must make a Fortitude save or be blinded for 1d4 rounds.

Brutal Leap— When you jump, you may move in any direction without penalty-- even straight up-- as though making a long jump, and you always count as having a running start. You may take your standard action for the turn at any point during the jump. In addition, when calculating falling damage, divide the distance fallen by one hundred.

Brutal Throw— When making a melee attack, you may throw your weapon with a range increment of 25 feet, and have it bounce back into your hand immediately thereafter. In all other respects, this functions as a melee attack— you add your Strength modifier to your attack roll, do not take penalties for shooting into a melee, and gain the benefits of feats like Power Attack, and so on. If making a full attack, you may make a ranged full attack as your weapon bounces from one target to another before returning to your hand. For the purpose of range increments, measure total distance from the Barbarian to his target, even if the weapon travels farther during its bouncing.

Endless Brawn— Your Strength and Constitution scores are considered twice their normal value when making Strength or Constitution checks. In addition, you may multiply your carrying capacity by 10. At 16th level, your scores count as five times their normal value, and you may carry 25 times as much.

Friend of the Wilds— Gain an animal companion as a (unmodified) Druid of your level.

Great Swing— As a standard action, you may designate a number of squares within the region you threaten equal to your Strength modifier. Your attack applies to all creatures in those squares. Make one attack roll and apply that roll as an attack against each defender. If you use a special attack (such as disarm, trip, or sunder), this special attack affects all targets. Walls and similar obstacles can block a great swing, although they can be targets of the swing-- if so, and you deal enough damage to destroy them, the swing continues.

Start with one square that you threatens. Each successive square chosen must be adjacent to the previous square and have line of effect from that square. Two squares separated by a wall, for instance, can't be chosen as adjacent squares for a great swing. You may skip creatures, attacking only those you wants to. For example, if there are three creatures in a row—an enemy, an ally, and another enemy—you can choose those three squares for the great swing but strike only the two enemies. If you drop one of your foes with a great swing, you may make a cleave attack normally. However, you may do so only once for every time you swings, even if you drop more than one foe.

Hideous Cut— As a standard action when wielding a slashing weapon, you may slice your way through any object with a hardness less than that of your slashing weapon. The object can have a maximum thickness of six inches per Barbarian level. If you take a full-round action, you may make one cut for every attack you could normally make in a full attack.

Massive Hits— After striking a foe with a melee weapon, you may initiate a bull rush attempt. You do not provoke an attack of opportunity, do not fall prone if you fail the Strength check, and you do not move, although you may determine the distance you push your foe as if you had. A foe you push more than 5 feet must make a Reflex save or fall prone.

Monster Juggler— As a standard action, make a melee touch attack against a foe. If you succeed, make a grapple attempt. If that succeeds, you may wield the grappled foe as a weapon on subsequent turns. To attack with a grappled foe, you must first win a grapple check against them, then make an attack roll at a -4 penalty. If successful, you inflict damage-- 2d6, +2d6 for every size category over medium, -1d6 for every size category under medium, to a minimum of 1 damage-- to both the target of the attack and the grappled target. Grappled foes are two-handed weapons. Grappled foes may attempt to escape from grapples normally. Alternately, you may throw the grappled foe, as a ranged weapon with a range increment of 10 feet.

Swift Scare— After dealing a target damage, you may make attempt to demoralize him as an immediate action.

Whirling Frenzy— As a standard action, make one melee attack against each adjacent foe.

Wild Soul— You may communicate with animals as though you shared a language.


Legendary Brute Powers

Aura of Perfect Terror— As a free action, you may activate a Frightful Presence effect, with a range of 50 feet. Targets who fail a Will save are Shaken, and those who fail by 5 or more are Frightened. Targets with half as many hit die as you or less are instead Frightened on a failed save and Panicked if they fail by 5 or more.

Cloak of Brutality— While raging, you gain spell resistance equal to 15+ your Barbarian level. Unlike other types of spell resistance, you can always allow any spell you chooses to bypass your resistance.

Concussive Strike— As a standard action, make a melee attack using a bludgeoning weapon. If you hit, in addition to normal damage you deal 1d4 points of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma damage (your choice).

Endless Storm of Steel— As a full-round action, you may make an attack at your highest base attack bonus. If it hits, you may make a second attack at a -2 penalty. If it hits, you may make a third attack at a -4 penalty. You may continue to make attacks at ever-increasing penalties until you either miss or the target is defeated. You may move between attacks, so long as your total movement does not exceed your normal movement between attacks. At 20th level, you may move up to your full speed between each attack.

Heir of Beowulf— During a rage, and when grappling your foe, you may attempt to literally disarm them. As a standard action, make opposed grapple checks. If you succeed, your foe must make a Fortitude save or have an appendage ripped off. On a successful save, they instead take 1d6 damage per Barbarian level. Creatures with 4 or more limbs of the same type reduce all penalties by half.
The loss of an arm causes a creature to be unable to cast spells with somatic components, wield two-handed weapons, shields, or any other activity which involves its off-hand. Its Strength modifier is reduced by half, it suffers a -4 penalty to any Strength or Dexterity-based checks, and a -2 penalty to all rolls due to pain and distraction.
The loss of a leg reduces a creature’s speed to one quarter normal. It suffers a -10 penalty to any check involving balance or movement (such as Climb or Tumble), a -4 penalty to Dexterity, and a -2 penalty to all rolls due to pain and distraction.
The lack of a head kills you. If a creature has multiple heads, such as an Ettin, it instead takes half of its current maximum health in damage, and suffers a -4 penalty to all checks for one minute, due to disorientation. In addition, it loses any special attacks or qualities that depended on that head (such as the Ettin's Superior Two-Weapon Fighting)

Hunt by Ear— You gain Blindsense out to 60 feet, and Blindsight out to 5 feet. In addition, you gain a bonus to Listen checks equal to your Barbarian level.

Hunt by Eye— You automatically recognize all illusions as such, and may see invisible creatures as though under the effects of a see invisibility spell. In addition, you gain a bonus to Spot checks equal to your Barbarian level.

Mobile Brute— As a swift action, you may move up to your speed.

Throw Anyone— After grappling a foe, you may attempt to throw him. As a standard action, make an opposed grapple check. If you succeed, you may throw your foe, treating him as a throwing weapon with a range increment of 100 feet, dealing 1d6 damage per 100 pounds of weight plus twice your Strength modifier. Both the thrown foe and his target take this damage. You must be able to lift the foe over your head to throw him.

Walls Must Die— As a standard action, make a melee attack against a magical barrier, such as a wall of force. If your attack roll exceeds the barrier’s spell level + caster level + primary casting stat, the barrier is dispelled.


Mythic Brute Powers

A Thousand Hours— In one hour, you can complete a task that would take a thousand men a day to complete. You may not attempt any task that would require a skill check, except for Craft and Profession checks with a DC of 10 or less. Acceptable tasks cannot involves combat, but constructing a fortification, building the Pyramids, diverting a river, and similar tasks are within your capability.

Break the Earth— As a standard action, you strike the ground hard enough to cause a small earthquake. This Brute Power functions as the spell earthquake, except that it is an 80ft burst centered on you, and has a duration of Instantaneous. Fissures appear, but do not slam closed at the end of the spell— instead, they are 50 feet deep, requiring a DC 20 Climb check to climb out of. The save DCs are as normal for an Earthquake spell, not a Brute Power.

Mythic Leap— As a full-round action, you may jump a number of miles equal to your Barbarian level. You move at a rate of one mile per round. In addition, you never take falling damage.

Smash Everything— As a standard action, make a melee attack against an inanimate object. This attack ignores hardness and damage reduction, and counts as a critical hit if you hit. All damage you deal to part of a large structure (such as a section of wall, which is part of a building) is also dealt to all connected pieces of the structure within ten feet per Barbarian level.

[Seerow]

I hope one of those Brute Powers is "Get really big" and another is "Get natural weapons".



Because I'm suddenly loving the thought that the Tarrasque is an ancient Barbarian who hit level 20 and lost control (though DC30 to end with all of your Will Save bonuses should be pretty easy. You have at minimum a +18, maybe he was cursed to always roll natural 1s on any attempt to reduce his rage)

[The_Final_Stand]

Immortality in combat strikes me as something to avoid. The drawback of Epic Rage is: Always be killing, even if there are friends nearby. To the sufficiently mentally broken, or a loner, this is less a drawback, more a feature of your new existence as a perpetual murder machine.

[Admiral Squish]

Yeah, fueled by slaughter... You could have a bag of rats on hand and just murder one every time your HP is low. With the cleave feat, you wouldn't even have to lose any attacks in a round.

[XionUnborn01]

Yeah, fueled by slaughter... You could have a bag of rats on hand and just murder one every time your HP is low. With the cleave feat, you wouldn't even have to lose any attacks in a round.

The fact that he put in 'an enemy' for Fueled by Slaughter says that you'd have to make a pretty good case for the rat to be an enemy.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Because I'm suddenly loving the thought that the Tarrasque is an ancient Barbarian who hit level 20 and lost control (though DC30 to end with all of your Will Save bonuses should be pretty easy. You have at minimum a +18, maybe he was cursed to always roll natural 1s on any attempt to reduce his rage)
Heh.


Immortality in combat strikes me as something to avoid. The drawback of Epic Rage is: Always be killing, even if there are friends nearby. To the sufficiently mentally broken, or a loner, this is less a drawback, more a feature of your new existence as a perpetual murder machine.
It's really not as bad as all that... sure, you're not taking lethal damage, but you get battered into unconsciousness, ending your rage, and then someone steps on you.

...although that's actually kind of underwhelming for a 20th level capstone. Hmm...


Yeah, fueled by slaughter... You could have a bag of rats on hand and just murder one every time your HP is low. With the cleave feat, you wouldn't even have to lose any attacks in a round.
Aaah, knew I was forgetting to copy a line somewhere...

[Averis Vol]

Awesome looking class, great job as always Grod. Looking forward to seeing the brute powers get put up.

As for the class itself, all I can see is that it shines hard in low levels due to being str/con sad and getting universally great saves via juggernaut spirit. This isn't really a problem, I just wanted to point out that there is a tone of meat for it in the low levels. At higher levels though, this guy is dangerous to his team, which is one of the reasons I really dislike frenzied berserker, but I guess with the insane saves for the time, it shouldn't be too big of a deal.

all in all, great job, and I look forward to using it soon.

[Composer99]

Dark invocations make a certain degree of sense for the warlock, who earns abilities by making strange pacts with eldritch forces.

But it seems a bit weird for a strength category of barbarian rage and associated powers.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Brute powers are up. As expected, they mostly have to do with killing and breaking things, but there should be enough utility stuff in there that you can have a few out-of-combat roles. (Scouting, scaring, and strengthing, for the most part). I also nixed the early save boost, which, on reflection, I don't think he really needed.

[ngilop]

AWESOME!!!

I can't say there is a whole lot that i dislike about this class and in honeslty the sole thing i can complain about is minor to be completely ignored.

I just dislike calling teh highest tier of brute powers ( or rage powers sicne you call them both) Dark. It just feels like its saying ' evil' to me even whne this is supposed to be an alignemnt neutral class.


I think calling them Dark is just a hold over from the way Warlock invocations are labeled.


other than that its awesome!

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Naming-wise, I agree with the others that "Dark" doesn't sound right for a category of barbarian powers. Might I suggest something like Brute/Hero/Paragon/Legend or something else suitably awesome-sounding? Also, Brute Powers are called "Rage Powers" in the post, don't know if that's intentional or something from an old draft.

EDIT: I see you fixed that while I was still writing, never mind then.

Power-wise, I like them. A few suggestions/issues:

1) Heir of Beowulf seems a bit weak for a Dark power; I'd put it at Greater, myself.

2) Speaking of Beowulf, I'd let Unstoppable allow him to act normally underwater, because Beowulf. :smallwink:

3) I think it wouldn't be too powerful to let Great Swing apply combat maneuvers, so you can knock back a bunch of people Sauron-style or the like, but it should still disallow other sorts of special attacks. (Also, it mentions "war hulk" in there, that should be changed.)

4) Swift Scare should probably allow you to use it as a swift or immediate action, so you can for instance smack someone trying to get past you with an AoO and then scare them away, but that's more of a flavor thing.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Alright, I'll steal the names from the Legend.

1) Heir of Beowulf seems a bit weak for a Dark power; I'd put it at Greater, myself.
I went back and forth on this one. On the one hand, it's a permanent debuff that can only be fixed by a 7th level spell, and can kill you... on the other hand, it requires some grappling first... which he's good at...


2) Speaking of Beowulf, I'd let Unstoppable allow him to act normally underwater, because Beowulf. :smallwink:
Yeah, alright.


3) I think it wouldn't be too powerful to let Great Swing apply combat maneuvers, so you can knock back a bunch of people Sauron-style or the like, but it should still disallow other sorts of special attacks. (Also, it mentions "war hulk" in there, that should be changed.)
Fair enough.


4) Swift Scare should probably allow you to use it as a swift or immediate action, so you can for instance smack someone trying to get past you with an AoO and then scare them away, but that's more of a flavor thing.
Yeah, sure, why not?

[PairO'Dice Lost]

I went back and forth on this one. On the one hand, it's a permanent debuff that can only be fixed by a 7th level spell, and can kill you... on the other hand, it requires some grappling first... which he's good at...

"Being dead" is also a permanent debuff that kills you, and that can be fixed by a 5th level spell. :smallwink: At 15th level, right before he would get Dark powers, he can expect to deal an average of ~140 damage with Dark Rage + Brawler + Endless Storm of Steel (~+25 attack and 16d8+40 damage at -0/-2/-4/-6 with 1 reroll, all before feats or items since barbarians will generally hit with the first two iteratives), which will drop the majority of near-even-CR monsters with average damage in one round and with slightly above-average rolls will drop the rest of them in the second round.

So it would only be "too strong" to be able to take those same two rounds to grapple someone and then rip their head off if that enemy has a very high AC but very low touch AC, grapple checks, and Fort saves, which doesn't come up all that often at 10th-15th level and comes up even less often at 15th+ when inflated monster HD continue giving high BAB and Fort saves while AC starts to taper off.

It's definitely up to you where you want to put it and you may have different experience with mid-high level play than I do, but personally, given the choice between "labors of Hercules", "make an earthquake", "jump a few miles," or "kill people slightly better than I can already do with normal attacks," I'm never going to pick the latter, whereas it's definitely a harder choice at Greater level to pick between illusion negation vs. fear effect vs. SoD and so on.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Fair enough.

[Seerow]

Cloak of Brutality brute power specifies Legend instead of Barbarian.


Also no tarrasque Barb. I am sad D:


Also I think I missed something how is the Barbarian getting 16d8 damage? Brawler is getting you up to 5d8 by level 20, so where's the other 11d8 coming from? The Powerful Build ability would boost that to 10d6. It seems like I'm missing something major here.

Edit: Wait is that just automatically rolling together all of the damage from 4 attacks at level 15?

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Also I think I missed something how is the Barbarian getting 16d8 damage? Brawler is getting you up to 5d8 by level 20, so where's the other 11d8 coming from? The Powerful Build ability would boost that to 10d6. It seems like I'm missing something major here.

Edit: Wait is that just automatically rolling together all of the damage from 4 attacks at level 15?

Yep, as I said that's the damage from attacks at -0/-2/-4/-6, roughly comparable to the first two iteratives at -0/-5 which barbarians generally hit with. Of the CR 14-16 monsters in the SRD, average damage still kills everything but the greater stone golem in two rounds with average damage even after subtracting their DR from each attack.

And again, that's before any items or feats that can get even a core barbarian to around the same damage per round by 15th level; give him the usual Power Attack + Leap Attack + Shocktrooper + +5 greatsword package and he's dealing 4d6+130 damage (average 144) with two attacks instead of four--and will do so more reliably than a core barbarian, since he can do things like use Massive Hit to knock his target back to ensure he can charge next round.

Point is, an at-will SoD that takes 2 rounds to set up when you can kill most things in 2-3 rounds anyway at ~15th level is competitive as a Legendary power but not as a Mythic one.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Also no tarrasque Barb. I am sad D:
Physical transformations didn't really seem to fit. Be easy enough to come up with a Bear Warrior-style PrC, though.

[Seerow]

Sure why not.


Behemoth Berserker (aka Barbarian to Tarrasque)

Becoming a Behemoth Berserker
Entry Requirements
Skills: Intimidate 8 ranks
Special: Heroic Rage, Powerful Build Brute Power


Behemoth Berserker
{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special | Brute Powers
1st|+1|+2|+2|+0| Unquenchable Rage, Beastly Aspect(Claws) | -
2nd|+2|+3|+3|+0| Expansive Rage | 1
3rd|+3|+3|+3|+1| Improved Grab | 1
4th|+4|+4|+4|+1| Beastly Aspect (Horn) | 2
5th|+5|+4|+4|+1| Augment Critical | 2
6th|+6|+5|+5|+2| - | 3
7th|+7|+5|+5|+2| Beastly Aspect (Tail) | 3
8th|+8|+6|+6|+2| Carapace | 3
9th|+9|+6|+6|+3| - | 4
10th|+10|+7|+7|+3| Beastly Aspect (Bite), Swallow Whole, Improved Carapace | 4[/table]

Hit Die: d12
Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level.)
Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str)

Unquenchable Rage(Ex): Your Behemoth Berserker levels stack with your Barbarian levels when determining what level of rage you may reach, as well as for determining the effects of any brute powers you may have. The Will Save DC to reduce or end your Rage increases by 1 for every level of Behemoth Berserker possessed.

Beastly Aspect(Ex): At 1st level, and every 3 levels thereafter, the Behemoth Berserker's physiology changes, morphing their bodies into a deadly weapon. Every time this class feature is gained, you gain the natural weapon specified on the table.


Claws: Your hands morph into two claws that deal 1d4 damage each
Horns: Two horns grow from your head, dealing 1d3 damage each (+2d6 damage when used on a charge)
Tail: You grow a tail, giving you a +5 bonus on balance checks and can be used as an attack for 1d6 damage.
Bite: Gain a bite attack that deals 1d8 damage.


Damage values listed are for a medium creature, this is increased by increased size as normal. For this purpose, Powerful Build counts as increased size.


Expansive Rage: Starting at 2nd level, when the Behemoth Berserker rages, he grows much larger. For each level of rage above Mortal, size category increases by 1. The Behemoth Berserker gains a +4 size bonus to Strength and Constitution, and a +2 size bonus to Natural Armor, for every size category gained this way.

For example, if a Medium Behemoth Berserker enters a Legendary Rage, he grows 2 size categories, giving him a space and reach of 15ft, +8 to strength and constitution, and +4 to natural armor (in addition to normal rage benefits).

Improved Grab: To use this ability, the Behemoth Berserker must hit a creature his size category or smaller with a claw or bite attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold.

Augment Critical: Your natural attacks crit on a 19-20, and have a x3 critical damage multiplier.

Carapace: At 7th level the Behemoth Berserker's body becomes encased in an exceptionally tough carapace. It gains DR equal to constitution modifier, even when not raging, and gains a bonus to natural armor equal to class level, resistance 30 to Fire and Cold.

Swallow Whole: If a Behemoth Berserker begins its turn with an enemy grappled in its mouth, it can attempt a new grapple check (as though attempting to pin the opponent). If it succeeds, it swallows its prey, and the opponent takes bite damage. Unless otherwise noted, the opponent can be up to one size category smaller than the Behemoth Berserker. A swallowed creature is considered to be grappled, while the Behemoth Berserker is not. A swallowed creature can try to cut its way free with any light slashing or piercing weapon (the amount of cutting damage required to get free is noted in the creature description), or it can just try to escape the grapple. The Armor Class of the interior of the behemoth berserker is 10 + ½ its natural armor bonus. If the swallowed creature escapes the grapple, success puts it back in the attacker’s mouth, where it may be bitten or swallowed again.

Improved Carapace: The Behemoth Berserker's Carapace hardens and becomes reflect. The Fire and Cold resistances become immunities. Additionally, the reflective carapace deflects all rays, lines, cones, and even magic missile spells. There is a 30% chance of reflecting any such effect back at the caster; otherwise, it is merely negated. Check for reflection before rolling to overcome spell resistance (if applicable)

[Mith]

I am imagining combining this with this fighter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=328263) homebrew.
And it is glorious

[Keeielo]

grod, do you happen to take requests?

[redwizard007]

I've seen campaigns where this would slide in seamlessly. Kudos. The scaling Rage effects are particularly well done.

However... Its just over the top. Extending Evasion to work on will/fort saves, giving a bonus to will saves, allowing an extra saving throw, ignoring movement inhibiting sells (and water?,) reducing conditions, AND delaying magical effects is just to much. Just man up and say you are immune to all hostile spells and abilities.

Any two of those abilities would probably be OK. Remember, spells are supposed to be the Achilles heel of a barbarian. Its a balance issue.

Having said that, you made some seriously awesome innovations here. I will be shamelessly incorporating much of your great work into a brew of my own.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Remember, spells are supposed to be the Achilles heel of a barbarian. Its a balance issue.

Not at all true, any more than it's true for fighters or rogues or any other noncaster class. D&D does not have a rock-paper-scissors setup where fighters crush rogues, rogues gank wizards, and wizards incinerate fighters; every class needs to be able to meet the challenges they face in an adventure more or less evenly, which includes spellcasting/SLA-using monsters, magical traps, and similar.

In fact, when barbarians first joined the game back in AD&D, they were specifically distrustful of mages, Conan-style, and gained benefits specifically against magic, magic items, and magic-using creatures, so even "everyone should be able to deal with magic, but barbarians should be slightly less effective at it" fails as a justification for the D&D barbarian in particular. The barbarian being able to tank pretty much anything is fine in my book.


The ability I do have a problem with is Fueled by Slaughter, for thematic reasons. If a 20th-level barbarian is up against a CR 20 BBEG and 16 CR 10 minions, the barbarian is encouraged to primarily go after the BBEG and then pick off the minions one by one as he takes damage so he can recover and jump into the fray against the BBEG again; the same holds for any encounter involving a diverse group of creatures with some more powerful than others. This encourages a more careful, tactical fighting style against large numbers of enemies, precisely the opposite of the presumed intention of the ability (to encourage him to run right through a bunch of mooks slaughtering them all until he gets to the BBEG).

I'd suggest that FbS instead restore some smaller fixed amount of HP per kill--somewhere around 2-4 times the barbarian's HD, so killing ~6 minions gets you back up to full--with any excess being gained as temporary HP (to a maximum equal to your normal maximum HP), so in the above scenario the barbarian is encouraged to mow down the mooks to build up a big temporary HP pool before going after the BBEG.

[Grod_The_Giant]

grod, do you happen to take requests?
Depends on the request, and how busy I am. What are you asking for?


However... Its just over the top. Extending Evasion to work on will/fort saves, giving a bonus to will saves, allowing an extra saving throw, ignoring movement inhibiting sells (and water?,) reducing conditions, AND delaying magical effects is just to much. Just man up and say you are immune to all hostile spells and abilities.
Being tanky is the Barbarian's hat. In a game where a single bad throw can kill you? I don't feel like any of this is too much, and it's certainly not immunity (to most things). And I disagree that Barbarians should have a special weakness to magic-- if anything, as Dice mentions, they should be the best mage-killers.

Thanks for the complements, though.


The ability I do have a problem with is Fueled by Slaughter, for thematic reasons. If a 20th-level barbarian is up against a CR 20 BBEG and 16 CR 10 minions, the barbarian is encouraged to primarily go after the BBEG and then pick off the minions one by one as he takes damage so he can recover and jump into the fray against the BBEG again; the same holds for any encounter involving a diverse group of creatures with some more powerful than others. This encourages a more careful, tactical fighting style against large numbers of enemies, precisely the opposite of the presumed intention of the ability (to encourage him to run right through a bunch of mooks slaughtering them all until he gets to the BBEG).

I'd suggest that FbS instead restore some smaller fixed amount of HP per kill--somewhere around 2-4 times the barbarian's HD, so killing ~6 minions gets you back up to full--with any excess being gained as temporary HP (to a maximum equal to your normal maximum HP), so in the above scenario the barbarian is encouraged to mow down the mooks to build up a big temporary HP pool before going after the BBEG.
Hmm... I'd put the HD limit in to prevent "bag of rats" shenanigans. But I like your approach better, I think.

[Veklim]

Stop me if I'm wrong here, love the class a lot, but...
There is no way to stop your rage once you get to legendary rage, and endless rage removes the time limit, so a 20th level barbarian who uses at least legendary rage will just kill everything until he's put down...

Oh, scratch that, missed a paragraph on the Rage ability when I read it...Heh.:smalleek:

[Keeielo]

thanks for replying, I really like all your homebrew stuff. And what I'm asking for, if you can, is something similar to an arcane warrior class.
I don't really have any really detailed abilities for it to have. I've just always loved the fluff behind the archetype but I haven't been able to find anything that is powerful enough I guess. I'm sorry if I'm not being clear lol it's like my second post

[Grod_The_Giant]

I don't really have any really detailed abilities for it to have. I've just always loved the fluff behind the archetype but I haven't been able to find anything that is powerful enough I guess. I'm sorry if I'm not being clear lol it's like my second post
First off, you can look at the Duskblade (PHB 2) and Psychic Warrior (XPH and the SRD) classes, both of which are gish-in-a-cans. The former focuses on channeling power through his weapon, the latter more on self-buffing. A Warlock (CArC) with the Eldrich Claws feat can do a decent job, and Swordsage (ToB) can work for certain "mage-warrior" purposes. Then there are the builds-- Sorcerer 4/Paladin 2/Spellsword 1/Abjurant Champion 5/Sacred Exorcist 8 is a classic, for example.

If you're looking at my work in particular, I'd point you to my revised Hexblade (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?275279-Hexblade-Rev-404-ERROR), Shaper (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?321527-The-Shaper-%28Fixed-list-Caster-Project%29-3-5-PEACH&p=16668927#post16668927)(a transmutation-focused mage-warrior), and Warden (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?317830-The-Warden-Buffs-buffs-buff!-%28Fixed-list-Caster-Project%29-3-5-PEACH&p=16543702#post16543702) (buffs, buffs, buffs).

Oh, and welcome to the Playground.

[Keeielo]

haha thanks I'm glad to be here! thanks for the links. you see I've never actually played dnd or any role playing game before but I've been kinda using the ideas behind a lot of the classes to come up with my own personal little stories. kinda like fanfiction lol. I only have one question tho would the hex blade or psychic warrior be able to go toe to toe with your barbarian class?

[Grod_The_Giant]

haha thanks I'm glad to be here! thanks for the links. you see I've never actually played dnd or any role playing game before but I've been kinda using the ideas behind a lot of the classes to come up with my own personal little stories. kinda like fanfiction lol. I only have one question tho would the hex blade or psychic warrior be able to go toe to toe with your barbarian class?
Mechanically? Depends a lot on the builds, if the hexblade can land his curse, and if the psychic warrior has time to buff. Overall, I'd say the barbarian has an edge in raw face-smashiness, but the other two have greater flexibility.

[Wardog]

The fact that he put in 'an enemy' for Fueled by Slaughter says that you'd have to make a pretty good case for the rat to be an enemy.

If someone carried me and my friends around in a bag, so they could murder us at will for a buff, then I'm pretty sure I'd consider him an enemy ;)

[Eldan]

Hm. I quite like it after a first read htrough and I'll probably post more critique later. Just one thing I saw:

The intention is probably clear, but "Shrug it off" should probably include a line along the lines of "The barbarian can do this even if the condition in question would not normally allow him to take actions". Otherwise, confused, cowering and a few others would technically prevent the barbarian from shrugging it off.