What's a good lvling path for my Barb Half-Orc?

[Firia]

Hello! I've never played with Pathfinder before the game I'm in, so I don't have any of the books. I have played and GM'd 3.5 rather often, so I know the gist of what to expect from Pathfinder. Since I don't (yet) own a players book for Pathfinder, I can't look ahead for my character- also time. I know there's a website for much of the resources of the game, but I have little time to use it. A lot of my leveling choices are made on the spot during the sessions. So I could use a hand with looking ahead and making some choices.

During character creation, I make the character with flavor, then later, during the leveling process, I stick with mechanical advancement. So if you see something and go, "wow, why did she do ?" It's for character flavor reasons.

Something to consider;
- Games are 2x a month. Sessions are long, but infrequent.
- The GM is not bothering with XP. We level when he says so.
- The world is Magic Lite. What I have for M.items is likely to not change or advance very much.

My character, Graves, is a lvl5 Half-orc Barb (4)/ Ranger (1). Chaotic Neutral. Main focus is Barbarian. He specializes in 2H Greataxes.

[B]Stats
Str. 19 (+4) // 23 (+6 rage)
Dex. 14 (+2)
Con. 14 (+2) // 18 (+4 rage) - HP 57 (77 rage)
Int. 8 (-1)
Wis. 12 (+1)
Cha. 8 (-1)

AC 21 (feat, magic armor, breastplate)
Fort 8/ Ref 5 / Will 2 (mods with rage)


Attacks

Masterwork 2h Greataxe, +11hit, d12+9 (mods for fav enemy, rage)
Bite (Animal Fury), +5hit, 1d4+4 (rage incorporated)


Feats & Stuff

Weapon Focus (Greataxe) +1
Dodge +1ac
Fave Enemy (Humans) +2hit/damage (+other)
Tracking (flavor win)
Wild Empathy +0
Rages, 9 turns
Rage Power, No escape (chase fleeing foe)
Rage Power, Bite attack
Uncanny Dodge,
Power Attack (Just picked it up)
Fast Movement
Dark vision (half-orc)



Main focus of character:
Hunter/tracker of men. Bounty Hunter. Damage dealer. From an RP perspective, Graves believes we consume the life force of the living to absorb their powers. When we eat food, we consume their Life, granting it to us. When we eat the heart of a powerful foe, we take in some of what makes them strong unto us. The weak humans of the world have not discovered this ritual, and moreover would rather be ignorant of it.

Graves is an intimidating, hulking monster of a man- more beast than anyone living the civilized world. He loaths the city, and accepts rural towns often living in the woods. Often where others prefer him. He works with local guards to track wanted men when he needs money, and adventures when the challenges of local living prove to weak to sustain his increasing hunger for physical power.

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And there you have it! Graves notable skills include Intimidate, Stealth, Perception, climb, and survival. Any advice for future advancement would be grand. Leveling is SLOW, so please keep it reasonably near lvl5. Planning for lvl 7 is fine. Planning for lvl12 is a bit much. And looking at lvl15 is not necessary.

OH! And please include what abilities/feats do when suggesting them. Remember; no book (yet).

[Sacrieur]

Intimidating Prowess (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/intimidating-prowess-combat---final) is probably something you should pick up, since Cha is your dump stat. It adds your Str mod to your intimidate checks.

[avr]

If you can get feats from any book, then Cornugon Smash (www.archivesofnethys.com/FeatDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Cornugon%20Smash) followed by Hurtful (http://www.archivesofnethys.com/FeatDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Hurtful) would be good for this character. Sources on the links. Both before Intimidating Prowess if you get that at all IMO.

If not are you limited to the core rulebook, or are there some others allowed?

[Firia]

If not are you limited to the core rulebook, or are there some others allowed?

I THINK other pathfinder books are in use. But I really don't know. I'm sure I could put in a request, and as long as the book was present with the GM, it'd be okay. He's got a small stack of them.

EDIT- I'm certain I'm only allowed to choose from a Pathfinder book, though. Not websites.

[atemu1234]

I THINK other pathfinder books are in use. But I really don't know. I'm sure I could put in a request, and as long as the book was present with the GM, it'd be okay. He's got a small stack of them.

EDIT- I'm certain I'm only allowed to choose from a Pathfinder book, though. Not websites.

That's a crying shame, that is. Half the good of pathfinder is the PFSRD.

[avr]

Could you get the names of any of them? I can guess a couple - very likely he's got the Advanced Players Guide if he's got a small stack, for example - but without knowing what books are available it's going to be very difficult to know what to suggest.

[Firia]

Intimidating Prowess (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/intimidating-prowess-combat---final) is probably something you should pick up, since Cha is your dump stat. It adds your Str mod to your intimidate checks.

While I'm not against the character being more scary than he already is, would there be a beneficent to vastly boosting his Intimidate +4 or +6? Currently he has a total of a 10 between half orc bonuses, and a magic item (+1). In an RP situation, I can see it being very useful. But in a combat situation, I think I'd rather have the character hit things/people.

[Firia]

Could you get the names of any of them? I can guess a couple - very likely he's got the Advanced Players Guide if he's got a small stack, for example - but without knowing what books are available it's going to be very difficult to know what to suggest.

I think the Advanced Players book is in there, the monster manual-looking book, and I couldn't speculate on the rest. I forget if Pathfinder has a Dungeon Masters Guide, but if I'm not mistaken it's all in the players guide. I think there's at least 2 to 3 other books, and I won't know what they are for 1.5 weeks from now.

[Sacrieur]

While I'm not against the character being more scary than he already is, would there be a beneficent to vastly boosting his Intimidate +4 or +6? Currently he has a total of a 10 between half orc bonuses, and a magic item (+1). In an RP situation, I can see it being very useful. But in a combat situation, I think I'd rather have the character hit things/people.

Intimidate is perhaps most useful in combat. You can demoralize an enemy causing them to become shaken, which causes them to get a -2 on all attacks, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks. This is only a standard action so you can do it while drawing a weapon or repositioning yourself. It's notably useful because it can help aid the rest of your party.

I thought it would fit especially because you described your character as intimidating, and the extra bonus would go a long way towards insuring that it's actually the case.

[Firia]

Intimidate is perhaps most useful in combat. You can demoralize an enemy causing them to become shaken, which causes them to get a -2 on all attacks, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks. This is only a standard action so you can do it while drawing a weapon or repositioning yourself. It's notably useful because it can help aid the rest of your party.

I thought it would fit especially because you described your character as intimidating, and the extra bonus would go a long way towards insuring that it's actually the case.

Okay, that's good to know. :) I may HAVE to do that, and stay in flavor of the character. I don't suppose there's any way to work that in to a string of attacks, is there? :)

[avr]

OK. Assuming the APG, core book, nothing else.

Raging Vitality is a feat which stops you dying when you fall unconscious during a rage. Without it if you fall unconscious you stop raging, and the sudden loss of hp from your con losing its rage bonus tends to kill you. It gives your friends a chance to heal you.

Improved Overrun is a handy feat for knocking people down on its own, and it's a prereq for Charge Through which lets you charge someone and overrun an enemy between you and your target. This stops bodyguards keeping you away from soft, squishy wizards.

If you go the overrun path the Strength Surge rage power makes overrun more reliable, once/rage you add your barbarian level as a bonus.

Reckless Abandon is a rage power which lets you cancel out your attack penalty from Power Attack with an AC penalty for you. Risky but good; not as good or risky as 3.5's shock trooper, true.

Superstition is a rage power which gives you a bunch of bonuses against magic, but means you have to makes saves against your allies' spells too.

Intimidating Glare and Terrifying Howl are rage powers which make you scarier. The first lets you intimidate in combat as a move action, the second lets you spend a standard action to scare every enemy within 30'. TH has IG as a prereq, you have to get IG first.

You probably won't get all of these but hopefully these descriptions will be useful.

Edit: almost forgot, the feat Extra Rage Power is useful if you want several of these rage powers, or if you want to get them in relatively few levels.

[Sacrieur]

Okay, that's good to know. :) I may HAVE to do that, and stay in flavor of the character. I don't suppose there's any way to work that in to a string of attacks, is there? :)

It meshes well with Intimidating Glare (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/rage-powers/paizo---rage-powers/intimidating-glare-ex), but to get it to work with power attack requires Cornugon Smash, listed above, which probably won't be in one of the books your group has. It's unfortunate, really.

There may be some debate whether or not Intimidating Prowess is a good way to go for Barb, I guess it really depends on if you're going to base yourself around intimidate. Because you can get stuff like Dazzling Display and such with it. On the other hand there's plenty of other stuff you can do if you just want to smash stuff.

[Firia]

Intimidating Glare and Terrifying Howl sound pretty fun. I could see this being apt to the character, as well as combat effective.

Raging Vitality sounds almost necessary. I have had one close encounter with death at the door during a rage, and this could stave off the riskiness of that happening again. Instead, death will have to come normally! :)


Any suggestions for boosting damage? As mentioned, Barbarian is the preferred focus, but the character has access to Ranger as well. Current abilities that boost damage that come to mind are Fave Enemy (+2 hit/dam), and Power Attack (extra damage because 2H weapon). Without looking, I think weapon proficiency too, but I can't remember. There is something joyful in rolling vast amounts of damage. Perhaps some way to crit more often? I dunno. :)

[Arbane]

Perhaps some way to crit more often? I dunno. :)

Either a Keen weapon or the Improved Critical feat, but that'll take a lot more levels. Vital Strike doubles your weapon-dice, but a lot of folks here think it's a trap option.

If you go with the fearmongering route, a Cruel weapon would be a good investment - hit a shaken foe, make them sickened as well!

[Firia]

Either a Keen weapon or the Improved Critical feat, but that'll take a lot more levels. Vital Strike doubles your weapon-dice, but a lot of folks here think it's a trap option.

Can you go into why that's a trap? I'm not familiar with what Vital Strike does.

[Arbane]

Can you go into why that's a trap? I'm not familiar with what Vital Strike does.

Here's the text for Vital Strike (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/vital-strike-combat---final). I'll leave the explanation to those more opinionated than I.

[Bhaakon]

Can you go into why that's a trap? I'm not familiar with what Vital Strike does.

It doubles your weapon damage dice at the cost of all your iterative attacks, and because it's a standard action, it can't be combined with most other types of attacks that also require a standard action (like a charge).

The problem is that it doesn't multiply bonus damage from a high strength score, power attack, weapon enhancements, etc., which is where the lion's share of your damage output is going to come from by mid-levels. Higher level characters (and barbarians especially) also have options to move and still get off a full attack in a single round, which negates the value of Vital Strike entirely.

If you're running a game that's not likely to get past level 8 or so, go ahead and take it. It will let you bounce between mooks and get off attacks that are noticeably better than you would normally get. There are probably better ways to spend the feat, but it's still useful. Much past that and I'd only take it if I knew I could re-train it down the road.

[Firia]

So Vital Strike is worded strangely. Now that I read it here, I remember seeing it in the Players Handbook. It sounds like one attack among your other attacks can be a Vital Strike. But I could also be a a replacement for all attacks. I know that my gaming group also looked at it trying to parse its meaning as well. Is there some official errata that breaks it down? It's great hearing what people say, but a primary source would be ideal. :)

Assuming it is a single attack at the cost of any additional attacks that the character could do, I could see this being a bad feat, and would opt to not take it. But if it was an option to turn one of many attacks into a vital strike, then I could see it being really fantastic. Since it's considered a trap though, I'm not holding my breathe on the more beneficial side. :)

[Bhaakon]

It was clarified in a FAQ that an "attack action" is a type of standard action. You can't use Vital Strike as one attack in a full attack with iteratives or dual wielding, nor can you use it with other types of abilities that modify the action economy of attacking. If you use Vital Strike, that's the only attack you get that turn (barring some fancy rule maneuvering, like the Cornugon Smash/Hurtful combo mentioned above).

[Firia]

Thanks for the clearification. :) I sought out a FAQ on it, and looks like it adds up as truth. One attack and it's not even a very good one.