Deciding what to play next after trying out Barbarian

[Coidzor]

So after getting to 5th level with a Str-based Half-Orc Barbarian in our first campaign, one of the players wants to start up a side game a couple of times a month in addition to our weekly game. I'm thinking that I'd like to try something fairly different to how my Barbarian played, but I'm not quite sure as to what, exactly.

I was mostly doing sword and board with occasional grappling, since even with the shield bumping my AC up to 19 and raging I kept losing a lot of HP, possibly as a result of not knowing when best to Reckless Attack.

Maybe something Dex-based, to try out milking the God stat? We're running either Princes of the Apocalypse or Out of the Abyss, IIRC, though I doubt that matters that much beyond knowing that I'll either be fighting elemental types or going into the underdark at some point.

We're doing 4d6 best 3, and re-roll any scores that end up being less than 7, and we get to make and choose from three such arrays.

Array 1: 15, 15, 13, 11, 11, 9

Array 2: 18, 15, 14, 14, 11, 8

Array 3: 17, 16, 14, 12, 10, 10

Array 1: I could get a 17 and a 16 or two 16s for my high stats with the first one. All odds might actually make regular Human appealing for a combined +10 in modifiers. But probably not.

Array 2: A 20 and a 16 or a 19 and a 17 for high scores. Or an 18 and two 16s. Has the advantage on Array 3 of offering a 20 at 1st level, but also the disadvantage of having an 8.

Array 3: An 18 and 17 or 19 and 17 or two 18s and either a 16 or 17. Or, again, an 18 and two 16s. Has the advantage of offering double 18s from level 1 with the right race selection.

[Mara]

Elf Wizard. Just be like the exact opposite of your current character

[Rhaegar14]

It depends a lot. What do you like about your Barbarian, and what do you find frustrating about them?

[Kane0]

If your comfortable with being a frontliner try a paladin or ranger to see how it compares.

If your looking for a noncaster with a new approach try monk or rogue.

If you want a little bit of everything (good if you are last to pick in your group) try bard, druid or warlock.

If you would prefer to try your hand at the support caster scene then cleric or wizard.

Hard to tell without more to go on really.

[djreynolds]

The Bully

There is a build in the rogue guide, the Death Dealer's Handbook. I'm sure you've read it, but Mr EasyLee and Chubby Rain gave me a push. I did mine with a mountain dwarf.

I like the battle master/ assassin. But I make him battle master thief. And I dump the assassin thing and charisma and deception. It will feel like a dex based barbarian because you will want a 16 in strength, high dexterity, high con. I use leather armor and a shield with a rapier or short sword. Alert, mobile, and shield master. Feel free to go two-weapon but don't waste the feats or styles on them, just needed if your main hand misses. The high strength coupled with shield master is awesome. But strength and shield are better. Knock him down and next round sneak attack, but with battle master you can trip or push, options, options.

He also makes an excellent archer because you will take the archery style to go with you high dexterity. Mountain dwarf works well because of 2 bonuses to the big three, half-orc, goliath as well. Dump charisma

I'm a fan of medium armor master only if you can fit it in. Great thing is you start fighter, plenty of scouty skills, heavy armor til you max out dex or find magic plate. Your sneak attack will come from post shield master knock down. High dexterity to go along with the shield master evasion and initiative. 16 strength is easy to come by and you can always max that out if you have great rolls

Arcane trickster over thief is doable in the build if only for buffing spells and perhaps mirror image at 6th level (sweet), but I recommend magic initiate feat for cleric guidance and bless will help out with shield master and your shove and cure wounds.

Start fighter 2, grab rogue 2, fighter 5 and then rogue to six and the rest fighter. Playable from the get go because you proficiency score is so low that expertise doesn't shine yet. You don't need evasion with shield master and high dexterity. 14/6 at the end and if wanted you can go to 12 in fighter and grab two cleric or 11 in fighter and 3 ranger. But grab 6 rogue for uncanny dodge, a must, and 4 expertise. Plenty of bonus actions to choose from. Prone them, retreat, whatever.

[Coidzor]

Elf Wizard. Just be like the exact opposite of your current character

I was considering going with a High Elf just to snag GREEN FLAME BLADE! If it weren't for the fact that it synergizes horribly with Monk I'd probably go with a High Elf or Vuman Monk with Magic Initiate and talk about how this hand of mine's burning grip tells me to defeat people. :V

I'm a little bit hesitant about cracking open wizards in this edition after getting overwhelmed trying to just play low level wizards in 3.5, between spell selection and optimum spell placement it was... both overwhelming and underwhelming to me at the same time. Though I suppose cantrips can help with that a fair bit.


It depends a lot. What do you like about your Barbarian, and what do you find frustrating about them?

I really enjoy rolling with Advantage fairly consistently due to Reckless Attack. Probably a bit too much, which ties into what I've found frustrating.

I'm not quite sure whether I've just had bad luck with the enemies' attack rolls, but I get hit a lot, it seems, even when I'm wearing a shield and have AC 19 and not reckless attacking. I really want to take advantage of the Versatile property of my barbarian's magical battleaxe, but with how much damage I take even when I'm playing cautiously due to not knowing whether this is a fight where I should rage or not, I lose a big bucket of HP, I don't want to give up my shield and drop from 19 AC to 17 AC.

Which is good in its way, because that's damage being focused at me, I just wish that a bit less of it was getting through since I'm tied with the party Fighter for highest AC, though that's mostly because he doesn't have Plate armor yet, though he'll get it soon.

So maybe my problem is that I find it frustrating to decide when and what combats to Rage for, because it feels like I pick wrong very often, by either not raging immediately and taking over half my HP in damage in the first round or by raging and then finding I didn't need the rage because despite there being a lot of foes they were basically just minnows.

I've enjoyed being able to routinely grapple+shove-prone foes when the opportunity has arisen as well.


If your comfortable with being a frontliner try a paladin or ranger to see how it compares.

If your looking for a noncaster with a new approach try monk or rogue.

If you want a little bit of everything (good if you are last to pick in your group) try bard, druid or warlock.

If you would prefer to try your hand at the support caster scene then cleric or wizard.

Hard to tell without more to go on really.

That categorization of my options does help, thank you. And, yeah, I just started mulling things over last night since that's when it got brought up.

[Dizlag]

Go with a "pew pew" (shortbow arrows being fired) lightfoot halfling rogue. And since you want to do something different, make Strength your dump stat this time putting the 8 into it. =)

You'll start with a 20 Dex giving you an AC 16 with the starting leather armor. Toss your +1 Charisma to the 15 making Charisma a 16 to be a very respectable face character, if need be. Maybe take the expertise in one of the charisma skills too giving you a +7 to deception or persuasion. Select stealth as your other expertise skill for a +9 in Stealth right off the bat.

So, instead of being the larger than life, yelling barbarian out in front for all to see ... be the small package of silent death, dealing hurt from the shadows. It's all about "Shoot-Move-Hide" at level 2 when you get Cunning action, assuming you've got a buddy or some cover somewhere to hide.

Good luck!

D

[Ralanr]

Are you allowed to use Unearthed arcana? How long does it take to get to level 3 in your group?

I'm recommending swashbuckler rogue.

[Coidzor]

Go with a "pew pew" (shortbow arrows being fired) lightfoot halfling rogue. And since you want to do something different, make Strength your dump stat this time putting the 8 into it. =)

You'll start with a 20 Dex giving you an AC 16 with the starting leather armor. Toss your +1 Charisma to the 15 making Charisma a 16 to be a very respectable face character, if need be. Maybe take the expertise in one of the charisma skills too giving you a +7 to deception or persuasion. Select stealth as your other expertise skill for a +9 in Stealth right off the bat.

So, instead of being the larger than life, yelling barbarian out in front for all to see ... be the small package of silent death, dealing hurt from the shadows. It's all about "Shoot-Move-Hide" at level 2 when you get Cunning action, assuming you've got a buddy or some cover somewhere to hide.

Good luck!

D

That is a good idea, thank you. And between being hidden and having half-cover from my allies, that would more than counteract the difficulty with having to eat my enemies having half-cover from my attacks as well. Plus not being a target by and large would be a very different perspective...

And avoid the situation where 3 or 4 out of five party members want to be in melee at any given time like the game my Barbarian is in.


Are you allowed to use Unearthed arcana? How long does it take to get to level 3 in your group?

I'm recommending swashbuckler rogue.

I believe so. We took about 2-3 sessions to reach level 3, IIRC. Might have been 4.

[djreynolds]

Is an eldritch knight/ arcane trickster a viable build? Spells will come slowly, but you're still gonna get three attacks. Magical Halfling slinger or dagger thrower.

Though wasted class features with heavy armor and martial weapons, an elemental monk/tempest cleric could provide some excellent synergy and cool game play and flavor.

Tempest gets a nice push feature at 6th and lightning reaction damage right off the bat, along with the monks elemental damage. Could be cool. And you can do a bit of everything in combat so you're not stuck in a specific roll. Good spells, can use archery, high AC, healing, melee, scout, buffer, controller, and tank. I would think at least 6 levels in monk and the "push" class feature is 6th for tempest. I'd say 14 monk for the saves, but you may drop the campaign by then.

[Mara]

Warlock pact of the blade can be fun. You'll want to snag heavy armor so start variant human or dwarf to pick up medium armor then grab heavy armor feast at 4.

It's a way to put your toes into full casting while still having martial talent to fall back on and eldritch blast as an at will high damage cantrip (caps at four 1d10+5 force damage blasts)

Your melee damage will cap at two 2d6+10 damage attacks.

[Theodoxus]

I want a game where my favorite character design will shine (I've played it once, and the game was too railroady and had a time crunch that didn't allow me to really explore the options...)

Cleric of Knowledge 4/Arcane Trickster 16.

Expertise in Arcane, History, Perception and Stealth to start, add Thieve's Tools and whatever else you'd like later on.

You're a tomb raider; an ancient temple finder searching for artifacts and relics that others thought lost for the ages. A skill monkey's skill monkey using your spells to help the party. You can sit back and pew pew or sneak around plucking arrows or even stand with the melee guys. Ranged Legerdemain to keep you safe while cracking safes and tripping traps... You can play it as foolhardy or cautiously as you'd like - any personality quirks work really well and are easily explained.

I went half-elf, just for the extra skills, darkvision and decent stats (we play SPBI, so I put an 8 in CHA (I wasn't the party face), and boosted that to 10 :smallbiggrin: ) But if you're looking for the opposite of your barbi, a larger CHA score would be fun too.

FWIW, I swapped out this character for a barbarian, as it worked better for the campaign. I think going in the opposite direction might work for you.

[djreynolds]

I want a game where my favorite character design will shine (I've played it once, and the game was too railroady and had a time crunch that didn't allow me to really explore the options...)

Cleric of Knowledge 4/Arcane Trickster 16.

Expertise in Arcane, History, Perception and Stealth to start, add Thieve's Tools and whatever else you'd like later on.

You're a tomb raider; an ancient temple finder searching for artifacts and relics that others thought lost for the ages. A skill monkey's skill monkey using your spells to help the party. You can sit back and pew pew or sneak around plucking arrows or even stand with the melee guys. Ranged Legerdemain to keep you safe while cracking safes and tripping traps... You can play it as foolhardy or cautiously as you'd like - any personality quirks work really well and are easily explained.

I went half-elf, just for the extra skills, darkvision and decent stats (we play SPBI, so I put an 8 in CHA (I wasn't the party face), and boosted that to 10 :smallbiggrin: ) But if you're looking for the opposite of your barbi, a larger CHA score would be fun too.

FWIW, I swapped out this character for a barbarian, as it worked better for the campaign. I think going in the opposite direction might work for you.

I like this build, very cool and versatile.

Arcane trickster is overlooked because of the poor spell choices, I'm not a fan of enchantment.

But when you really look at the rogue archetypes, an arcane trickster doesn't lose any of the good stuff and has some good combat spells, mirror image is very good.

Awesome build.