Artorias the barbarian needs to improve (D&D 3.5, Barbarian)

[NapazTrix]

Legandus Vailus, the Artorias Wannabe

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/504050625693249536/FkxmCcUl.jpeg

Stat block:

Human. Barbarian3 | Fighter1. STR 19, DEX 12, CON 16, INT 8, WIS 10, CHA 8.
Feats:

Human: Weapon Focus - GreatSword
Flaw: Improved Toughness (+1hp/HD)
Lv1: Extra Rage (+2 rages per day)
Fighter1: Monkey Grip (Wield Bigger weapons with only -2atk)
Lv3: Mounted Combat (Use ride for ac for 1 attack)

Flaw: Shaky (-2 ranged attack rolls)

Current Weapon: Greatsword (Getting Large one soon)
Current Armour: Chainmail
Magic Gear: Healing Belt
Gold: 1408


Open Books:

Player's Handbook 1, Dungeon Master's Guide, Unearthed Arcana, Magic Item Compendium and all the "Complete" books.


Ok, so for this character he is mechanically meant to be a glass cannon, going for the Souls theme of lightning quick bosses that exuberate damage and danger. The character himself is the eldest son of a warrior family and is currently travelling with his younger sister Lycia and their newly resurrected Human Warrior Skeleton Sister Lydia who died recently due to a accident on the hunt.

His aim is to protect his sisters from all who threaten them, sometimes leading to him charging into enemies to get them out of the battle. Currently searching for a Dire wolf to tame to aid them (Sif) who he will outfit with a collar of intellect and large greatsword.

Basic idea of Wolf: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/FE6G47uNYDQ/maxresdefault.jpg

I am looking for suggestions on Magic Items / Feats / Classes to improve Legandus, his ac is pretty low at 16 but I mostly want him to deal several attacks, high damage and have a lot of maneuverability. However I will take any other advice you guys can throw at me.

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: We are allowed to feat swap, so if I want to change my feats for something better I can.
#2: I took Whirling Frenzy as my rage for the additional attack.

[eggynack]

You should definitely ditch monkey grip, because it's very bad, and you should probably ditch weapon focus, because it's normal bad. Mounted combat isn't all that good either, but I assume you have some underlying need to be mounted for some reason, and improved toughness could be ditched as well. For new feats, power attack is always quite good, and it fits in well with this sorta high damage plan. If possible, you're also going to want to use spirit lion totem from complete champion for pounce, and then pick up improved bull rush and eventually shock trooper to deal massive damage. As a replacement for monkey grip, you'll eventually want strongarm bracers from the magic item compendium. All of that's a good start at least.

[NapazTrix]

You should definitely ditch monkey grip, because it's very bad, and you should probably ditch weapon focus, because it's normal bad. Mounted combat isn't all that good either, but I assume you have some underlying need to be mounted for some reason

For now I don't have a lot of gold, and the character actually uses quite a large weapon so I want to stick to that theme for now. I will swap when I eventually have the gold for the bracers.
I wanted focus as I wanted to consistently be able to hit things, my rolls so far have been abysmal.
Mounted combat will be for the wolf as I will be riding it when I can for the maneuverability+Full attack, so if it is targeted I want to be able to protect it.


For new feats, power attack is always quite good, and it fits in well with this sorta high damage plan. If possible, you're also going to want to use spirit lion totem from complete champion for pounce, and then pick up improved bull rush and eventually shock trooper to deal massive damage. As a replacement for monkey grip, you'll eventually want strongarm bracers from the magic item compendium. All of that's a good start at least.

Power Attack is again going against my ability to actually hit things and I don't see the benefit to bull rushing since it would just be pushing. Heedless Charge would only really be the benefit from Shock Trooper and it doesn't exactly fit with his fighting style.
Where is the huge damage from shock trooper coming from?
Spirit Lion for the pounce (amazing)and the bracers sound good to me, thanks for those suggestions.

[Draconium]

Power Attack is again going against my ability to actually hit things and I don't see the benefit to bull rushing since it would just be pushing. Heedless Charge would only really be the benefit from Shock Trooper and it doesn't exactly fit with his fighting style.
Where is the huge damage from shock trooper coming from?
Spirit Lion for the pounce (amazing)and the bracers sound good to me, thanks for those suggestions.

Power Attack + Shock Trooper lets you change your PA penalty from your to-hit to your AC. If you PA with a two-handed weapon, you gain 2 points of damage for every 1 point of penalty you take. A common method it to combine this with the feat Leap Attack, which triples your PA damage if you're charging and two-handing and make a (fairly easy) Jump check. Power Attack + Leap Attack + Shock Trooper is the holy trifecta of charging or ubercharging. However, I don't believe Leap Attack is available to you (I can't remember where it's from, but I'm fairly sure it's not from any of the books you have listed), and while uberchargers are rather glass-cannon-y, I don't think that's what you were after.

[eggynack]

For now I don't have a lot of gold, and the character actually uses quite a large weapon so I want to stick to that theme for now. I will swap when I eventually have the gold for the bracers.

Power Attack is again going against my ability to actually hit things
These two pieces of information are acting against each other. Consider that a medium greatsword deals 2d6 damage, averaging out to 7, and a large one deals 3d6, averaging out to 10.5. That's a difference of only 3.5 damage for two points of attack. Meanwhile, power attack lets you trade off two points of accuracy for four points of damage, which is a strictly better trade. And, of course, it's a trade that has that strict superiority even if you lock in at that one use. You're also able to make greater or smaller trade depending on the situation. I'd advise just waiting for the ability to use large weapons until you can pick up the bracers, because, as this should prove, monkey grip is just really bad.


I wanted focus as I wanted to consistently be able to hit things, my rolls so far have been abysmal.
It's just not a sufficiently meaningful difference in comparison to most things you'd be able to do.


And I don't see the benefit to bull rushing since it would just be pushing. Heedless Charge would only really be the benefit from Shock Trooper and it doesn't exactly fit with his fighting style.
Where is the huge damage from shock trooper coming from?
The damage does, in fact, come from heedless charge. Combined with pounce, you're made able to push all of your AC into a high damage full attack on a charge, without losing any accuracy, maximizing your damage. Bull rush just gets you there, though it's not a bad combat maneuver. The ultimate impact means that you perfectly suit the idea of a glass cannon, instantly killing foes that you're able to reach.

[NapazTrix]

Ah, thank you both for explaining I understand it now. I think I was reading Shock Trooper wrong, that definitely sounds a lot better.
It fits the theme as well, since the Souls bosses do tend to leave themselves open to attack after they strike.


However, I don't believe Leap Attack is available to you (I can't remember where it's from, but I'm fairly sure it's not from any of the books you have listed).
It is in Complete Adventurer so it is fine to take.

I will have to wait till lv 6 until I do the feat swapping but for now I have this in my notes:


Get rid of: Weapon Focus, Improved Toughness. Monkey Grip, Mounted Combat
Get: Power Attack (-atk +dmg(*2 for 2handed)), Leap Attack (Jump 10feet for *2 power attack damage(*3 for 2handed)), Improved Bull Rush (No AoO when bull rush +4str), Shock Trooper (-ac +dam)

Take Lion totem (+ Pounce Feat etc) Complete Champion

Strongarm bracers (Can wield weapon size larger no penalty) 6000g