Eye of Gruumsh Build

[Trask]

Hey Giantitp, this is my first post here. I am a semi experienced D&D player who plays 3.5e with my friends and for a new adventure coming up I want to make an eye of gruumsh themed barbarian.
I know that the prc isn't the best for optimization but I really want to play as one for rp reasons and I want to make the class as strong as I can without resorting to stuff like water Orc dragonborn/spiked chain.
So far I'm a desert Orc barbarian with rolled stats of 17 str, 13 dex, 14 con, 11 wis, 8 char, and 3 int (i know it's bad)
I have a greatsword as of now and I want to make the character a kind of charger/tank barbarian. I'm not excessively good at character building and id appreciate any help
Thanks!

[Grod_The_Giant]

It's not a terrible PrC. A straight Barbarian entry, with maybe a dip in Fighter for feats, should work just fine. Your basic charger combo is:

Power Attack
Leap Attack (Complete Adventurer; double the return from Power Attack if you jump while charging)
Shock Trooper (Complete Warrior; it has a few options but the big one is Heedless Charge, letting you change the penalty from Power Attack from attack roll to AC)
Spirit Lion Totem Barbarian 1 (Complete Champion; an ACF that trades Fast Movement for Pounce, letting you make a full attack at the end of a charge)

You wind up able to power attack for your full BAB at the end of a charge, dealing +3 damage/level on every attack you make. You'll often stack on things like Whirling Frenzy (Unearthed Arcana; alters Rage bonuses slightly to grant a second attack) and Frenzied Berserker (one ability increases the power attack multiplier still more) to pump up the damage, but that's all gravy on the cake.

You also might want some Intimidate stuff.

Intimidating Rage (Player's Handbook 2) lets you intimidate a target during a rage as a free action
Never Outnumbered (Complete Scoundrel) lets you intimidating multiple targets at once. (It's also a skill trick, so it doesn't take a feat slot)
Imperious Command (Drow of the Underdark) makes people cower for a round when intimidated.


The build that jumps out at me is to combine Eye of Gruumish with Orc Warlord (Races of Faerun and online (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20030301a)) to get, just, the orciest Orc. Something like Barbarian 5/Orc Warlord 2-3/Eye of Gruumish 10 would be neat, giving you your own little orc horde pumped up by Inspire Courage and Command the Horde.

Also, welcome to the Playground!

[Trask]

Thanks! I appreciate the welcome and the reply :smallsmile:

That build does look quite fun, amassing a small army of Orcs does sound pretty awesome and fitting with an eye of Gruumsh. One more question, how soon would you get the pre-reqs for the Eye? My DM is letting me skip the proficiency and just get the weapon focus. Should I just go for weapon focus immediately with a flaw feat to get it out of the way?

Also AWESOME suggestion with the Orc Warlord, it totally fits into what im trying to rp, i totally forgot about it.

[Grod_The_Giant]

That build does look quite fun, amassing a small army of Orcs does sound pretty awesome and fitting with an eye of Gruumsh. One more question, how soon would you get the pre-reqs for the Eye? My DM is letting me skip the proficiency and just get the weapon focus. Should I just go for weapon focus immediately with a flaw feat to get it out of the way?
Not a bad idea. It's about your lowest priority, since you're probably not going to want to use a double weapon with the whole power attack charger schtick. (You need a two-handed weapon for the best multiplier), but it's also a level 1 feat on a build that requires a lot of higher-level feats. I'd go... hmm. damnit, that build is illegal, isn't it. Leadership requires 6th level. Hmm...

Barbarian 4/Fighter 2/Eye 3/Warlord 3/whatever 8 (War Chanter? You probably qualify with Orc Warlord's Inspire Courage ability, but you'd need to pick up Combat Expertise somehow without the Int requirement. The only thing I can think of is Passive Way Monk, which is also about the most fluff-mismatched option you could possibly come up with, even if it would technically work-- you'd just have to change alignment for, like, a day.)
1- Power Attack
1F- Wep Focus
3- Extra Rage
5b- Imp Bull Rush
6- Leadership
6B- Shock Trooper
9- Might Makes Right
12- Leap Attack