Fun barbarian build 3.5 dnd

[Brthibodeaux]

Preparing to start a new 3.5 D&D campaign, the dm has asked me to to play a barbarian and take the role of meat tank for party. I have no problem with that but I've never played a barbarian I'm looking for advice on playing one and variant builds for barbarians. I was hoping to find a way to run him unarmed just maybe using gauntlets or something kind of different than a typical barbarian. The party consist so far of rogue wizard sorcerer and cleric or paladin with the possibility of two other unknown pcs. Character open to Any 3-3.5 edition material for feats and Any armor/weapons. Any advice or input welcome. I'm not stuck on any race or any other specific detail

[Grod_The_Giant]

First, the classics:

Spirit Lion Totem (Complete Champion) for pounce at first level. Love it.
Wolf Totem (Unearthed Arcana) gets you Improved Trip at second level, which is nice.
Extra Rage (Complete Warrior) is a must at low levels.
Whirling Frenzy (Unearthed Arcana) lets you Flurry of Blows like a monk, essentially-- make an extra attack, with all attacks at a -2 penalty.


More specifically... Fist of the Forest (Complete Champion) is a pretty classic unarmed barbarian PrC-- three levels gets you Con to AC while unarmored, a feral trance that overlaps with rage, and enhanced unarmed damage. Another potential idea would be Frostrager (Frostburn). The downside is that the Frozen Rage prerequisite feat makes you vulnerable to fire when you rage; the upside is that you get extra AC and unarmed damage (including cold damage!) when raging, Rend, and at second level-- and this is a fun one-- One-Two Punch, which is like Flurry of Blows (make an extra attack when making unarmed attacks, all attacks take a -2) but does not specify full attacks. You could easily take both PrCs, as both require Power Attack and Improved Unarmed Strike.

[Ruethgar]

Forewarning on the aforementioned PrCs, the bonus unarmed damage is poorly worded and needs to be house rule or pretty much ignored if you have Superior Unarmed Strike.

However in that same line, we have the Choas monk that gives you 1d4-1 extra attacks at -2 hit for a flurry. Make it a Martial Choas Monk and you can skip irritating feat prerequisites like Int 13.

The Swordsage and Moon-Warded Ranger each get Wisdom to AC in Light Armor, but only the Ranger does so in no armor(required for the monk).

There is also the City Brawler Barbarian ACF, replacing Wolf Totem. It grants Improved Unarmed Strike and Two Weapon Fighting(Unarmed Only).

[Troacctid]

Champion of Gwynharwyf is probably the best if you want to play the tank and actually defend your allies. It lets you render your enemies shaken whenever you rage, giving them -2 to hit, which is effectively an AC bonus for your whole team, and if you hit an evil creature while raging, it stacks with Righteous Wrath to make them frightened so they actually flee in terror. You also get Shield Other, so you can pick whichever party member is the squishiest and make it so that half of any damage that would be dealt to them is dealt to you instead. To improve your own tankiness, you get energy resistance, improved damage reduction, and Cha to saves. You also get a small selection of buffs and healing spells that can help you play the backup Cleric in a pinch.

It's one of the best options for Barbarians in general, and it's even better than usual if you're specifically trying to be a meat shield.

[mastermisha1]

Bear warrior can work well if you are going unarmed.

[Brthibodeaux]

Bear warrior does sound fun to play. Any specific suggestions for building a barbarian through first 7 levels to get bear warrior prc. Building the character to maximize damage have some scope of survivability and specializes in gauntlets as primary weapon

[Grod_The_Giant]

There's nothing really weird to the Bear Warrior-- two of the prerequisites you'll get automatically, and the third nearly so. I'd say...

Dragonborn Water Orc for a race: +4 Str, +4 Con, -2 to mental stats, a swim speed and Draconic goodies. That'll get you survivability out the wazoo, and help make up for not two-handing a weapon.
You might as well grab TWF, as well as the aforementioned Whirling Frenzy and Spirit Lion Totem ACFs. You'll want lots of attacks.
Trapkiller (Dungeonscape) will give you some utility as a trapfinder; Streetfighter (Cityscape Web) lets you trade DR for an expanded critical range when charging that stacks with other things.
You could go the Leap Attack/Shock Trooper route, though the return won't quite be so high.
If you have the stats for it, Imperious Command (Drow of the Underdark) is great-- a successful demoralize check makes a foe cower. Add on Intimidating Rage (PHB 2) and/or the Never Outnumbered skill trick (Complete Scoundrel) for added fun.
I like Brutal Strike (PHB 2), which is basically free Sickening on your attacks. It requires a blunt weapon, but your bear-bites will do the trick.

[Aleolus]

Bear warrior does sound fun to play. Any specific suggestions for building a barbarian through first 7 levels to get bear warrior prc. Building the character to maximize damage have some scope of survivability and specializes in gauntlets as primary weapon

I think typical suggestion for Bear Warrior entry is Barb 5, Fighter 2. Most also recommend not taking BW past level 5, due to diminishing returns

[Apricot]

The Bear Warrior option is pretty great, but I'm just going to toss out two other class options just in case they come in handy sometime down the line.

1. Frenzied Berserker
Deals sickening amounts of damage in his version of rage, and can maul large armies of mooks without even having to try. The weakness: he can't stop killing things, and even just taking damage can make him go crazy. If you run one, make sure he's got a great Will save and that your teammates don't mind rolling up a full set of new characters.

2. Runescarred Berserker
Basically, you get spells and full BAB progression. You downgrade your hit dice and lose out on the pathetic Berserker20 capstone, but honestly that doesn't matter much. It's not a full spell list, but you get notable access to Cure spells, Protection spells, stat buffs, Haste, Death Ward, Invisibility, and with nine levels put into the class, Antimagic Field. Not bad.

[DrMartin]

Dragon Magazine 349 has the city brawler alternate class feature: you don't get martial weapon, medium armor or shield proficiency, but you gain improved unarmed strike and get the benefits of two weapon fighting when fighting unarmed. the two wpn fighting improved at level 6 and 11th to improved and greater twp respectively.

You also only suffer a -2 on to hit while using improvised weapon, instead of -4