The Bardbarian

[Mechaviking]

I´m going to be playing a new campaign in a few weeks and my plan was to play a Barbarian/Bard.

I require outside thought processes on a couple of things

The Original Idea was to play half elf cause stats, skills and overall useful abilities. But variant human with the feat is quite tantalizing.

So is GWM better than +1 wisdom(Variant human wisdom 9; Helf wisdom 10) and +1 Charisma(Variant human charisma 13; Helf Charisma 14)?

Also this idea can pretty much multiclass into whatever the heck it wants after barbarian 5, bard/warlock/paladin/fighter, but the core idea is Barbarian 5/Lore bard 3(at least).

Anybody got some input for me?

[Talamare]

Not much gained from going Bard, imo

Bardbarians were awesome in 4e, but there really isn't any obvious synergy here.

[Mechaviking]

Not much gained from going Bard, imo

Bardbarians were awesome in 4e, but there really isn't any obvious synergy here.

Double Athletics proficiency, extra skill, increased initiative, rituals for out of combat toolboxing, Reaction use of inspire to reduce attack rolls, and once you hit lvl 6 Bard(Level 11) Armor of agathys for a bunch of extra hp´s.

Did this sway your opinion?

Although I do suppose paladin is a lot easier to stat up :þ

[rtrnofdmax]

I loved my 4E barbarian so I played with this idea too. I ended up planning for melee support with Wolf Totem and 5 levels of valor bard.

I think you have to go at least 5 levels of bard but the college matters less. If you like the support idea, Mastermind rogue 3 adds more.

[bid]

Anybody got some input for me?
The grappler's manual: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?468737-The-Grappler-s-Manual-(2-0)-Grappling-in-5th-Edition

[Talamare]

Double Athletics proficiency, extra skill, increased initiative, rituals for out of combat toolboxing, Reaction use of inspire to reduce attack rolls, and once you hit lvl 6 Bard(Level 11) Armor of agathys for a bunch of extra hp´s.

Did this sway your opinion?

Although I do suppose paladin is a lot easier to stat up :þ

Barbarians could have 0 AC, and still be good tanks with their High HP and Damage Reduction.
You could use Inspire to reduce damage rolls as well, but the way damage reduction works is that flat bonuses are applied first THEN % bonuses. So a lot of anti synergy

The out of combat fluffy benefits are solid I suppose

Finally, if I wanted to AoAbarian, I would just go Warlock.
6 levels would grant me 2 Lv3 AoAs every short rest, 7 would grant me Lv4 AoA
While also getting some really interesting and fun fluffy benefits

Then again, Bard and Warlock have the same restrictions

[PoeticDwarf]

Double Athletics proficiency, extra skill, increased initiative, rituals for out of combat toolboxing, Reaction use of inspire to reduce attack rolls, and once you hit lvl 6 Bard(Level 11) Armor of agathys for a bunch of extra hp´s.

Did this sway your opinion?

Although I do suppose paladin is a lot easier to stat up :þ

It is a cool combination, but because rage and spells and that sorta stuff you are better if you just go 6 valor / 2 paladin (also extra attack and better spells and smites, even level 4 slost). It can work, but going fighter or paladin is just... better

[PeteNutButter]

Double Athletics proficiency, extra skill, increased initiative, rituals for out of combat toolboxing, Reaction use of inspire to reduce attack rolls, and once you hit lvl 6 Bard(Level 11) Armor of agathys for a bunch of extra hp´s.
Did this sway your opinion?
Although I do suppose paladin is a lot easier to stat up :þ

If you go with your human build with a 13 cha, then you can only use your cutting words, or any bard inspiration ONCE per long rest. That's pretty subpar for a 3 class lvls deep ability to react and take 3.5 from one attack once a day. Compare that to just having a bit more AC.. or better yet having the shield spell.

One lvl of warlock and one lvl of rogue will grant you the other abilities and save you 4 lvls of some very poor synergy. Figure out what you want out of the build, and get it the best way possible.

On the other hand if you want to be a bardbarian by flavor, try just going valor or swords college bard with one or two lvls of barbarian. The high lvl pay off is probably better if you pick up some cheesy paladin or ranger spells with your lore college, but we are talking lvl 14+ which by is about when those same classes can cast those spells on their own if they are single classed. Meanwhile they won't have an issue of whether or not to rage or cast spells.

[Mechaviking]

Thanks for the input, I saw a pretty cool paladin/sorcerer thingie that looked pretty solid, it also allows me to rock a big metal stick and be a human, which is something I do not do a lot :D