goliath barbarian

[kwilly69]

Hi I am going to make a goliath barbarian
with the alternate goliath levels

I was wonder what would be better as the rage will make him large
and what feats to use

I was thinking Guisarme with trip

or 2 weapon fighting ax/hammer

or the standby great sword

im interested mostly in damage but thought trip/reach could have use

and was thinking bear for prestige

[kwilly69]

was also thinking about hurling rocks and flinging foes

[Jack_McSnatch]

Take monkey grip. Wield a size huge weapon. Or even gargantuan if you enlarge

[OldTrees1]

So you are thinking about a Goliath Golaith_Barbarian/Bear_Warrior with a focus on thrown rocks & allies. That sounds like it would work well (especially with the reach from Mountain Rage complementing the Bear Form).

What are some of the other characters in the group? This will help calibrate our suggestions so that you do not end up breaking the game or being underpowered.

Hulking Hurler is a prestige class from Complete Warrior(same as Bear Warrior) that is adapted to throwing rocks. It does require you to be Large sized but Goliath Barbarian's Mountain Rage can take care of that. It also might do a better job at flinging rocks/allies than the rock hurling + fling ally feats. Although a word of warning: Hulking Hurler can easily be optimized excessively to throw rocks that are unbalanced for you to be throwing (so talk with your DM to set a reasonable limit).

For trip/reach you would need to plan on how you are going to get the Improved Trip feat whether that be via 13 Int for Combat Expertise or with the Wolf Totem babarian from Unearthed Arcana. In addition I recommend the Combat Reflexes(Player's Handbook) and Knockback(Races of Stone) feats because they work well with trip/reach.

[Starkeeper]

Take monkey grip. Wield a size huge weapon. Or even gargantuan if you enlarge

Monkey Grip is bad and easily replaced with the Strongarm Bracer for a mere 6k, which is strictly superior since you don't take penalties for using an oversized weapon.

Goliaths are also not legal targets for Enlarge Person, assuming that's what you're mentioning. They're not Humanoids but Monstrous Humanoids.

[Inevitability]

If you say 'bear' do you mean Bear Warrior (Complete Warrior)? Because that's a pretty good prestige class.

Try to get your hands on a Mouthpick weapon once you enter. What's better than being a raging bear? Being a raging bear who's wielding a greataxe between his teeth!

[HalfQuart]

I don't know if I would recommend it, exactly, but you could take the War Hulk PrC from the Miniature's Handbook -- you wouldn't qualify for it when you are Medium sized, but when you rage and get Large the PrC would kick in and make you crazy strong and really dumb. "Hulk smash!" Some DMs don't like it when you take a PrC that you only sometimes qualify for, but I think it is usually acceptable and in this case really funny.

Tripping is good if you often fight lots of smaller stuff -- in the campaign I play in the DM definitely favors single large monsters rather than a bunch of small ones, so I found my semi-optimized tripper not super useful. YMMV. Usually trippers are considered pretty strong as battlefield control is quite useful.

Two-Weapon fighting is probably not optimal -- you probably won't have the Dex for more advanced feats, and without additional damage like Sneak Attack you'll just do better damage with a Two-Handed weapon. Depending on the level you're playing at, and the rest of the party, you might want to consider a bludgeoning weapon (like Heavy Flail) if you can get someone to cast (Greater) Mighty Wallop on you -- that can really crank up your damage.

[kwilly69]

Thank you all , not sure group yet we are starting out, I was building barbarian for son he is 11,
wanted something fairly easy, fun, and didn't get boring to repetitiveness ,

wizards too much work fore new 11 year old as are most casters
and didn't want him to get bored

I myself am gonna be a dragonwrought kobold cleric (pelor)
or an animorphic bat druid

[Jack_McSnatch]

Monkey Grip is bad and easily replaced with the Strongarm Bracer for a mere 6k, which is strictly superior since you don't take penalties for using an oversized weapon.

Goliaths are also not legal targets for Enlarge Person, assuming that's what you're mentioning. They're not Humanoids but Monstrous Humanoids.

I didn't know there was a magic item that did that... Does it stack with monkey grip? Cause I'll take a -2 if I can swing around a gargantuan or larger greatsword. And no they can't benefit from enlarge person, but I don't think the psychic power expansion specifies a creature type. I will double check that though.

[kwilly69]

bear warrior prestige class i was looking at but how do unarmed attackes? work against creatures that can only be hit by magic
also DM is allowing LVL1 races with buyoffs

also if you have a another fun Prestige class to slap on suggestion welcom
I also looked at hulking hurler, be nice to fling foes across the forest :)

[OldTrees1]

bear warrior prestige class i was looking at but how do unarmed attackes? work against creatures that can only be hit by magic
also DM is allowing LVL1 races with buyoffs

also if you have a another fun Prestige class to slap on suggestion welcom
I also looked at hulking hurler, be nice to fling foes across the forest :)

The Amulet of Mighty Fists(DMG) +1(6,000gp) thru +5(150,000gp) makes all your unarmed and natural attacks magical.

[kwilly69]

yea think my son could have fun throwing things and changing into a bear
thank you all

But all the cool weapon magical powers would be missed

[HalfQuart]

I didn't know there was a magic item that did that... Does it stack with monkey grip?
No, Strongarm Bracers does not stack with monkey grip, and the bracers don't give you the -2 to hit either. You'd be better off using Power Attack than taking Monkey Grip; you'll do more damage on average with a two-handed weapon, and be able to change the penalty if you're having a hard time hitting or want to do even more damage. This is why Monkey Grip is considered a trap -- it seems really cool, but Power Attack is mechanically better.

[kwilly69]

and power attack required for Bear prestige
among some other cool tihngs


Runescarred Berserker looks cool too for a little flair

[kwilly69]

No, Strongarm Bracers does not stack with monkey grip, and the bracers don't give you the -2 to hit either. You'd be better off using Power Attack than taking Monkey Grip; you'll do more damage on average with a two-handed weapon, and be able to change the penalty if you're having a hard time hitting or want to do even more damage. This is why Monkey Grip is considered a trap -- it seems really cool, but Power Attack is mechanically better.


thank you gonna do barbarian > runescarred beserker, maybe a few fighter levels for feats

[Ieagleroar]

Don't get monkey grip. The damage gained is minimal and you can spend you feats elsewhere. If you can take a template or your DM allows level buy off you can take the half-Minotaur template, have enlarge person made permanent; stacked with the Goliath racial substitution level and you have yourself a gargantuan barbarian. With a trip build and spiked chain you have some heavy battlefield control, (until your DM starts throwing incorporeal oozes at you:smallsmile:)

[HalfQuart]

have enlarge person made permanent; stacked with the Goliath racial substitution level and you have yourself a gargantuan barbarian.
As Starkeeper pointed out above, Goliaths are Monstrous Humanoids, and thus aren't a valid target for Enlarge Person.

[kwilly69]

correct but a runescarred barbarian can increase size with righteous might :P