Barbarian and not having 20s in stats, guidance help.

[Vasporos]

Thanks to a lot of great threads lately, with regards to barbarians and primary stats I've started to come to the conclusion of how I forsee my character going on forward.

I ultimately preferred the utlity of the Totem path over the Berzerker, as my roleplay in general is lacking I feel that the mechanical elements of this path could be easier for myself to use in different roleplay situations versus Berzerker. I decided against mountain dwarf, despite having better stats and abilities than what I chose, being Goliath, just seemed fitting and easy. My daughter rolled my stats since she really really wanted to do that for me and considering how bad I am, had no issue, which got me too:

Strength: 18, Dexterity: 16 Consitution: 17 Intelligence: 10 Wisdom: 13 Charisma: 12 after racials.

The path I was thinking was, Bear, eagle, eagle or Bear, Bear, Eagle. Flying sounds like fun.

Lvl 4: bump up con an dex +1, lvl 8: bump dex +1 and strength maybe?
lvl 12: Resilient Wisdom Feat


GWM seems a must on a barbarian, the other feats I'm considering is lucky or sentinel.

As the group stands I'm sort of the tank but we have a BM fighter that takes just as much damage so I figure we can split it a bit. We're in Lost mines of Phandelver now and it seems we will go to Storm King's Thunder afterward.

0: Reasons behind bumping dex is to buff my uarmored defense or is that better spent purely in Con? ie, better as 19 18 18 or 19 16 20?
1. Questions being, which feats seem worth taking?
2. Can get by with 18 in strength and con? I plan to stick in barbarian and get the capstone.
3. How does Flying work with walking speed? do I need to count how many feet I go up, down and across?

Think thats it, as always thanks for the help and sorry if this is something gone over a million times already. I find the search function a bit hard to get a result that is relevant, perhaps my search parameters are too poor.

[PeteNutButter]

A lot of people pay too much attention to barbarian unarmored defense. Your rolled stats are much better than point buy, so it is even more tempting, but still... You have to put two ASIs into con or dex to get AC better than just wearing half plate. That's not taking into account your chances of finding magical armor.

Yeah you can certainly get by with an 18 str, but you get much more mileage out of boosting your main stat (on any class) than most other things. If you want GWM you really need that extra +1 to hit to counteract that -5. If you plan to get to level 20, you REALLY want to have a 20 str or half your capstone is wasted.

A simple rule of thumb on barbarians, is unless you are a dex barb, boost con before dex (presuming dex is at 14). Dex is basically for saves, which you already have advantage. Con gives you more hit points and the AC boost.

Also, there are very few reasons to ever use an ASI, leaving an odd stat. If you have only one odd stat than maybe there is a half feat you can take, or set up another stat for a half feat. Putting one point into dex does nothing, unless you plan to take resilient dex (seems unnecessary).

I'd boost str, take GWM, take resilient (wis), then consider con, or feats for the last couple ASIs. Sentinel is solid if no one else has it.

As for your flying question, ask your DM. The PHB isn't super clear on 3 dimensional rules, but you could make the argument that diagonals don't cost extra. Unless you want to be doing A squared plus B squared equals C squared every move action...

[EKruze]

0: Reasons behind bumping dex is to buff my uarmored defense or is that better spent purely in Con? ie, better as 19 18 18 or 19 16 20?


I see so many Barbarians basing their ASI choices around Unarmored Defense. If this fits your vision for your character then there's nothing wrong with doing so, but I want to emphasize that there's another choice.

Your stats are rather well above the Standard Array offerings which in theory should favor Unarmored Defense over the Armored Barbarian case. Even with these starting numbers you're going to have 16 AC when Unarmored as compared to the 17 AC of the Barbarian in Half Plate. When you've spent one of your ASIs towards pumping your AC you'll match the Half Plate Barbarian. Only when you hit level 8 and dedicate part of your second ASI to the effort will you be pulling ahead.

My experience in play has been that Armor Class is less useful to Barbarians as if you're using Reckless Attack (which in most fights you should be) you'll be getting hit often regardless of this defense. Barbarians tend to soak hits rather than avoid them, and this is supported by your naturally high HP pools and your Damage Resistance from your Rages.



1. Questions being, which feats seem worth taking?


In terms of mechanical effect I think you're spot-on by naming Great Weapon Master. Reckless Attack makes a big difference in the math of when you should choose to use the Power Attack-type option with that feat. Another consideration if you have no other use for your Bonus Attack is Polearm Master. It's by no means required but it stacks with Great Weapon Master's Power Attack feature in a very favorable way. Sentinel is a terrific feat but in the play I've done I've found my Barbarian characters too feat-starved to make effective grabs at this ability.



2. Can get by with 18 in strength and con? I plan to stick in barbarian and get the capstone.


Yes. In 5th edition you're not required to max out any stat and you can be an effective character without bumping those to 20. In terms of pure efficiency it is often the case that maxing your attack stat is the best way to improve your character. Once you have Great Weapon Master it's a narrow range of choices that do more for you than +1 to hit and damage. You will be effective with only 18s in those stats, and if it fits your vision of your character then absolutely go for it. If you're looking for the most effective builds in combat situations then you might want to find room to max Str and because your tankiness is Soak-based as opposed to Avoidance it's hard to go wrong getting to 20 in Con as well.

[Specter]

Forget about DEX and boosting AC altogether. With GWM, you want to use Reckless Attack, and that makes people attack you with advantage anyway.

[Biggstick]

Bear 3 and Bear 6 is absolutely what I'd suggest. You're a Goliath with Powerful Build (count as one size larger for carry capacity and weight you can push/drag/lift) and 18 Strength. At level 1 this has you capable of lifting/pushing/dragging 1080 pounds with no problem. If you've decided to go Bear at level 6, that amount increases up to 2160 pounds. Your Barbarian will literally be able to lift over a ton without so much as an ability check. An imaginative Player can come up with all sorts of fun things that can be done with that much raw Strength.

As for leveling, I'd suggest grabbing GWM at Barbarian 4. You seem interested in it as a Player, and you have Reckless attack to take care of generating your advantage. I'd also suggest grabbing Resilient Wisdom at level 8. While it's helpful to grab at any point, level 8-11 is an area in which you're going to fighting things that you almost assuredly will need to be making Wisdom saves. Grabbing it at level 8 brings up your Wisdom saves from +1 to +5 (and then +6 once you're level 9). It's not fun being a Barbarian and unable to charge the Dragon because you can't get past the Menacing Aura DC.

Throw on some Medium Armor. It opens up gear options for you as a Player, as there might be some cool things the DM slaps on armor that makes it especially appealing to you later in the game.

Don't worry about getting your Strength to 20 until you're level 12 or 16 imo. An 18 Strength will serve you very well with the character you're about to play.

[GlenSmash!]

Hello! Barbarians are awesome. You will have a great time no matter what. Those are great Stats by the way. You can absolutely get by with an 18 in strength for a while which leads into my first bit of advice: Grab your fun feats first.

A lot of people will say you should max your main stat first, because it makes you better at the stuff you already do, I would rather do new things so I like to get Feats quickly.

I would disagree that GWM is a MUST for a Barbarian, because barbarians can be built in different ways, but if Damage is your goal then yes get GWM as soon as possible, then if going the highest damage is still your main concern, grab Polearm Master. This will give you a reliable bonus action attack when you are not Critting or dropping a foe to 0 hp, and it will give you a reliable Reaction attack. All of which can get the +10 damage bonus from GWM. The GWM PM combo is a classic for a reason. It puts out big numbers.


Alternatively Barbarians make Great Shovers and grapplers. You could forgo GWM and PM for Shield Master, or even Tavern Brawler to round out that odd constitution score. You won't do as much damage, but you'll be harder to hit, and any other Melee party members will love you for knocking things Prone.

As far as AC goes, like others have said unless Unarmored Defense is core to you're concept, I wouldn't invest in Dex at all. Even if it is core to your concept go Constitution first, it offers more for a barbarian.

With that starting Dex of 16, I would probably grab Medium Armor Master. It would bump up your AC to 18 in Half Plate, and let you Stealth around without disadvantage.

Honeslty having a high AC is not that important to a Barbarian, you'll have a huge amount of hitpoints, that are virtually doubled by the resistance from Rage. And when it comes down to it, it's better to have Monsters attack a barbarian than other members of the party. Remember that Barbarians have one of the best Tanking abilities in the game in Reckless attack. It really gives great incentive for monsters to attack you instead of somebody else. Use it often (honestly i use it all the time).

Bear totem is great and really thematic for a Goliath, you'll be the powerlifter, pack mule for the party if you grab the level 6 bear feature. the Level 14 Totem feature is a bit trickier, Bear is great for Tanking, but Eagle lets you Jump like the Hulk, Wolf is great if you don't have a good use of a bonus action by this point. It's a knock down with no save, but you would probably have a good use for your bonus action by now.

So too summarize, If this was my barbarian i would Grab GWM at Level 4 and PM at 8, Max Strength at 12, Grab Medium Armor Master next, and spend the last ASI on whatever you want, Sentinel, Lucky, Resilient Wisdom, would all be great choices.

Or I would Grab Shield Master First, Max Strength, grab Medium armor Master, then for the last two get wherever you want out of Tavern brawler, Sentinel, Lucky, Resilient Wisdom or even maxing Constitution.

[Mortis_Elrod]

level 4 bump con +2
level 8 bump con +1 with tavern brawler (or Gourmand if UA is on the table, be the tank AND the cook. Good RP material there. )
level 12 resil wisdom
level 16 bump str +2
level 19 bump dex +2 or GWM
??????
Profit

[Vasporos]

Excellent replies everyone, thank you very much. Most of my questions are cleared up, only the flying of eagle, as someone said though it's likely DM discretion.

I'm on my phone so I can't see while I reply but I really enjoyed the bill and Ted reference on a posters signature :D.

[djreynolds]

Get GWM now at 4th and then max strength.

Don't knock berserker, immunity to fear and charm at 6th level is priceless, it is an auto-pass

I like resilient wisdom, its a good choice as well

But great stats, love the character and the adventures.... and grab a maul.