Barbarian- Sword and Board vs Two Hander

[JMAP94]

So im about to play a lvl 3 one shot this weekend, and i want to know your guys' opinion. Each player gets a free feat, and i decided i wanted to play a Half Orc Barbarian. I ended up rolling an 18 for str, so im gonna start with 20 strength. I wanted to know, should I go with a sword and board build, or a great weapon fighting build. I really want to go with Great Weapon Fighthing because i kinda wanna smash things this time around, but sword and board just seems like im capitalizing on the action economy and that i can tank which my party might need cuz we only have a monk and a druid right now.

Sword and Board Build 17 AC (10+2 dex+3 con (unarmored defense) +2 shield (unarmored defense does stack withe shield )
1d8 damage with a maul
Shield Master Feat which allows me to shove an enemy as a bonus action on each turn i attack (contested check of strength (Athletics) vs enemy Athletics or Acrobatics) which on a success allows me to knock an enemy prone or five feet away

Great Weapon Build
15 AC (10+2 dex +3 con (unarmored defense)-
2d6 damage with a Great Sword
Great Weapon Master Feat- Which allows me a second attack each turn (as a bonus action) if I reduce an enemy to 0 hp or score a critical hit.

[Ruslan]

For the S&B build, I would not waste a feat on Shield Master. It's simpler and more efficient to just take Reckless Attack and gain advantage for free.
If your Con modifier is only +3, I would not bother with unarmored defense. Get a Scale Mail (AC 18) or Half-Plate (AC 19) if you can afford it. That's a pretty good AC, and even with the enemies having Advantage due to Reckless Attack you won't be hit too often. Use the feat on Lucky or Alert.

The Great Weapon build is probably better though, due to the synergy between GWM and Reckless Attack. You'll be hitting with -5/+10 quite often and dealing devastating damage.

Consider Barbarian 2/Fighter 1 instead of single-class Barbarian. You lose the coveted Bear Totem ability, but the fighter's self-healing makes up for it. Also, you'll have a fighting style, for even better damage (or AC, if you go Defense).

[SharkForce]

if you want to take advantage of action economy, plan on grabbing polearm master if you hit level 4. use a glaive or halberd, they're both pretty much the same really. you now get to use your bonus action to make an attack, and you have the crazy damage of great weapon master plus a little bit more (note: you can still use GWM on the 1d4 damage bonus action attack from polearm mastery).

i do have to agree with not relying on unarmored defense unless you absolutely must. armoured defense will be better, just use that.

and barbarians make perfectly adequate tanks even without high AC. resistance on most attacks means you're not going to be taking as much damage as anyone else with that AC.

(also, if that druid is a moon druid - which is by far the most optimized option in a level 3 one-shot, since that's right in the middle of moon druids being kinda broken OP - you really don't need to worry about tanks, a moon druid can have a huge pool of HP that recovers on a short rest, and who cares about AC when your HP is that much over expected values).

[Chaosmancer]

Sword and board with Shield master really becomes a great combo at higher levels when you have Danger Sense. Advantage and evasion lite makes a tanky character even better.

For a low level one shot, armor and two handed might be better, but their are some obvious advantages to the shield route.

Mostly, +2 ac and you don't need to reckless. Reckless is a great ability,but your allies don't get advantage from it like they do prone, and you won't be granting advantage to enemies.

It will deal significantly less damage using a d8 weapon most of the time, but you can always drop the shield and go d10 with reckless if you need to.

It comes down to this. More defense and caution, or go all out offense. Which style do you prefer?

And I'd probably go full barbarian, i dislike multiclassing in general and wolf or bear totem could be good. Actually eagle might not be bad for a more defensive barbarian charging the back line. And if UA is available all of the new options are quite powerful and good

[PeteNutButter]

Whatever you do, I'd say go wolf totem. If the majority of your party is melee it is god tier. Bear totem will see little use most likely at level 3. This nullifies the need for shield master for your teammates, and reckless attack can give yourself advantage. If you were to go S&B, I'd recommend picking a different feat at this level (although tanking is easier when enemies don't have advantage so it isn't at all wasted).

GWM is ok, but depending on the fights, I find it's rather weak at low tier. Most things can be one shot with a 2hander, and you'd rather have the consistency. That being said, the "cleave" effect is worth its investment, especially before extra attack.

Play what you want.

[djreynolds]

SharkForce is 100% correct
PAM has to be the easiest choice at lower levels simply because you have 2 attacks, and get a viable use for your reaction. It may not happen all the time, but its there

So with PAM you get an attack, a bonus action attack, and a very possible reaction attack if you are smart.

GWM rocks, it does. But as long as you hit twice with PAM you get 5+ and +5.

Ruslan is correct
Negative on the shield master, it looks and sounds cool, but you are only swinging twice instead of once and you already have a source of advantage

And this may sound crazy and dumb, but if your AC is too high.... no one will attack you. Barbarians are designed to actually get hit. Half plate, breast plate, scale mail is good enough

The little goblin when given a choice, IMO humbly, is not going for the guy in plate and shield.... but the fool running around in a banana hammock

[Dappershire]

Double. Fisting. Daggers.

Lots of them.

Nothing says frenzy like leaving a half dozen hilts sticking out of each body you leave behind. Who wants to waste time pulling weapons out of chests when there are people still breathing?

[Escribblings]

Personally I'd go Frenzy Barbarian with PAM or Sentinel.

I'd also stick with UAD target than wearing armour, but art least if you get caught in the middle of the night you still have UAD even if you haven't had time to put your armour on.

My L3 Goliath Frenzy Barb was up against Peryton's. I had no magic weapon.

In that instance in made more sense for me to grapple 2 of the birds and drag them through a magical bonfire....

That turned the tide of battle in our favour as we were getting hammered up until that point.

[SharkForce]

Double. Fisting. Daggers.

Lots of them.

Nothing says frenzy like leaving a half dozen hilts sticking out of each body you leave behind. Who wants to waste time pulling weapons out of chests when there are people still breathing?

sadly, you can draw only one weapon per turn unless you spend a feat on two weapon fighting, in which case you can draw two. you literally cannot draw daggers fast enough to stab people with them in 5e :(

[N810]

Unless you just walk around with them drawn. :P

[Snails]

And this may sound crazy and dumb, but if your AC is too high.... no one will attack you. Barbarians are designed to actually get hit. Half plate, breast plate, scale mail is good enough


I love how you baldly say something that sounds dumb, only your point is quite clever. :smalltongue:

I think it is a bit more complicated. It really depends on who else is in the party. Another serious tank will have AC 18+, so AC 15 or AC 17 is not so notable. Enticing attacks while raging is a good thing, but it is not necessarily true that you can count on raging all the time.

[Citan]

So im about to play a lvl 3 one shot this weekend, and i want to know your guys' opinion. Each player gets a free feat, and i decided i wanted to play a Half Orc Barbarian. I ended up rolling an 18 for str, so im gonna start with 20 strength. I wanted to know, should I go with a sword and board build, or a great weapon fighting build. I really want to go with Great Weapon Fighthing because i kinda wanna smash things this time around, but sword and board just seems like im capitalizing on the action economy and that i can tank which my party might need cuz we only have a monk and a druid right now.

Sword and Board Build 17 AC (10+2 dex+3 con (unarmored defense) +2 shield (unarmored defense does stack withe shield )
1d8 damage with a maul
Shield Master Feat which allows me to shove an enemy as a bonus action on each turn i attack (contested check of strength (Athletics) vs enemy Athletics or Acrobatics) which on a success allows me to knock an enemy prone or five feet away

Great Weapon Build
15 AC (10+2 dex +3 con (unarmored defense)-
2d6 damage with a Great Sword
Great Weapon Master Feat- Which allows me a second attack each turn (as a bonus action) if I reduce an enemy to 0 hp or score a critical hit.
Hi!
First, with your stats, forget about Unarmored: Barbarian has medium armor proficiency for a reason: you have 14 DEX, so you can maximize medium armor without feat. So you can end with AC 17 without even shield.
Beyond that, Reckless Attack will help you hit and tank at the same time.

So, I suggest you start as a S&B barb because at low levels, even for a Barbarian single hits can be dangerous so a +2 AC is great.
Once you reach your level 4, provided you go Bear, you can safely pick the GWM feat and switch your style.
And you know what? With your strength, you have no problem carrying your old set up in case you want to switch back to a defensive tactic. :)

[Steampunkette]

Medium Armor, ditch the Greatsword for a Greataxe. Go for the Sea Storm Barbarian path.

Every crit a Half Orc gets to roll 1 die of weapon damage. If you go for a Greatsword that's 5d6 (2d6 normal, 2d6 crit, 1d6 half-orc). If you do greataxe it's 3d12.

As you level up, you'll continue to add d12s on top of the weapon damage as Brutal Critical kicks in, so you'll want to make as many attacks as you can with Reckless Attack (More chances to crit).

Grab GWM ASAP and use it for an extra bonus action attack whenever you can. The rest of the time throw 2d6 lightning bolts (scaling to 4d6 eventually) so that you can use that ASI you'd spend on Polearm Mastery to get yourself Luck. Whenever you have disadvantage, give up on Reckless Attacking and swap to using Luck Points (3 rolls per attack, 2 attacks per round plus potential bonus action. That maxes out at 9 rolls a round, good odds of getting a 20!)

Aim to Crit. Often. And maximize your critical hits whenever possible. If your DM gives you an item that expands your crit range: Use it like it's going out of style.