Goblin Barbarian help

[Pandyman]

I had the desire to make a goblin barbarian, our group is using the AL rules for character creation. Phb+1, point buy, etc.

So I'm making a goblin barbarian, but i can't use heavy weapons so gwm isn't a great option for me. I'm thinking that the obvious thing to do is to focus on dual wielding to get an extra rage bonus on my bonus action or go sword and board. I'm thinking that i'd like to go dual wielding with shortswords from the start though.

So my basic idea is 15 str, 17 dex, 16 con, 8 int, 8 wis, 8 cha. My first asi will be used to increase str and dex, to 16 and 18 respectively. I think it may be in my best interest to hop into fighter for a level to grab two weapon fighting style, and popping into rogue for a level would be nice too; since i already have their level 2 ability i don't get much from hanging around in rogue, but getting the expertised stealth and maybe survival would be pretty thematic for my tribal nomadic goblin that knows how to hunt and track.

I'm wondering what the best split would be though, maybe totem barbarian 16/rogue 1/Champion fighter 3. I'd very much like to stick with dual wielding. I'm really gonna need the ASIs, since i'm boosting strength to 20. Anyone ever do anything similar to this like a halfling barbarian.

I know it's not optimal for damage, and going something like v. human or orc with gwm would do better damage than anything i could get. I'm just trying to make up a bit of the difference.

[Garresh]

Dual Wielding is certainly an option. It's a pretty good one too. I'd like to offer an alternative build though. Your build isn't bad, but I'm also playing a goblin barbarian in AL(small world), so I figure I'll share what I'm currently running. See mathematically barbarian damage is never really great, so I focused on amplifying defense and some utility instead. Goblins have increased mobility over other races, which allows for an incredibly dangerous barbarian that can run past frontliners directly to threaten casters and threats in the back. The 16 dex and con also means a shield puts you at 18 AC, which is pretty great for a barbarian without armor.

I also picked up Rogue 1 for stealth and athletics. Between barbarian rage and expertise the goblin is very good at grappling and shoving. Size is a HUGE limitation, but rogues give a little damage boost so meh. Next I grabbed Shield Master. Even if you never really grapple, the fact that you'll have 16 dex which is a bit high for a barbarian means that your dex saves are actually *BETTER* than someone with proficiency in dex saves until high levels. Even there you'll be pretty friggin competent. At level 5 you're going to have +5 to Dex saves, with advantage. Of course Con saves are good too. You'll want to spend 3 of your ASI pumping strength, which leaves you 1 more for more utility. Sentinel is a good option, as is Mobile if you want to be cheeky. If you wanna be really cheeky, grab Resilient Wisdom and have 3 good saves on top of 18 AC without wearing armor. Or you could take Medium Armor Master to bump your AC to 20 and still have good stealth.

Basically, I have a tiny little wrecking ball who runs up to creatures and slams them in the shins with his shield, then jumps up and down on them. Obv I can't use it against a lot of enemies due to size, but the sheer defensive options make it incredibly fun. Also, our wizard has adapted a bit to my silly shenanigans and has Enlarge prepared for when needed. If you can convince a wizard to bring Enlarge you are a VERY happy goblin.

We just wrapped up forge of fury in the AL game, and started Hidden Shrine. Here's what this little bugger has achieved so far...

Wrestled Nightscale to the ground while the party killed it. Technically it was the fighter and my goblin, but my goblin NEVER failed a grapple check, while the fighter eventually let go. Basically the wizard enlarged me, the dragonborn fighter put Nightscale in a head lock, and my goblin jumped up and down on Nightscale(that's how I describe my grapple) while stabbing it with a rapier. Think a small child on a bed except deadly.

Annoyed the ever living crap out of the cleric. Repeatedly.

Has been used as bait for fishing up aquatic monsters. Basically rope tied around my goblin, throw him into the water, wait til aquatic creature bites, then reel back in. If needed, Enlarge and drag back in myself.

Became convinced the dragonborn is his long lost father. And the other male dragonborn is his long lost mother. Don't think about it.

Shin slammed countless orcs and duergar to the ground for our other melee types, and abused cliff faces with shoves for great justice.


Edit: TLDR; Use goblins natural mobility and defenses to turn your barbarian into a high defense mobile skirmisher/frontliner. When protection is needed, you facetank better than anyone. When there's dangerous squishies in the back, you can slip by and deal with them faster than anyone else. You also have great control via free shove attacks vs humanoids. May require a wizard with Enlarge to truly maximize your potential in some fights.

[Pandyman]

Picking up athletics as an expertise is also a great idea. I definitely was considering using a shield. With the bonus action rage and disengaging into the back lines of the enemy i may lose a lot of my dual wielding attacks just by using my bonus actions for other things.

[Garresh]

Picking up athletics as an expertise is also a great idea. I definitely was considering using a shield. With the bonus action rage and disengaging into the back lines of the enemy i may lose a lot of my dual wielding attacks just by using my bonus actions for other things.

Yep. Goblins already overload the bonus action economy hard. That's actually a strong incentive NOT to use Shield Master, but TBH you'll be getting enough bonus actions to dual wield or shield master no problem. You should only really need to disengage at most once a fight, to get into range of some squishies and threaten them. The rest of the time you're in front guarding your own squishies.