Is this Holy Barbarian Archetype any good?

[LuminousWarrior]

I'm planning on running Wrath of the Righteous sometime soon, but one of my players has his heart set on playing an Orcish Barbarian. I am completely fine with this, as it could get pretty interesting. However, I was looking for something to bring to him to try to help tie his character into the themes of the Adventure Path a bit better and I stumbled across a Holy Barbarian archetype called the Holy Rager (http://www.pathfindercommunity.net/classes/multiclass-archetypes/barbarian/holy-rager-barbarian-paladin). However, I'm pretty terrible at figuring out power at a glance, so I wanted to run the thing by some other people before I present the archetype to my player. I already noticed a minor problem with Divine Grace, as that's a Charisma-based ability on a Barbarian Archetype. I'll probably swap that out with Aura of Courage.

[Peat]

I'd say that's pretty unambiguously better than a normal Barbarian. Delayed Rage Power progression and giving up Fast Movement and Trap Sense in return for Paladin auras, Divine Grace and a poor man's Smite Evil? Yes please. Particularly if you were to rule he can still get Extra Rage Powers.

Oh, and a big bonus for switching a strong save from Reflex to Will. That Barbarian will be the belle of the ball, particularly if you kept Divine Grace, which I'd fight tooth and nail for if I was a player. Not only do I think High CHA is totally appropriate for barbaric characters, it also gives them great saves, is needed for their poor man's Smite Evil, and it doesn't make them too MAD when WIS and INT can be ignored if not dumped and they don't need all of their physicals super high anyway. Hell, you could dump DEX really hard with a few feats and bits of multi-classing. Build them around the Intimidation feats and Rage Powers and you have a great character.

It also opens you up - if the campaign goes long enough - for Eldritch Heritage with the Orc bloodline. Which seems incredibly appropriate and also quite useful.

Is it too strong to play? Probably not. But it is stronger than a Barbarian.

[grarrrg]

There are a few Rage Powers that run off of CHA, and there's always Intimidate. So a high CHA Barbarian isn't all that weird.


Delayed Rage Power progression.... Particularly if you were to rule he can still get Extra Rage Powers.

By default it would still qualify for Extra Rage Power, but not until level 3.