Optimizing my Zealot Barbarian in HotDQ

[Willywilliamrtx]

Heya fellas; looking for some feedback/suggestions for my Half-Orc Barbarian in a HotDQ campaign.


Currently lvl 1, statarray 17-11-16-10-12-8 in that order. vHuman was banned and everyone got to pick a feat at lvl 1 (I picked GWM). After HotDQ we'll dive into ROT so it's expected that i'll reach lvl 15 at the end of it.

What should I do for my feats!? Originally I wanted to fit in a 3 lvl dip of Champion fighter somewhere for extended crit range, protection fighting style and action surge, but I'd miss out on the Zealot's best feature that way, so I think I'll stay a pure barbarian.

Currently I was thinking of getting a +2 in CON twice and Orcish Fury (+1 STR, reaction attack and extre damage)
A bit of outside powergaming; let's assume we come across the bracers of defense (my character is the only one not wearing armor) - getting my AC to jump to 17 at the end of it.

Alternatively I could forgo the CON bumps and bump my STR to 20 instead. Again, with a bit of powergaming assuming we come across Hazirawn (my character is the only one morally fluid enough to wield an evil sword), my base to hit bonus would become +12 at lvl 14. I'd lose some traction of the extra critical dice I get to roll once in a blue moon due to now using a greatsword - but that's neglectable.

Do any of you have feedback on this? Better ideas? Hit me!

[GlenSmash!]

GWM was a good feat to choose. It's both thematic and effective on Barbarian. Good thinking there.

You're at a 13 unarmored AC right now, I would consider getting decent Medium Armor as soon as possible. Unless you know you are getting those Bracers of Defense, Getting Dex to 14 and wearing Medium Armor is a surer bet to 17AC. Unless going unarmored is core to your concept of the character. Then I think your plan is fine. Still that odd score in Dex isn't helping one bit.

If it were me my first ASI would be +1 Str and +1 Dex. Then I'd have tough choice between maxing Strength and maxing AC in Medium Armor. But that's just me.

[Derpaligtr]

So, I would go with ASI bumps and not feats.

Also, I've found that GWM is mostly overkill in official settings for classes that can dish out damage. I don't know how many times I've seen barbarians adding up damage, say a running total, and the DM prematurely calls the creature dead before the barbarian adds up the +10 from the feat... The -5 hurts a lot more than you think on your attack roll.

Especially if you have extra damage from your subclass or from spells.

I would look at Savage Attacker with a d12 weapon, dungeon delver, or something that broadens your horizons like Ritual Caster.

Barbarians are pretty optimized for damage out of the box against official setting enemies.

[CTurbo]

Heya fellas; looking for some feedback/suggestions for my Half-Orc Barbarian in a HotDQ campaign.


Currently lvl 1, statarray 17-11-16-10-12-8 in that order. vHuman was banned and everyone got to pick a feat at lvl 1 (I picked GWM). After HotDQ we'll dive into ROT so it's expected that i'll reach lvl 15 at the end of it.

What should I do for my feats!? Originally I wanted to fit in a 3 lvl dip of Champion fighter somewhere for extended crit range, protection fighting style and action surge, but I'd miss out on the Zealot's best feature that way, so I think I'll stay a pure barbarian.

Currently I was thinking of getting a +2 in CON twice and Orcish Fury (+1 STR, reaction attack and extre damage)
A bit of outside powergaming; let's assume we come across the bracers of defense (my character is the only one not wearing armor) - getting my AC to jump to 17 at the end of it.

Alternatively I could forgo the CON bumps and bump my STR to 20 instead. Again, with a bit of powergaming assuming we come across Hazirawn (my character is the only one morally fluid enough to wield an evil sword), my base to hit bonus would become +12 at lvl 14. I'd lose some traction of the extra critical dice I get to roll once in a blue moon due to now using a greatsword - but that's neglectable.

Do any of you have feedback on this? Better ideas? Hit me!

I would want Str maxed asap, and I would want Dex at least at 14 even if you had Bracers of Defense. I agree with +1 Str and Dex at level 4, then probably max Str at level 8. I may even add another +2 to Dex before bumping Con at all, but that's just me.

GWM was a good choice but I would absolutely use a Greataxe for better crits.

Other than that, your character doesn't really NEED any other feats. Sure there are many that would help and be good for you like Sentinel, Lucky, Alert, Mobile, Res(Wis), Orcish Fury, and even Ritual Caster if you want more to do outside of combat.

[GlenSmash!]

So, I would go with ASI bumps and not feats.

Also, I've found that GWM is mostly overkill in official settings for classes that can dish out damage. I don't know how many times I've seen barbarians adding up damage, say a running total, and the DM prematurely calls the creature dead before the barbarian adds up the +10 from the feat... The -5 hurts a lot more than you think on your attack roll.

Against low level mooks this is very true, but in the boss fight when your recklessly attacking those +10s can really add up. Especially if you've got Bless on you.

I've also found the +10 useful in dropping an enemy and thereby triggering the GWM bonus action attack.


I would want Str maxed asap, and I would want Dex at least at 14 even if you had Bracers of Defense. I agree with +1 Str and Dex at level 4, then probably max Str at level 8. I may even add another +2 to Dex before bumping Con at all, but that's just me.

I would too. Getting Dex to 14 will help with both Armored and Unarmored AC giving you more options. You can always pump Con after.


GWM was a good choice but I would absolutely use a Greataxe for better crits.

Other than that, your character doesn't really NEED any other feats. Sure there are many that would help and be good for you like Sentinel, Lucky, Alert, Mobile, Res(Wis), Orcish Fury, and even Ritual Caster if you want more to do outside of combat.

I agree with this too. Some feats have universal appeal, but there is certainly nothing wrong with a Barbarian with GWM, Max Strength, 14 dex, and Max Con.

That's a pretty standard recipe for a killing machine right there.

[Derpaligtr]

Against low level mooks this is very true, but in the boss fight when your recklessly attacking those +10s can really add up. Especially if you've got Bless on you.

I've also found the +10 useful in dropping an enemy and thereby triggering the GWM bonus action attack.



I would too. Getting Dex to 14 will help with both Armored and Unarmored AC giving you more options. You can always pump Con after.



I agree with this too. Some feats have universal appeal, but there is certainly nothing wrong with a Barbarian with GWM, Max Strength, 14 dex, and Max Con.

That's a pretty standard recipe for a killing machine right there.

GWM isn't reliable enough to work on the boss. The bosses tend to have higher ACs and while the barbarian gets advantage on attacks... That boss will have advantage on their attacks against the barbarian (bosses tend to hit HARD). Giving yourself that chance of missing and giving the boss monster a straight bonus to hit you, well, outside the white room it becomes meh.

At least if you're gonna die, dying as a zealot is the way to do it.

The bonus damage from Zealot is 1d6 + 1/2 Barbarian level (so at least +1) on the first hit. You don't want to be missing with this damage. Yeah, advantage is awesome, but that -5 actually negates the mathimatical boost you get from it ( adv = +3.3333 or whatever), if you want to go white room.

The Barbarian without GWM is doing great damage.

CR 4 and CR 5 seem to have about 80 - 100 HP (let's say 90). A Level 3 barbarian without allies is doing 2d6 + 3 + 2 (rage) + 1d6 + 1 (zealot) = 16 damage on their turn if they don't crit. That's 5 turns. Add in the allies damage... With two allies, who together should be able to equal or exceed the barbarians damage output... So the party is doing at least 32 damage per round. That creature with 90-ish hit points is going down in 3 rounds already.

At some point in a fight, the party will gang up on the boss, and the boss will drop like a fly. Adding more damage to that is just a waste.

GWM is good for mooks but really is just overkill on any striker.

[GlenSmash!]

sniped for brevity

Even without GWM I'd be recklessly attacking as a Barbarian.

Advantage on that Bosses attack against me are a bonus. That's an attack not spent on one of my squishier allies. And that big damage? Reduced by half. Reduce me to Zero hit points, well I'm a Half-Orc/Barbarian so make that one hit point, past level two I don't worry much about being outright killed with a single hit.

If I am killed, well with a cleric in the party that is merely an inconvenience for a Zealot.

I'm also less worried about missing in published adventures as +X weapons are pretty common.

Especially Hazirawn. +3 with the possibility of Bless on top of that and advantage from Reckless Attack mitigates a -5 pretty easily

However, you do have a good point about potently missing out on some sweet Zealot bonus damage. I agree I wouldn't want to take a -5 on that. A few points of Radiant damage can be worth more than 10 slashing damage in a lot of situations.

Oh that brings me to the OP. Radiant damage is typically a better choice than Necrotic. It's resisted less and shuts down regeneration on some monsters.

[Derpaligtr]

Even without GWM I'd be recklessly attacking as a Barbarian.

Advantage on that Bosses attack against me are a bonus. That's an attack not spent on one of my squishier allies. And that big damage? Reduced by half. Reduce me to Zero hit points, well I'm a Half-Orc/Barbarian so make that one hit point, past level two I don't worry much about being outright killed with a single hit.

If I am killed, well with a cleric in the party that is merely an inconvenience for a Zealot.

I'm also less worried about missing in published adventures as +X weapons are pretty common.

Especially Hazirawn. +3 with the possibility of Bless on top of that and advantage from Reckless Attack mitigates a -5 pretty easily

However, you do have a good point about potently missing out on some sweet Zealot bonus damage. I agree I wouldn't want to take a -5 on that. A few points of Radiant damage can be worth more than 10 slashing damage in a lot of situations.

Oh that brings me to the OP. Radiant damage is typically a better choice than Necrotic. It's resisted less and shuts down regeneration on some monsters.

Reckless Attack without the chance of missing puts you at equal footing with the enemy. Reckless attacking with a -5 penalty does not (as the boss has a much better chance at hitting you).

Boss attacks are great against a barbarian, but not when the barbarian is having a hard time hitting the boss. It isn't "the barbarian is tanking" and more the boss saying "stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself". If the barbarian wasn't a striker, I could see this working, but allowing the boss to choose and attack someone else because the raging barbarian isn't the biggest threat isn't a good thing.

Yeah, radiant damage is the way to go! A lot of fun to role play too.

[NaughtyTiger]

and a way to heal yourself (fighter secondwind, potion of healing) cuz it's awesome to fight at 0HP forever, until someone casts sleep. or suggests "calm down, drop rage"

[GlenSmash!]

Reckless Attack without the chance of missing puts you at equal footing with the enemy. Reckless attacking with a -5 penalty does not (as the boss has a much better chance at hitting you).

Boss attacks are great against a barbarian, but not when the barbarian is having a hard time hitting the boss. It isn't "the barbarian is tanking" and more the boss saying "stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself". If the barbarian wasn't a striker, I could see this working, but allowing the boss to choose and attack someone else because the raging barbarian isn't the biggest threat isn't a good thing.

Yeah, radiant damage is the way to go! A lot of fun to role play too.

Even without using the -5/+10 the bonus action attack from GWM pairs really well with the Barbarians Reckless attack since you have more chances to crit and trigger the bonus action.

[GlenSmash!]

and a way to heal yourself (fighter secondwind, potion of healing) cuz it's awesome to fight at 0HP forever, until someone casts sleep. or suggests "calm down, drop rage"

There are some neat ways around this.

Aasimar Barbarian has a great self heal that works really well with a 14+ Zealot. Half-Elf Barbarian laughs at some one trying to put him to sleep.

[Derpaligtr]

Even without using the -5/+10 the bonus action attack from GWM pairs really well with the Barbarians Reckless attack since you have more chances to crit and trigger the bonus action.

Chances to crit is nice, sure, but it's still a wash as that boss is going to be critical hitting at the same rate and can probably dish out just as much or more damage. Alao, boss monsters tend to get multiattack before players do.

Most of the time you won't be critical hitting, even with advantage, so the -5 will affect your roll more than the critical will.

[GlenSmash!]

Well, one whole week later I find myself making a Zealot for Storm King's Thunder. I might pick up GWM at higher levels, but my Variant Human feat ended up going to Resilient Wisdom to round out an odd score, and I love me some Wisdom save proficiency on Barbarians.