Fighter / Barbarian Advice

[Nosta]

For my Birthday my friend is Hosting A D&D 5e trial run for our group. (we normally play Pf) But i wanted to try something new

The Game will be a level 12 game, however i need advice on a build.

I want to play a battle master but i want some barbarian levels

I was thinking Battle master 10/ Barbarian 2 but not sure if that's a good idea

[Millface]

Starting at 12 in a new system? Bold, but I like it.

Barbarian gets a subclass at level 3, which is really good. Bear Totem is popular because it makes you nearly invincible when you rage (resistance to all damage but psychic, resistance = half damage), then at 4 you get another ASI, which, if you're running feats, could be huge.

Fighters do get a third attack per round at level 11, but that's probably not going to be as good as Reckless Attack and Rage.

So I'd go 8/4. Plenty of BM goodies, Reckless Attack, Rage, and 4 total ASIs to bring STR to 20 and get you a couple feats like Great Weapon Mastery.

[Mister_Squinty]

For my Birthday my friend is Hosting A D&D 5e trial run for our group. (we normally play Pf) But i wanted to try something new

The Game will be a level 12 game, however i need advice on a build.

I want to play a battle master but i want some barbarian levels

I was thinking Battle master 10/ Barbarian 2 but not sure if that's a good idea

10/2 doesn't give you anything special. Fighter 11 gives you the third attack, but there's no point in MC then.

I agree that 8/4 is the split to go with for the extra ASI. However, I might recommend Champion Fighter as an alternative to Battlemaster. The Improved Crit range combined with the Barbarian Reckless Attack is a fearsome combination, especially with GWF and GWM.

For a trial run/one shot, the chaos of a critfisher seems to provide more enjoyment for the buck than BM.

[MilkmanDanimal]

10/2 doesn't give you anything special. Fighter 11 gives you the third attack, but there's no point in MC then.

I agree that 8/4 is the split to go with for the extra ASI. However, I might recommend Champion Fighter as an alternative to Battlemaster. The Improved Crit range combined with the Barbarian Reckless Attack is a fearsome combination, especially with GWF and GWM.

For a trial run/one shot, the chaos of a critfisher seems to provide more enjoyment for the buck than BM.

In my current game, I'm playing with someone who's doing this and playing a Goliath Champion/Bear Totem with Great Weapon Master, with the obvious Great Weapon fighting style. He's got two attacks and rolls with advantage because he's raging, and, if he gets a crit or kills someone, he gets a bonus attack. It's INSANE how much damage he does.

[Mister_Squinty]

In my current game, I'm playing with someone who's doing this and playing a Goliath Champion/Bear Totem with Great Weapon Master, with the obvious Great Weapon fighting style. He's got two attacks and rolls with advantage because he's raging, and, if he gets a crit or kills someone, he gets a bonus attack. It's INSANE how much damage he does.

Yep. I believe that with Increased Crit Range and Reckless Attack, there's about a 19% chance to crit on each attack. Averaging a crit every 3 rounds, along with rerolling the damage dice for 1s and 2s makes the bad guys walk softly.

My Barb8/Champion4 is currently running through Against the Giants and got a hold of Waythe, the Giant Slayer sword. 4d6 on a regular hit, 8d6 on a crit and he's swiftly becoming a story Giant mamas tell their babies to make them be good.

[Man_Over_Game]

Don't forget to go as a Half-Orc, allowing you 1 extra damage die when critting and resisting hitting 0 HP once per day. It'd be perfect for this build.

[CTurbo]

Half Orc Champion 3/Barb 9 with GWM and Greataxe for 4d12 crits

[GlenSmash!]

Half Orc Champion 3/Barb 9 with GWM and Greataxe for 4d12 crits

If I had enough levels to go 11 Fighter/3 Barb I would (wait that's a lie I'd just be a level 14 Zealot), but limited to 12 levels this is solid Figher/Barb spread.

[Mister_Squinty]

If I had enough levels to go 11 Fighter/3 Barb I would (wait that's a lie I'd just be a level 14 Zealot), but limited to 12 levels this is solid Figher/Barb spread.

I agree that with Champion, it's better to be more Barb, with Battlemaster, more Fighter is better.

There's just way too much symmetry with these two classes, most any combo can work.

[Nosta]

Actually after looking Bear Totem over I think I want to make that my main class

Sorry i'm still use to 3.5 and pf so multi-class Combinations that made sense Back them, I'd assume do not Apply here

is any of the following viable

Totem (Bear) Barbarian X Fighter ?


Totem (Bear) Barbarian X Ranger ?


Totem (Bear) Barbarian X Rogue ?

and if so how many of each class should i take?

[Man_Over_Game]

Actually after looking Bear Totem over I think I want to make that my main class

Sorry i'm still use to 3.5 and pf so multi-class Combinations that made sense Back them, I'd assume do not Apply here

is any of the following viable

Totem (Bear) Barbarian X Fighter ?


Totem (Bear) Barbarian X Ranger ?


Totem (Bear) Barbarian X Rogue ?

and if so how many of each class should i take?

Totem (Bear) is strong, but fairly dull in combat. Keep in mind, you're like a boulder: extremely durable but easily ignored. What you'll be looking for is something that either makes attacking your allies more difficult, or something that will cause you to be a consistent threat.

Barbarian and Ranger, while flavorful, doesn't work out very well. Many of the Ranger styles use Dexterity, the spells require Concentration (which is broken upon Raging), and you can't cast any spells while Raging, so overall, there's not many synergies with Ranger.

Rogue has a little more synergy available. You can Reckless Attack to gain advantage, which makes your attacks eligible for Sneak Attack...Except sneak attack requires finesse or ranged weapons, neither of which work out for a barbarian. Now, while the weapon must HAVE the finesse feature, you can still attack with Strength using it, so that works out. Rogue can also help with Grappling, as you can gain Expertise in Athletics. Since you're new, you likely haven't learned about the Grapple+Prone+Barbarian relationship, but it effectively means that a character knocked prone while grappled has to beat the grappler in an athletics check, and since Barbarians have advantage on Strength checks (which Athletics is), that's never going to happen. So you now have an enemy who can't move, has disadvantage to attack anything, grants advantage to be attacked by melee attackers, and can't ever break from this condition. It's a bit slow to do without feats, though, and not worth it in short combats.

Fighter is the closest thing to synergy available. One strategy you could do is go as a Dual Wielder Barbarian, grabbing the Two Weapon Fighting Style from Fighter at level 1, and utilize the Rage damage bonus on each of your attacks every turn as you Reckless Attack. This would mean that you'd attack 3 times per turn, with +3 damage per each hit from Rage, with 1d8 damage + Str Mod on each attack, Advantage on every attack, and if something attacks you, you take half damage from being Bear.

Assuming you have a +4 Modifier, that's 34.5 damage per turn.

My recommendation is Barbarian 11, Fighter 1, as that gets you Reckless Rage, which will keep you alive if something manages to knock you to 0 HP.

If you want to go for the Rogue build focused around Grappling (which basically locks down a single priority target but deals less damage), I'd recommend Barbarian 11, Rogue 1, as that gets you Expertise. Make sure to pick up Tavern Brawler, which allows you to grapple as a bonus action after attacking. You'd have to use Finesse weapons, which isn't a big deal since the Rapier does the same damage as non-finesse alternatives. You'd deal less damage but you'll have more options in combat.

Lastly, you could easily pick up Polearm Master and Great Weapon Master and do just as well without any kind of multiclassing. With Reckless Attack, you could afford to reduce your accuracy from GWM for the bonus damage fairly often and get a massive boost in damage from it. If you're going this route, don't bother multiclassing at all, and just hit that level 12 for additional stats or those extra feats.

[Nosta]

@ Man_Over_Game

I am partial to Pole-arms

what Race should i choose

and how should i Set up my ASI/ Feats?

As a little more insight this character is for a magic the gathering theme game and i am playing a Green/Red/Black Character

[GlenSmash!]

I agree that with Champion, it's better to be more Barb, with Battlemaster, more Fighter is better.

There's just way too much symmetry with these two classes, most any combo can work.

Absolutely.


Actually after looking Bear Totem over I think I want to make that my main class

Sorry i'm still use to 3.5 and pf so multi-class Combinations that made sense Back them, I'd assume do not Apply here

is any of the following viable

Totem (Bear) Barbarian X Fighter ? Oh yes. All the way up to Barb 16/Fighter 4, though to start out Barb 5-6/Fighter 3-4 is better to shoot for.



Totem (Bear) Barbarian X Ranger ? This one is a bit tougher. You can't cast spells or concentrate on the while raging however Ranger does get you some out of combat utility. It can work. You would almost become a switch hitter, laying traps and concentrating on Hunter's Mark right up until you lose concentration, then go into a rage and be a standard Barbarian.

Here is a recent thread on how a High strength ranger could work. That will have the most synergy with a Barb. http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?571097-Would-you-play-a-STR-based-Ranger



Totem (Bear) Barbarian X Rogue ? Surprisingly good. You can wield a rapier using strength to get rage damage, Reckless Attack, and sneak attack all at once. Using a rogue's Expertise for Athletics will make you one of the best shovers and grapplers in the game. Also combining resistance from rage with Uncanny dodge will get you reducing damage to 1/4 of what it would be otherwise. Barb 15/Rogue 5 and Barb 5/Rogue 15 are both very popular.


and if so how many of each class should i take? The strength and weakness of the Barb class is it takes very few levels to feel like a Barbarian. You can rage and reckless attack and you feel like a monster. If starting in the class it's almost always best to stay until level 5 before multiclassing since delaying extra attack will feel like a sever gimp. If going to 5 it's a choice of do you want another subclass feature before multiclassing. For a Totem warrior I probably wouldn't as their level 6 abilities while flavorful are not necessities. for a Berserker I would always go to 6 as Mindless rage is fantastic. Likewise ancestral Guardian I think 6 is a good call. On a Zealot I could take or leave 6 equally. It's nice and useful but not a must have. I forget what Storm Heralds get, because I was never that impressed with them.

Overall head to 5 or 6 then grab your dip in another class, then decide whether to invest more levels in Barbarian.

[Man_Over_Game]

@ Man_Over_Game

I am partial to Pole-arms

what Race should i choose

and how should i Set up my ASI/ Feats?

As a little more insight this character is for a magic the gathering theme game and i am playing a Green/Red/Black Character

Barbarian naturally covers Green/Red for aggression. The Reckless Attack (Bonus to hit at the cost of defense) falls in line with Black's philosophy of worthwhile sacrifice.

For ASI/Feats...It'd really depend on what your stats are.

Sentinel + Great Weapon Fighter + Polearm Master is easily the strongest combination of feats in the game, and is probably the strongest build for a strength-based character. As long as your Strength and your Constitution are both 16+, you can probably afford to spend all of your feat options on those three. The combination effectively means that enemies that get within 10 feet are poked with your spear, stopped before they can reach you and pretty much have to end their turn without attacking, you can approach them and hit them with GWM +10 damage and the butt end strike as a bonus action for a third attack each turn. It's a really stupid combination that is the source of a lot of controversy over what's considered overpowered and whatnot.

Since you're going to be level 12 Barbarian, I'd definitely say this is the strongest route to go. As for Race, Half Orc has too many synergies to pass up. If you were level 11 or less as Barbarian, I'd recommend Variant Human for the extra feat, but you don't need it as a level 12.

[Xihirli]

@ Man_Over_Game

I am partial to Pole-arms

what Race should i choose

and how should i Set up my ASI/ Feats?

As a little more insight this character is for a magic the gathering theme game and i am playing a Green/Red/Black Character

If you want to go Polearm I'd suggest full barbarian.
PAM feat gives you a consistent third attack since after you rage you don't have much use for your bonus action.
Reckless Attack and Rage both get better with every attack you've got. Get to the biggest Rage damage boost and highest amount of Rages you can get is my advice.

[Nosta]

ok I need a bit more help

we get 7,500 Gp to start and we can buy any item of rare or less rarity (Except potions, He said go nuts and buy any potion we ca afford)

I plan on using a halberd and having Breastplate for armor

[Lonely Tylenol]

I’d say it really depends heavily on the type of character you want to play.

If you’re looking to feel strong as a Fighter, and you’re starting in tier 3, there’s no reason not to start with at least 11 levels of Fighter. It gets you your third attack, which is a major improvement over two attacks for doing Fighter stuff. With a bonus action attack, this’ll get you to four attacks in a round. Then, I’d take a single level in Barbarian, to get Rage (the core Barbarian feature). I’d probably only take Barbarian to three levels with this build, then build Fighter the rest of the way (YMMV on whether another ASI is worth losing another Action Surge and Indomitable use per rest, but I’d still wait on the Barbarian ASI until the very end, because leveling Fighter first advances Fighter features). Since this path only takes Barbarian up to the first subclass feature, just take whatever one you want the most. Bear and Wolf Totem are both popular entry features, but if you want Frenzy or a Xanathar’s feature, you do you.

If you want to be more Barbarian-heavy, I’d probably start Barbarian 9/Champion 3, with the Barbarian subclass of your choosing. Battlemaster wants levels because of how the die size scales, but this combination gets you Brutal Critical and Improved Critical out of the box. Whether you want to level Barbarian or Fighter from here is up to you, but I’d wager it depends on the Barbarian subclass for me.