Coming back after 26 years

[NOMster]

I was recently invited to join a party that's going to be using 3.5. Haven't played since the early 90's and I've done my best to sort through the ungodly amount of information available. I started here reading up on Barbarians since thats what i always played back in the day. I'm not familiar with all of the shorthand used, but I think I've put together a decent one for someone that's as far out of the loop as i am. I used heroforge anew to help me with the math, but i did find some errors in the calculations such as it didn't give me the +10 speed for barbarian. now, this may be way out of line, but is there anyone willing to look it over and tell me if I've made bad errors or missing something? note that herforge anew doesn't include UE (at least not the one i downloaded) and I'm using a lot from that,so i had to make adjustments.

I'm mostly just wanting to make sure I'm doing the feats, stats, skills, etc correctly. thanks if you can help and feel free to pile on my ignorance. I can't do attachements yet, but i'd be happy to send a link to the file in my onedrive if that's allowed.

thanks for any help or redirection you can give.

[Kayden Prynn]

I'll take a look.

[NOMster]

Thanks! PM sent.

[Ghen]

I'll volunteer for a second opinion, if you like.

[Telonius]

No problem, just let me know.

Barbarians are actually one of the classes that are generally recommended to "newer" players. There are a lot fewer decisions you have to make during play. The main thing is to be aware that you're going to have two basic combat calculations: one when you're raging, and one when you're not.

[NOMster]

Big thanks to the people that have helped here. I really appreciate it. A couple of the things that were caught made a big difference already.

[NOMster]

As many have done before I'm sure, Im making it a themed character. That theme is wolf. But I'm still working the details as we haven't started yet.

So for a barbarian there are a few different wolf options I can find
Lycanthropy
Wolf totem variant
Spirit totem wolf
Wolf berserker lodge


So to get the most out of it at 5th level and preparing for the future, what would be the best combo?

[Endarire]

The Lion Spirit Totem is one handy way to get Pounce, or a way to make a full attack at the end of a charge. This is very handy for a melee character.

[zfs]

Spirit Wolf is unfortunately quite mediocre - an added +2 to flanking, a +2 bonus on Survival checks, and Track as a bonus feat in exchange for fast movement and 1 point of DR.

The standard Wolf Totem is more reasonable, and the Berserker Lodge gives you another bump to tripping - if you're going to go for a tripping build, maybe as well grab both.

Have you picked a race yet? Shifter from Eberron works well with Barbarian, already give you some partial lycanthrope flavor, and you can qualify for the Weretouched Master prestige class, which will make you even more like an actual lycanthrope. If your DM is nice, he may even let you use the pre-errata version of the class, which will let you become the full hybrid Werewolf form. (And since pre-errata Werewolf isn't really broken, it should be an easier argument to make)

Edit: If you want to be a Human, you can take the Primeval prestige class and get a Dire Wolf form.

[NOMster]

Spirit Wolf is unfortunately quite mediocre - an added +2 to flanking, a +2 bonus on Survival checks, and Track as a bonus feat in exchange for fast movement and 1 point of DR.

The standard Wolf Totem is more reasonable, and the Berserker Lodge gives you another bump to tripping - if you're going to go for a tripping build, maybe as well grab both.

Have you picked a race yet? Shifter from Eberron works well with Barbarian, already give you some partial lycanthrope flavor, and you can qualify for the Weretouched Master prestige class, which will make you even more like an actual lycanthrope. If your DM is nice, he may even let you use the pre-errata version of the class, which will let you become the full hybrid Werewolf form. (And since pre-errata Werewolf isn't really broken, it should be an easier argument to make)

Edit: If you want to be a Human, you can take the Primeval prestige class and get a Dire Wolf form.

Yeah the wolf spirit totem is garbage. I didn't know about the shifters. That is pretty perfect. Even makes the back story better. Thanks. Although it does limit the feats a little. But the shifter feats are pretty good too.

[Troacctid]

I think Spirit Wolf Totem is fine. That extra +2 to hit is a +4 damage with Power Attack. Nothing wrong with that. Good wholesome stat boost. And you can combine it with the Wolf Totem too.

An exotic weapon you might be interested in is the ritiik, from Frostburn. When you hit with it, you can impale the target on it to get a free trip attempt if they fail a Reflex save.

The Wild Cohort (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a) feat gives you a wolf companion.

[lolcat]

In case you want to read up on some wider options: http://www.ruleofcool.com/smf/index.php?topic=651.0

[NOMster]

Thanks again everybody. All these tips have really helped out.

[NOMster]

Okay so i've kind of got an idea about it now but i still have ac couple more questions. Keep in mind i do not plan to dip anything. I may PrC to Weretouched Master or Runescarred Berserker, but otherwise I'll be staying a Barb all the way.

is Devil's luck or Streetfighter the better option to replace DR? (or is something else better when i get to that level anyway)

Since I'm playing a shifter with Natural Attack (still not sure if Longtooth or Razorclaw), would it be worth it to take City Brawler? i don't plan to wear armor or shields anyway but i don't know how Improved Unarmed Strike and TWF (when unarmed) would work with Natural Attack

last one: is Dashing Step, Trapkiller, or Spell Sense the best to replace Trapsense in actual play?


Heres the 2 options i had in mind



Longtooth shifter Babarian 5

ACFs
Lion Totem for pounce
City Brawler
(Dashing Step, Trapkiller, or Spell Sense)
Trade Ride out for Tumble

Skill Tricks
Nimble Charge
Twisted Charge
Extreme Leap (not sure if necessary)

Feats
Wolf Berserker Lodge
Longtooth Elite or Improved Natural Attack


or...

Razorclaw Shifter Barbarian 5

ACFs
Roof-Dweller
City Brawler
(Dashing Step, Trapkiller, or Spell Sense)
Trade Ride out for Tumble

Skill Tricks
Nimble Charge
Twisted Charge
Extreme Leap (not sure if necessary)

Feats
Wolf Berserker lodge
Razorclaw elite or Improved Natural Attack

abilities after racial adjustments

STR 18
DEX 18
CON 17
INT 15
WIS 15
CHA 14




But I'm not sure if those choices work together in actual play. what say you oh wise ones?

[Malroth]

People are reccomending Barbarian as a starting character, I strongly disagree. Martial characters require much more system mastery and splat book diving than Casters do and require lots of dedicated commitment and out of character research to make any concept work. If you are 100% dead set on being a barbarian then this forum can indeed help you create one that would function well in the hands of one who understand all it's mechanics. If you simply want an easy to play character however, I would strongly reccomend The Beguiler, the Warmage or the Dread Necromancer, All of them are Spontaneous Fixed list casters who Automaticly gain everything they need to perform a complete party role even with the worst possible feat and gear selection.

[NOMster]

Thanks but I'm pretty solid on playing a Barb at least to get back in. The party is going to have 2 other melee based characters and the rest will be casters of some sort. My role will be as the berserkers in Rashamen. Give the ground troops hell while the magic people do their thing.

[zfs]

I definitely think Trapkiller is the best ACF of those three, especially if your party otherwise lacks a trapfinding character. But it's thematic as hell. How else would a brutish barbarian shifter deal with puny traps? SMASH THEM!

For feats, if you go longtooth, I'd definitely start with Longtooth Elite. Free Con damage is always a good thing. INA is obviously good, but one issue is that it won't stack with Shifter Savagery, which is almost certainly going to be your 6th level feat. Of course, it can be worth it to have both, because Shifter Savagery only takes effect when you're raging and shifting, where INA works all the time. Of course with City Brawler you'd pick up INA for free.

I think Twisting Charge should stack with the ability from Streetfighter to let you make two turns during a charge, but that may not be the case. Do you expect to be on difficult terrain a lot to need Nimble Charge? I'd say you don't need Extreme Leap.

Also, did you guys have a high point buy or did you just have killer stat rolls?

[NOMster]

I definitely think Trapkiller is the best ACF of those three, especially if your party otherwise lacks a trapfinding character. But it's thematic as hell. How else would a brutish barbarian shifter deal with puny traps? SMASH THEM!

For feats, if you go longtooth, I'd definitely start with Longtooth Elite. Free Con damage is always a good thing. INA is obviously good, but one issue is that it won't stack with Shifter Savagery, which is almost certainly going to be your 6th level feat. Of course, it can be worth it to have both, because Shifter Savagery only takes effect when you're raging and shifting, where INA works all the time. Of course with City Brawler you'd pick up INA for free.

I think Twisting Charge should stack with the ability from Streetfighter to let you make two turns during a charge, but that may not be the case. Do you expect to be on difficult terrain a lot to need Nimble Charge? I'd say you don't need Extreme Leap.

Also, did you guys have a high point buy or did you just have killer stat rolls?


Thanks for all the input.
We will have a rogue. That's why I was thinking of doing something else besides trapkiller. But it could still be handy.
Any other skill tricks you'd recommend in place of those?
Stats were 4d6 reroll 1s and 2s, drop the lowest per DM.

[NOMster]

I think I'm all set now on character options. i will have to take 1 level of ranger so i can go ahead into weretouched master at 5.
now any equipment suggestions?

I've got 8100 gp to spend on whatever. don't plan to wear armor.

[Vizzerdrix]

I think I'm all set now on character options. i will have to take 1 level of ranger so i can go ahead into weretouched master at 5.
now any equipment suggestions?

I've got 8100 gp to spend on whatever. don't plan to wear armor.

A few healing belts from Magic Item Compendium are always handy. I tend to get 3 and just swap them out through the day.

If you have a good wisdom, you may want to grab some shapesand from the book Sandstorm as well. Amazing stuff.