Barbarian Style Build Advice

[VolcanicErupt]

So I'm crafting a Barbarian style build and require advice, as the title suggests.

So far, I have Barbarian 3/Fighter 2/Berserk 3/ Warshaper 3.

I want to delve deeper into both prestige classes and cap them off, but need help finding good magic items & feats. I want to build a more barbaric character, less martial. So items that do things like help bullrush, trip, or disarm aren't what I'm going for. Maybe there is something with +0 LA that I can take so I can use Life Drinker? Maybe there are some really nice cleave-centric builds? I don't know, I don't have tons of knowledge in the game. I'm just looking for a cool and interesting thing to play since my last character just died.

[Railak]

Just curious how warshaper works with the build? And how you meet the prerequisite of having a change shape, polymorph, wild shape, etc?

[VolcanicErupt]

It's supposed to add melee edge to it. An extra 5 feet of reach, FH 2, the little things.

As for how it meets the prerequisites, my DM has allowed the Beast Shape feature of the Berserk to qualify for 'Wildshape or similar class feature'.

[Buufreak]

Forgive my ignorance, but what class is this berserk? Care to give a source?

[inuyasha]

Forgive my ignorance, but what class is this berserk? Care to give a source?

I could be totally wrong, and I don't have any books near me at this moment, but it may be a Prestige Class from the Norse section of Deities and Demigods? I remember something like that being in there.

[Kelb_Panthera]

It is, indeed, a deities and demigods prestige class.

It does have a small issue in that its primary feature, battle fury, shares the frenzied berserker's targetting problem; she can't just end the battle fury when she wants to and if she runs out of enemies she's got to keep attacking anyone in sight or even just random objects if she drops the lasts creature in sight before the fury ends. That is unless she makes a will save that, gets harder the longer the fury lasts, for each creature she doesn't want to attack.

OP, have you looked up the barbarian handbook here on the forum? IIRC, it has a section on gear.

[Railak]

I thought you were talking frenzied berserker, sorry. Wanting to be more barbarian, less martial? What about some of the rage feats, instantaneous rage, reckless rage, destructive rage, etc. They're in various books, but a good portion can be found in complete warrior.

[Buufreak]

Well, that just further confuses me, because it seems like a really subpar way of shoehorning warshaper. I'm also super confused what life drinker could offer to this.

That's my advice: don't look at life drinker again. If your character is already shackled by the LA of vampire, no amount of a casting (but not really) class is going to help a barbarian build.

[VolcanicErupt]

Okay, sorry for any confusion I've cost. And I don't know how to quote multiple replies, so I am just going to answer stuff from memory.

Yes, the Berserk is from Deities & Demigods. It is not meant solely as a way into Warshaper, that's just happy coincidence.

I didn't think of Rage feats, that's a blunder on my part. I'm going to look into those now.

Life Drinker isn't really supposed to add to the build, it's just the only magical great weapon that i saw that interested me. Mayhaps the handbook will help in that regard.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

I'll recommend Shifter as a race (descendants of werewolves and such), because it really fits the 'more wild, less martial' theme, automatically qualifies you for War Shaper, and has a fantastic feat by the name of Shifter Savagery that gives some fantastic bonuses while raging/frenzying and shifting.

There's a great guide for the race here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?225294-3-5-The-Shifter-Handbook-(WIP)).

[Kelb_Panthera]

Okay, sorry for any confusion I've cost. And I don't know how to quote multiple replies, so I am just going to answer stuff from memory.aw that interested me.

No problem, dude. There's 700+ classes. Can't expect anyone to remember them all.

There's two stylized quote marks at the bottom of each post. The one on the left will take you straight to the reply page with a quote of the post you clicked from. The one on the right marks the post for a multiquote and when you click the reply to thread button, they all appear in quote tags in the reply box.

[VolcanicErupt]

I'll recommend Shifter as a race (descendants of werewolves and such), because it really fits the 'more wild, less martial' theme, automatically qualifies you for War Shaper, and has a fantastic feat by the name of Shifter Savagery that gives some fantastic bonuses while raging/frenzying and shifting.

There's a great guide for the race here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?225294-3-5-The-Shifter-Handbook-(WIP)).

Thanks, I will look at that as well.


No problem, dude. There's 700+ classes. Can't expect anyone to remember them all.

There's two stylized quote marks at the bottom of each post. The one on the left will take you straight to the reply page with a quote of the post you clicked from. The one on the right marks the post for a multiquote and when you click the reply to thread button, they all appear in quote tags in the reply box.

Thank you for that, I needed it

[Buufreak]

Life Drinker isn't really supposed to add to the build, it's just the only magical great weapon that i saw that interested me. Mayhaps the handbook will help in that regard.

Vampiric. The word, or rather the weapon enchantment you are looking for is vampiric. Life drinker is a trash fire of a prestige class that only vampires can take.

[liquidformat]

So first off you should take endurance and Steadfast Determination; Steadfast Determination will shore-up your will save by adding con to it instead of will and let you not fail fort saves on a natural 1. You could also take Frozen Berserker and Blazing Berserker feats which will make you immune to fire and cold while raging. If you plan on spending any time in your alternate form from Berserker then getting wilding clasps for any gear you want to retain is important so is getting the enhancement on your armor to maintain it in alternate form.

If your dm lets your shifting ability from berserker count as wild shape for feat purposes taking both Primeval Wild Shape from frostburn and extra wild shape are both very smart ideas.

Shifter is a very cool and fun base race; however, it is really an all in or nothing choice and going all in is very feat intensive to get the full bang out of the race. With that said they have a lot of cool options like adding claws, bite attack with con damage, raging making your natural weapons a size larger, possibly getting scent and blind sight... I will say again to get the most out of them you really need to build with shifters as a focus and also have a dm that ignores the update that ruined weretouched master.

Finally, I would suggest taking a look at Fist of the Forest and Frost Rager they are both great PRCs that round out a shifting barbarian well. Fist of the Forest specifically adds con to AC gives you scent and a new type of raging that adds an extra bite attack to your arsenal.

[VolcanicErupt]

Here's a question: Does Alternate Form qualify for Warshaper?

[Kelb_Panthera]

Here's a question: Does Alternate Form qualify for Warshaper?

It explicitly does not. "The alternate form ability (possesed by quasits, vampires, and others) is insufficient to become a warshaper."

[Maat Mons]

What parts of the build you proposed appeal to you? Rage? Turning into an animal? Turning into an animal/human hybrid?

If all you want is rage and turning into an animal, you've got a few choices. Druidic Avenger gets rage and the ability to turn into an animal all in a single package. You can just take it from 1-20. Alternately, you could combine Barbarian with anything that lets you turn into an animal. Druid, Wild Monk, and that one Ranger variant all come to mind. There's also the Primeval PrC, but that could actually synergize with one of the other three.

I'm not normally that big a fan of LA, but if you're starting at 11th level, you could probably tolerate the +2 LA of afflicted lycanthrope. Actually, if your DM allows LA buyoff, that might even be good (relative to other non-casters).

If you wind up in a situation where you're normally medium, but your animal/hybrid form is large, you could try Warhulk.