Warchon
2021-12-11, 11:27 PM
I'm making a 4 legged barbarian. This is a low-op group so I don't need to make something overwhelming, but I haven't played a full BAB class before and want to be sure I'm doing the barb justice.
My group has three characters with some amount of spellcasting but no fullcaster, so I wanted to provide some kind of insurance against magic users, especially since our primary foes so far have been the minions of high level mages.
This is also a Cohort gained through Leadership, so I did want to put in a decent amount of optimization since he'll be at least two levels below the party at all times.
And yes, while not quite home brew, the DM has explicitly approved to give a monster race PC class levels and come up with stat adjustments rather than using the standard stat block.
The animal already exists in game so his background is not malleable. He was tortured and possibly killed multiple times by mages, and the goblin tribe be belonged to was wiped out before the party adopted him.
Moon Moon
Race: Goblin Dog
Stat adjustments: CON +2, WIS +2, CHA -2
Adjusted stats: Str 17 Dex 14 Con 16 Int 8 Wis 13 Cha 6
Traits: Trade Camel (Projectile Vomit attack. Terrible action economy, but way too appropriate to pass up for an animal who explicitly eats only rotting meat. Should make for good roleplay!)
Auspicious Tattoo (He's been branded by the bad guys we're chasing, and a will save bonus on a Barbarian is an easy yes)
Since he won't be able to wield most weapons, the DM has also allowed him to trade in all the weapon proficiencies and instead get Unarmed Strike advancement as a Brawler, but if somebody wants to try a similar build and isn't given the same grace, the Brawler Rage Power accomplishes the same thing, or you can make do with armor spikes or similar unusual weaponry.
On to the build! 20 levels of Invulnerable Rager
L1: Step Up (5 foot step as an immediate action if somebody tries to 5-foot step out of melee range)
L2: Lesser Beast Totem (Adds 2 Claw attacks while raging)
L3: Lesser Abyssal Blood (Adding 2 more Claw attacks may be feasible on a quadruped, but in my case the DM gave him horns and a Gore attack instead. Frankly I would have taken this rage power even with no effect, since I want what it's a prereq for.)
L4: Superstition (The save bonuses are double edged, but his purpose is mage killer.) The ability point obviously goes into Strength.
L5: Multiattack (This is where he becomes a blender. Unarmed Strikes are still just ok, but moving his 4 natural attacks (Bite, Claw, Claw, Gore) from a -5 to a -2 makes his full attack pretty scary.)
L6: Abyssal Blood (Enlarged while raging? His main purpose is to threaten casters and now he has reach. This is indispensable since as a non humanoid he's not normally a valid target for the spell.)
L7: Combat Reflexes (Goading the fighter to provoke AoO and then casting with impunity is no longer going to cut it.)
L8: Beast Totem (that Natural Armor bonus is going to help. His AC will already be suffering because the amulet slot is reserved for Mighty Fists. This is probably beyond necessary.)
L9: Raging Vitality (Barbarians at this level essentially die at 0hp. That's brutal and you *need* to do something about it.
L10: Greater Beast Totem (At this point his full attack is six swings. Doing that on a charge is a straight up death sentence.)
L11: Eater of Magic (Even without the temporary hp, getting a reroll on a crucial save is well worth a feat.)
That's the build so far. This goes seven levels beyond where the party is at now so I'm not too worried about building all the way to 18 yet.
Obviously a saves cloak, Mighty Fists, and a strength belt--maybe even Physical Perfection are top priority magic items, but as a Cohort he'll always be fairly cash poor. I'm not worried about Rage/Day since this is an RP heavy campaign and we often go weeks between fights. The 15 minute adventuring day is our norm.
So what do you think? I feel like this little dude should be a decent threat once he's ticked off but I want to hear from the other players here.
My group has three characters with some amount of spellcasting but no fullcaster, so I wanted to provide some kind of insurance against magic users, especially since our primary foes so far have been the minions of high level mages.
This is also a Cohort gained through Leadership, so I did want to put in a decent amount of optimization since he'll be at least two levels below the party at all times.
And yes, while not quite home brew, the DM has explicitly approved to give a monster race PC class levels and come up with stat adjustments rather than using the standard stat block.
The animal already exists in game so his background is not malleable. He was tortured and possibly killed multiple times by mages, and the goblin tribe be belonged to was wiped out before the party adopted him.
Moon Moon
Race: Goblin Dog
Stat adjustments: CON +2, WIS +2, CHA -2
Adjusted stats: Str 17 Dex 14 Con 16 Int 8 Wis 13 Cha 6
Traits: Trade Camel (Projectile Vomit attack. Terrible action economy, but way too appropriate to pass up for an animal who explicitly eats only rotting meat. Should make for good roleplay!)
Auspicious Tattoo (He's been branded by the bad guys we're chasing, and a will save bonus on a Barbarian is an easy yes)
Since he won't be able to wield most weapons, the DM has also allowed him to trade in all the weapon proficiencies and instead get Unarmed Strike advancement as a Brawler, but if somebody wants to try a similar build and isn't given the same grace, the Brawler Rage Power accomplishes the same thing, or you can make do with armor spikes or similar unusual weaponry.
On to the build! 20 levels of Invulnerable Rager
L1: Step Up (5 foot step as an immediate action if somebody tries to 5-foot step out of melee range)
L2: Lesser Beast Totem (Adds 2 Claw attacks while raging)
L3: Lesser Abyssal Blood (Adding 2 more Claw attacks may be feasible on a quadruped, but in my case the DM gave him horns and a Gore attack instead. Frankly I would have taken this rage power even with no effect, since I want what it's a prereq for.)
L4: Superstition (The save bonuses are double edged, but his purpose is mage killer.) The ability point obviously goes into Strength.
L5: Multiattack (This is where he becomes a blender. Unarmed Strikes are still just ok, but moving his 4 natural attacks (Bite, Claw, Claw, Gore) from a -5 to a -2 makes his full attack pretty scary.)
L6: Abyssal Blood (Enlarged while raging? His main purpose is to threaten casters and now he has reach. This is indispensable since as a non humanoid he's not normally a valid target for the spell.)
L7: Combat Reflexes (Goading the fighter to provoke AoO and then casting with impunity is no longer going to cut it.)
L8: Beast Totem (that Natural Armor bonus is going to help. His AC will already be suffering because the amulet slot is reserved for Mighty Fists. This is probably beyond necessary.)
L9: Raging Vitality (Barbarians at this level essentially die at 0hp. That's brutal and you *need* to do something about it.
L10: Greater Beast Totem (At this point his full attack is six swings. Doing that on a charge is a straight up death sentence.)
L11: Eater of Magic (Even without the temporary hp, getting a reroll on a crucial save is well worth a feat.)
That's the build so far. This goes seven levels beyond where the party is at now so I'm not too worried about building all the way to 18 yet.
Obviously a saves cloak, Mighty Fists, and a strength belt--maybe even Physical Perfection are top priority magic items, but as a Cohort he'll always be fairly cash poor. I'm not worried about Rage/Day since this is an RP heavy campaign and we often go weeks between fights. The 15 minute adventuring day is our norm.
So what do you think? I feel like this little dude should be a decent threat once he's ticked off but I want to hear from the other players here.