1. - Top - End - #1
    Ogre in the Playground
    Join Date
    Nov 2011

    Default [PF] Anger Management: A Pathfinder Guide to the Barbarian

    Edit: I have heard rumors of a barbarian rage that improves ranged attacks called the Savage Technologist. It isn't on the SRD at the time of this writing (9/13/14), so I'm not taking down the rest of the "No archery!" section yet. Bloodrager stuff will be added slowly.
    Edit (1/11/13): After some deep soul-searching, I would prefer if you would consider any reference to an "Archery Barbarian" as purely facetious. I will try to remove them as time permits.
    Addendum: Added a bonus section on why you shouldn't play an "Archer Barbarian."


    “When angry, count to four. When very angry, swear.”
    -Mark Twain

    As part of an ongoing process to bring Pathfinder guides to classes that don't have them, here is an attempt at a comprehensive Barbarian guide, including content from the Core Rulebook, APG, UM (when applicable), and UC.

    When reading this guide, please keep the Standard Pathfinder Optimization Color Guide in mind:

    Red - A poor choice. You have limited resources to create your character; nine times out of ten you'll regret this.
    Orange - Situational choice. You'll get some mileage out of this option, but there might be something better you could have had instead.
    Green - Good choice. Most of the time, this choice will be useful.
    Blue - Excellent choice. Probably the best option. You can't go wrong with Blue!


    What is a Barbarian?



    -Your average Barbarian

    A Barbarian can fill a very limited number of roles in a party, but is almost always an incredibly handsome, high-damage melee character, with a caveat: If you played a Barbarian in 3.5 (especially one that utilized sources like the excellent Being Bane: A Guide to Cracking Small Men), you'll be doing significantly less damage in Pathfinder than in 3.5. Why? Well, traditional sources of damage multiplication such as Leap Attack+Shock Trooper are absent from Pathfinder, as well as almost all methods of obtaining Pounce (a Full Attack on a charge). Most Pathfinder Barbarians are not going to be doing hundreds of damage per round, especially at low levels. In this way, Pathfinder was a significant nerf to the Barbarian. Pathfinder Barbarians serve a slightly different purpose: Though they will contribute a significant amount of damage in a fight, they also can bring utility in their rage powers - mostly 1/rage abilities with a variety of purposes. We'll get into rage powers more a little later.

    Besides melee damage and limited combat utility, Barbarians have a few options. Ranged Barbarians can be decent, usually by throwing large objects at people; Archery is a terrible choice for most Barbarians. Mounted Barbarians can put out some incredible damage, but need the Mounted Fury Archetype and are dependent on being in an open field to maneuver their mount. Pure lockdown builds have problems with most lockdown-style rage powers being once a rage. Grappling Barbarians have the same problems as normal grapple builds - eventually everything's CMD is ridiculous because of size, BAB, and absurd Str and Dex modifiers - and then Freedom of Movement comes along; besides Tetori Monk, there's no RAW way to deal with it; it can be fun before that, though. There's a number of feats to create some sort of Drunken Barbarian, which, though the flavor is cool, require you to sit around and drink during battle to achieve your minor bonuses. Unless your DM just lets you stagger around drunk all the time with no penalties, skip these options.

    Let's review the important points:

    • Barbarians are a class that specializes in doing damage.
    • Pathfinder Barbarians do not have the raw power of a 3.5 Barbarian, but bring limited combat utility through rage powers.
    • Barbarians are incredibly, incredibly handsome.


    Stats


    -BARBARIANS DO NOT CARE FOR YOUR STATISTICS, PUNY SPREADSHEET MONKEY

    Barbarian statistics are fairly easy to quantify

    Strength - It makes you smash things harder and more often. What else do you need?
    Dexterity - Helps with initiative, AC, Reflex saves and a few useful skills. Becomes more important with Combat Reflexes builds, but Initiative is the main reason to invest
    Constitution - HP is good, but you've already got a D12 hit die and good Fortitude save. You're aiming for a 15 in Con so that you qualify for Raging Vitality.
    Intelligence - Eh. You get 4+INT skills/level; throw your favored class bonus in here if you want more skills.
    Wisdom - Helps with Perception checks, but more importantly: You have a bad Will save. If you get Dominated, you'll be ripping the faces off your friends instead of your foes.
    Charisma - Though it's not as good an option as in 3.5, there are some nice Intimidate-based feat chains out there. Unfortunately, not everything can be intimidated. If you're building around Intimidate, this can be useful. Otherwise, dump it. BARBARIAN NO NEED SOCIAL SKILLS. BARBARIAN HAVE SMASHING GOOD MANNERS.

    Races


    -Two Human Barbarians

    Core Races
    Spoiler
    Show
    -Dwarf - Not bad. They've got slow speed, but Barbarian gives you that right back. Bonuses to two secondary stats (Con and Wis) with a penalty to a dump stat (Cha). +2 on saves against spells is great. Favored Class bonus is decent.
    -Elf - Bleagh. Penalty to Con, bonus to Dex and Int? Favored Class bonus is terribad.
    -Gnome - Penalty to Str and small weapons. Pass unless you're going mounted and want to run around on a medium animal.
    -Half Elf - Floating +2 can go straight to Strength. Drop Skill Focus for Exotic Weapon Proficiency using Ancestral Arms. If you end up multiclassing, Multitalented is nice.
    -Halfling - Same as the gnome. Don't even think about it unless you're going mounted; between the two, I'd probably pick Halfling for the bonus to saves and mount-related Alternate Racial features.
    -Half-Orc - Floating +2 to Str. Orc Ferocity isn't bad, nor is the bonus to intimidate. Chain Fighter isn't bad as an Alternate Racial feature. If you don't mind giving up Orc Ferocity, Toothy and Sacred Tattoo are both nice.
    -Human - Floating +2 to Str. Free feat and bonus skills? Yes, please. As if it couldn't get any better, take a look at Heart of the Fields: "Humans born in rural areas are used to hard labor. They gain a bonus equal to half their character level to any one Craft or Profession skill, and once per day they may ignore an effect that would cause them to become fatigued or exhausted. This racial trait replaces the skilled racial trait." Your rage fatigues you, and can't be entered into while fatigued; very nice for a low-level Barbarian.


    Monster PC Races:
    -Talk with your DM before using one of these races; some may not be appropriate for all campaign settings.

    Spoiler
    Show
    -Aasimar - Nothing bad, but nothing great.
    -Catfolk - Penalty to Wisdom hurts, but there's nothing especially bad. The big bonus they got through the Advanced Race Guide was a feat chain for Pounce, but you already get that through a Rage Power.
    -Changeling - Constitution penalty is a little annoying, but +1 on melee damage rolls, natural AC, and a claw are all nice.
    -Dhampir - Barbarian Vampire? Only useful if the party healer channels negative energy. Penalty to Con, making it harder to sit on the front line.
    -Drow - Notice I said Drow and not Noble Drow. Another +2 Dex, +2 Cha, -2 Con race. Spell resistance is mostly there to be an annoyance when the Wizard tries to buff you.
    -Drow Noble - Not dignifying this with a color. It's both significantly more powerful than the other Monster races and gives you little in return. The DM should shake his head in shame if you ask to play this.
    -Duergar - Enlarge Person 1/day is great, Invisibility is game-breaking at low levels, and they're immune to Paralysis, Poison, and Phantasms. It's a big Charisma penalty, so don't expect to be Intimidating much. Light Sensitivity is annoying.
    -Fetchling - The resistances are nice, but you're not getting much in return. Disguise Self 1/day is useful for RP, but then how are people going to see your bulging muscles?
    -Gillman- You're getting nothing to become a slave of DM-controlled forces. Skip.
    -Goblin - Mostly for mounted builds. There's the Feral Gnasher archetype, which is decent, and the Roll With It and Ankle Biter Feats for fun.
    -Grippli - Climb speed does not make up for being Small with a Strength penalty.
    -Hobgoblin - Not bad. +4 on Stealth? Weeeeeee! If you DM allows the Hobgoblin War Draught from the Advanced Race Guide (and you have a reliable source of it), these guys jump to good to excellent, as they can rage-cycle earlier than any of the other races listed here.
    -Ifrit - Oh goody, your Charisma score is treated as two higher for Sorcerer class abilities! Skip.
    -Kobold - -4 to Str. Skip.
    -Merfolk - Great in an underwater campaign, but 5ft. base land speed hurts.
    -Orc - Sexy bonus to Str, and it gets Ferocity.
    -Oread - Bonus to Str and Wis, penalty to Cha. You can do better, but you can definitely do worse.
    -Ratfolk - Penalty to Str and Small. We've seen this before.
    -Strix - You're only here for one reason: Fly speed of 60ft.
    -Suli - Str bonus, free Shock weapon and resistance to most energy types/5? Sign me up.
    -Svirfneblin - It's got some nice spell-like abilities, but it doesn't make up for Small with a Str penalty.
    -Sylph - If you want Feather Fall, play a Strix. They've got actual feathers!
    -Tengu - The bite is nice, as is the Wisdom bonus. Gets proficiency with a few decent exotic weapons. Plus, you can speak lots of languages! Insult everyone in a way unique to their own cultural heritage.
    -Tiefling - Bonuses to things you don't need, penalties to things you don't need. There's a massive table of Alternate Racial features from Pathfinder 25: The Bastards of Erebus that you'd need to clear up with a DM first. Qlippoth-Spawn and Oni-Spawn stand out as good choices. Most of the random table is great.
    -Undine - Penalty to Str, nothing you need. Moving on...
    -Vanara - Nothing bad, nothing good.
    -Vishkanya - The poison is interesting. Hard to optimize around without about 6 levels of Alchemist for poison as a Swift action.

    Races of the Dragon Empires
    -Kitsune - Vulpine Pounce is ok, but it comes way too late to save this Str penalty race.
    -Nagaji - You're here for the Strength and natural armor bonuses.
    -Samsaran - Nothing you need, plus a penalty to Constitution!
    -Wayang - It's...it's...a small race without a Strength penalty! Still not that great for a regular Barbarian, but a holy grail for a Mounted one.


    Psionic Races

    -Talk with your DM before using these races. These are Third Party races released by Dreamscarred Press, not Paizo. Also, they may not be appropriate for all campaign settings.

    Spoiler
    Show
    -Blue - Sing it with me! I know you know the words! Penalty to Str and Small sized.
    -Dromite - Natural Armor is nice, as is scent, but you can pick up scent with a rage power. Penalty to Str and small size.
    -Duergar (Psionic) - Not to be confused with the previously explained Duergar. They're like a standard Dwarf, only they get Expansion 1/day as a psi-like ability and Wild Talent.
    -Elan - Floating +2 to Str, Wild Talent, and the ability to boost saving throws or gain temporary HP. Plus, you can burn PP to not need to eat! More time spent smashing people!
    -Half-Giant - Big weapons, bonus to Str and Wis, and Wild Talent. And Stomp. Hard to go wrong with a Half-Giant Barbarian.
    -Maenad - Floating +2 to Str, their own mini-rage, a bonus to Barbarian rage, Wild Talent, and they can shout so hard it hurts you.
    -Ophiduan - The bite's great, as is Wild talent and the AC boost.
    -Xeph - Penalty to Str. Not Small. They can make themselves really fast. Yay?


    Class Features


    -Barbarians have class

    • Alignment must be non-lawful - Most people don't prestige/multiclass in Pathfinder, but this restricts your access to multiclassing into Paladin and Monk. Lawful people sometimes don't want you to smash things.
    • D12 Hit Dice - Best in the game!
    • 4+INT skill points / level - Not bad. Skills aren't your focus, but at least you're not the Fighter with a piddly 2+INT skills/level. I'll talk more about skills later.
    • Full BAB - Best in the game. Makes you hit accurately and frequently.
    • Good Fortitude save, poor Reflex and Will - Your Fortitude saves should be off the charts with the benefits of rage. Poor Reflex hurts against traps and casters, but you should be putting a few points in Dex anyway. Rage helps with Will, but you should be putting something decent in Wisdom to help prop up your poor Will save.
    • Weapon and Armor Proficiency - All martial weapons and up to medium armor. Assuming you're not a Dwarf, try getting mithral armor so you can wear medium armor without the penalty to speed.
    • Fast Movement - Not bad. Helps reduce the amount of time spent not hitting people.
    • Rage, Greater Rage, Mighty Rage - If there was a color above Blue, I would use it. This is your bread-and-butter ability as a Barbarian, allowing you to hit harder, take blows, and shrug off negative effects. Watch your usage though - it makes you fatigued afterwards. More on that later.
    • Rage Powers - Bonus abilities you can use only when raging. Rage powers, truth be told, range from Red to Blue. We'll discuss them in more detail later.
    • Uncanny Dodge/Improved Uncanny Dodge - Being unflankable makes it harder for cowardly Rogues to bring you down. Also helps against invisible foes.
    • Trap Sense - Eh. Helps offset your low Reflex save, but it's nothing to write home about. Most groups I've played with rarely (if ever) use traps. YMMV.
    • Damage Reduction - By the time you get it, it's almost worthless, unless you dive into hordes of 1 HD enemies all the time.
    • Indomitable Will - Again, by the time you get it, you're not going to notice it that much.
    • Tireless Rage - Entering and leaving a rage are both free actions, meaning your rage powers can now be used a ridiculous number of times a day.


    To be completed:

    Stats
    Races
    Class Features
    Natural Weapons/Manufactured Weapons

    Rage powers
    Skills
    Feats
    Equipment
    Example builds
    -Core only
    -Crit-fisher
    -Mounted
    Archetypes

    Comments, suggestions, builds, and feedback always appreciated.
    Last edited by Novawurmson; 2014-09-13 at 09:35 AM.
    Tier System for Classes | Why Each Class is in its Tier
    PF Optimization Guides Compendium | Extended Signature (Optimization/Conversion/Homebrew)


    Quote Originally Posted by CTrees View Post
    Knowledge (local) being trained only, and not a class skill for many classes, means that your average human may well not be able to identify other humans! This may explain the exceptional quantity of half-human hybrids.