Great-axe throwing barbarian [3.PF]

[WarKitty]

We are reincarnating an old character as a greataxe-throwing barbarian. The old character was human, so the new character must be as well. Starting at level 5. The greataxe portion is non-negotiable. All 3.5 and pathfinder material is in play. Stats are good (rolled, no negative mods, has a couple high ones) and can be rearranged.

So playground, what can we do?

[The Oakenshield]

Axethrower Feat? (It's from some FR book) Lets you use Str instead of Dex fro thrown attack rolls.

[CodeRed]

Throw Anything from Complete Warrior lets you throw *anything* (pretty to the point, right?) with a 10ft range increment. Couple this from Brutal Throw from the Complete Adventurer to swap STR for DEX to hit and you can throw a Greataxe. There's another feat after called Power Throw which is Power Attack for thrown weapons with Brutal Throw as a Pre-req.

Going to need at least a 15 DEX for Throw Anything but beyond that your pretty set. The only difficulty in throwing a Greataxe is getting it to return to you. The +1 Returning enchant will do it but it doesn't allow for iterative attacks.

If your allowed the Tome of Battle, take some Barb levels and instead of the feats listed above, take Martial Study and Martial Stance (or some warblade levels) to qualify for the amazing Bloodstorm Blade prestige class. It does everything you could want for throwing weapons; more power, returning, and eventually, full iterative attacks with a single thrown weapon or the ability to strike everyone in range with a single thrown weapon as one attack.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Warblade into Bloodstorm blade, basically treat all your ranged attacks as melee attacks, enabling you to use power attack and other normally melee tricks. I think you might even get to trip, bull rush, etc at range. And as plus all weapons you throw get the returning special ability for free.

If barbarian must be the class, I think you only need a one level dip into warblade to meet the pre-requisites.

[WarKitty]

Axethrower Feat? (It's from some FR book) Lets you use Str instead of Dex fro thrown attack rolls.

I always forget about regional and setting-specific stuff. We can't use regional feats or stuff that only applies to a particular setting.

Throw Anything from Complete Warrior lets you throw *anything* (pretty to the point, right?) with a 10ft range increment. Couple this from Brutal Throw from the Complete Adventurer to swap STR for DEX to hit and you can throw a Greataxe. There's another feat after called Power Throw which is Power Attack for thrown weapons with Brutal Throw as a Pre-req.

Going to need at least a 15 DEX for Throw Anything but beyond that your pretty set. The only difficulty in throwing a Greataxe is getting it to return to you. The +1 Returning enchant will do it but it doesn't allow for iterative attacks.

If your allowed the Tome of Battle, take some Barb levels and instead of the feats listed above, take Martial Study and Martial Stance (or some warblade levels) to qualify for the amazing Bloodstorm Blade prestige class. It does everything you could want for throwing weapons; more power, returning, and eventually, full iterative attacks with a single thrown weapon or the ability to strike everyone in range with a single thrown weapon as one attack.

We've got throw anything. I'll look at the strength swap. Thankfully we've figured with his stats we can probably carry like 20 of the things anyways. ToB is allowed but I'm not sure how much we want to figure it out; I'll talk to the player. (I was requested to help optimize)

[CodeRed]

Warblade into Bloodstorm blade, basically treat all your ranged attacks as melee attacks, enabling you to use power attack and other normally melee tricks. I think you might even get to trip, bull rush, etc at range. And as plus all weapons you throw get the returning special ability for free.

If barbarian must be the class, I think you only need a one level dip into warblade to meet the pre-requisites.

1. No trips, bull rushes, etc., just throwing attacks. However at later levels you get to throw your axe and have it hit multiple targets before returning and at lvl 10 in the class, target every enemy in range with a single attack from one thrown axe.
2. The returning part isn't free, it requires using up an Iron Heart maneuver.
3. Don't even need a single level in Warblade for the Pre-req's as long as you have the Martial Study feat. However, Warblade will get a lot more maneuvers to power the class abilities.

As to the carrying twenty axes part, I got a weird image in my head. I can see a big, burly human wandering around in golf clothes, including the stupid hat, carrying a golf bag full of axes. A demon is blocking your way? Cold Iron axe. Devil? Silvered is your friend for this shot.

[Reynard]

1. No trips, bull rushes, etc., just throwing attacks. However at later levels you get to throw your axe and have it hit multiple targets before returning and at lvl 10 in the class, target every enemy in range with a single attack from one thrown axe.

What about Powerful Build + Knockback?

[WarKitty]

What about Powerful Build + Knockback?

Only if there's a way around the half-giant thing.

[Reynard]

Goliath (Races of Stone), or a Human with that Jotenbruns feat? Not sure on the location of Jotenbrund. Or indeed on the spelling.

[WarKitty]

Goliath (Races of Stone), or a Human with that Jotenbruns feat? Not sure on the location of Jotenbrund. Or indeed on the spelling.

Unfortunately it has to be human, and regional feats are not in play.

[tahu88810]

Unfortunately it has to be human, and regional feats are not in play.

Believe there's a template you can grab for the powerful build. Unless that's out of the question, as well.

[Andion Isurand]

The Telekinetic Boomerang power from Races of the Wild can allow you to dribble your orc shotput greataxe against the enemy for a full attack.

[Dusk Eclipse]

That will tell me to quote books without checking first

[WarKitty]

Believe there's a template you can grab for the powerful build. Unless that's out of the question, as well.

Haven't been able to find it, unfortunately.

[Dusk Eclipse]

I think there is a template in pathfinder that just make you large, no more no less... probably a LA +1 I think...

[WarKitty]

While we're at it, is there any way to wield a two-handed weapon as a one-handed?

Might use monkey grip here if we can't swing powerful build, although a non-pisonic half-giant would probably be a PF LA +0 race.

[Coidzor]

No strongarm bracers? I don't believe there is a way to get a 2handed weapon down to one hand. There's a way to get a 2-handed weapon down to one mouth if one has a bite attack(Mouthpick weapon property), and a way to make an over-sized weapon that would have to be used in 2 hands be able to be used in 1 hand (monkeygrip/powerful build/strongarm bracers)...

[dgnslyr]

Hmm, since we're on the subject of optimizing throwing weapons, this may be noteworthy.

[WarKitty]

Hmm, since we're on the subject of optimizing throwing weapons, this may be noteworthy.

Not exactly your great-axe throwing barbarian figure.

[dgnslyr]

Just hoping it would give you some ideas, is all.

[Optimator]

Unfortunately it has to be human, and regional feats are not in play.

Even when the feat has nothing specifically to do with the setting or region?

[WarKitty]

Even when the feat has nothing specifically to do with the setting or region?

That is correct. I think it's as much a case of "I don't want to have to take any more books into account" on the DM's part.