PHB2 In Play: The Barbarian

The barbarian comes raging right out of the pages onto your gaming table. Introducing…your new candidate for point and err, charge play! It’s not at all a bad thing though. I think the game needs a mix of classes in terms of ease of play. At Game Day, we had a player who was completely new. We gave him the barbarian, which was perfect. The barbarian can dish out disgusting damage, can take hits, and is overall very forgiving of all but the most blundering of tactical misplays.

The barbarian also has a “soft” side. Ok, not soft, but a more skill-based build. If playing a rageblood barbarian is all about maxing out big charges and the followup damage, then the thaneborn barbarian is involved in leading those raging barbarians into battle, buffing and debuffing to give your troops maximal advantage while dealing out solid damage of your own.

Rageblood

Like I’ve hinted at, using Rageblood Vigor is pretty simple. Hit a target, just about any target. Beat it down into the ground and charge into your next foe. Whereas the Avenger finds positioning and target selection to be of utmost importance, the rageblood barbarian cares much much less about such divine mundanities. A well designed barbarian is going to deal out heinous damage to anything it hits, so it’s really your job to make sure the rageblood barbarian is maximized for doing just that. you’re looking to keep your attack rolls high and max your [W]. Static bonuses are nice when you can get them, but I would choose [W] over a static bonus unless the bonus was inhumanly high. Using a maul, for instance, I’d be averaging around 7 per [W]. Most static damage bonuses are hardpressed to overtake that. Fortunately you shouldn’t often be forced to make that deal very often. You can use feat bonuses to supplement your powers, and that’s that.

Since you want to max your [W], picking the right weapon is your first priority. What gets my blood raging?

• Execution Axe –1d12 + high crit + brutal 2. Ouch. A good pick.
• Falchion –whenever possible I try to roll as many dice as possible. Accurate weapon and high crit. Slick.
• Fullblade –accurate weapon, 1d12. Solid choice, but you’re going to have to give up a feat to get it.
• Mordenkrad –more dice! Not great accuracy, but 2d6 with the possibility to reroll 1s is nice damage. Worth the feat you spend to get it.

You can get the non-superior equivalents of these weapons, but I would say that it’s worth the feat to get them early from level 1.

Most of the feats you want choose themselves for you. You want Weapon Expertise, Weapon Focus, Powerful Charge and Defensive Mobility. Avoid Power Attack and Rising Fury (Weapon Focus will do more over the course of battle unless all you fight are minions).

You’ve got your weapon, now charge!

Rageblood Powers

The avenger has a lot of overlap between builds. The barbarian’s two builds are very different. I’ll split up the powers based on class feature selection.

• Avalanche Strike –what, do you want to live forever? You’re not playing the barbarian because you don’t want to get hit. Put yourself on the edge and deliver pain.
• Blood Strike — chances are either you or the hapless victim you’re raging against are bloodied. getting the 1[W] shouldn’t be hard to get.
• Combat Surge –I suck at rolling dice! Re-roll please. Thanks.
• Black Dragon Rage — I’m so awesome! I’m so awesome you can’t even see how awesome I am because you’re BLINDED by how awesome I am. At least you won’t have to see what I’m about to do to you….
• Oak Hammer Rage — I said stay down. Stay down! Now that you’re down, let me beat on you some more. Isn’t this fun? Don’t get up! Ok, now you can get up. You’re dead?

Thaneborn

The thaneborn is the coolest barbarian build. You swap raw power for some leader/controller-esque abilities. The rageblood barbarian is a bit self-absorbed, but his charismatic companion is much more of a team player. The Thaneborn barbarian is a savage warlord charging into the battle with a roar, ripping into…minions.

Yup, minions. Minions give you the absolute best bang for buck. One shot = one kill = virtual combat advantage against every target in burst 5 courtesy of Thaneborn Triumph, or an even larger burst with Improved Roar of Triumph (just take this if you’re Thaneborn). -2 to all defenses, on every enemy in a huge burst? It’s even better than combat advantage because it stacks with combat advantage. An ally who gets combat advantage after your triumph gets, effectively, a +4 to hit. All for one crunchy minion. The only downside is your allies making fun of you for all that fuss over one minion. “You killed a minion…great! Now keep it down. Stop roaring! You’re giving me a headache.”  The downside to this is that it’s once an encounter. Bummer, but you can use it to set your whole party to go nova on the opposition in one fell swoop.  Your controller will absolutely love you when  you trigger this.

Bloodying an enemy triggers the other half of your Thaneborn ability, giving yourself or an ally a temporary attack bonus. This is harder to coordinate unless your GM tells you how many hit points monsters have. Take that when you can get it, but otherwise…cull the weak! Take out the weakest enemies quickly and your buddies will thank you.

Your powers are doing less damage than the Rageblood, but your weapon selection will look similar. Static bonuses will be better for you as you’ll do less [W]. Focus on debuffs and movement so you can get to the targets you want to be hitting.

Thaneborn Powers

• Vault the Fallen –hit two creatures, shifting your Charisma modifier in-between attacks. Low damage, but clutch ability.
• Swift Panther Rage –more movement! Shifting 2 spaces as a move action is pretty awesome.
• Shatterbone Strike –ok damage and a big debuff to an enemy’s AC. Useful against hard to hit creatures. Land this and let your allies pile in.
• Vengeful Storm Rage –3 lightning isn’t impressive, but it auto-kills minions. Cull the weak, remember?
• Loss of Will –pure flavor. “What do you think that is going to against me? Drop. Your. Blade.”

The Obvious Build

Nalla, Goliath Rageblood Barbarian/Frenzied Bezerker.

He’s huge.  He hits opponents very hard with his execution axe.  Pick what you want to kill, watch your HP.  Charge. Rinse. Repeat.  It’s  a simple and effective build.

The Interesting Build

Kairon, Tiefling Thaneborn Barbarian/Fighter/Fearbringer Thane.

Kairon dips into fighter to abuse the Double Sword in conjuction with his Thanebringer powers.  He adds Rain of Blows to his repertoire for pure shredding damage, but otherwise focuses on moving through the battlefield and tagging up multiple targets.  The tiefling thaneborn has a cluster of great synergies going.  Thaneborn Advance lets him drop a foe then shift 4 squares as a free action, and then use Roar of Triumph. By dropping the foe, all opponents within 9 squares get a -2 defense, then you use an action point the foe you shifted next too, giving all opponents who can see you a -2 to attack rolls. Shred your guy with Rain of Blows, and if you can bloody him, the next person to hit him gets a +4 to the attack roll.

The Thaneborn Barbarian, as you can see, is like a striker warlord, with explosions of buffs and debuffs to aid the party.

Similar Posts:

•      Paladin Power Pack #2: Challenges
•      PHB2 In Play: The Avenger
•      Characters with Character: Kzalit’ka’mara, Githzerai Barbarian