DEX or WIS?

[geezee]

Thinking of rolling a 32 point human barb. 18 STR, 16 CON, and 14 DEX or WIS. Power attack, GTHF, IC, and stunning blow. Very similar to Maldini.

It seems to me that it's better to put the points in to WIS, in order to have a decent Will save end-game, as it's possible for a barb to get a much higher Will save than reflex. Plus so many of the devastating spells have Will saves. DEX will be too low to have a decent AC either way with my 2 hander.

So howcome so many barbs take DEX instead of WIS?

Thx for the input.

[tihocan]

On a typical DPS barb, definitely Wisdom. Though you don't really need to bump it much since your will saves should be decent when raged.

[Hanam]

I'd go 12 dex. With madstone boots on all the time, you can get 16 dex which is a +3 bonus so +5 mithral FP has max AC potential. or you can do 11 dex and eat a +1 tome or something.

[geezee]

The +3 Bonus from mithral FP will bring my AC to 25 or so, instead of 23. Can that possibly be more useful than +3 to will saves?

[Snike]

If you plan on bothering with AC, DEX. But I think many Barbs realize that at higher levels it's a mute point to try and get AC and go for saves.

11+ quests, unless you can get above 40 AC don't bother.

[geezee]

Ok thanks guys, you've confirmed my suspicions. I noticed that Maldini took DEX, and no one in that big thread ever mentioned the possibility of taking WIS instead. I guess there are a lot of players who assume that barbarians are supposed to have only physical stats. I'll be taking WIS 'cause I don't like armor anyway...

Tha Geez

[Samadhi]

Go Int for extra skill points!

[Mad_Bombardier]

Go INT for extra skill points!Silly Samadhi. Barbs already get 4 skill points per level (and only 3 class skills, excluding Swim :p).

[Shade]

I did 12 dex 10 wis.

Wouldnt go 8 in either. At least 10 dex so you can get the best AC outa mithral fullplate. either thru +1 tome and +5 dex item or otherwise..

Tho 12 dex makes that easier to do, as well as help reflex which is actually the lowest barbarian save except when u get ur uncanny dodge up.

Both important anyways, 10-12 dex is fine. Rest in wis.

Wouldn't bother much with int for skillpoints on a barb, you get a base of 4 anyways, so -1 for 8 int, and +1 for human = 4, which is tons for a melee class.
Main skills are Jump, Spot or Listen (recommend spot) and Balance. Thats only 3 really. So you get a bonus one for being human, like UMD or Swim.

Nothing else important to a barb. Intimidate class skill but really requires too much investment in CHA, items, etc to get to a good lvl, and unneassary for a high dps/low ac class.

[Hanam]

There are times when a Barbarian needs to turtle up. I can basically be untouchable by physical attacks for 20-30 seconds and get scratched if I don't use uncanny dodge and the Damage Reduction action boost. I'm 51 AC near a paladin. With only a +3 protection item. Now if i had a +5 protection item, chattering ring, and a rangers barkskin, things would be even better. Though I wouldn't roll for the chattering ring if a Real tank needed it. For example, I'd only use it for special occasions whereas a Sword and board tank would use it most likely 100% of the time.

Anyways, I'm not sure who is filling Barbarians minds up about AC not being important. Oh, and I am completely Two-Handed Fighting based.