WF Barbarian DR

[parvo]

I had great sucess in permadeath play with my WF Paladin who maxed DR/Admantine. He hit level ten with zero deaths. I've allways wanted to play a Barbarian so I rolled up a pure WF Barb. I put the Mithril Body feat on him. I used a shield most of the time but found my AC wasn't really good enough and the DR from being a barbarian wasn't cutting it. He seemed to allways take a beating in most fights and he died at level four. So I re-rolled him with first level splash Fighter. That gave me access to Admantine body feat, Tower shields and better AC. I can get the "standing DR" (DR/admantine) higher than a straight Barbarian. Seems like all positive so far.

Does the heavy armor hurt any Barbarian skills or abilities at higher levels? I know the armor check penalties for normal skills, but I'm wondering about higher level abilities.

[Mad_Bombardier]

Does the heavy armor hurt any Barbarian skills or abilities at higher levels? I know the armor check penalties for normal skills, but I'm wondering about higher level abilities.

It *should*, but I can't say that it does. I say *should* because of the implications during the Evasion correction. Devs implied that, in the future, they would be linking other class abilities to armor types/restrictions.

The SRD strangely does not mention Raging in Heavy Armor, but does say that Fast Movement only works in none, light, or medium armor and not with heavy load.

[parvo]

It *should*, but I can't say that it does. I say *should* because of the implications during the Evasion correction. Devs implied that, in the future, they would be linking other class abilities to armor types/restrictions.

The SRD strangely does not mention Raging in Heavy Armor, but does say that Fast Movement only works in none, light, or medium armor and not with heavy load.

I'm all for balance and I agree it should. But I'm not the DM and Turbine doesn't really have a clue or clear direction of what they want for balance. My observation is it doesn't negatively affect any of my Barbarian's current abilities. Including run speed.

[Shade]

Does not stack at all. Main reason I think WF make poor barbarians, loss of a main racial ability.

Pure barb gets DR5/- at lv114, which is superior to DR5/Adamantine.. And no losses suffered due to multiclass. Can be enhanced to DR7/-, WF DR can be enhanced to DR8/adamantine, but the cost to do so is incredibly high it will gimp your characater. And if you got a pocket Wiz, you can have DR10/Adamantine all the time anyways, with no feats/enhancements wasted.

Also note it doesnt stack with ANY dr. No different sources stack. You can get DR5/- from a few places, Pure barb, Warchanter lvl6 buff, Platemail of the giants (Tempest spine) or Stonemeld Plate (Plane of Night)