HPAC - Uber Dwarf Barbarian Build?

[Justicesar]

I had a friend that ran this build and he had fun with it but soon was left wanting for more dps. So....scads of raid loot later and many Siber shards later he revamped him for the DPS and crapped his pant on how much damage a Barb could really do. Because of some flaws in stats he ended up rerolling. Thats all I can say about mega HP barb cause all I run is the typical DPS style that is a bit cookie cutter but has a few twinks here and there that make hin mine.

[Mhykke]

When I play my cleric, here's my opinions on barbs:

If they're stone cold killers, I don't care if they're AC's are in the negatives. If they're slaughtering mobs, they just need some attention here and there, and quests fly by, b/c mobs are just turned into jelly.

If, however, they have tons of hit points, and are just sitting on one mob swinging and swinging at it, taking damage over and over, and takes forever to kill the mob, that's when I know the quest is going to be brutal. That barb can soak up a quarter of a cleric's mana on 1 mob.

If you're a barb, try and kill things quick.

[Amabel]

OP - I think you've got the gist of what people think and I must say I pretty much agree with the consensus on your proposed build, however, a barbarian can be a fun tank, and can rock at it up until at least lvl 10, so don't completely give up on the build if you're attracted to it. Besides, it'd be nice to see a few more non-min/maxed builds rolling around.

I had a character a long time ago that was a barbarian intimidating tank and he was very, very survivable and great fun to level, especially in those rare groups where people appreciate that having one person take most of the agro is a highly efficient way of fighting. (Casters, clerics and rogues will all love you, other barbs will just think they're "uber" because they're quadrupling your kill count and never getting hit. Generally only more experienced and open-minded players truly appreciate the role of the intimitank.)

For a 28 point build take dwarf. Start with 16 STR, 16 DEX and 15 CON. Be true neutral so you can use a stability item for +2 AC and saves (they sell very cheaply). Level ups into strength.

For your feats take: shield mastery (1), improved shield bash (3), toughness (6) and improved shield mastery (9). I'd seriously contemplate making lvl 8 a level of fighter for heavy armour proficiency, tower shield proficiency and an extra feat (improved crit.). That would also give you a 15% stackable melee alacrity enhancement, for when you need to up the DPS.

For enhancements, take what you like but include dwarven shield mastery.

You'll be almost un-killable through the earlier levels. And the best part is, if you find yourself being less efficient as you get to higher levels you can respec the feats (albeit with some hassle). You'd also have high enough DEX to re-spec to a TWF with just a +1 DEX tome.

Frankly, you don't even need to go as defensive with the build as I've outlined above. You do not need to min/max to tank at the lower levels and I'd probably drop shield mastery for THF or TWF and not bother with improved shield mastery. That way you'd only have improved shield bash to spec out for power attack if you decided to respec later into a killing machine.

You also don't need so many toughness feats. Dwarves of any class have a boat load of hit points and barbarians have a ludicrous amount. Build for a decent AC and damage reduction and you'll be able to tank your way to gianthold.

Just some thoughts.

[bigj1608]

I just said this on another post but I absolutely hate barbs that can't kill ****... I don't care if you have 1500 hp... if another 500 hp barb likes to rage with max str and kill fast he'll save me sp as a cleric.. it is a wasted slot in the party.. example:

gianthold tor: 3 barbs, barbs 1 and 2 have about 500 hp raged. barb 3 uses madstone shield and has 600 hp, but doesn't rage, his str is 24 he says.. the other two have more than 40 str.. barbs 1 and 2 kill the giants within 4-5 swings, excellent damage and giants only swing at them once, twice at most.. I never had to heal them.. their stoneskins never ran out, and they killed everything within 3 seconds hasted. however, barb number 3 took at least 10 seconds to kill one giant and he got hurt a lot..

sacrificing dps for hp is a waste unless you are an intimitank