Chuck the Barbarian (A build by request)

[sigtrent]

This build is from Sigtrent's build request thread

Build Name: Chuck the Barbarian
Author: Sigfried Trent
Requester: Redoubt
Last Updated: 06/10/10

Key Words [Ranged, Barbarian, Dwarf, Axe, Kensei, Throwing]

Objectives
The request made was for a non bard ranged DPS character. Since this was pre-arcane archer there were wider possibilities as to what could be decent ranged DPS. I ended up picking a dwarven axe throwing barbarian fighter. Having used dwarven throwers I've seen how much damage you can do, especially when holding a seeker 10 in the off hand. For the revision I wanted to make the character better able to switch to a decent Melee stance than the original, and I also wanted to take advantage of new tech to up that thrown axe damage just a bit more.

Design
Dwarf is key here for the axe damage bonus. Barbarian is there to crank up the damage potential and to provide fast running speed so the build can kite more effectively. Fighter provides feats and further bumps up the damage output in various ways. In addition to the feats driving the thrown weapon theme, I have a few aimed at boosting THF melee combat damage, and certainly the build can go axe and shield if it wants to turtle up. Hit points are strong so this build should have no trouble hanging in combat.

I wont claim DPS is top notch but it is in the "decent" category I think. Thrown weapons just don't attack that quickly, but the damage per hit is quite beefy, especially on crits. Two handed you can lay out some serious hurt although compared to Fenzy or Kensei THF builds you are not going to match up. I considered working in brutal throw, but due to the dex needed for IPS (19) it seemed like dex would be high enough to score hits. Certainly there is room to take the feat if it becomes needed.

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 3.34
DDO Character Planner Home Page

Level 20 Neutral Good Dwarf Male
(8 Fighter \ 12 Barbarian) 
Hit Points: 406
Spell Points: 0 
BAB: 20\20\25\30\30
Fortitude: 19
Reflex: 10
Will: 5

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(32 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 20)
Strength             17                    26
Dexterity            17                    19
Constitution         16                    20
Intelligence          8                     8
Wisdom                8                     8
Charisma              6                     6

Tomes Used
+2 Tome of Strength used at level 7
+2 Tome of Dexterity used at level 7
+2 Tome of Constitution used at level 7

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
                 Base Skills         Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)            (Level 20)
Balance               5                    18.5
Bluff                -2                    -1
Concentration         3                     6
Diplomacy            -2                    -1
Disable Device       n/a                   n/a
Haggle               -2                    -2
Heal                 -1                    -1
Hide                  3                     4
Intimidate           -2                    -1
Jump                  7                    31
Listen               -1                    -1
Move Silently         3                     4
Open Lock             n/a                   n/a
Perform              n/a                   n/a
Repair               -1                    -1
Search               -1                     1
Spot                  1                     3.5
Swim                  3                     8
Tumble                n/a                   n/a
Use Magic Device     n/a                   n/a

Level 1 (Barbarian)
Skill: Balance (+2)
Skill: Jump (+4)
Skill: Spot (+2)
Feat: (Selected) Quick Draw
Enhancement: Barbarian Damage Boost I
Enhancement: Barbarian Sprint Boost I
Enhancement: Dwarven Axe Damage I


Level 2 (Barbarian)
Skill: Balance (+0.5)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Spot (+0.5)
Enhancement: Barbarian Extend Rage I
Enhancement: Barbarian Extra Rage I
Enhancement: Dwarven Spell Defense I


Level 3 (Barbarian)
Skill: Balance (+0.5)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Spot (+0.5)
Feat: (Selected) Power Attack
Enhancement: Barbarian Hardy Rage I
Enhancement: Barbarian Power Attack I
Enhancement: Barbarian Power Rage I
Enhancement: Barbarian Constitution I


Level 4 (Barbarian)
Ability Raise: STR
Skill: Balance (+0.5)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Spot (+0.5)
Enhancement: Dwarven Axe Attack I
Enhancement: Dwarven Constitution I


Level 5 (Barbarian)
Skill: Balance (+0.5)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Spot (+0.5)
Enhancement: Barbarian Sprint Boost II
Enhancement: Barbarian Extend Rage II


Level 6 (Barbarian)
Skill: Balance (+0.5)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Spot (+0.5)
Feat: (Selected) Point Blank Shot
Enhancement: Barbarian Extra Rage II
Enhancement: Barbarian Power Rage II


Level 7 (Fighter)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Precise Shot
Enhancement: Fighter Attack Boost I
Enhancement: Fighter Haste Boost I
Enhancement: Fighter Critical Accuracy I


Level 8 (Fighter)
Ability Raise: STR
Skill: Jump (+1)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Improved Critical: Thrown Weapons
Enhancement: Dwarven Axe Damage II


Level 9 (Fighter)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Slashing Weapons
Enhancement: Barbarian Power Attack II
Enhancement: Fighter Strength I


Level 10 (Barbarian)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Enhancement: Dwarven Axe Attack II


Level 11 (Fighter)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Improved Precise Shot
Enhancement: Barbarian Hardy Rage II


Level 12 (Fighter)
Ability Raise: STR
Skill: Jump (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Weapon Focus: Thrown Weapons
Enhancement: Fighter Attack Boost II
Enhancement: Fighter Haste Boost II
Enhancement: Fighter Critical Accuracy II


Level 13 (Fighter)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Weapon Specialization: Thrown Weapons
Enhancement: Kensei Throwing Axe Mastery I
Enhancement: Fighter Kensei I


Level 14 (Barbarian)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Enhancement: Fighter Strength II


Level 15 (Barbarian)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Toughness
Enhancement: Barbarian Power Rage III
Enhancement: Barbarian Toughness I


Level 16 (Barbarian)
Ability Raise: STR
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Enhancement: Barbarian Extra Rage III


Level 17 (Barbarian)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Enhancement: Barbarian Sprint Boost III
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I


Level 18 (Barbarian)
Skill: Balance (+1)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Two Handed Fighting
Enhancement: Barbarian Power Rage IV


Level 19 (Fighter)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Enhancement: Fighter Haste Boost III


Level 20 (Fighter)
Ability Raise: STR
Skill: Jump (+1)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Improved Two Handed Fighting
Enhancement: Fighter Throwing Axe Specialization I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II
Enhancement: Barbarian Toughness II

Play
Having the strong thrown weapon profile gives this barbarian a bit more solo cred than most, although at end game the lack of specialization in melee is going to hurt a bit. Chuck should easily dominate most adventure areas or quests with lots of running space and he never runs out of ammunition. In low and mid levels you may want to try tanking up. The AC potential is pretty decent at lower levels. Once you get up into the 10+ range, its likely to become meaningless. For solo play fearsome may be a good pick since you don't need to chase down enemies.

Variations
Its a pretty easy build to re-configure by changing out feats. You could drop toughness for greater two handed fighting, or you could trop the THF feats for TWF feats to go dual axes. You could drop ranged feats and switch the others to great axe or dwarven axe and have a decent Melee. For 28pts you will need to lower str down, or lower dex and give up improved precise shot (which has a 19 dex requirement). Going that route you could dump dex pretty low and take the brutal throw feat.

[redoubt]

Cool. Completely not what I expected, but that is what makes it fun.

So, feats.... Why Quickdraw? What does precise shot do for a thrower? What does point blank do for a thrower?

Thanks!

[MrCow]

Why Quickdraw?

Faster throwing speed.

What does point blank do for a thrower?

Its required for Precise Shot.

What does precise shot do for a thrower?

Its required for Improved Precise Shot (so that you can eventually hit multiple things with a single axe toss).

[sigtrent]

Mr Cow has the answers...

Improved Precise shot is the goal of most of that. Basicaly when you throw your weapon it willl hit everything in a line from where you throw it allowing you to plow your axe through multiple targets and with all that str and improved crit it should rack up the damage pretty fast, amazing for kiting around a string of monsters or tossing into a thick mob.

Asside from quick draw (which acts a bit like rapid shot for thrown weapons) those are all feats a bow user would take as well. Bow would also want rapid shot instead of quick draw, as well as manyshot which lets them shoot multiple arrows per pull for a short time. Manyshot is the biggest advantage of the bow over thrown (it might have a somewhat faster rate of fire as well but I find them fairly similar on my characters.

I have a bard/barbarian dwarf who uses throwing axes (he doesn't have feats or much dex but it works pretty well anyway). He wasn't built for it but sometimes its just easier to plink stuff from a distance and its great fun when a throw weapon hits for 100+ pts of damage. I imagined on a character with the feats for it, especialy Improved Precise Shot it could really be a novel way to play.

[redoubt]

Thats' cool. I did not know that about quick draw. I also did not know that precise applied to throwers. That is pretty cool.

Seems the only thing missing is manyshot for a thrower...

[redoubt]

Okay, its certainly un-conventional, but its intriguing enough to give it a shot, but I'm concerned about weapon availability.

I went looking for returning throwing weapons. My server's markets is a little weak. Best stuff I found was +4 adamantine or +3 frost kind of stuff. No burst of pure good. No big 5 etc. (Very weak compared to the bow market.)

My guess is Chuck will be behind a bow user in dps. Do you agree, or is there some hidden damage in there I'm not seeing?

[sigtrent]

Okay, its certainly un-conventional, but its intriguing enough to give it a shot, but I'm concerned about weapon availability.

I went looking for returning throwing weapons. My server's markets is a little weak. Best stuff I found was +4 adamantine or +3 frost kind of stuff. No burst of pure good. No big 5 etc. (Very weak compared to the bow market.)

My guess is Chuck will be behind a bow user in dps. Do you agree, or is there some hidden damage in there I'm not seeing?

I do think Chuck would not have quite the DPS of a similar bow specialist for ranged combat. Partly due to the weapon selection which is smaller (and no greensteel at the moment), partly due to not having multi shot. The up side of this build is solid melee skills. I quickly plotted out the same basic build but with bow/elf or bow/human using ranger 2 barbarian 14. Elf comes out with better dps but less HP/saves/Ac and only one feat to use on any melee abbility (power attack most likely), also has a tad more strength (1 point). A human comes out a bit in between. Also up 1 str but HP about half way between, but has better healing. The human ends up with two discression feats (probably power attack and a single improved crit). A bit less damage than the elf although possibly higher burst damage with boosts.

Of course ranger builds are a different ball game.. there you end up wtih a bow / twf character and the racial differences are less pronounced, probably favoring dwarf as they can take toughness and the other races can't.

If you like I can work up any of those you like. I think the elf barbarian may be too one dimensional and squishy but the bow using human barbarian could work decently.

[redoubt]

Thanks Sigtrent. I had worked up a quick human 14 barb/1ranger/1fighter build that is posted in the "ranged barbarian" thread. But I'm very new to the barb rage buffs and didn't calculate how the damage etc would play out. I was looking forward to comparing notes with you, but the bow to thrower comparision "threw" me for a loop!

I do like the thrower concept, but I would be interested to see what you came up with bow-wise as well (if you feel like it.)

[sigtrent]

I do like the thrower concept, but I would be interested to see what you came up with bow-wise as well (if you feel like it.)

Will do. I'll do the human version.

[azandul]

outta curiosity how do yall feel about them adding the ability to dual wield throwing weapons like ya could in the pen and paper days.. maybe as a feat branching from two weapon fighting feat.