Questions about a Warforged Barbarian

[Grayvin]

I've been thinking about making a Warforged barb for some time now,
what I want to know is should I take the armor feat. Also is the healing
enhancement line worth the APs, and whats a good name for a
warforged barb?

[Pfamily]

AC? Bah...don't bother. Use your feats/enhancements/APs to increase your damage output. IMO the mithril skin looks better than composite, so if that's worth the feat to you then go for it.

As far as healer's friend, IMO one rank is worth while but APs needed to get more are a bit too steep to consider, and you may even drop that one rank at later levels. Clerics are used to WF being a challenge to heal, but if you befriend an arcane caster and carry a stack of repair/reconstruct scolls to share if he/she doesn't have the spells you'll be a'ight.

Remember the golden rule for barbs: do unto others before they do unto you.

A name? How 'bout Fred?

[Kaervas]

I've been thinking about making a Warforged barb for some time time now,
what I want to know is should take the armor feat. Also is the healing
enhancement line worth the APs?

Armor feat - no.

Healer's Friend - rank 1 is mandatory for pretty much any warforged, take it.
Rank 2 and 3 offer horrible returns for vastly increased AP cost and you won't be able to fit them in your final enhancement layout.
(Rank 1 = 15% for 2 AP, rank 2 = +5% for 4 AP, rank 3 = +5% for 6 AP)

Be ready to chug a lot of repair pots and pass repair wands (and at higher levels, Reconstruct scrolls) to party arcane casters, until your healing amp brings you close to or above 100% divine healing.
I was almost considering temporarily taking Healer's Friend rank 2 and 3 until I got all the amp gear, but that 10 AP cost for 10% increased divine healing is just way too harsh.

[eulogy098]

Do not take any armor or DR feats.

Take at least 1 rank of healer friend, it is worth it.



Recomended Feats in order:


1. Two Hand Fighting

3. Power Attack

6. Cleave

9. Improved Critical Slashing

12. Improved Two Hand Fighting

15. Greater Two Hand Fighting

18. Toughness or Stunning blow



Also can recommend taking imp THF at 6 instead of cleave, and getting frenzy later. Reason being is that Frenzy is often more painfull than its worth at low levels. Which would look like-

1 THF
3 PA
6 Imp THF
9 Imp Crit
12 Cleave
15 GTHF
18 Tough/SB

[sephiroth1084]

Do not take any armor or DR feats.

Take at least 1 rank of healer friend, it is worth it.



Recomended Feats in order:


1. Two Hand Fighting

3. Power Attack

6. Cleave

9. Improved Critical Slashing

12. Improved Two Hand Fighting

15. Greater Two Hand Fighting

18. Toughness or Stunning blow



Also can recommend taking imp THF at 6 instead of cleave, and getting frenzy later. Reason being is that Frenzy is often more painfull than its worth at low levels. Which would look like-

1 THF
3 PA
6 Imp THF
9 Imp Crit
12 Cleave
15 GTHF
18 Tough/SB

Read the first feat layout and was about to hit "Quote" when I read the follow-up. +1 rep for anticipating exactly what I was going to say!

For a barbarian name, I'd say go with something either funny or violent-sounding. Or something simple that reflects the nature of the barbarian. Shade's barbarian name is Axer. My barbarian's name is Ferrumdermis (Iron Skin). One of my guildie's barb's is named Zexxi Mofo.

Don't get too serious or etymological; barbarians can't read and write anyway!

[Grayvin]

Thanks for replies and suggestions guys, one question
about the feat order above, why take stunning blow so late?

[eulogy098]

Thanks for replies and suggestions guys, one question
about the feat order above, why take stunning blow so late?

Taken so late simply because all of the other feats will increase your dps more so than stunning blow will. On top of that- your STR wont be so crazy high until late game, which is when stunning blow becomes more reliable.

That said, i wouldn't call it a sin to work it in sooner, but generally speaking i wouldn't get stunning blow at all until you have a metric ton of hp (to swap for toughness) or- more ideally- have crafted a Mineral2 great axe (to swap with improved crit)

[lolwatboomer]

Taken so late simply because all of the other feats will increase your dps more so than stunning blow will. On top of that- your STR wont be so crazy high until late game, which is when stunning blow becomes more reliable.

That said, i wouldn't call it a sin to work it in sooner, but generally speaking i wouldn't get stunning blow at all until you have a metric ton of hp (to swap for toughness) or- more ideally- have crafted a Mineral2 great axe (to swap with improved crit)

I wouldn't recommend swapping out improved crit, UNLESS of course you're dead set on just using a min 2 weapon. Ditching toughness (and taking stunning blow) on a wf barb who will already have boatloads of hp would be the better choice... allows you to use litstrike and more specialized weapons.

Either way, I would still highly recommend taking stunning blow and finding a weighted 5% maul. DC 50+ ftw.

[sephiroth1084]

Thanks for replies and suggestions guys, one question
about the feat order above, why take stunning blow so late?

I took it early on my barbarian and am finding that most of the time it's been pretty unnecessary by level 11 simply because you kill monsters so quickly.If you stun something, it is likely dead in one or two hits. If you don't stun something, it is likely dead in 3 or 4 hits.

Later on, when monsters start requiring 5, 10, 15 licks to the to the center of their tootsie roll pop, the ability to halve (or more) the number of hits it takes is more valuable.

[tihocan]

whats a good name for a
warforged barb?

Barbforged woud be quite original.

[Grayvin]

Taken so late simply because all of the other feats will increase your dps more so than stunning blow will. On top of that- your STR wont be so crazy high until late game, which is when stunning blow becomes more reliable.

That said, i wouldn't call it a sin to work it in sooner, but generally speaking i wouldn't get stunning blow at all until you have a metric ton of hp (to swap for toughness) or- more ideally- have crafted a Mineral2 great axe (to swap with improved crit)

Yeah, I saw this to be true when playing him yesterday. Btw I chose the name,
Mortality, I thought it fitting for someone who flips out and kills people.

[unbongwah]

Just to go against the grain: I recommend taking Adamantine Body at level 1, then use your free feat-swap to trade it for, say, Toughness or THF when it's no longer useful. People often forget that +6 AC and DR 3 actually does make a difference when you're starting out. :-)