Non-Pure Barbarians

[Rufio]

So, I draft a lot of builds, and I can say that I have never found a good reason to go with a multiclassed barbarian aside from a few novelty builds. I am curious what other people think about the subject. Pure barbarians are just fine.

the normal rage becomes obsolete once you are able to hit the ability score cap with other buffs. Terrifying rage is interesting, but not worth investing 15 levels to get by itself. Mighty rage is nice since it just adds straight ab and doesn't have an ac penalty, but 20 barbarian, 21 str and 21 con is a huge investment for what it is. The damage thundering rage adds is so small that it isn't even worth the spending the feat. The speed bonus doesn't stack with haste. Uncanny dodge is nice, but barbarian doesn't lend itself to being a dexer or ac tank, so it doesn't matter. The damage reduction is hardly anything without a lot of levels. Did I mention the normal rage is pointless once you can buff to the ability cap?

In pnp and low magic servers rage is a great ab boost with a downside, but that just doesn't translate here. I'd like to see rage give a small ab boost, say +1 for normal rage and +2 for greater rage. Some of the strength bonus could be removed if that imbalances low level combat. Also, it would be nice to see terrifying rage cause an ac decrease too. For the most part, -2 ab and saves to enemies isn't that useful to a barbarian that already has a low ac and few means to assault saves. Thundering rage could also use a damage boost.

[Bargeld]

The only time I've ever multiclassed a barb was for less than 20 lvls. 12 hp, barb DR, weapon/shield prof, and rage is nice if u die.

[Daral0085]

You can nearly get that much with another class like fighter. d10 hp, weapon/shield prof and a mountain of bonus feats on top. In exchange for 2-3 points of DR and 2 HP/level, you get 1 feat/2 levels.

[Sohjin]

I'll add a disclaimer, it's been awhile since I played on NS4 so not sure how up to date I am or how viable it still is.

One of my favourite builds for levelling before the last wipe (partly because we levelled as a themed group) was a 25 Barb / 10 RDD / 5 Bard hogre. This got me all the rages and used the RDD for the stat boosts to make this less painful elsewhere. Bard was to open up RDD and for tumble.

He hit pretty hard and terrifying rage was pretty good if I remember until about lvl 35 when I started to struggle. Probably on reflection this was more to do with my inexperience as a builder and the NS4 world at the time. I had intended to rebuild him this time round before other things stopped me playing regularly.

Sohjin

[Rufio]

They can be good at low levels as-is because you aren't running into the +12 ability cap yet and there are some things with lower hit die than you that can be feared for real rather than "shaken" or whatever it does to equal or greater hit die enemies.

[Tru3Fals3]

the only use i can think of atm is if you need uncanny dodge from a class with full bab.

mixes ok with rdd but its mostly novelty builds, which are generally better when using a different class.

would be cool if it worked with dwd but even then not real great.

[Daltian]

If barbarian had haste while raging no matter if he was pure I am sure we would be seing more multiclass barbarians.

[VagaStorm]

I think there would be alot more lots of barb/fight/pally multicalsses if bonuses where given for lots of lvls and not for actualy beeing pure....

[Rufio]

There are a lot of uses for fighters and paladins in multiclass builds as-is. Having a full bab class is important if you want to hit things well. Fighter gets a ton of feats that can allow for even more min-maxing, and paladin gets save boosts, divine feats, and some nice spells. Those things can be a benefit to any multiclass build.

As for barbarians, i think uncanny dodge is one of the more overrated abilities. If you play smart you shouldn't be flatfooted very often at all, and even if you are flatfooted, you still lose dodge and tumble ac, which accounts for 13+ ac on most high ac builds, so you will likely be easy to hit anyways.

[Rufio]

Oh, I love the idea of giving all barbarians with enough levels haste while raging. I know everyone wants a source of haste without needing blinding speed or the haste spell that is accessible even to strength builds.

[mining]

I agree with that. Rage = Haste wouldn't be broken at all if it required a decent investment. The only problem is the aforementioned bard/barb/rdd builds - you can surely get mid-high 70s str based AB on those, with haste that would be fairly 'oh wow' given as you can probably roll at something around 70 AC with a little work. Maybe call for 26 barbarian to make it hard to get the 'tenth level' bonus.

[BlkMamba]

rage haste is at 30 lvl's of barb anyhow, so barb/bard/rdd wouldnt have it anyway

[OpalimTeGolim]

The only problem is the aforementioned bard/barb/rdd builds - you can surely get mid-high 70s str based AB on those, with haste that would be fairly 'oh wow' given as you can probably roll at something around 70 AC with a little work.

You mean, it would be almost like pure pally, but without the ability to heal itself?

P.S.
Can I has barbs in MA plizzzzz?

[mining]

The only problem is the aforementioned bard/barb/rdd builds - you can surely get mid-high 70s str based AB on those, with haste that would be fairly 'oh wow' given as you can probably roll at something around 70 AC with a little work.

You mean, it would be almost like pure pally, but without the ability to heal itself?

P.S.
Can I has barbs in MA plizzzzz?

I am are don't understand. Only dex based paladins have haste?

[OpalimTeGolim]

They are has divine dmg bonus and some self buffs and hit like train, and like two trains if you are is evil.

So yeah... almost like str based toons.