About the barbarian:)

[Yanni]

Hi to you all!

Im going to play a neutral allignment character and im going to give him the war hammer that puts your strenght to 25 or something like that. So what do you suggest. pure fighter or a barbarian?I really would like to try the barbarian, but is he good, does he have a stronghold?
Then i think im going to make him wear two weapons,so what do you rhink, two war hammers or a war hammer and something else?

Thanks

[Helspanth]

The barbarian is ok.
He gets the fighter stronghold.
I suggest playing a berseker/fighter kit.
As for weapons aside from the Crom Feyr there aren't any great warhammers in SoA so I advice against using only hammers.Try flails!

[Tim Tam]

Depends on whether you have ToB as well. Barbarians get Rage innate ability which increases their Str and Con by 4 points for 5 rounds. At the end of ToB you'll have 10 of these per day. With the Hell Tears done you'll have 25 Str and Con for 50 rounds per day naturally. Thats with ToB of course though. If you only have SoA then Crom Faeyr and Flail of Ages rock, or Two Handed Swords and 25 Str and 23 Con will do for most of the game. It sucks to be stuck with the Crom Faeyr as your weapon for so long for the 25 Str it gives. Rage and use any weapon you want with 25 Str.

Barbarians greatest features are their huge HP and ability to suck up damage (20% natural + 40% Hardiness). Although they can only wear up to chain armour, Aslyferund Chain is the best they can get right at the end of SoA (gives immunity to normal weapons too, great if you take the evil +2 to Con over Immunity later). In ToB you get White Dragon Scale, probably the best armour in the game, as Thieves retain their skills with it and Barbs can wear it.

Axe of Unyielding and Foebane are perfect for the Barbarian, again in ToB. I havent really played the Barbarian in SoA only, I always plan my characters for ToB.

If SoA only, then the beserker wins. His Enrage ability protects against more nasty enemy spells and abilities. I think its a bug also that it protects against level drain when its not supposed to. With that bug it beats Barbarians Rage, without it its a more even match. Barbs have more HP, beserker +15 HP comes close to making up for this. The +2 to hit and damage is nice, especially combined with Crom Faeyr as you wanted, can get more + THAC0 and damage than Barb.

[ 05-30-2002, 02:13 PM: Message edited by: Tim Tam ]

[Morgan_Corbesant]

actually, barbarians can wear ANY armor, aside from platemail, or full platemail. so splintmail is in too. buy splintmail+1 from ribald, and you are ready to hook. just get good weapons, a good shield, the helmet of balduron, etc (all easy to get) and you have one bad a** barbarian. personally, i dont like them though. i say go with a kensai, but that is just me, lol.

[Sir Exxon]

The Berserker is a good class/kit.
He is just as good as the normal Fighter, plus that he can throw himself into Enrage, a really good fighting-ability. He can also wear any armour. [img]smile.gif[/img]
The only real bad thing about him is that he cant specialize in ranged weapons, only be proficient.

As for the Warhammer-thingie, Crom Faeyr is the only rea good Warhammer out there, so I also advice against it. Try to put your profs in something else, like maybe Axe and Flail/Morningstar.

[Daniel]

Ok im playing a Half orc barbarian at the moment and out of all the chars I have played with this babies the best for shear killing power, he can quite happily single handedly go toe to toe with a Dragon and win [img]smile.gif[/img] on core rules. I'll give you the run down

Imunities: immune to backstab

Advanced movement rate: They move at double speed but unlike Monks they are still effected with haste spells so the boots of speed can effectivly double your speed again not bad in my book.

Hit Points: Barbs have the best HP in the game, d12 per lvl plus constitution bonus (half orc barbs can have 19 con). My barb is currently at lvl 23 and is on 225HP I still have 17 lvls before he is maxed out (note I have TOB)

Armour: Ok they cant wear any form of plate but who care's thats where the HP comes in handy and also the damge resistance they get as they level up, beside's there are still a lot of good suits of armour a barb can use, Black Dragon Scale and and the Bladesinger chain (If you get TOB then you can get the white dragon armour -2AC)

Barbarian rage:
Heres where they come into there own the rage adds +4 to you STR and CON (if you are a half orc with 19 str and con then you will have 23 on them), makes you immune to maze, charm, confussion hold fear and level drain. This makes if far superior to the bezerkers rage

Damage resistance:
At lvl 10 the barb gets +10% resistance from Slashing, crushing, Peircing and missile damage and a furthur 5% at lvl's 15 and 19 for a total of 20%

Here are the specs for the barbarian I rolled

STR: 19
DEX: 18
CON: 19
WIS: 10
INT: 12
CHR: 07

My equipment:

My weapons of choice are Crom Faeyr (the hammer you mentioned) and the Flail of ages +3 with the hammer the increase to your THAC0 is huge and easily beats a fighters of the same lvl

NOTE: on my char the hammer gives my a bonus of 10 to my thac0
1) from the hammers own thac0 bonus
2) from the STR bonus the hammer gives (STR affects Thaco)

well I think that just about sums up why Barbarians are good

[ 05-30-2002, 05:35 PM: Message edited by: Daniel ]

[Daniel]

wow I just worked it out, by the end of TOB I should have 278HP with my Barb certainly a record for me [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 05-30-2002, 11:35 PM: Message edited by: Daniel ]

[Tim Tam]

Daniel, you still think Barbarian Rage is better than Beserker Enrage?

A few comparisons for you:

Rage last 5 rounds, Enrage last 10 rounds.

Rage adds 4 to Str and Con, but you are using Crom Faeyr, so really all it does is add 4 to Con. A Beserker with 21 Con vs a Barbarian with 21 Con, Barbarian gets an extra 9 HP by going to 25 Con, Beserker gets an extra 15 HP from Enrage.

Both have 25 Str from Crom Faeyr, Beserker gets an extra +2 to hit and damage from Enrage, Rage adds nothing.

Barbarian loses 2 AC from Rage and loses 2 saves vs spells, Beserker gains 2 AC from Enrage.

Rage gives immunity to charm, hold, fear, maze, confusion and level drain. Enrage gives immunity to charm, hold, fear, maze, imprisonment, stun, sleep and level drain (doesnt say so in description, but it does).

Rage can be cast again when it wears off without waiting, but Enrage you have to wait while winded and lose 15 HP and 2 to hit and damage. This is the only downside to Enrage, but how many fights last longer than 10 rounds?

The only ways Barbarian Rage beats Beserker Enrage is if you arent using Crom Faeyr, or your fights last longer than 10 rounds.

Comparing Barbarian's other abilities to Beserker is a different thing altogether. The extra HP and 20% physical damage reduction are great for the Barbarian, they dont need to worry about not getting hit.

[Alisttair]

Plus the Barbarian has a faster movement, but that should hardly matter eventually since eventually everyone can have boots of speed, but it's still ok.

[Morgan_Corbesant]

yes, but the immunity to backstab is supurb.