# Good Multiclass options for a Barbarian



## jarlaxlecq (Jun 3, 2004)

I have a newly minted Lvl 1 Half Orc Barbarian. At this stage in the game hes going to be the party's muscle (other members include a halfling Rogue and a human Monk) I'm thinking of going just straight barb, however i was wondering if anyone could suggest a couple of good multiclass builds with a Barbarian, both core and PrC.

Thanks


----------



## TracerBullet42 (Jun 3, 2004)

Well, I like the way the barbarian and ranger class mix...but maybe that's just me...


----------



## Someone (Jun 3, 2004)

If the class has full BAB and a good HD, it´s difficult that it doesn´t fit well with Barbarian. The hard part is not to find a good one, is to find the better


----------



## Kalendraf (Jun 3, 2004)

My main group has a character that started as a half-orc fighter, but has been picking up levels of barbarian along the way.  He's a very powerful fighter.  He uses the double axe and has taken all kinds of two-weapon feats to maximize his ability with the weapon.  He's about 9th level now and routinely hits for insane amounts of damage several times in a single round.  

Rage + Fighter feats = buku damage potential


----------



## ConcreteBuddha (Jun 3, 2004)

jarlaxlecq said:
			
		

> I have a newly minted Lvl 1 Half Orc Barbarian. At this stage in the game hes going to be the party's muscle (other members include a halfling Rogue and a human Monk) I'm thinking of going just straight barb, however i was wondering if anyone could suggest a couple of good multiclass builds with a Barbarian, both core and PrC.
> 
> Thanks





It all depends on one thing: does the party have a cleric?


Even more importantly, does that cleric share his spells?


If both of these are a yes, go straight barbarian.

If no, go L1 barb, LX cleric. Much better. Or even drop the barbarian. Just go cleric.


----------



## Ridley's Cohort (Jun 3, 2004)

Straight Barbarian is often underrated.  I really like Uncanny Dodge.

If you want to think outside the box, consider a single level of Rogue.  If you plan on wading in and taking advantage of Uncanny Dodge, the party Rogue will often be looking for you to set up flanks; having your own Sneak Attack die is not a bad thing.  It will also let you grab a bunch of ranks in Tumble if you want a bit more tactical maneuverability.  Don't forget to pick up the synergy bonus from Jump.  I would pick up 3 or 4 levels of Barbarian before trying this, though.


----------



## Nightfall (Jun 3, 2004)

Jar,

Uhm any restrictions on sources?


----------



## the Jester (Jun 3, 2004)

If you're makin' for the tank type of character, I'd either add a level or two of rogue or a coupla levels of fighter (eventually four, so you can pick up Weapon Specialization at will).

If you're more the wildman, mix well with ranger and shake.

If you want to get _really_ wacky and don't mind not being the greatest melee warrior, try a couple levels of sorcerer, taking spells that don't have S components (eg. _true strike_) and use 'em to aid your skills in battle.  Another option is to take druid levels.


----------



## Darklone (Jun 3, 2004)

5 levels of Rogue don't really hurt a sneaky barbarian, lvl1 bbn and rest cleric (take Extra Rage!) rocks as mentioned, (4) fighter levels never hurt, especially for doubleweapons...

One level of sorcerer or bard, then Dragon Disciple is nice as well... but it's better for half-ogres


----------



## Mustrum_Ridcully (Jun 3, 2004)

For flavour I would add: Barbarian/Bard (Skald). Wading singing and dancing into melee 
Since Barbarian can only wear light or medium armor, you don`t lose that much if you restrict yourself to light.

But don`t forget: The D&D 3.5 Barbarian does gain a lot of improvements over his career, so a straight barbarian is also a good way to go. (Better Rage, Damage Reduction and so on)
And as a straigth barbarian, you might later be interesting in the Oriental Adventures (perhaps also reprinted in one of the new 3.5 books) Bear Warrior.


----------



## Mathew_Freeman (Jun 3, 2004)

Bear Warrior is now also in the Complete Warrior, and entirely 3.5 compatible. It's a class that I like the look of as well.

Frenzied Beserker is of course lots of fun as well, but make sure you take Iron Will so you've got a good chance of breaking out of the frenzy when you've finished killing the enemy.


----------



## Plane Sailing (Jun 3, 2004)

My recommendations would be (like Mustrum) a level of Bard, so he can be a heroic skald/war chanter, encouraging his friends into battle and raising their morale with his piercing war-yodel 

or

Another good thematic mix is a level of druid - you can get a nice animal companion and a couple of pretty shamanistic spells.


----------



## Darklone (Jun 3, 2004)

Bbn/Brd is another possibility for Dragon Disciple


----------



## rei jin (Jun 3, 2004)

a chaotic neutral bard/ druid absolutely rocks, just imagine the power of a raging legendary bear, enlarged with animal growth and augmented with bulls strength, along with companions and summons. no-one will stand up to that.


----------



## silverblade (Jun 3, 2004)

A cleric or druid is an absoulte must for party survival.  Without a steady supply of healing, you can find yourself in trouble very fast.  Start with barbarian, then go straight cleric after that.  If you get the strength and war domains, you'll be an effective combatant that can heal and throw down some offensive and buffing spells when necessary.


----------



## Plane Sailing (Jun 3, 2004)

rei jin said:
			
		

> a chaotic neutral bard/ druid absolutely rocks, just imagine the power of a raging legendary bear, enlarged with animal growth and augmented with bulls strength, along with companions and summons. no-one will stand up to that.




Don't forget, he's only just starting at 1st level... you are talking about 140+ adventures down the line... and he has to survive those adventures first 

Cheers

p.s. did you mean barbarian druid?


----------



## jarlaxlecq (Jun 3, 2004)

Nightfall said:
			
		

> Jar,
> 
> Uhm any restrictions on sources?




I'd keep it to Core Books, FR material and Stock Books like the BoVD, BoED, Complete series. Stuff like that. Also we're playing 3.5 rules


----------



## Darklone (Jun 3, 2004)

Hehe, ok, no restrictions.


----------



## Endur (Jun 3, 2004)

Pure Barbarian is awesome once you get into double digit levels.  Uncanny Dodge, DR, lots of rages per day, lots of skill and hit points, what's not to like.

For multi-classing, I have seen Barbarians effectively integrate Fighter, Ranger, Tribal Protector, Bear Warrior, and Frenzied Berserker.  They all work well, but I prefer pure Barbarians.

If you are never going to get high level and get access to the high level barb benefits, I have seen people building barb/fighters so they can combine rage and feats.


----------



## Gaiden (Jun 3, 2004)

If forget the name now, but the barb/pal Prc in BoED is awesome.  Multiclass barb with fighter and go into this PrC.  Of course, for this to be any benefit you have to have a decent Chr - not one of the half-orcs strongest points.  However, if you are willing to make that one of your top stats along with str and con, go for it.


----------



## The Souljourner (Jun 3, 2004)

Straight barbarian, bar/ranger or bar/fighter are all good paths.  I'd stay away from multiclassing into a spellcaster... it doesn't really fit the barbarian image, and the loss of BAB isn't worth the benefits.  I definitely disagree with those that say a level of rogue is worth it... 1d6 damage is minimal, you lose hitpoints and a BAB for it, and you don't even get to do 1d6 all the time.  That's 3.5 damage some of the time when you could be power attacking for 2 extra damage, and be further along with the barbarian class abilities.

-The Souljourner


----------



## Scion (Jun 3, 2004)

I would suggest multiclassing with barbarian 

Failing that however, going for a very interesting build I would suggest druid. That sort of build though is generally more like Barb 1/Druid X and possibly one of the prc's from something like complete warrior.

Bear warrior also works nicely.


----------



## Thanee (Jun 4, 2004)

I like my ranger/barbarian/rogue, altho she's more a fighty rogue than a rogueish barbarian. 

Bye
Thanee


----------



## jarlaxlecq (Jun 4, 2004)

What would be the benifits of Ranger? the skills? or is it the free feats? 2 weaponn fighting wouldnt be much of a benefit as i want to power attack for 1.5X damage. Plus i can visualize someone in my head fighting with a sword or an axe or a double sword, but not a double axe. I'm thinking i'll just go barb, or barb and a few levels of Figter.


----------



## Tyrol (Jun 4, 2004)

jarlaxlecq said:
			
		

> What would be the benifits of Ranger? the skills? or is it the free feats? 2 weaponn fighting wouldnt be much of a benefit as i want to power attack for 1.5X damage. Plus i can visualize someone in my head fighting with a sword or an axe or a double sword, but not a double axe. I'm thinking i'll just go barb, or barb and a few levels of Figter.




A ranger offers Favored Enemy, Tracking, wild empathy, reflex saves, great skill points and very useful class skills, (and thats only through a couple of levels)...  If you plan to go the 2-handed melee route and wouldn't use 2-weapon fighting feats, using the Combat Style feats for ranged attacks could make you more versatile.  Favored Enemy can potentially be awesome, depending on your choice and campaign (human is often a good one).

Personally, I just finished creating a Dwarven Barbarian with a very detailed background and explanation.  (Very very abbreviated background: the character has a major vendetta against orcs, who killed every last one of his kin.  Decimated, the character went into a freak rage after witnessing the latter part of family's death.  He's formed a mental block of the event, and has isolated himself in the wild for 50 years. He's lived off the land, avoiding human contact when possible, while hunting down any orc he could get his hands on.  Nothing seems to quench his pain.)  A single level of ranger would fit in perfectly with the character concept (favored enemy, tracking, wild empathy, etc.) and I've been trying to negotiate with my DM for a way to have that single level of ranger not cause me Multiclass Exp penalty  :\   We start at character level 3, but I'm planning to advance only in Barbarian.  According to the PHB I'll start taking Multiclass Exp penalty as soon as I turn Barb 3 / Rng 1.  

Any thoughts on how I might avoid this? Initially the DM suggested I could change to favored class barbarian, but has since changed his mind.


----------



## Thanee (Jun 4, 2004)

The ranger is more of a background thing (you can look the character up here). She was a hunter in her tribe, so ranger/barbarian makes sense. But now she is walking amongst the civilized lands, so she has shifted her focus and now continues to advance as a rogue. As I said, she's more of a rogue, than a barbarian, but the warrior class levels do add a lot of fighting capabilty to the rogue. 

I initially wanted to play a barbarian/rogue, but it made no sense to start out as a rogue (because of the background), and we all know, that you almost have to get the first level as a rogue to make decent use of those skills, so technically the ranger offers the missing link here and fits in nicely, granting a good amount of skill points as well.

In general barbarian and ranger mix well, because both are nature oriented fighters. It's mostly the skills and stuff like Track and Wild Empathy then, the fighting styles are not very useful for a barbarian (well TWF might be, but one big weapon seems more suitable for them).

Bye
Thanee


----------



## Dark Jezter (Jun 4, 2004)

As Ridley's Cohort said, don't underestimate the power of a straight, unmulticlassed barbarian.  A high level barbarian with damage reduction, greater rage, uncanny dodge, etc. can be quite frightening in combat.


----------



## Darklone (Jun 4, 2004)

I have a bbn2/rgrX in another game... Perfect BAB, Extra Rage gives me what I want, he's crazily mobile and can outsneak and find any rogue. And nothing keeps him from Power Attacking.


----------



## Oscar carramiñana (Jun 4, 2004)

If you like 2handed weapon style try a frenzied berseker you can do a lot of damage The FB are my favorite prestige class for a barb.


----------



## jarlaxlecq (Jun 4, 2004)

Oscar carramiñana said:
			
		

> If you like 2handed weapon style try a frenzied berseker you can do a lot of damage The FB are my favorite prestige class for a barb.





I'd want an amazing will save and some loaded dice before i'd go Frenzied Berserker


----------



## Darklone (Jun 4, 2004)

FB is indeed a nice class if you don't like your buddies nor long campaigns.


----------

