Barbarian

by Ralsu



Living on the fringes of civilization or in the wilderness, barbarians
survive by taking foes head-on and being the last one standing. They
are Eberron’s untrained warriors and gain more hit points than any
other class, but can use only medium armor. Unlike fighters, who
benefit from devotion to training, barbarians gain their fighting
prowess as a matter of necessity. When a barbarian enters a rage, her
frenzy usually doesn’t cease until all of her foes are vanquished—or
she gets killed.



Adventuring parties appreciate the brute strength and heavy hits
barbarians contribute to the group. Barbarians almost never show
cowardice, and adventurers quickly learn to rely on their savage
determination. The barbarian class will pay off for players who want to
take massive damage to protect traveling companions and still add
damage for the team.



Barbarians develop on the frontiers anywhere the playable races live.
Drow barbarians are cunning and quick. Dwarf barbarians are less
charismatic than those of the other races,
but they are four feet of damage-soaking fury. Halfling barbarians use
more precise attacks to counteract their slightly weaker hits. The
extra dexterity of elf barbarians compensates for their inability to
use heavy armor and lower hit points due to their lesser constitutions.
The human barbarian has no ability modifiers but gains an extra feat at
Level 1. A warforged barbarian can survive tremendous damage due to its
high hit points and natural armor feats; the offset is that it will
have less wisdom and charisma than other barbarians.



Motivation

Barbarians lack the discipline to perform the tedium of city
patrolmen and the charisma to serve as a knight to nobility. Sometimes
they quest to rid a region close to their homes of a particular
abomination—usually undead or demons. Revenge against a hated foe is
another factor that can spur a barbarian to traverse the lands. A few
barbarians seek adventure in the hopes of being accepted by more
“civilized” folks.



Class Features href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?set_albumName=Exclusive_Screenshots&id=rage_on&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> alt="barbarian"
src="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/Exclusive_Screenshots/rage_on.sized.jpg"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 267px; height: 200px;" align="right">

Damage Reduction: Barbarians become more resistant to physical
damage as they gain experience, gaining a damage reduction of 1 against
all unarmed, weapon or natural attacks at Level 2. The damage reduction
increases to 2 at Level 10.



Fast Movement: Barbarians can move 10% faster than other
classes.



Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Barbarians wield all shields and
simple and martial weapons capably. They can wear light or medium armor.



Rage: Barbarians are capable of entering a rage during combat
that increases their Strength by 4, Constitution by 4 and saves against
mind-altering effects by 2. While enraged, they suffer reduced AC (-2)
and cannot
use most skills based on charisma, dexterity, or intelligence.



Trap Sense: Starting at Level
3, barbarians enjoy +1 Reflex save vs. traps, +1 AC vs. trap attacks.
These benefits increase by 1 each at Levels 6 and 9.



Uncanny Dodge: In DDO, this is
an active Feat that grants a temporary bonus to AC and Reflex saves
that becomes available at Level 2. At Level 5, the Feat also prevents
flanking monsters from receiving the normal bonus to their attacks
against the barbarian.



Suggested Races

• href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=51">Dwarf
  (nice resistances to magic, and hardy people)
• href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=55">Human
  (it's hard not to love the extra Fets and Skills)
• href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=56">Warforged
  (armor bonuses and racial Enchancements that add a lot to the barbarian)
  

Key Abilities

Each class begins with 28 points to spend over 6 abilities
(Intelligence, Wisdom, Constitution, Dexterity, Strength, and
Charisma). Strength is a major concern for barbarians as it affects
their chances to hit enemies and the damage they do when they land a
blow. Dexterity is also a good choice because it contributes to armor
class—a good thing since barbarians are often in the thick of the
action. Constitution is as good an option as Dexterity since it
provides barbarians with more hit points. Finally, some players will
want to put some points into Charisma so that their barbarians will be
most successful at using the Intimidate skill to draw the attention of
monsters away from comrades.



Suggested Skills

Barbarian class skills are Intimidate, Jump, Listen, and Swim.
Intimidate will save the lives of a barbarian’s companions, and swim
could save his own life. Jump and Listen may not be the best place for
the limited skill points remaining: most parties will have a designated
scout who specializes in such things. Instead, consider cross-class
skills such as Heal or Repair to help the group recover more hit points
at rest shrines. Tumble is also a valid choice for the barbarian who
focuses on being the best fighter he can be. Balance will help against
those pesky foes who use Trip too much.



Suggested Feats

Warforged barbarians will find Adamantine Body an excellent
selection because of the huge bonus to armor class and the damage
reduction it grants. Mithral Body is a good alternative for warforged,
giving less armor class and no damage reduction but a smaller penalty
to Dexterity and Skill checks. Stunning Blow can help a lone barbarian
out of a tight situation by stunning her enemies for a short time.
Power Attack is also a good early choice because it can deal a lot of
damage and is the prerequisite for many other combat feats. Finally,
Bullheaded can be a practical selection because of its bonuses to
Intimidate and will saves.

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cellspacing="2">
style="vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(212, 201, 125);">More
on Barbarians
style="width: 50%; vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(212, 201, 125);"> style="font-weight: bold;">Essentials

• href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=280">DDO
  Top 10: Reasons to Play a Barbarian
• href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=218">A
  Guide to Alignments
• href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=379">Guide
  to Barbarian Feats
  
• href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=201">The
  Strategies of Barbarian Rage
• href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=329">Guide
  to Sneak
  

style="vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(212, 201, 125);"> style="font-weight: bold;">DDO Builds for Barbarians

• href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=50">The
  Angry Ranger
• href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=276">The
  Raging Witchdoctor
• href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=80">The
  Tank