The Barbarian

So you want to play a Barbarian in that fancy Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path, but you don’t know where to begin?

Herein is contained the layout of five barbarian builds, the general purpose of the build, and counsel on what to take as you level up to make your barbarian truly worthy of the title.

The Base Barbarian

This build is the quintessential barbarian. Big sword and hit people over the head with it as hard as you can.

Class

Barbarian 20

Race

You are going to be a human for this build. For one, the additional skill is nice, as the Barbarian is not a terrible secondary skill monkey and scout (100% chance of falling into the trap, 100% chance of survival type scout). That floating +2 to a stat is most likely going to be thrown at Strength.

Ability Scores

Round up your Con if necessary, then invest everything in Strength.

15point-buy

Str 18/Dex 10/Con 15/Int 10/Wis 10/Cha 8

20point-buy

Str 18/Dex 12/Con 16/Int 10/Wis 10/Cha 8

25point-buy

Str 20/Dex 13/Con 15/Int 10/Wis 10/Cha 8

Skills

You should always put a point per level in Perception as it is the single most rolled check in the game. Other class skills to be considered are Acrobatics, Survival, Climb, Swim in that order of priorities, with the occasional point in Ride or Knowledge(Nature).

Traits

Reactionary for a tasty +2 to Initiative is most likely your go to, and Indomitable Faith grants you a good bonus to your Will Save.

Favored Class Bonus

HP HP HP HP always HP.

Feats per level

1-Power Attack

Human Bonus-Raging Vitality

3-Weapon Focus(Falchion)

5-Toughness

7-Improved Initiative

9-Improved Critical(Falchion)

11-Reckless Rage

13-Raging Brutality

15-Extra Rage

17-Heavy Armor Proficiency

19-Extra Rage

Being a human allows you to begin at 1st lvl with both Power Attack and Raging Vitality, which are the two mandatory feats for a barbarian. Everything else is gravy on top. Toughness and Improved Initiative allow for a faster reaction and more durability, WP->Improved Critical for a Falchion allows a Crit Range of 15-20. Reckless Rage further enhances your Power Attack and Raging Brutality allows you to eat Rage rounds to add 1 and ½ time your Constitution to damage. Heavy Armor further adds to your tankiness and Extra Rage fuels your Raging Brutality.

Rage Powers per Level:

2-Superstition

4-Reckless Abandon

6-Lesser Hurling

8-Internal Fortitude

10-Hurling Charge

12-Fueled by Vengeance

14-No Escape

16-Roused Anger

18-Ghost Rager

20-Come and Get me

Superstition adds a fairly large bonus against spells, spell-like abilities and supernatural attacks against you, and Internal Fortitude completely protects you against two nasty conditions.

Reckless Abandon fuels your Power Attack essentially into your AC instead of attack bonus, Hurling Charge lets you start a charge and throw a throwing weapon as part of the charge, allowing you two attacks, which is great, Fueled by Vengeance further extends your Rage, Roused Anger lets you cycle your rage once a fight, Ghost Rager lets you screw up those pesky incorporeal enemies and No Escape and Come and Get me punish opponents who attack you and those trying to flee from you, all those combined making you a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield, keeping you both mobile and yet as solid as the land itself.

Equipment

A Falchion and the best armor you can get. Eventually a Full Plate Armor and a Buckler(or a Flying Shield if you can afford one)

Final Thoughts on the build

You deal tons of damage while able to take twice that same punishment, all the while fairly well protected against spellcasters and rogues via Superstition and the Barbarian’s natural Uncanny Dodge. Trap Sense and your skill set allows for great scouting capabilities, and Acrobatics and Hurling Charge keeping you surprisingly mobile, making you a top tier tank that is both capable of severe damage output and yet mobile enough to give you plenty of options in a fight.

The Unchained Barbarian

So Unchained Classes are an attempt to simplify and update certain classes that were deemed to require a tad too much bookkeeping between fights or were considered a tad weak, barbarian being one of them, replacing the stats bonuses from Rage to static bonuses, and changing bonus to Constitution to Temporary Hit Points. Let’s see just how much we can break them

Class

Unchained Barbarian 20

Race

Half-Orc, take both the Toothy and the Shaman’s Apprentice Alternative Racial Features for a free Endurance feat and a primary natural Bite Attack that deals 1d4 damage. Of course, your floating +2 will go straight into Dexterity. What kind of drugs am I on? Let me cook. Let. Me. Cook.

Ability Scores

Increase your Dex score at lvl 4 by +1 and everything else can go directly into Str

15Point-Buy

Str 14/Dex 18/Con 14/Int 9/Wis 10/Cha 7

20Point-Buy

Str 16/Dex 18/Con 14/Int 9/Wis 10/Cha 7

25Point-Buy

Str 18/Dex 18/Con 13/Int 10/Wis 10/Cha 7

Skills

Once again, Perception is your go to, followed by Intimidation(as it is required for the Boar Style feat chain), and then Acrobatics.

Traits

Reactionary. That +2 to Initiative is ridiculous. Anything else that increases your Will Save comes second.

Favored Class Bonus:

Everything in HP, but doubly so the case as you do not gain a bonus to Constitution while raging and your Con will be low compared to other Barbarians.

Feats per Level

1-Improved Unarmed Strike

Half-Orc Bonus: Endurance

3-Boar Style

5-Two Weapons Fighting

7-Boar Ferocity

9-Boar Shred

11-Combat Reflexes

13-Improved Two Weapons Fighting

15-Greater Two-Weapons Fighting

17-Multiattack

19-Power Attack

Wow, Power Attack only at lvl 19? What’s THAT about? Well, you are fighting unarmed, meaning that the bonus to damage will be negligible anyway. With the Boar Style, you can Demoralize opponents as a Free Action and give them Bleed damage and once per turn an extra 2d6 damage with an attack. Which you get a ton of with the Two Weapons Fighting feat chain (7 Unarmed Strikes per turn by lvl 20). Which is already very good in itself before you consider the Rage Powers…

Rage Powers per Level

2-Lesser Beast Totem

4-Bloody Bite

6-Beast Totem

8-Fueled by Vengeance

10-Greater Beast Totem

12-Come and Get me

14-Body Bludgeon

16-No Escape

18-Internal Fortitude

20-Fearless Rage

So, every Barbarian should take the Beast Totem chain just because screw you, Pounce. However, for this particular build, it gets even better with the addition of two claws attacks, with your natural bite attack, meaning your Full Attack, including your fists, are now Ten Attacks per round. 7 Unarmed, 2 Claws, One Bite. And via the Multiattack feat, the negative you get on attack rolls are negligible. And that’s the attacks in your turn. Via the beautiful, beautiful combination of Combat Reflexes, Come and Get Me and your high Dex, you can dish out almost an entire Full Attack Action in Attacks of Opportunity each turn. Fueled by Vengeance keeps your rage going, Body Bludgeon adds a Grapple option, No Escape is self Explanatory with this build and finishes with both Internal Fortitude and Fearless Rage to add a small layer of protection to your Rages.

Equipment

The best armor you can get that doesn’t impede on your Dex. A Mithral Breastplate should be your general goal. You don’t need weapons.

Final Thoughts on the Build

I am lowkey terrified of this build. Ten Attacks per turn is no joke, and despite no Power Attack, you still dish out so much damage it’s not even funny. You are slightly less robust than other barbarians but otherwise you will aggro fire with the sheer amount of presence you command between damage and fear effects you can throw on the battlefield single handedly.

The War Duke

Okay, so, Barbarians be tanky. But what if we made them even more tanky? Introducing the Invulnerable Rager Archetype which gives you a downright immense Damage Reduction and a Resistance to your choice of Fire or Cold Damage over time.

Class

Barbarian (Invulnerable Rager) 20

Race

Dwarf. Dwarves have a bunch of bonuses against Spells, Poisons and generally nasty things from the get go which is great.

Ability Scores

Round up your Con if it’s odd, otherwise that (abysmal) Charisma, then everything into Strength as expected.

15Point-Buy

Str 18/Dex 10/Con 15/Int 9/Wis 12/Cha 5

20Point-Buy

Str 18/Dex 10/Con 17/Int 10/Wis 14/Cha 5

25Point-Buy

Str 18/Dex 10/Con 18/Int 10/Wis 14/Cha 5

Skills

Perception. Then Acrobatics, Knowledge(Nature) and then however you like.

Traits

Reactionary for that ridiculous +2 Initiative. Consider Berserker of the Society for that extra Rage time.

Favored Class Bonus

You guessed it: Hit Points.

Feats by Level

1-Raging Vitality

3-Power Attack

5-Toughness

7-Heavy Armor Proficiency

9-Endurance

11-Diehard

13-Stalwart

15-Improved Stalwart

17-Tower Shield Proficiency

19-Extra Rage Power(Increased Damage Reduction)

Okay, so, Raging Vitality and Power Attack are taken care of in the first three levels as expected, Toughness comes next, mixed with your Favored Class Bonus and your ridiculously high Constitution can land you with a HP total in the lower stratosphere. Heavy Armor Proficiency and Tower Shield Proficiency for an AC through the damned roof, and with the Stalwart chain, while taking the Total Defense, you can get up to a DR 10/- which cumulates with class granted DR.

Rage Powers per Level

2-Superstitious

4-Lesser Fiend Totem

6-Fiend Totem

8-Internal Fortitude

10-Increased Damage Reduction

12-Fearless Rage

14-Increased Damage Reduction

16-Greater Fiend Totem

18-Guarded Life

20-Fueled by Vengeance

Okay so that Increased Damage Reduction puts your already massive DR to 13/- by lvl 20, and mixed with Improved Stalwart up to 21/-. So nothing is hurting you ever. Superstitious doubles down on your magical defenses, Internal Fortitude and Fearless Rage further reduces the Conditions that can harm you and Fueled by Vengeance keeps your Rage up longer. Add the Fiend Totem chain to deal damage to attackers and possibly Shaken them with no save. Oh, you also get a Gore Attack to combine with your regular melee attacks for more damage output. Because you needed that I friggin guess?

Equipment

Dwarven Waraxe, Warhammer and Heavy Pike, the best armor and shield you can get ahold of. Go. To. Town.

Final Thoughts on the Build

This build is so tanky it puts Paladins to shame. A downright immense Damage Reduction, while still somewhat mobile, a fairly good damage output and so much hp you have hp for days. Also, a surprisingly massive AC for a Barbarian via your heavy armor and tower shield, and your Saving Throws are also protected between Superstitious and just being a Dwarf (with also a fairly high Con and Wis scores) makes your defenses almost impenetrable overall.

The Rage-Cycler

So, the main weakness of Rage is that you can’t use it if Fatigued. So what if we were Immune to Fatigue? Many great rage powers suddenly become quite interesting as you can turn your Rage on and off to activate these powers waaay more often than you should be allowed to.

Enters both the True Primitive Barbarian Archetype and the Horizon Walker Prestige Class. Your Leveling should go as follows: Barbarian 6/Horizon Walker 3/Barbarian +11. Meaning your levels 7-8-9 will be levels of Horizon Walker.

Class

Barbarian (True Primitive) 6/Horizon Walker 3/Barbarian (True Primitive) 11

Race:

Half-Orc, again with the Shaman’s Apprentice Alternative Racial Feature, but also the Sacred Tattoo one, giving you a +1 Luck bonus on all Saving Throws. We are off to a great start. Your floating +2 naturally goes to Strength.

Ability Scores

Round up Constitution, then everything up in Strength as usual.

15Point-Buy

Str 18/Dex 14/Con 15/Int 7/Wis 11/Cha 7

20Point-Buy

Str 18/Dex 14/Con 15/Int 8/Wis 12/Cha 8

25Point-Buy

Str 20/Dex 14/Con 15/Int 8/Wis 12/Cha 7

Traits

I am sure you are expecting me to say Reactionary right? Well, yes, do take Reactionary. Higher Initiative means a faster way to beat people’s faces in. Anything that boosts your Will save as secondary will do.

Skills

Perception and you need to spend 6 points in Knowledge(Geography). It won’t be a Class Skill until you take a level in Horizon Walker but that should be fine. If you’ve got the skill points to spare, Horizon Walker turns Stealth into a Class Skill >.>. Survival fits nicely thematically too.

Favorite Class Bonus

You were expecting HP huh? Actually, Skill, or as a Half-Orc you can add Rage rounds/day. You can mix and match or focus on one or the other to get more skills or more ragecycling.

Feats per Level

1-Power Attack

Half-Orc Bonus-Endurance

3-Raging Vitality

5-Improved Initiative

7-Toughness

9-Extra Rage

11-Combat Reflexes

13-Extra Rage

15-Extra Rage

17-Extra Rage

19-Extra Rage

We’re keeping this very simple with this one. Power Attack and Raging Vitality are musts of course. Improved Initiative throws your Initiative at +8, Toughness increases your HP fairly well, and Combat Reflexes makes you a dangerous enemy to try and bypass to go attack your allies. Everything else goes into Extra Rage for more Ragecycling.

Rage Powers per Level

2-Superstition

4-Savage Intuition

6-Ghost Rager

11-Powerful Blow

13-Eater of Magic

15-Come and Get Me

17-Clear Mind

19-Crippling Blow

Okay so Superstition, Eater of Magic and Clear Mind allow for some extremely good protection against Spells, Savage Intuition allows you to Rage out of Combat to deal against effects, Powerful Blow and Crippling Blow allow once per rage(so for you 1/round) some extra damage and even possibly ability damage into Str/Dex of the enemy. Finally, Ghost Rager gives you some extra combat utility and Come and Get Me pairs well with Combat Reflexes.

Equipment

Hide armor, a Spear.

Final Thoughts on the Build

With True Primitive‘s Trophies you can reach truly ridiculous amounts of damage, your Spear gives you Reach which is great, make sure to carry something for close quarter though, and with Horizon Walker, choose the Desert Terrain Dominance at 3rd level for Immunity to Fatigue, allowing you to get in and out of Rage every round to start a new Rage, thus allowing your stronger abilities like Powerful Blow and Clear Mind to be in effect almost every single round.

You can also use your Trophies to further boost your Saving Throws if you feel like it’s needed.

The Busterblade

What is one of the biggest tropes of Barbarians? Bigass weapons.

Well, with the Titan Mauler Archetype, we can do something like that, yes.

Class

Barbarian (Titan Mauler) 20

Race: Human. You will need the extra feat and extra skill points, trust me on this one. The Floating +2 goes into Strength, duh.

Ability Scores: Put all your ASIs in Strength, unless your starting Str is even, then add a +1 to Constitution.

15Point-Buy

Str 17/Dex 15/Con 15/Int 7/Wis 7/Cha 12

20Point-Buy

Str 18/Dex 15/Con 15/Int 7/Wis 8/Cha 12

25Point-Buy

Str 19/Dex 15/Con 15/Int 7/Wis 10/Cha 12

Traits

Unnatural Presence to allow Intimidation to work on Animals and Vermin. Carefully Hidden for a

+1 on Will Saves as this will be needed.

Skills

Intimidate is actually our go to for this build, followed by Perception and Acrobatics.

Favorite Class Bonus

Hit Points. We have a terribad defense with this build so we’ll need all the HP we can get.

Feats per Level

1-Power Attack

Human Bonus-Raging Vitality

3-Two Weapons Fighting

5-Throw Anything

7-Powerful Throw

9-Point-Blank Shot

11-Combat Reflexes

13-Rapid Shot

15-Quick Draw

17-Double Slice

19-Toughness

You are probably wildly confused by these feat choices. Power Attack and Raging Vitality of course are mandatory and Combat Reflexes is the harbinger of the Come and Get Me Rage power, and of course Toughness is self-explanatory. But what about all these Two-Weapons Fighting, Throw Anything and Rapid Shot things?

Well, because we are going to throw our weapons that we are two weapons fighting with. And using our Strength for it via Powerful Throw. And because we are a Titan Mauler, we can use a Two-Handed weapon in one hand meaning we can Two-Weapons Fighting with a pair of Greatswords. And then throw greatswords at our opponents faces.

Rage Powers per Level

2-Lesser Spirit Totem

4-Lesser Hurling

6-Spirit Totem

8-Hurling Charge

10-Greater Spirit Totem

12-Come and Get me

14-Fueled by Vengeance

16-Intimidating Glare

18-Battle Roar

20-Boasting Taunt

Ok so now we have a bunch of powers that enhance our Intimidation Skill, Intimidating Glare allows us to Demoralize an enemy as a Move Action, and Battle Roar deals said demoralized enemy Sonic Damage. Boasting Taunt forces enemies to attack us, which pairs nicely with Come and Get me and Combat Reflexes. Hurling Charge allows us to throw a Greatsword at an enemy as we charge before pulling our Large Sized Greatsword and demolishing them in melee with baffling high damage. Spirit Totem allows us an additional method of attack which eventually has a reach of 15ft and even deals damage to each opponent that is adjacent to us when we start our turn, making us one of the best melee damage dealers in the game.

Equipment

Greatswords for days. By lvl 3 a Large Sized Greatsword for additional fun.

Final Thoughts on the Build

You are playing Beyblade with swords that are as tall as you, and you can throw those blades too. This is ridiculous. If you Two-Weapons Fighting, You can throw up to 6 Greatswords each round via Rapid Shot and Two-Weapons Fighting.

No no, you clearly did not understood what I just said. I said that you are throwing six zweihanders at people’s faces each six seconds. Oh and you have a Bustasword that is larger than you to beat those giants with. In addition, as a Titan Mauler, you can Enlarge Self to become large, increasing the size of those blades you are throwing to skewer several horses a round. This is ridiculous and I Love it.