An idea. Next time you guys are going to sit down and do unorthodox builds like this you should each sit down before the video and each do your own design. Then sit down in front of the camera to debate the three builds. Perhaps even battle test them against randomized encounters that are of same CR.
I think focusing on the Dex and Con are certainly a good way to go. Yeah, your Strength suffers a lot, but maybe this character is focused on being very hard to drop. With how high his AC gets from focusing on the Dex and Con? Not to mention a shield? And they get advantage against poison saving throws, being frightened, and poison damage. Maybe you won't do as much damage. But you'll be very hard to kill. And I feel like a lot of the time that's what a Barbarian needs to be as opposed to maximizing your damage. Soaking damage for your friends. Don't know how much the math works up in terms of raising your stats, but you may even be able to take the feat to get a few Battlemaster Manuervers. Goading Attack? Keep threats focused on you by Taunting. Just like in an MMO, haha.
I am about to join a campaign with my Halfling Barbarian. She *was* going to be a sailor, but then her ship was attacked by pirates and she was pressganged to join their crew until she managed to escape on shore. I'm considering Path of the Storm Herald focusing on the Sea, though Berserker could also be a good choice for her. If I could find a god she could get behind, I might go Path of the Zealot for her.
I'm currently playing a halfling barbarian (path of storm herald from UA) that i multiclassed after level 6 into fighter, he now dual wields battleaxes, attacks 4 times per turn, has a 19AC and literally tears through anything, best character i've played in years
Halfling Barbarian, Path of the Beserker Str 14 Dex 12+2 Con 15+1 In 8 Wis 11 Cha 10 That way you don't totally waste the bonus damage from raging. You'd still have a 17 AC if you carry a shield. Going Dex based is just kind of a waste for a barbarian.
\In fact, I think I'd switch the Cha and Wis around. You're a barbarian. You don't need a high AC. You're resistant to weapon damage. Keep that Con and Str high and you'll be fine. No feats, just stat bumps. 4th level +2 Con. 8th level +2 Str. 12th Level +2 Str. 15th level +2 Con. 20th +2 Str. No need for feats at all. You'll have a boat oda of hit points, be resistant to weapon damage, and be able to deal out a ton of damage. No ned for De at all.
Played a halfling barbarian in Eberron. he multi'd with ranger and man nothing gets the city guards attention like a raging halfling and his raptor. I am guessing by your opening comments that throwing weapons don't get your strength bonus on damage in 5th?
Halfling Barbarian I think should go the dual wield rout. Both weapons as strength based. Totem path of the Eagle thus making the Halfling's ability to pass through creature's spaces that are larger than you that much better. Also, I think as far as feats go "Mobility" would be perfect. That way you could do melee drive by attacks. All you would need is a Dex of 13. At 5th level that would be 3 attacks per melee round. Thus you could move where ever you want and make 3 separate attacks.
It's a good build. I just like the idea of a little guy that can take a beating if you can actually manage to hit him. Besides I consider AC to be a power stat for 5e. - Nerdarchist Dave
A barbarian with a +1 str. Mod dual wielding handaxes at lvl 1 with hitting with both atks. Deals (2d6+3+2) a median of 12 damage. Even if you were to pickup other light finesse Weapons you could say that your barbarian switches the modifier they use when they rage. If you were a varient human you could pick up the dual wield feat and use a rapier with the handaxe and kill it
I've considered this build for a future campaign. High Elf barbarian-totem warrior (14) and fighter-eldritch knight (6). Hyper focus stats on dex & con and give him AC boosting items, i.e. ring of protection, cloak of protection, etc. Add in shield and rapier and a dex throwing weapon. High elf gets the cantrip, either minor illusion or attack cantrip. Eldrich knight gets weapon bond, allowing you to drop/throw a weapon and as a bonus action teleport one of the two bonded weapons to your hand. Assuming calculations, AC could be 26 or higher unarmored.
I would have to say go for a wolf totem and go quarter staff and polearm master. Stats, 14str 17dex 14con 8int 12wis 10chr, quarter staff is versatile so use a shield so you still get the extra attack from polearm master. Polearm master will get you a 18dex, add the rage damage, by 5th level you will have 3 attacks a turn, provide advantage for your allies to enemies around you, deal 2d6,+1d4+12 damage per turn, and have another way of getting an attack of opportunity(before 5th level you would want to use a finesse weapon). After 5th dip into fighter for duelist style and surge for a good boost. putting you at 2d6+1d4+18 damage per turn with the option of dealing another 1d6+6 with surge. This would definitely be an annoying minitank that would make dropping enemies much easier for the rest of your team.
I was contemplating creating an alternate system of HP that uses Exhaustion as the backbone resource, and the alternate injury rules as a long term limiter, mostly because I don't like how healing in the middle of combat ruins the pacing of combat. But in order to make it work, Exhaustion would need some dummy levels and to be restored quicker than 1/day, or else the death spiral would make the campaign pacing take too long.
+Varatho If you've got issues with mid-combat healing breaking the pacing, apply the MMO aggro rules: "Aggro means the cleric dies" TT:RPG translation: "Any monster with ># Int recognizes which target is undoing their previous efforts, and seeks to stop the 'undoing target' first"
The Totem wolf ability to give allies advantage on attacks against people you're melee-ing is just too good. with Lucky i wouldn't feel the need to recklessly attack as often, I would go high dex and shield so it would end up the tanky front-line support class, giving allies advantage on those attacks. More of a shield than the tip of the spear.
Than you guys! Awesome video! :D helped a lot for concepts, shall let you know when I finish my character, and show you what i'd do the same/differently!
Hey! I have no idea how i found your channel but so far I'm loving it. I've never played a role playing game but i just love listening to you guys talk about it. I really hope i get to play DnD someday. Don't really know why I am saying all this i just wanted to tell you how great this channel is. have a good one! billy - australian fan
***** Welcome. There are some online communities where you could play D&D via skype or Google Hangouts. On Facebook Tabletop RPG One Shot Group is a great place to get involved. They'll help you with everything most likely once you've explained your new and want to start gaming. Grab some of the rules for free- dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules?x=dnd/basicrules -Nerdarchist Dave
Come join us in the Table top RPG one shot group on facebook, there's plenty of Aussie's in there looking for games and it is actually the best facebook group that I'm in full stop.
My current character is a Stout Halfling Barbarian, Outlander and goes by the name of Grrr, currently barbarian5/fighter1. He is a dual wielder, and has taken the dual wield feat, and one level of fighter so that he could get the two-weapon fighting style, the second wind is quite the bonus too. Uses a Warhammer and a Battle Axe. I took path of the totem warrior and focused on the bear as my animal, taking half damage really adds to his staying power. 14 str, 16 dex, 14 con, having the high dex pairs well with his un-armored defence plus the extra +1AC for duel wielding, puts me at 16AC which ain't bad. He's as tough as nails and does decent damage. He's like a little Tasmanian Devil, pop a rage, wind him up and let him go, lol. It is the funnest character I have ever played, especially when I describe him to people as a small muscle bound hair ball that constantly growls his way through life. He not what most think when they think of halfling, but it definitely shows the diversity of the race.
Any race that gives more points to any of the physical stats greatly benefits the barbarian, as it benefits heavily from all 3 physical stats more than any of the mental stats. Having played a stout halfling barbarian for a while now, I'll put in my two cents. > The +2 to Dex and +1 to Con is incredibly helpful, as both feed in to your unarmored defense bonus, and dex also feeds into initiative and reflex saves, two things that any character can benefit from having a lot of bonuses to. It's a far more beneficial stat layout than races that'd split that bonus to mental stats, like elves, dragonborn, vanilla humans, and some dwarves, yet all those races make for decent barbarians too. > The ability to move through larger enemy spaces, when combined with the high HP, high AC, and increased movement, means that you can pretty much go wherever you want on the battlefield, which is incredibly useful for a class that depends on high melee damage. If there's a high priority enemy behind a wall of other enemies, like a spellcaster, you can fairly easily charge straight past that wall and get to that squishy spellcaster goodness in the center. > Lucky has surprisingly good synergy with Reckless Attack, as 1's have a higher chance of being rolled during advantage. (Disadvantage too) > Halfling Barbarians make good Mage-Killers. The bonus to reflex saves through the dex bonus can have some crazy good synergy with a shield barbarian, since Shield master can also add to the dex saves and grant immunity to successfully saved dex-save based damage, which a lot of magic attacks are based on, and danger sense grants advantage to that. With your high con and con save proficiency, the only real magic threat will be will saves. But you have advantage against fear as a halfling, and if you go the berserker route, you have immunity to charms AND fear while raging. > It's been proven that Barbarian/Assassin is actually an incredibly good combination in the right hands, and we all know how much synergy halflings have with the rogue...
I know this video is old but I'm thinking of a multiclass concept. If you put 1 level in fighter you can get dueling making you get a +2 in damage anyways Using a finess weapon I can choose to use dex with a +2 damage and add flavor where I rage for specific reasons and use a +4 damage with a lower modifier (or frenzy? Or berserk?). Choose path of eagle and I can basically charge in
Why does the Halfling need a finesse weapon? why not just hand him a standard longsword and call it a small greatsword? then he can still get his rage and strength bonuses to damage. then go with path of the totem, give him bear resistance so he resists everything, and there ya go. Also if I were making one I would go straight 15's in strength, dex, and con, and 8 in everything else...say he was raised by Tasmanian devils that was a cool idea.
clericofchaos1 That works, but I hate the 3 dump stats. So very min/max and you'd have rp him as if he had some kind of mental disability. -Nerdarchist Dave
Dont' forget, that Lightfoot is Naturally stealthy and when you're going high dex you could sneak up and get the first hit in with advantage because you're stealthed, plus then you go earlier in initiative because of that dex bump. Rage damage just doesn't stack up.
Stat array you'd generally go 8/14/15/12/13/10. Dumping rage damage is the right call with the stat array. You are a Halfling, so you won't be a striker as a Barbarian. As with any non-striker Barbarian, you don't care about rage damage. Halfing to Half-Orc, you're going Dex/Con. Because you're not a striker, you won't be going Frenzy either. So we're back to Bear (yawns aside). Your weakness as a high AC beefcake with well over double the effective HP of your friends are Int (Psychic/illusion) and Wis (most big CCs), so we shore that up as best we can. If you're starting near cap, then remember to max out Dex/Con, but you do have 1 feat to work with at 19. PB is about the same, but you're a bit better off as you can go 8/15/15/10/14/8. This lets you shore up the most dangerous weakness (Wis) a little more, but it also means you're taking a +1 Dex Feat at 4th instead of being forced into +2 Dex. Athlete or Resilient (Dex) are really the only options, but that's not a bad thing per se. Starting equipment is a rapier and a sling. Spend your background gold on a shield immediately and keep an eye out for a better ranged weapon, as you might as well do more than d4 damage when keeping yourself in Rage from range.
+StellWair I had a campaign where I drove my PCs to throw their crusader at the blue dragon... PC Projectiles involve a lot of dice rolls, but their hilarious to watch!
I’m actually playing right now as halfling barbarian. My Idea was slightly different. I wanted to create Celtic Barbarian who wanted to become Bett than his teammates. Storm barbarian is Nordic/pirate, Berserker is vanilla, Armor is Dwarfes only, ancestors are to China, and Totem are too jungle/shaman/Native American. So I gone with the beast barbarian, and chose to dump charisma and intelligence because of lore, and focus on strength, followed by dexterity and con. Shield don’t go with my vision for barb, so I chose to make my own weapon since longswords are basically every type of sword, that isn’t short or two handed, and this is wrong in my opinion, I decided with DM approval that long sword should be only one handed. And it’s versatile version would be bastard sword, which I chose. For background I decided that outlander is nice, but to vanilla so I created background combining Vagabond Outlander Folk Hero and Urchin, to create Forest Urchin. It’s not a mage, but the build is quite good. And lore centered.
Hello Nerdarchy (Glad to see Domo-chun peeking around corners). Off topic but I was curious if the team has any info on the release of campaign settings (Forgotten Realms, Spelljammer, ect....) from WOTC?
I like this and want to try it out but, it says when you make a melee weapon attack using strength, "not a strength based melee weapon, when your using your strength to fight" you gain a bonus to the damage roll. So you use a light finesse weapon and when you are enraged use strength. Makes sense to me but It all comes down to the DM's decision.
just get your halfling a gauntlet of oger power or any belt of giant strenght at one point to compensate the 8 in Str and make him high in Dex and Cons to boost AC and HP
I disagree with using finesse weapons and losing out on the rage damage bonus. Just because you're a halfling doesn't mean you don't go STR based. You just let the racial dex bonus boost your AC for you. If I was using point buy I'd do stout halfling with 15/15/15/8/8/8 and be awful at int/wis/cha but start with 17 dex, 16 con, 15 str. Then I'd use ABI increases to pump up str, con, and dex as needed.
Not a fan of the 3 dump stats. It's so meta gamey and the idea that your barbarian doesn't mean you must have mental disability. Just my opinion. - Nerdarchist Dave
No doubt. I wouldn't use 3 low stats as a meta gamey dump though. I'd use it as part of my character. I'm a crazed Halfling who loves battle, thinks he's intimidating but really has little presence, makes bad decisions, and lacks common sense. And there are real downsides to using low stats especially in wisdom, because failing wis saves really sucks. I like having low stats to give me flaws in my characters. My current Dragonborn Paladin has 8 INT, and while he's a former soldier and pretty good tactician, his decision making is often quite poor. Last session, I tried leaping off an airship to wrangle a Wyvern and ended up nearly falling to my death for example. =) Even if I wasn't going to use low mental stats, I wouldn't ever make a DEX Barbarian, only because you're losing the damage bonus from rage, which is a huge part of the reason you even choose a Barbarian. To me it'd be like choosing a Fighter with dueling style, then using a 2 handed weapon so you can't utilize it. Except in the Barb's case, it's actually worse.
Dex or Str? How about NEITHER! Go 14 Str, 14 Dex, and 16 Con and max out constitution as fast as possible. You keep the rage damage bonus, get better AC and you get Hitpoints on top of it. This will make you tanky enough to Reckless attack (almost) all the time which has great synergy with the Halfling trait and Brutal Critical. The more D20's the merrier! It also fixes your lowered chance to hit from not increasing Str or Dex! It synergises so well! Go for Tough and Lucky on the last two ASI's.
I have a stout hafling barbarian/rogue. I'm level 13 now, 8 totem bear barbarian, 5 rogue scout. I was fortunate enought to get my hands on a dex manual and a con manual. My items are Fire giant Belt, headband of intellect and boots of speed. My stats are 25str, 20dex, 18con, 19int, 12wis, 10cha. Skills are Athletics +12, Sleight of hand +10, stealth +10, investigation+14, nature +14, Perception +11 and survival +11. In 2 more levels, I'll be a Totem bear barbarian with Uncanny Dodge and evasion. going 8 barbarian, 12 rogue. I use a rapier has my weapon of choice since I can sneak attack using my strenght, since finesse weapon let me do both.
A halfling barbarian? that's stupid why... woul...d..y... [flashbacks] WHERE IS DARK SUN!!!?? BRING ME MY CANNIBAL HALFLINGS!!!! I MISS HIM SO MUCH!!! :(
Why not use a rapier and call it a saber? Make him a sailor with a drinking problem and he only gets enraged while drunk. I love that from a narrative standpoint.
Their capacity isn't actually the same, since goliaths have a feature that gives them the carrying capacity of a large creature, they get 10/20/30x their strength compared to 5/10/15x; They are the same as most other medium creatures of same strength, which can be odd to think about realistically, yes being 3/4ths scale. If it bothers you that much, you can as[k] a DM [to] make it 4/8/12x (3/4ths) akin to the 2.5/5/7.5x (1/2) of tiny creatures. Small creatures use the same equipment by core rules though, so make sure small equipment (armor, not weapons) is 3/4ths weight too.
In all the games I run or are part of, we make up our own stuff. I was just asking what Nerdarchy does since the PHB is so vague for sizes. My groups do it with a combination of strength and body weight.
I've been thinking for the past week about how to make a dual scimitar wielding barbarian. Heavily inspired by the Gerudo from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. How should I go about doing this? Totem or Zealot would probably be the best primal path, Totem for tanking and Zealot's bonus damage would help my damage not be as bad. I was thinking taking variant human with the dual wielding feat for a nice +1 AC, and it would let me upgrade to rapiers for more damage, although I may ask my DM if I can flavor them as falchions to keep the curved sword aesthetic. Considering a dip in fighter after level 5 as well to get the two weapon fighting style to let me add my dex bonus to my offhand weapon, but not sure how deep I should go. Level 2 would be nice for action surge, while if I go as far as level 3 I can grab the champion path for an extended crit range. For stats I was thinking if 27 point buy: 13/15/15/8/12/8 with my 2 +1's going into dex and con. If standard array 13/15/14/8/12/10 with my 2 +1's still going into dex and con. This way I have enough str to multiclass. Anything else I can do to make it better?
I love nerdacrhy but you guys missed the mark here in my opinion. I would much rather go path of the wolf as a halfling and flavor it as the path of the wolverine. Raised by a blood thirsty pack of wolverines! Guys you totally missed the ball there.... I would strive for balanced physical stats and try to go with a 16 in dex, utilizing the medium armor mastery feat. In combat my build here would serve the role of an off tank. I would use two hand axes and later attain the feat for improved two weapon fighting. A menacing foe bearing down on you from the shadows throwing axes as big as the brute wielding them would be very imposing. Even if the foe and the axes were only 3 feet in height. In half plate with a dex bonus of 3 and two weapon mastery I believe my ac would be a 19. Plus I could run between a large or medium creature's legs and attack from the flank, evening knocking back said Large creature with my blows after diving through their legs. I would also rock the criminal background. After leaving the wolverine pack with no understanding of society, my only friend would be my criminal contact. I would not know them to be a criminal. Perhaps just a charlatan who saw my character as a powerful ally who is easily manipulated. Animals don't really understand law or the concept of possessions. I would spend my existence roving around and stealing from small settlements for food and survival essentials. Proficiency in stealth would blend great with the 6th level class feature of being able to travel stealthily while tracking at a normal pace. Dash as a bonus action would overcome my disadvantageous movement of 25 feet. Rage would prove to be a great way of getting out of being caught during a midnight pantry raid. My criminal specialty would be that of a highway man, robbing forlorn travelers not for their coin purse, but for their bread box . This would indeed be a confused existence worth being enraged over.
Does anyone else think it a tad bit odd that a Halfling can potentially have a 20 Str? I can see it for the larger races, it even makes sense on Dwarves but for a Halfling to be the physical equivelent to an Half-Orc. Kinda makes me long for the days of racial maximums. Granted, some didn't make as much sense as others but a halfling or gnome with a 20 Str?.....Thoughts?
It still takes a minimum of 4 level plus rolling stats and getting a 18. If you use point buy or stat you need to be 12th level. Npc's with those kind of level should be rare. - Nerdarchist Dave
Nerdarchy You still have to admit it seems a little strange for a Halfing and a Half Orc of the appropriate levels to be equally as strong as one another. You see what I'm getting at? Or god forbid a gnome with a 20 Str...he would look like Stewie that time he took steroids...or worse. Even for fantasy that breaks believability.
+FellVoice Nah. I've had 2 coworkers (including the one to my right at this very moment) that would be considered Dwarves with Str 20. We refer to them as biological brick walls. And, back in High School, I was freakishly tall and couldn't gain weight/mass to save my life.
XainMexi Dwarves, sure. But a halfling is supposed to have a physical stature resembling a child of around 10 or 12. The problem I have is that a peak human and a halfling have the same ceiling to their scores in regards to strength. Pffff, I guess that's why it's fantasy, lol.
I try to avoid the comments here, because NA is a 5e camp, but... SERIOUSLY!!! Stat ceilings!?! That's racist, WotC!! For shame!!! That smells like the horribly constraining [house] rules that infested 4e. :P I stand by my Rule 1: "Every paragraph you read regarding tabletop RPG mechanics should be considered optional, and can be adopted, rejected, or modified at the will of the DM and/or group of players" I strive to keep the same rules within each campaign, but if the modification is needed, the modification occurs
Halfings are dex based, barbarians are strength based. Kinda, but not really. A barbarians AC is heavily reliant on DEX. Go STR, DEX, CON. Now you have a tank who is hard to hit, hard to hurt, hits hard, and has a lot of health. Dump CHA/INT. Keep WIS at a moderate.
![Megan Thee Stallion - Mamushi (Remix) [feat. TWICE] [Official Audio]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/5c0_u9PsrsQ/mqdefault.jpg)
An idea. Next time you guys are going to sit down and do unorthodox builds like this you should each sit down before the video and each do your own design. Then sit down in front of the camera to debate the three builds. Perhaps even battle test them against randomized encounters that are of same CR.
I think focusing on the Dex and Con are certainly a good way to go. Yeah, your Strength suffers a lot, but maybe this character is focused on being very hard to drop. With how high his AC gets from focusing on the Dex and Con? Not to mention a shield? And they get advantage against poison saving throws, being frightened, and poison damage. Maybe you won't do as much damage. But you'll be very hard to kill. And I feel like a lot of the time that's what a Barbarian needs to be as opposed to maximizing your damage. Soaking damage for your friends. Don't know how much the math works up in terms of raising your stats, but you may even be able to take the feat to get a few Battlemaster Manuervers. Goading Attack? Keep threats focused on you by Taunting. Just like in an MMO, haha.
***** I like the battlemaster maneuvers idea.
-Nerdarchist Dave
Etherealizer
And here I put my 18 in charisma to intimidate and bluff.
I am about to join a campaign with my Halfling Barbarian. She *was* going to be a sailor, but then her ship was attacked by pirates and she was pressganged to join their crew until she managed to escape on shore. I'm considering Path of the Storm Herald focusing on the Sea, though Berserker could also be a good choice for her. If I could find a god she could get behind, I might go Path of the Zealot for her.
I'm currently playing a halfling barbarian (path of storm herald from UA) that i multiclassed after level 6 into fighter, he now dual wields battleaxes, attacks 4 times per turn, has a 19AC and literally tears through anything, best character i've played in years
Halfling Barbarian, Path of the Beserker
Str 14 Dex 12+2 Con 15+1 In 8 Wis 11 Cha 10
That way you don't totally waste the bonus damage from raging. You'd still have a 17 AC if you carry a shield. Going Dex based is just kind of a waste for a barbarian.
\In fact, I think I'd switch the Cha and Wis around. You're a barbarian. You don't need a high AC. You're resistant to weapon damage. Keep that Con and Str high and you'll be fine. No feats, just stat bumps. 4th level +2 Con. 8th level +2 Str. 12th Level +2 Str. 15th level +2 Con. 20th +2 Str. No need for feats at all. You'll have a boat oda of hit points, be resistant to weapon damage, and be able to deal out a ton of damage. No ned for De at all.
Joey Richter we are taking a beating on this one. :-)
- Nerdarchist Dave
Nerdarchy I'm sure you are. But it's all good. You can't win 'em all :)
Played a halfling barbarian in Eberron. he multi'd with ranger and man nothing gets the city guards attention like a raging halfling and his raptor. I am guessing by your opening comments that throwing weapons don't get your strength bonus on damage in 5th?
Belt of Giant strenght for this bad boy and he will be the shortest overpowered bad boy on the block.
That's what I'm talking about.
- Nerdarchist Dave
+mesarosmm Uh oh! It turns out the belt was actually a Belt of Gender Swap!
Say hello to your Halfling Amazon!
I love that item. It makes it awkward for the whole group.
Halfling Barbarian I think should go the dual wield rout. Both weapons as strength based. Totem path of the Eagle thus making the Halfling's ability to pass through creature's spaces that are larger than you that much better. Also, I think as far as feats go "Mobility" would be perfect. That way you could do melee drive by attacks. All you would need is a Dex of 13. At 5th level that would be 3 attacks per melee round. Thus you could move where ever you want and make 3 separate attacks.
It's a good build. I just like the idea of a little guy that can take a beating if you can actually manage to hit him. Besides I consider AC to be a power stat for 5e.
- Nerdarchist Dave
A barbarian with a +1 str. Mod dual wielding handaxes at lvl 1 with hitting with both atks. Deals (2d6+3+2) a median of 12 damage. Even if you were to pickup other light finesse Weapons you could say that your barbarian switches the modifier they use when they rage. If you were a varient human you could pick up the dual wield feat and use a rapier with the handaxe and kill it
I've considered this build for a future campaign. High Elf barbarian-totem warrior (14) and fighter-eldritch knight (6). Hyper focus stats on dex & con and give him AC boosting items, i.e. ring of protection, cloak of protection, etc. Add in shield and rapier and a dex throwing weapon. High elf gets the cantrip, either minor illusion or attack cantrip. Eldrich knight gets weapon bond, allowing you to drop/throw a weapon and as a bonus action teleport one of the two bonded weapons to your hand. Assuming calculations, AC could be 26 or higher unarmored.
I would have to say go for a wolf totem and go quarter staff and polearm master.
Stats, 14str 17dex 14con 8int 12wis 10chr, quarter staff is versatile so use a shield so you still get the extra attack from polearm master. Polearm master will get you a 18dex, add the rage damage, by 5th level you will have 3 attacks a turn, provide advantage for your allies to enemies around you, deal 2d6,+1d4+12 damage per turn, and have another way of getting an attack of opportunity(before 5th level you would want to use a finesse weapon). After 5th dip into fighter for duelist style and surge for a good boost. putting you at 2d6+1d4+18 damage per turn with the option of dealing another 1d6+6 with surge. This would definitely be an annoying minitank that would make dropping enemies much easier for the rest of your team.
+cyrosgold7 Figure out how to justify a pole-vaulting skill, and then take "fly by attack" and make the little bugger EPIC!!!!
I was contemplating creating an alternate system of HP that uses Exhaustion as the backbone resource, and the alternate injury rules as a long term limiter, mostly because I don't like how healing in the middle of combat ruins the pacing of combat. But in order to make it work, Exhaustion would need some dummy levels and to be restored quicker than 1/day, or else the death spiral would make the campaign pacing take too long.
+Varatho If you've got issues with mid-combat healing breaking the pacing, apply the MMO aggro rules: "Aggro means the cleric dies" TT:RPG translation: "Any monster with ># Int recognizes which target is undoing their previous efforts, and seeks to stop the 'undoing target' first"
The Totem wolf ability to give allies advantage on attacks against people you're melee-ing is just too good. with Lucky i wouldn't feel the need to recklessly attack as often, I would go high dex and shield so it would end up the tanky front-line support class, giving allies advantage on those attacks. More of a shield than the tip of the spear.
Than you guys! Awesome video! :D helped a lot for concepts, shall let you know when I finish my character, and show you what i'd do the same/differently!
TeaBowHT Cool beans. Lay it on us.
-Nerdarchist Dave
Hey! I have no idea how i found your channel but so far I'm loving it. I've never played a role playing game but i just love listening to you guys talk about it. I really hope i get to play DnD someday. Don't really know why I am saying all this i just wanted to tell you how great this channel is. have a good one!
billy - australian fan
***** Welcome. There are some online communities where you could play D&D via skype or Google Hangouts. On Facebook Tabletop RPG One Shot Group is a great place to get involved. They'll help you with everything most likely once you've explained your new and want to start gaming.
Grab some of the rules for free- dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules?x=dnd/basicrules
-Nerdarchist Dave
Come join us in the Table top RPG one shot group on facebook, there's plenty of Aussie's in there looking for games and it is actually the best facebook group that I'm in full stop.
My current character is a Stout Halfling Barbarian, Outlander and goes by the name of Grrr, currently barbarian5/fighter1. He is a dual wielder, and has taken the dual wield feat, and one level of fighter so that he could get the two-weapon fighting style, the second wind is quite the bonus too. Uses a Warhammer and a Battle Axe. I took path of the totem warrior and focused on the bear as my animal, taking half damage really adds to his staying power. 14 str, 16 dex, 14 con, having the high dex pairs well with his un-armored defence plus the extra +1AC for duel wielding, puts me at 16AC which ain't bad. He's as tough as nails and does decent damage. He's like a little Tasmanian Devil, pop a rage, wind him up and let him go, lol. It is the funnest character I have ever played, especially when I describe him to people as a small muscle bound hair ball that constantly growls his way through life. He not what most think when they think of halfling, but it definitely shows the diversity of the race.
I have a Hill Dwarf Monk in my campaign and to me that seems unorthodox but it works so well.
Sam Evardson A bump to Con and Wis plus an extra hit point at each level? Doesn't seem that unorthodox to me. It sounds like a sweet build though.
Any race that gives more points to any of the physical stats greatly benefits the barbarian, as it benefits heavily from all 3 physical stats more than any of the mental stats. Having played a stout halfling barbarian for a while now, I'll put in my two cents.
> The +2 to Dex and +1 to Con is incredibly helpful, as both feed in to your unarmored defense bonus, and dex also feeds into initiative and reflex saves, two things that any character can benefit from having a lot of bonuses to. It's a far more beneficial stat layout than races that'd split that bonus to mental stats, like elves, dragonborn, vanilla humans, and some dwarves, yet all those races make for decent barbarians too.
> The ability to move through larger enemy spaces, when combined with the high HP, high AC, and increased movement, means that you can pretty much go wherever you want on the battlefield, which is incredibly useful for a class that depends on high melee damage. If there's a high priority enemy behind a wall of other enemies, like a spellcaster, you can fairly easily charge straight past that wall and get to that squishy spellcaster goodness in the center.
> Lucky has surprisingly good synergy with Reckless Attack, as 1's have a higher chance of being rolled during advantage. (Disadvantage too)
> Halfling Barbarians make good Mage-Killers. The bonus to reflex saves through the dex bonus can have some crazy good synergy with a shield barbarian, since Shield master can also add to the dex saves and grant immunity to successfully saved dex-save based damage, which a lot of magic attacks are based on, and danger sense grants advantage to that. With your high con and con save proficiency, the only real magic threat will be will saves. But you have advantage against fear as a halfling, and if you go the berserker route, you have immunity to charms AND fear while raging.
> It's been proven that Barbarian/Assassin is actually an incredibly good combination in the right hands, and we all know how much synergy halflings have with the rogue...
Planning on playing a Dex Barbarian Halfling with Mobility and Duel Wielder, brandishing scimitars. Totem Beast bear, but flavoring it as a Badger.
I was just thinking to myself "Badgers! We don't neeeeed no stinking Badgers!" and one of you guys said it. Nice
I know this video is old but I'm thinking of a multiclass concept. If you put 1 level in fighter you can get dueling making you get a +2 in damage anyways
Using a finess weapon I can choose to use dex with a +2 damage and add flavor where I rage for specific reasons and use a +4 damage with a lower modifier (or frenzy? Or berserk?). Choose path of eagle and I can basically charge in
Why does the Halfling need a finesse weapon? why not just hand him a standard longsword and call it a small greatsword? then he can still get his rage and strength bonuses to damage. then go with path of the totem, give him bear resistance so he resists everything, and there ya go. Also if I were making one I would go straight 15's in strength, dex, and con, and 8 in everything else...say he was raised by Tasmanian devils that was a cool idea.
clericofchaos1 That works, but I hate the 3 dump stats. So very min/max and you'd have rp him as if he had some kind of mental disability.
-Nerdarchist Dave
Nerdarchy...or as a barbarian. they're not supposed to be smart. heck in 3.5 picking that class made you illiterate.
Dont' forget, that Lightfoot is Naturally stealthy and when you're going high dex you could sneak up and get the first hit in with advantage because you're stealthed, plus then you go earlier in initiative because of that dex bump. Rage damage just doesn't stack up.
a chaotic evil halfling ranger barbarian name him Belkar Bitterleaf
Stat array you'd generally go 8/14/15/12/13/10. Dumping rage damage is the right call with the stat array. You are a Halfling, so you won't be a striker as a Barbarian. As with any non-striker Barbarian, you don't care about rage damage. Halfing to Half-Orc, you're going Dex/Con. Because you're not a striker, you won't be going Frenzy either. So we're back to Bear (yawns aside). Your weakness as a high AC beefcake with well over double the effective HP of your friends are Int (Psychic/illusion) and Wis (most big CCs), so we shore that up as best we can. If you're starting near cap, then remember to max out Dex/Con, but you do have 1 feat to work with at 19.
PB is about the same, but you're a bit better off as you can go 8/15/15/10/14/8. This lets you shore up the most dangerous weakness (Wis) a little more, but it also means you're taking a +1 Dex Feat at 4th instead of being forced into +2 Dex. Athlete or Resilient (Dex) are really the only options, but that's not a bad thing per se.
Starting equipment is a rapier and a sling. Spend your background gold on a shield immediately and keep an eye out for a better ranged weapon, as you might as well do more than d4 damage when keeping yourself in Rage from range.
Give him a shield and a Spiked Shield (1d8 piercing and gives you a +1 to AC, adv on pushing, but you need training).
Halfling Barbarians= best projectiles :P
+StellWair I had a campaign where I drove my PCs to throw their crusader at the blue dragon... PC Projectiles involve a lot of dice rolls, but their hilarious to watch!
+StellWair Give him spiked armor and a chain collar and you can claim he's a heavy flail that can grapple on successful hit! XD
XainMexi I laughed so hard at this
StellWair I live to serve!
I’m actually playing right now as halfling barbarian. My Idea was slightly different. I wanted to create Celtic Barbarian who wanted to become Bett than his teammates. Storm barbarian is Nordic/pirate, Berserker is vanilla, Armor is Dwarfes only, ancestors are to China, and Totem are too jungle/shaman/Native American. So I gone with the beast barbarian, and chose to dump charisma and intelligence because of lore, and focus on strength, followed by dexterity and con. Shield don’t go with my vision for barb, so I chose to make my own weapon since longswords are basically every type of sword, that isn’t short or two handed, and this is wrong in my opinion, I decided with DM approval that long sword should be only one handed. And it’s versatile version would be bastard sword, which I chose. For background I decided that outlander is nice, but to vanilla so I created background combining Vagabond Outlander Folk Hero and Urchin, to create Forest Urchin. It’s not a mage, but the build is quite good. And lore centered.
Hello Nerdarchy (Glad to see Domo-chun peeking around corners). Off topic but I was curious if the team has any info on the release of campaign settings (Forgotten Realms, Spelljammer, ect....) from WOTC?
Wotc recently announced a FR suppliment on their site.
- Nerdarchist Dave
They just have to kill Mystra and decide which 5-15 other gods trip on their shoelaces and die with her...
Too soon?
Halfling totem barbarian. Strength focused, but at the start having a decent ac. TWF. No knee caps are safe
i made this style of build based on the badger. her name is badger. and shes and entertainer/gladiator
go Stout Bearbarian, use the Poson Immunity & Rage as flavour for a honey badger theme
I like this and want to try it out but, it says when you make a melee weapon attack using strength, "not a strength based melee weapon, when your using your strength to fight" you gain a bonus to the damage roll. So you use a light finesse weapon and when you are enraged use strength. Makes sense to me but It all comes down to the DM's decision.
you can choose to use your strength when using a finesse weapon.
- Nerdarchist Dave
ya, I made the character and use it today. I'm really happy with it.
just get your halfling a gauntlet of oger power or any belt of giant strenght at one point to compensate the 8 in Str and make him high in Dex and Cons to boost AC and HP
I disagree with using finesse weapons and losing out on the rage damage bonus. Just because you're a halfling doesn't mean you don't go STR based. You just let the racial dex bonus boost your AC for you. If I was using point buy I'd do stout halfling with 15/15/15/8/8/8 and be awful at int/wis/cha but start with 17 dex, 16 con, 15 str. Then I'd use ABI increases to pump up str, con, and dex as needed.
Not a fan of the 3 dump stats. It's so meta gamey and the idea that your barbarian doesn't mean you must have mental disability. Just my opinion.
- Nerdarchist Dave
No doubt. I wouldn't use 3 low stats as a meta gamey dump though. I'd use it as part of my character. I'm a crazed Halfling who loves battle, thinks he's intimidating but really has little presence, makes bad decisions, and lacks common sense. And there are real downsides to using low stats especially in wisdom, because failing wis saves really sucks.
I like having low stats to give me flaws in my characters. My current Dragonborn Paladin has 8 INT, and while he's a former soldier and pretty good tactician, his decision making is often quite poor. Last session, I tried leaping off an airship to wrangle a Wyvern and ended up nearly falling to my death for example. =)
Even if I wasn't going to use low mental stats, I wouldn't ever make a DEX Barbarian, only because you're losing the damage bonus from rage, which is a huge part of the reason you even choose a Barbarian. To me it'd be like choosing a Fighter with dueling style, then using a 2 handed weapon so you can't utilize it. Except in the Barb's case, it's actually worse.
Dex or Str? How about NEITHER! Go 14 Str, 14 Dex, and 16 Con and max out constitution as fast as possible. You keep the rage damage bonus, get better AC and you get Hitpoints on top of it. This will make you tanky enough to Reckless attack (almost) all the time which has great synergy with the Halfling trait and Brutal Critical. The more D20's the merrier! It also fixes your lowered chance to hit from not increasing Str or Dex! It synergises so well! Go for Tough and Lucky on the last two ASI's.
I have a stout hafling barbarian/rogue. I'm level 13 now, 8 totem bear barbarian, 5 rogue scout. I was fortunate enought to get my hands on a dex manual and a con manual. My items are Fire giant Belt, headband of intellect and boots of speed. My stats are 25str, 20dex, 18con, 19int, 12wis, 10cha.
Skills are Athletics +12, Sleight of hand +10, stealth +10, investigation+14, nature +14, Perception +11 and survival +11. In 2 more levels, I'll be a Totem bear barbarian with Uncanny Dodge and evasion. going 8 barbarian, 12 rogue. I use a rapier has my weapon of choice since I can sneak attack using my strenght, since finesse weapon let me do both.
A halfling barbarian? that's stupid why... woul...d..y...
[flashbacks]
WHERE IS DARK SUN!!!?? BRING ME MY CANNIBAL HALFLINGS!!!! I MISS HIM SO MUCH!!! :(
Lol.
- Nerdarchist Dave
+Fernando Rüth Tabletop flashbacks are wonderful moments!
Why not use a rapier and call it a saber? Make him a sailor with a drinking problem and he only gets enraged while drunk. I love that from a narrative standpoint.
How does Nerdarchy handle encumbrance, specifically 20 pound halflings having the same capacity as a goliath if their strength is the same?
Their capacity isn't actually the same, since goliaths have a feature that gives them the carrying capacity of a large creature, they get 10/20/30x their strength compared to 5/10/15x; They are the same as most other medium creatures of same strength, which can be odd to think about realistically, yes being 3/4ths scale.
If it bothers you that much, you can as[k] a DM [to] make it 4/8/12x (3/4ths) akin to the 2.5/5/7.5x (1/2) of tiny creatures. Small creatures use the same equipment by core rules though, so make sure small equipment (armor, not weapons) is 3/4ths weight too.
In all the games I run or are part of, we make up our own stuff. I was just asking what Nerdarchy does since the PHB is so vague for sizes. My groups do it with a combination of strength and body weight.
Simple a Barbarian who focuses of Finesse Weapons and focuses on lasting a long time in a fight and being harder to hit.
I've been thinking for the past week about how to make a dual scimitar wielding barbarian. Heavily inspired by the Gerudo from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. How should I go about doing this? Totem or Zealot would probably be the best primal path, Totem for tanking and Zealot's bonus damage would help my damage not be as bad. I was thinking taking variant human with the dual wielding feat for a nice +1 AC, and it would let me upgrade to rapiers for more damage, although I may ask my DM if I can flavor them as falchions to keep the curved sword aesthetic. Considering a dip in fighter after level 5 as well to get the two weapon fighting style to let me add my dex bonus to my offhand weapon, but not sure how deep I should go. Level 2 would be nice for action surge, while if I go as far as level 3 I can grab the champion path for an extended crit range. For stats I was thinking if 27 point buy: 13/15/15/8/12/8 with my 2 +1's going into dex and con. If standard array 13/15/14/8/12/10 with my 2 +1's still going into dex and con. This way I have enough str to multiclass. Anything else I can do to make it better?
I love nerdacrhy but you guys missed the mark here in my opinion. I would much rather go path of the wolf as a halfling and flavor it as the path of the wolverine. Raised by a blood thirsty pack of wolverines! Guys you totally missed the ball there.... I would strive for balanced physical stats and try to go with a 16 in dex, utilizing the medium armor mastery feat. In combat my build here would serve the role of an off tank. I would use two hand axes and later attain the feat for improved two weapon fighting. A menacing foe bearing down on you from the shadows throwing axes as big as the brute wielding them would be very imposing. Even if the foe and the axes were only 3 feet in height. In half plate with a dex bonus of 3 and two weapon mastery I believe my ac would be a 19. Plus I could run between a large or medium creature's legs and attack from the flank, evening knocking back said Large creature with my blows after diving through their legs. I would also rock the criminal background. After leaving the wolverine pack with no understanding of society, my only friend would be my criminal contact. I would not know them to be a criminal. Perhaps just a charlatan who saw my character as a powerful ally who is easily manipulated. Animals don't really understand law or the concept of possessions. I would spend my existence roving around and stealing from small settlements for food and survival essentials. Proficiency in stealth would blend great with the 6th level class feature of being able to travel stealthily while tracking at a normal pace. Dash as a bonus action would overcome my disadvantageous movement of 25 feet. Rage would prove to be a great way of getting out of being caught during a midnight pantry raid. My criminal specialty would be that of a highway man, robbing forlorn travelers not for their coin purse, but for their bread box . This would indeed be a confused existence worth being enraged over.
My stout halfling barbarian has an entertainers background.
Peobably way better than my half giant rouge.
And here I put my 18 in Charisma.
7:15 "You can use it as much as you want" 5e is that drug dealer all our teachers/parents warned us about.
Didn't expect to see you here, lol
I still live! Hopefully, I'll be getting back into full online activity very soon
A Feral Halfling!!!
Halfling barbarian vs. gnome fighter, who would win?
Good question but so many variables.
- Nerdarchist Dave
+Hellion Valentine I think I saw that wrestling match the other night. Awesome match!
The rules say you can use strength for intimidation
Does anyone else think it a tad bit odd that a Halfling can potentially have a 20 Str? I can see it for the larger races, it even makes sense on Dwarves but for a Halfling to be the physical equivelent to an Half-Orc. Kinda makes me long for the days of racial maximums. Granted, some didn't make as much sense as others but a halfling or gnome with a 20 Str?.....Thoughts?
It still takes a minimum of 4 level plus rolling stats and getting a 18. If you use point buy or stat you need to be 12th level. Npc's with those kind of level should be rare.
- Nerdarchist Dave
Nerdarchy
You still have to admit it seems a little strange for a Halfing and a Half Orc of the appropriate levels to be equally as strong as one another. You see what I'm getting at? Or god forbid a gnome with a 20 Str...he would look like Stewie that time he took steroids...or worse. Even for fantasy that breaks believability.
+FellVoice Nah. I've had 2 coworkers (including the one to my right at this very moment) that would be considered Dwarves with Str 20. We refer to them as biological brick walls. And, back in High School, I was freakishly tall and couldn't gain weight/mass to save my life.
XainMexi
Dwarves, sure. But a halfling is supposed to have a physical stature resembling a child of around 10 or 12. The problem I have is that a peak human and a halfling have the same ceiling to their scores in regards to strength. Pffff, I guess that's why it's fantasy, lol.
I try to avoid the comments here, because NA is a 5e camp, but...
SERIOUSLY!!! Stat ceilings!?! That's racist, WotC!! For shame!!!
That smells like the horribly constraining [house] rules that infested 4e. :P
I stand by my Rule 1: "Every paragraph you read regarding tabletop RPG mechanics should be considered optional, and can be adopted, rejected, or modified at the will of the DM and/or group of players"
I strive to keep the same rules within each campaign, but if the modification is needed, the modification occurs
Halfling Ranger class
Halfings are dex based, barbarians are strength based. Kinda, but not really. A barbarians AC is heavily reliant on DEX. Go STR, DEX, CON. Now you have a tank who is hard to hit, hard to hurt, hits hard, and has a lot of health. Dump CHA/INT. Keep WIS at a moderate.
Badger!
He was raised by dinosaurs
Or a gnome barbarian named quark pfft? Anyone?
First
Jack Theripper I hope you roll a 1 on your next attack roll.