The Barbarian Advice Column

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@Cúchulainn: Be warned, the PRC has massive lag problems.

 

Wow, this Tinoman Greatsword is, well, great!

 

You're welcome.

 

I am now in the undead zombie oasis and my Barbarian 4 / Fighter 4 is going along nicely. Been paralysed a couple of times but not fatally, and he effortlessly dealt with that Blackguard that has caused me so many problems with other characters. I do find that he uses more potions than previous characters (like Barkskin and Speed) to make up for his lack of buffing spells. I am seriously considering getting the useless Great Cleave feat simply because I can see that it would look really cool when he pulled it off (his normal Cleave can easily kill a skeleton or zombie so the Great one could theoretically wipe out a whole room of pesky vermin)

 

If i remember correctly, if you want to multiclass into a WM your gonna have to take that useless Great Cleave feat anyway, so you can count on having oodles of fun bopping out room-fulls skeletons

 

Not really, you don't even need Cleave for a Weapon Master. The required feats are:

- Focus in at least one melee weapon
- Dodge
- Mobility
- Spring Attack
- Expertise
- Whirlwind Attack

 

So no you don't need the great cleave feat, however picking up the WM class is a strenuous process if you don't have some fighter levels (the extra feats help a lot).
It depends on what feats your character already has.

[edit: didn't see Colthrun post sorry]

 

My character is now Barbarian 5 / Fighter 4 and has met all of the requirements for Weapon Master except Whirlwind Attack (although having said that, I might have overlooked all the pre-requirements for that one feat....)

This character rocks. He carved up that ruby golem thing easily and I usually skip that because he squashes my other characters too quickly.

Main use for his Rage ability is to provide some extra strength for lugging heavy armour back to a merchant to sell......

 

Woops. I was thinking of the Devastating Critical feat and got it confused with the WM requirements.

 

Assuming you take this character into HOTU, then you probably should take Great Cleave (and Imp Crit: Greatsword) to eventually take Dev Crit. It's a doozy of a feat. HOTU will also provide your Barbarian with god-like equipment that will make him immune to damn near everything, so no worries about those low Will saves.

Remember that Protection from Evil (a simple little level 1 spell) will make you completely immune to all mind spells cast at you by evil opponents so if you can get that spell cast on you you're set. Not sure that Dorna can cast it but some of the henchmen in HOTU might.

 

Dorna doesn't seem to have Protection from Evil (only Aid and Bless) so we suffered a bit at the hands of the Gray Slaad. But that is the first time I have really come up against a will saving issue. Luckily the ant monster helped us out until we recovered from being stunned.

Other than that, this character is still good. It's great to be able to hit and deal big damage in fights, and have loads of hit points to take the hits yourself.

 

I normally keep lots of potions of clarity for those cases.

 

I am now Fighter 4 / Barbarian 8, just need to go after the Dead Wind now. Really, this character is so tough that he carves through everyone, especially now that he has the Shining Light of Lathander Greatsword. I've had to turn the difficulty right up to the highest setting.

 

Ooh, look at Harbs going hardcore!

 

I can see why they recommend Barbarian to beginners. It's got to be the easiest class, at least in Shadows of Undrentide. The barbarian hacks up everything!

 

What feats have you taken so far, HB?

 

I think I have taken all the ones required for Weapon Master now. No Great Cleave yet. Weapon Specialisation in Greatswords.

About to take on the Wind Zombie - who has in previous attempts been up there as one of the toughest opponent I have played in this game (I seem to recollect he has loads of immunities combined with rapid regeneration). Let's see if Karsa Orlong, the mighty Fighter / Barbarian can make short work of him or not.

 

Beware his stunning stare, you may want to get some protection vs mental attacks.

 

If only stupid Dorna could cast something suitable on me. Curse those Rogue levels. Oh yeah, that Wind Zombie seems to do crictical hits on just about every second swipe as well.

 

Ooh, just got Enserric the Greatsword. Oh boy, now my Barbarian is even scarier. He horsewhipped that old blue dragon on level one of HotU. Now to see what the Weapon Master class can do for us.