I'm keeping Cleave though, since the DM likes to cluster mobs in hallways and I have gotten some good use out of it.
Sorry for the double post, but light armor + Liont Totem Babrarian (just the first level ACF) from Complete Cheatyface is a much, MUCH better option than blowing a feat for Cleave. Unless you plan to go Frenzied Berserker, which opens up a whole new can of whoopass... and complexity.
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Hmm. I'm not familiar with class variants, but the DM obviously doesn't mind them since we have a CG paladin with us. What makes the Lion Totem better than other choices?
Wow, this topic has spread far beyond simply my equipment! As long as the DM doesn't mind I think I actually switch Cleave out for Improved Bull Rush.
Hmm. I'm not familiar with class variants, but the DM obviously doesn't mind them since we have a CG paladin with us. What makes the Lion Totem better than other choices?
Lion Totem barbarians give up their fast movement ability in exchange for Pounce. Fast Movement is a nice ability, but one that's trivially easy to take up with equipment over time, and it doesn't really help barbarians much - if you move more than 5' (i.e. if you take advantage of Fast Movement), you can only make one attack this round, and barbarians really benefit from having access to multiple attacks. Meanwhile, Pounce is "you can take a full attack at the end of a charge" - so if you're level 7, you can swing twice at the end of a charge attack, which involves moving double your speed anyway. And I did just mention that barbarians really benefit from having access to multiple attacks, didn't I?
What makes it better than the other totems? Pounce is one of the single best melee abilities in the game, and it's traditionally quite hard to get ahold of, and here Complete Cheeseball hands it out at level 1 to the class which probably benefits the most from it.
In order to make sure that the limits on charge mobility don't hinder you, you might consider the charge-related skill tricks in Complete Scoundrel as well (Twisted Charge and Nimble Charge). They're cheap, and barbarians get skill points to spare.
As a minor aside, the reason why Draco is, quite correctly I think, pointing out that barbarian isn't really conductive to a mobile heavy hitter is the same reason why we're recommending Pounce. Normally, you can't move and full attack, and it's full attacks (and the ability to hit multiple times) that normal melee characters really rely on in order to dish out damage. There are, broadly speaking, three ways around this: Extra actions (hard to get on a melee character, but the swift hunter handbook goes into this a lot), Pounce (discussed here), and switching away from full attacks. To switch away from full attacks but keep your damage up, one usually switches roles altogether, moving into what we call "AoO Tanking" (basically, responding to everything your opponents do with an Attack of Opportunity), but you can also just pick up a martial adept. The strike abilities available to a warblade, for instance, can still feel very barbarian-esque without costing you much in the way of damage. (Warblades work amazingly well as many different warrior archetypes, from the savage but cunning barbarian to the clever and swift swashbuckler to the noble leadership of the samurai.) The strikes are more mobile than charge attacks because most strikes take only a standard action to use, so you can still move before or after the strike - and this movement isn't subject to the same restrictions that charge attacks are.
The warblade - and martial adepts in general - solved a lot of problems with D&D melee which had formerly required a lot of finesse and familiarity with the rules to get around. (For instance, until the book came out, you'd have to be an absolute master of the attack of opportunity rules and/or extremely comfortable playing with Power Attack numbers just to keep up with monster HP.) If you need free online material only, there's quite a bit of the basics of the warblade and the book it's from available here and here.
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I'm reading that Lion Totems get Run instead of Pounce, but yeah I can definitely see the advantage...
Different Lion Totem variant. Check out the various options available to Barbarians here.
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Oh, I see... I'm a little overwhelmed again, but I think it's coming together. Hopefully I'll get the whole idea by the time we get together again. Thanks for everyone's help!
