Just a Stranger
Villager
Hello,
My friends and I are planning to play D&D 4e, we have never played 4e before, only 5e. I have initially planned to play a human barbarian but after reading through the books allowed to us by the DM and the class itself I am no longer sure, that I want to play barbarian.
Content allowed for us: Player's Handbook 1, 2, 3 and Forgotten Realms Player's Guide, if you are wondering, no the DM will not consider adding anymore books, as our group is rather new to 4e and he doesn't want things to be too complicated.
The issue lies mostly in the way that the class is designed, this will require some explanation. When I looked over the class I decided that I wanted to play a Rageblood barbarian, and found out that some of their class features and powers utilize Constitution. This of course means that I will likely want to invest a number of the ability score increases into it, but the issue lies in then not being able to raise Dexterity as much which is important to Barbarians due to them only having access to Hide Armor.
I thought about not investing in Constitution as much and just focus on Strength and Dexterity and not pick up any powers that utilize the Constitution modifier but that feels I am basically playing around bad design and limiting the options I have available, while the rest of the players on the team don't have to worry about such issues. I could try to spread the points between Dex and Con, while still increasing Strength but that means I won't be able to increase Wisdom which means my Will Defense will be especially atrocious and I don't want that.
I have thought about instead going with a Thaneborn Barbarian, but my friend has his heart set on playing a warlord and we would have a somewhat similar ability score spread, and based on what I know about the rest of the group I don't think any of them will utilize a build that will have strong Wisdom and access to the Perception skill(Hello Surprise rounds). I have thought about getting access to heavy armor(up to Scale Armor) through feats but don't know if that will actually lead to an effective barbarian, as then I would have to consider Reflex Defense, since I won't be raising Dexterity as much. I don't want to drag the party down or have the DM make encounters easier because I didn't build my character properly.
Should I abandon the idea of playing a Barbarian and go for another class? Or would switching to heavy armor through feats solve my problems? Maybe the powers and class features that utilize Constitution aren't that strong and I should avoid them anyway? But then why am I even bothering with the Rageblood Barbarian if its design is such a mess?
This is how I planned to build my character at level 1
Human Barbarian Level 01
Stats after Racial Increases
Str 18
Con 14
Dex 14
Int 10
Wis 13
Cha 8
Feats: Armor Proficiency Chain, Armor Proficiency Scale
At Will: Recuperating, Howling, Devastating
Encounter: Haven't Decided Yet
Daily: Haven't Decided Yet
My friends and I are planning to play D&D 4e, we have never played 4e before, only 5e. I have initially planned to play a human barbarian but after reading through the books allowed to us by the DM and the class itself I am no longer sure, that I want to play barbarian.
Content allowed for us: Player's Handbook 1, 2, 3 and Forgotten Realms Player's Guide, if you are wondering, no the DM will not consider adding anymore books, as our group is rather new to 4e and he doesn't want things to be too complicated.
The issue lies mostly in the way that the class is designed, this will require some explanation. When I looked over the class I decided that I wanted to play a Rageblood barbarian, and found out that some of their class features and powers utilize Constitution. This of course means that I will likely want to invest a number of the ability score increases into it, but the issue lies in then not being able to raise Dexterity as much which is important to Barbarians due to them only having access to Hide Armor.
I thought about not investing in Constitution as much and just focus on Strength and Dexterity and not pick up any powers that utilize the Constitution modifier but that feels I am basically playing around bad design and limiting the options I have available, while the rest of the players on the team don't have to worry about such issues. I could try to spread the points between Dex and Con, while still increasing Strength but that means I won't be able to increase Wisdom which means my Will Defense will be especially atrocious and I don't want that.
I have thought about instead going with a Thaneborn Barbarian, but my friend has his heart set on playing a warlord and we would have a somewhat similar ability score spread, and based on what I know about the rest of the group I don't think any of them will utilize a build that will have strong Wisdom and access to the Perception skill(Hello Surprise rounds). I have thought about getting access to heavy armor(up to Scale Armor) through feats but don't know if that will actually lead to an effective barbarian, as then I would have to consider Reflex Defense, since I won't be raising Dexterity as much. I don't want to drag the party down or have the DM make encounters easier because I didn't build my character properly.
Should I abandon the idea of playing a Barbarian and go for another class? Or would switching to heavy armor through feats solve my problems? Maybe the powers and class features that utilize Constitution aren't that strong and I should avoid them anyway? But then why am I even bothering with the Rageblood Barbarian if its design is such a mess?
This is how I planned to build my character at level 1
Human Barbarian Level 01
Stats after Racial Increases
Str 18
Con 14
Dex 14
Int 10
Wis 13
Cha 8
Feats: Armor Proficiency Chain, Armor Proficiency Scale
At Will: Recuperating, Howling, Devastating
Encounter: Haven't Decided Yet
Daily: Haven't Decided Yet