Playtest Barbarian build

[brislove]

I'm playing this currently, so it's only level 3. I'm trying to decide between executioners axe and full-blade. I'm pretty sure +1 to hit is always better then damage so full-blade seems the obvious choice.

The story is that he's a bastard child of bahamut, but doesn't know it yet. He was raised by a tribe of human nomads, that were taken as slaves, the pirate ship that was going to sell them crashed, and he was taken in by a temple of bahamut. The temple nursed him back to health and taught him some of the faith. He felt a strong connection with the faith and is going to slowly discover why.

Dragonborn Barbarian 3
20/17/13/11/10/17 (rolled stats, good thing I rolled well....)
Feats:
1st:Armor prof: Chain
2nd:Weapon Prof: Fullblade
Planned heroic tier feats in no particular order
Power attack
scale
Plate
paladin multi-class

Powers:
At-wills: Howling Strike, Recuperating Strike.
Encounters: Avalanche Strike, and Blade Sweep
Daily: Bloodhunt Rage.

I don't know what I'm going to do at paragon, I wanted to go with a paladin path. But they seem not so good (maybe astral weapon). Justicar is great if I wanted to mark things.....

What do people think of purple dragon knight? thats where I'm leaning currently...Steelsky liberator seems solid fluff-wise with the dragon killing stuff (which works with the bahamut idea, and the killing evil dragons). I'm not really sure of the power level of liberator, but it kinda works. This isn't that important though, as martial power comes out before i'll be level 11 hehe.

[X-Codes]

While the playtest says that Charisma is important, there are no Barbarian powers available right now that actually use Charisma.

Anyway, I say Iron Vanguard is one of the best Paragon Paths for a Barbarian at the moment; depending on the rage you use you're constantly getting bonus ConMod damage along with knocking things prone, knocking things around, or knocking things out.  Scale and Plate proficiency are completely unnecessary, although I can see the appeal of using Scale and then Specializing in it to maintain your speed, but that would require a little Dex investment.

[brislove]

the cha was mostly used because it gave me a somewhat decent will defense, and for flavor reasons with the proposed multi-class into paladin.

1 ac/feat probably isn't worth it, chain should do just fine. thats a good point.

What feats should I be getting in there?

I will probably do a CO diary on this game as well.

What should I be looking for item wise? Are then any weapon properties that are especially good

[Taishar]

Well, if you get into epic scale armor / spec would be a good choice.  Champion of Order is sick for the encounter power, and the daily is solid enough too, prolly not worth it thou.  Justicar's abilities are great, but the powers suck.  Kensei or Iron vanguard would prolly be the "best" choice.  Purple dragon knight is solid enough, but dosen't really increase your damage.  Steelsky Liberator is alright, but one ability and the utility are straight up worthless 99% of the time (not to mention there isn't anything too good in there).  Ironically I think Sword Coast Corsair is a solid choice, and quite fluffy for you.


Cheers

[brislove]

I was looking at corsair, and it seems solid enough. I like the mobility option from the action point usage.

oh well. still need good feats for heroic tier. going to get power attack in there at 4th most likely.

[X-Codes]

Weapon Focus is honestly not bad.  In all likelihood just about all Barbarian powers will be Weapon powers, so that's a bonus to damage on every attack, and over the course of an encounter that adds up fast.

Next there's the Proficiency feat: Dwarven for Dwarves, Eladrin for Eladrin (Eladrin Barbarian? Pssh...), and Weapon Prof for everything else.  There are some worthwhile Superior weapons for a Barbarian to use, and even if it's just for a damage boost that boost will apply on every single attack you make and, once again, add up over the course of an encounter.

In your specific situation, a good lineup would likely be Power Attack, Weapon Focus, Dragonborn Senses, and Enlarged Dragon Breath, in no particular order.

[brislove]

you like enlarged breath better than hurl breath? (becomes range 10 burst 2)

I took fullblade proficiency because it seems to just be better then the other options(it's a prof 3 greataxe). gives some power attack leverage. The other option was mordenkad, and getting hammer rhythm so that I get to keep hurting things. at that point it's probably actually better than +1 to hit. (it's also +1.5 damage per [W]) actually it might just be better all the time because of that.

[X-Codes]

Area attacks provoke OAs, and since you should be closing to melee and not playing around with ranged attacks as a Barbarian, I'd say that that is a fairly important consideration.

Fullblade Proficiency is fine.  Anything that boosts your damage output as a Barbarian makes a good weapon to wield.  That said, I do like the Mordenkrad better personally.

[brislove]

full-blade + power attack is better for heroic tier, but hammer rhythm blows it out of the water at 11.

[X-Codes]

full-blade + power attack is better for heroic tier, but hammer rhythm blows it out of the water at 11.

Hence my Mordenkrad love.