Your two cents for a raging noob.

[PatriotCinco]

So, I'm relatively new to the game, and we're getting geared up to start on a new campaign: Lost Mine of Phandelver. I'm settled on a totem barbarian, but I'm having difficulty deciding race.

We got to roll first then decide our race/class. I rolled pretty well 17, 17, 14 as highest three ability stats. Based on those numbers alone, I feel like variant human is the obvious choice. As I could have both Polearm master and sentinel by level 4, +4 attack mods, 16 ac, and still be within one ASI of maxing out my strength by 8. However, based on the name of the campaign alone, I feel like the value is the half orcs darkvision is nothing to turn your nose up to, not to mention relentless endurance and Savage attacks.

I could research more into the campaign itself, but that's how I found out about the goblin ambush that gives many adventurers trouble. I'd like to try to make a good selection, but not blow the surprises by researching too much. I realize that you're not really supposed to try to combat-optimize a character for the sake of rp, but our bard and wizard can do the charming and smart things (that's my job in our current campaign as our sorcerer). I'm going to rp the guy who chews bubblegum and kicks ass...And has lots of bubblegum. Really, though, once I settle in on a race I'll craft my back story from there.

In short, I'm just very new, and looking to the hardened veterans for their wisdom and guidance in terms of selecting a race for my fresh new barbarian.

Thanks!

[GreyBlack]

It's very hard to make a "bad" 5e character from a mechanical optimization standpoint. Really, the would just pick the race that was most interesting and go from there.

That said.... I always remind people that darkvision doesn't work the way they think it does, and that having a light source is normally mechanically better than being able to see in the dark. So, mechanically speaking, a V. Human might be better as it provides you greater flexibility.

That said... have you considered a Mountain Dwarf? +str, +con, darkvision, advantage vs poison, and proficiency to make your own ale is pretty nice.

ETA: Also, on your first ASI, you get 2 20's in your 2 prime stats which then means you can focus on taking feats from there on out.

[leogobsin]

I think half-orc or vhuman would both be a totally solid choice. Both can give you +4 to STR and CON, half-orc has some nice side bonuses (Relentless Endurance, Savage Attack) that won't come up often but they'll be cool when they do. Variant Human is probably the better mechanical choice though, barbarian is a class that meshes nicely with certain feats.

I would definitely advise against researching the adventure too much to try to build your character specifically for it. You'll be cheating yourself out of some of the excitement of playing the adventure. Here's what I'll say: darkvision can be useful, but if there's anyone else in your party who doesn't have darkvision it mostly stops mattering, since you'll be carrying some kind of light for them anyway.

Basically, I'd say you should go Variant Human. Half-orc doesn't have anything that's so vital that it would be better than a feat.

[PatriotCinco]

I would definitely advise against researching the adventure too much to try to build your character specifically for it. You'll be cheating yourself out of some of the excitement of playing the adventure. Here's what I'll say: darkvision can be useful, but if there's anyone else in your party who doesn't have darkvision it mostly stops mattering, since you'll be carrying some kind of light for them anyway

That said... have you considered a Mountain Dwarf? +str, +con, darkvision, advantage vs poison, and proficiency to make your own ale is pretty nice.

ETA: Also, on your first ASI, you get 2 20's in your 2 prime stats which then means you can focus on taking feats from there on out.

I had considered that, GreyBlack. Having your two primary stats maxed by 4 is awfully tempting, and a mountain dwarf would be a lot of fun to rp i think. Most of their racial features just seem redundant after a totem barb, bear at 3, features are considered.


Awesome advice guys. Thank you for your responses. This ought to help my ease my decision when it gets to go time.

[Kane0]

If you're just starting out one of the most important things is that you enjoy the character you play. It doesn't really matter what that character is, as long as you have fun playing it. Power is only important if that's where you get your enjoyment from.
If you nail that you'll be more interested and invested in general, and system mastery will come with time. Not that mastery is required to play 5e, most of the time it's quite hard to be useless.

For a Barbarian V-human, Half-Orc, Goliath and Dwarf are all solid options, although Gnome is great too if you want to be unconventional.

[PatriotCinco]

Very good points, especially about having fun. I realize that liking who you are is more important than anything else. You're right about it being difficult to be useless because in the long run a +1-2 here and there isn't going to break the game for you, and flaws can be just as fun as strength.

I think another piece to my puzzle here is that while id like to maximize my ability potential, i would also like to add a feat for some flexibility in combat. Point, rage, smash (or recklessly smash) appear to be mostly the only options for a barb so i wouldn't mind having the bonus attack from Polearm or the reaction from sentinel just to spice things up. I could pick a more complex class i suppose, but barb just seems fun so that's what I'm rolling with.

Great advice though. I like the idea of the gnome, too. He's like mini me from Austin powers with a greataxe.

[Twigwit]

With stats like those you could take extremely unconventional races for Barbarian and still be above par relative to point buy characters while also getting access to stuff that ASIs can't give you. Yuan Ti Pureblood comes to mind, poison immunity + adv vs all magic is certainly worth delaying those +4 modifiers to STR and CON. Aaracockra gives you a fly speed, always handy. I know it isn't the elegant simplicity of "more damage, more HP", but it's features you can't really get elsewhere that consistently prove powerful on characters.

[Aett_Thorn]

Very good points, especially about having fun. I realize that liking who you are is more important than anything else. You're right about it being difficult to be useless because in the long run a +1-2 here and there isn't going to break the game for you, and flaws can be just as fun as strength.

I think another piece to my puzzle here is that while id like to maximize my ability potential, i would also like to add a feat for some flexibility in combat. Point, rage, smash (or recklessly smash) appear to be mostly the only options for a barb so i wouldn't mind having the bonus attack from Polearm or the reaction from sentinel just to spice things up. I could pick a more complex class i suppose, but barb just seems fun so that's what I'm rolling with.

Great advice though. I like the idea of the gnome, too. He's like mini me from Austin powers with a greataxe.

With rolled stats like what you have, I actually am going to suggest Gnome. Sure, the +2 to Int is largely useless, but nobody expects a smart Barbarian, so you can have some fun with that. With Gnome, you’ll have pretty much proficiency or advantage on every saving throw. If you go Bear, you’ll be very tough to take down, but you will need feats to fill out your action economy.

Other options there:

Eagle totem: be both smarter AND faster than most enemies will expect.

Storm Herald: at least will give you some bonus action stuff to do without feats.

Battlerager: see if your DM will allow you to use this subclass even through you’re not a dwarf. A Gnomish Battlerager is just hilarious and fun to play (from experience).


Just be careful with that Greataxe, since it would give you disadvantage on attacks as a small race. But using a versatile battle axe is still 1d10 damage which is only one point behind.

[MrStabby]

With rolled stats like what you have, I actually am going to suggest Gnome. Sure, the +2 to Int is largely useless, but nobody expects a smart Barbarian, so you can have some fun with that. With Gnome, you’ll have pretty much proficiency or advantage on every saving throw. If you go Bear, you’ll be very tough to take down, but you will need feats to fill out your action economy.

Other options there:

Eagle totem: be both smarter AND faster than most enemies will expect.

Storm Herald: at least will give you some bonus action stuff to do without feats.

Battlerager: see if your DM will allow you to use this subclass even through you’re not a dwarf. A Gnomish Battlerager is just hilarious and fun to play (from experience).


Just be careful with that Greataxe, since it would give you disadvantage on attacks as a small race. But using a versatile battle axe is still 1d10 damage which is only one point behind.

Actually with these stats a Gnome is pretty good as well as fun. Mental saves are the bane of barbarians and advantage vs most spells here is just vital for keeping you in the fight. Fear, hold person, banishment... all less of a problem if you are a gnome. Con saves you have a great con for and dex saves tend to do damage and that's what you have massive HP and sometime resistances to deal with.

[MilkmanDanimal]

"Raging n00b" and barbarian I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE.

Darkvision is handy, but, really, unless everybody has darkvision, at some point you need a light source anyways so it's really not THAT critical of a thing. It's useful particularly from a recon standpoint, but, as a barbarian, it's not like you're going to be the stealthy one in the party.

With that stat block, you can do some fun character concepts. Presuming taking the 17/17/14 as STR/CON/DEX, a Stout Halfling gives you a 17/18/16 and you'd be a Halfling Barbarian with an unarmored AC of 17 at first level. Grab a longsword and wield it two-handed, and, sure, you're not exactly GWM-level in terms of monster murdering, but you get to reroll 1s due to Lucky, plus resistance against poison. Fun concept.

[PatriotCinco]

The gnome hadn't even crossed my mind previously, but the idea of having all of those advantages sounds kind of awesome.

And i completely forgot about the heavy weapons with small races thing. I just had that minime picture in my head and had to roll with it.

[DarkKnightJin]

Actually with these stats a Gnome is pretty good as well as fun. Mental saves are the bane of barbarians and advantage vs most spells here is just vital for keeping you in the fight. Fear, hold person, banishment... all less of a problem if you are a gnome. Con saves you have a great con for and dex saves tend to do damage and that's what you have massive HP and sometime resistances to deal with.

Not to mention Danger Sense giving Advantage on thise Dex Saves, too.
Gnome Barbarian will have Proficiency or Advantage on all their saves.
They won't be able to use the large weapons, but with two-handing their Longsword, Battleaxe, or Warhammer will have about the same impact as a Greataxe, Maul, or Greatsword.

Regardless, they'll be the bane of kneecaps everywhere they go.

[GlenSmash!]

Not to mention Danger Sense giving Advantage on thise Dex Saves, too.
Gnome Barbarian will have Proficiency or Advantage on all their saves.
They won't be able to use the large weapons, but with two-handing their Longsword, Battleaxe, or Warhammer will have about the same impact as a Greataxe, Maul, or Greatsword.

Regardless, they'll be the bane of kneecaps everywhere they go.

You'll lose out on the possibility of -5/+10 from GWM as that requires a Heavy Weapon.

If you're not planning on taking GWM this is a great idea for a defensive Barbarian.

[PatriotCinco]

You'll lose out on the possibility of -5/+10 from GWM as that requires a Heavy Weapon.

If you're not planning on taking GWM this is a great idea for a defensive Barbarian.

Just about everywhere I look online, the advice is almost always to take GWM. Maybe this is due to my inexperience, but it hardly seems more useful than either PAM or sentinel. The extra attack seems great for clearing away weak mobs, but they're not terribly threatening anyway. And on a hit the - 5/+10 is pretty devastating. But, how is that better than the d4+6(str+rage) as a bonus attack for every round from PAM, or the reaction attack from sentinel? As a meat shield, i feel like sentinel is much more useful.

Although, combined with a reckless attack, you're far more likely to land it. And I'm sure it's more satisfying to score the heavy attack than to hit with the broom handle of your weapon or slap the wrist of enemies not paying attention to you.

A VH could take a combination of pam/sent or pam/gwm and have the best of both worlds super early.

That gnome idea for later in the game is pretty sick though. Seeing all of those advantages on my character sheet gives you that warm and fuzzy feeling of winning saving throws

[Twigwit]

GWM is truly the path to ridiculous damage, and this is in part thanks to how CR is "balanced". The three factors that are considered when giving a monster a challenge rating is damage per round, hit points, and armor class. Typically this means that monsters excel in one of the three factors while just being mediocre in the others. From the perspective of a barbarian with GWM, this means they have a response to monsters that are good at any of them. Barbarians are uniquely qualified to shrug off high damage from anything but spell casters, and since you're going totem the only thing you truly have to worry about our psychic monsters like mind flayers, so monsters with a high DPR aren't a problem. If the monster has a high AC but a mediocre HP total you can simply make regular attacks against it for maximum accuracy. When their hit points are high but their AC is low that's when you unleash GWM. And besides, you can also get that extra attack from a critical, and as a barbarian you have a higher critical chance since you can perpetually roll with advantage. With GWM you are effective at fighting virtually every monster that you can get within melee range of, that's why it comes so highly recommended on barbarians.
Edited for typos.

[GlenSmash!]

Just about everywhere I look online, the advice is almost always to take GWM. Maybe this is due to my inexperience, but it hardly seems more useful than either PAM or sentinel. The extra attack seems great for clearing away weak mobs, but they're not terribly threatening anyway. And on a hit the - 5/+10 is pretty devastating. But, how is that better than the d4+6(str+rage) as a bonus attack for every round from PAM, or the reaction attack from sentinel? As a meat shield, i feel like sentinel is much more useful.

Although, combined with a reckless attack, you're far more likely to land it. And I'm sure it's more satisfying to score the heavy attack than to hit with the broom handle of your weapon or slap the wrist of enemies not paying attention to you.

A VH could take a combination of pam/sent or pam/gwm and have the best of both worlds super early.

That gnome idea for later in the game is pretty sick though. Seeing all of those advantages on my character sheet gives you that warm and fuzzy feeling of winning saving throws

With GWM + PAM that bonus action attack could be doing d4+Strength+Rage+10 damage, except when you down a foe or score a crit, then GWM grants a bonus action attack at full damage for 1d10+strength+rage+10. Also and the reaction attack would be the same d10 +Strength+Rage+10. They go hand in hand in hand very well. And with Reckless Attack making up for the -5 to hit it's a recipe for big damage.

As far as saves go I find Resilient Wisdom and/or Lucky go a long way to shoring up defenses.