D&D Powers in the real world: Level 20 Barbarian

[SangoProduction]

Do you think Trap Sense would make you a better Yu-Gi-Oh player? That could be useful.

Maybe, maybe not. But I think it would let you avoid needing to ask "the forbidden question".

[SangoProduction]

I know this is probably talking about D&D 3.5 Barbarian, but one could ostensibly argue that a PF Barbarian, even without access to the Roll With It (3.5) feat, might actually be able to survive a point blank nuke. If he saw it coming and started raging.

Why? Energy Absorption https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/cor...-absorption-su

So, for every 1 point of "Oh my god, it burns" damage you would have taken, you instead gain three (3) temporary hit points, with no apparent cap. This would mean, even if you say that the fireball is only 1/4 of a nuke's actual damage, you wouldn't even notice it. It wouldn't even touch the HP.

If you argue that the fireball is even less than that, you still have the baseline 40 temporary HP (from unchained) on raging, which doesn't hit your actual health, and the DR from the bunch of shrapnel flying about (up to 10 while raging, without feats). You also, most definitely, probably would have wanted to take another copy of Energy Resistance (Sonic) rage power, because ear drums bursting if it passes through the uncountable Temp HP wouldn't be pleasant. https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/cor...-resistance-ex

And the radiation? Barbarians have extreme fort saves. You could probably sit at ground zero for months and not even have mild radiation sickness.

The one downside is that a Barbarian level 20 might literally never be able to get drunk, unless you can "choose to fail" the fort save there.

But... I mean... at least you can donate your superhuman antigens to people...and your donated blood would probably burst out of the person's body, wielding their heart as a shield, and spine as a sword.

[Goaty14]

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I know this is probably talking about D&D 3.5 Barbarian, but one could ostensibly argue that a PF Barbarian, even without access to the Roll With It (3.5) feat, might actually be able to survive a point blank nuke. If he saw it coming and started raging.

Why? Energy Absorption https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/cor...-absorption-su

So, for every 1 point of "Oh my god, it burns" damage you would have taken, you instead gain three (3) temporary hit points, with no apparent cap. This would mean, even if you say that the fireball is only 1/4 of a nuke's actual damage, you wouldn't even notice it. It wouldn't even touch the HP.

If you argue that the fireball is even less than that, you still have the baseline 40 temporary HP (from unchained) on raging, which doesn't hit your actual health, and the DR from the bunch of shrapnel flying about (up to 10 while raging, without feats). You also, most definitely, probably would have wanted to take another copy of Energy Resistance (Sonic) rage power, because ear drums bursting if it passes through the uncountable Temp HP wouldn't be pleasant. https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/cor...-resistance-ex

And the radiation? Barbarians have extreme fort saves. You could probably sit at ground zero for months and not even have mild radiation sickness.

The one downside is that a Barbarian level 20 might literally never be able to get drunk, unless you can "choose to fail" the fort save there.

But... I mean... at least you can donate your superhuman antigens to people...and your donated blood would probably burst out of the person's body, wielding their heart as a shield, and spine as a sword.

But wouldn't such a barbarian still be subject to force damage by the sheer blast itself?

[SangoProduction]

But wouldn't such a barbarian still be subject to force damage by the sheer blast itself?

The shockwave, which you could call sonic damage or physical damage. Doesn't actually matter. I don't think force damage is actually a thing, as we don't exactly have ectoplasmic balls of energy in the real world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect...ear_explosions

OOOOOOooooo! I found the breakdown! Yes! I was looking so long, and my Google-fu was so weak....and it looks like a weak secondary source. Regardless!

So 30-50% of the energy of a nuke goes in to the thermal radiation. Even the lower end is greater than the 25% that would be required to utterly negate the damage of the nuke. So, assuming the source is at least somewhat accurate, you'd be completely fine. You could actually try and cover the nuke with your body, and be A-OK.

In fact, more than that, you'd be invigorated! Is there something we can use the temporary HP for, aside from just getting shot a few more times?

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https://i.imgur.com/5pqRRPZ.gif

[Battleship789]

Senator Armstrong, from Revengeance?

Nanomachines Barbarian levels, son!

[Ignimortis]

Senator Armstrong, from Revengeance?

You can't hurt me, Jack!

But seriously, if you sink most of your feats and WBL into Roll with It or other stacking DR sources, the only thing that will be able to hurt you is magic or things that explicitly ignore Damage Resistance. Seeing as most guns are 2d8 damage at most, that might be feasible for smaller-scale fights. And if you can get your hands on Regeneration/Fast Healing...

[MaxiDuRaritry]

You can't hurt me, Jack!

But seriously, if you sink most of your feats and WBL into Roll with It or other stacking DR sources, the only thing that will be able to hurt you is magic or things that explicitly ignore Damage Resistance. Seeing as most guns are 2d8 damage at most, that might be feasible for smaller-scale fights. And if you can get your hands on Regeneration/Fast Healing...

Troll Blooded feat, obviously. Now you just need to find a way to become immune to fatigue and exhaustion.

[Crichton]

Troll Blooded feat, obviously. Now you just need to find a way to become immune to fatigue and exhaustion.

Well, and immunity to fire and acid would be nice, to round things out.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Well, a Troll Blooded warforged with blueshine on his armor would account for 3/4 of those. Think Data, from star trek.

[JyP]

Are the class features of the Barbarian sufficiently different from the bare-bones bonus feats of Fighter to make this a more interesting change? Does this change your life more or differently than becoming a level 20 Fighter? Would you pursue the same life-changing goals/professions?

Well, I talked about being a top archer or fencer in the olympics as a fighter... with barbarian class features instead, I think first about american football : greater base speed by 25% (! enough for sprint or marathon by itself !), bursts of strength (rage), unparalleled ability to take & dodge hits (d12 Hit Dice, dodge, trap sense, damage reduction), still top BAB to throw balls...

[khadgar567]

well besides the old fighter answer. I am gonna loophole abuse a little and choose 2e pathfinder barbarian. then give up part of my class feats to multi class in to sorcerer. so what i have is barbarian 20 with 10 level casting that have decent amount of pocket change. then off to go wwe to have few years of wrestlemania contract. man i like to see lesnars face when i manifest dragon wings in front of him then i can hear mauro renalo swearing even know.

[liquidformat]

Seeing as most guns are 2d8 damage at most

I don't really see any basis for this claim, real world weapons are just too different from d20 function for this to make sense. Take swords or axes for instance, all real world swords and axes with a cutting edge should have the vorpal ability and be capable of lobbing off a limb when accurately aimed. Furthermore, even though dnd gives a nod to people loosing limbs by giving spells and abilities to regrow them/reattach them they never really give any way to actually loose limbs beyond fluff. Heck even a low caliber gun shot at the right spot could easily lead to someone loosing a limb.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

I don't really see any basis for this claim, real world weapons are just too different from d20 function for this to make sense. Take swords or axes for instance, all real world swords and axes with a cutting edge should have the vorpal ability and be capable of lobbing off a limb when accurately aimed. Furthermore, even though dnd gives a nod to people loosing limbs by giving spells and abilities to regrow them/reattach them they never really give any way to actually loose limbs beyond fluff. Heck even a low caliber gun shot at the right spot could easily lead to someone loosing a limb.

Well, if you want to loose your limbs on an opponent, Savage Species has the Detach feat, so you can pull your limbs off and use them as weapons.

"Fly, my pretties!"

[Segev]

Neat how Barbarian pushes us from "superhuman" to "superhero" levels. I mean, wow, tanking a nuke is impressive!

[Andor13]

Neat how Barbarian pushes us from "superhuman" to "superhero" levels. I mean, wow, tanking a nuke is impressive!

Somewhere, a fighter sits in a tavern, cuddling his feats to his chest, and weeping.

[Elricaltovilla]

well besides the old fighter answer. I am gonna loophole abuse a little and choose 2e pathfinder barbarian. then give up part of my class feats to multi class in to sorcerer. so what i have is barbarian 20 with 10 level casting that have decent amount of pocket change. then off to go wwe to have few years of wrestlemania contract. man i like to see lesnars face when i manifest dragon wings in front of him then i can hear mauro renalo swearing even know.

If we're playing the loophole abuse game then I'm going to be a Primal Disciple Barbarian. Trait swap for access to Veiled Moon and swap into Chimera Soul as well and I'm a shapeshifting, teleporting crazy beast of a Barbarian. With advanced study I can pick up chimera soul's 8th level stance and become a dragon. I think that's pretty win for me.

[khadgar567]

If we're playing the loophole abuse game then I'm going to be a Primal Disciple Barbarian. Trait swap for access to Veiled Moon and swap into Chimera Soul as well and I'm a shapeshifting, teleporting crazy beast of a Barbarian. With advanced study I can pick up chimera soul's 8th level stance and become a dragon. I think that's pretty win for me.

no problem for me as i am not gonna get any where near the continent you are and hell match between us will blow the littreral roof of wrestlemania and thats worth for me.

[Elricaltovilla]

no problem for me as i am not gonna get any where near the continent you are and hell match between us will blow the littreral roof of wrestlemania and thats worth for me.

Your loss dude, I throw some sick parties. And if the beer ever runs low I can just teleport off to get some more.

[tyckspoon]

Do you think Trap Sense would make you a better Yu-Gi-Oh player? That could be useful.

You could take the Trapkiller ACF, although destroying your opponent's cards and probably cleaving through the playing surface may be considered unsporting. "Let the Wookiee win" probably comes into play at that point, tho.

[Elricaltovilla]

You could take the Trapkiller ACF, although destroying your opponent's cards and probably cleaving through the playing surface may be considered unsporting. "Let the Wookiee win" probably comes into play at that point, tho.

It does sort of raise the question about how we define "trap" in the modern era. Traps are pretty specific in D&D, but there aren't a whole lot of rolling Boulder traps, pitfalls or snares in your average office job.

[Troacctid]

It does sort of raise the question about how we define "trap" in the modern era. Traps are pretty specific in D&D, but there aren't a whole lot of rolling Boulder traps, pitfalls or snares in your average office job.

Even if Yu-Gi-Oh! cards count as traps, the bonus is to AC and Reflex, which means you're good at physically dodging them.

[Andor13]

It does sort of raise the question about how we define "trap" in the modern era. Traps are pretty specific in D&D, but there aren't a whole lot of rolling Boulder traps, pitfalls or snares in your average office job.

Trap jobs, reverse mortgages, extended warranties, moving to Florida, voting for Kang, Crystal Pepsi, 'would you mind working overtime', ....

[Elricaltovilla]

Even if Yu-Gi-Oh! cards count as traps, the bonus is to AC and Reflex, which means you're good at physically dodging them.

Yes, but you can get other trap related ACFs or you could pick up the rogue's trapfinder ability as a trait in Pathfinder, which boosts your perception (for spotting them) and disable device for getting rid of them.

[Troacctid]

Trap jobs, reverse mortgages, extended warranties, moving to Florida, voting for Kang, Crystal Pepsi, 'would you mind working overtime', ....

Any of those things tries to hit you in the face, you're golden!

This is why I picked the ACF trading it away. Eagle Totem is only +2 Reflex, but it applies to ALL Reflex saves instead of just saves against landmines.

[Elricaltovilla]

Any of those things tries to hit you in the face, you're golden!

This is why I picked the ACF trading it away. Eagle Totem is only +2 Reflex, but it applies to ALL Reflex saves instead of just saves against landmines.

Hey it can also help you avoid getting sprayed in the face when you have to walk by the cologne and perfume salesmen in the mall.

[liquidformat]

Trap jobs, reverse mortgages, extended warranties, moving to Florida, voting for Kang, Crystal Pepsi, 'would you mind working overtime', ....

Catfishing, that was the first to come to my mind not sure why...

[Bronk]

You could take the Trapkiller ACF, although destroying your opponent's cards and probably cleaving through the playing surface may be considered unsporting. "Let the Wookiee win" probably comes into play at that point, tho.

That sounds like it would end badly for the angry kitten in my example!

[Arael666]

optimization challenge: can "illiteracy" be made useful? Not really the point of this thread, though.

Other than being immune to explosive runes similar spells, I see no obvious use for being illiterate

[Temotei]

I think it'd be funny to jump out of a plane without a parachute and just land somewhere, fine. Maybe pick up some food afterward.

[Andor13]

If we're playing the loophole abuse game then I'm going to be a Primal Disciple Barbarian. Trait swap for access to Veiled Moon and swap into Chimera Soul as well and I'm a shapeshifting, teleporting crazy beast of a Barbarian. With advanced study I can pick up chimera soul's 8th level stance and become a dragon. I think that's pretty win for me.

I had that same thought actually, although for RL utility it's hard to beat Sleeping Goddess. That's actually an interesting sub question though: How would you rank the disciplines in terms of usefulness if you could take them here?

I think I would pick Sleeping Goddess, Radiant Dawn, and Chimera Soul as my top 3 picks, covering mind reading and teleporting, Healing and utility, and Shapeshifting madness.

I mean, Radiant Dawn has a 5th level stance that can let you create a ramp anywhere....