Fighter/barbarian/wizard build, and now what?

[Mork]

Hello Gianttip,
I was hoping that you might have some idea of where to take my charachter next.
I right now have a half orc - bear totem barbarian 8/champion fighter 4/ war mage 2 character.
my stats are:
STR16, DEX 14, CON 16, INT 8 (19), WIS 8, CHA 12
feats: great weapon master, tough, and 1 free floating still.
Items: headband of intellect, adamantium half plate, cursed +2 greatsword (with a +3 backup greataxe), helm of brilliance.

How did I get here? We are playing with a houserule of exploding criticals (first die is maxed and you add another one). So I wanted to make a charachter that exploited this and made barbarian5/fighter 3 with GWM. Because I didn't only wanted to powerplay and because I'm always playing the charachter with all the knowledge skills anyway I decided to do this for this charachter as well. I am proficient in Arcana, Nature and History (the idea that she used to be walking library of her tribe thanks to a headband of intellect. Tribe got killed of, her headband of intellect stolen, and a purpose in life gained.)
So commence playing the character. She rocks in combat, we kill some enemies way above our CR and get some of the fancy equipment from random loot tables. I take the tough feat because we were only 2 and now 3 players, therefore I felt like I had more to gain from surviving 1 more round than to do 3 more damage.
Eventually we actually find an headband of intellect. I am slightly shocked but thrilled. I wanted to do something with this, and the only class that is really dependend on INT.. is wizard. So I decide that wizard would be most in line with her background. I take war mage because the +4 on saves or +2 on AC on a reaction seemed like a sweet deal and the +4 on initiative is just cherry on top.

But now I'm struggling to think of where to go from here. what is the plan for the last 6 levels.
I just became a level 8 barbarian and I can still take the feat for this. I was thinking of maybe using this to up my CHA to 14. And thereby open up the way to MC into palladin (ancients, as she refers her ancestors and worships ehlonna). Smiting combined with 19% of a crit on every attack (19-20 with advantage), will let me decimate any opponents.
I could go 4 levels paladin and 2 more levels of wizard. and get 2 more feats (resilient WIS being one of them, maybe +2 CON or sentinel for the other one?) and level 2 spells (mirror image/blur).
Alternatifly the 5th level of palladin allows for "find steed" and "aid" 2 spells that I could image being quite usefull. However that useless "extra attack" sounds very painfull :S.
Or more levels barbarian, though I feel like there are very little extra goodies to be gained there. Any other suggestions? Am I missing another multiclass that I might use?

Oh and on the STR.. I didn't have a lot need for it earlier thanks to the +3 great axe and (cursed)+2 greatsword. Right now we have so much cash (40K gold per person or something), that I think buying a belt of giant STR is probably achievable, (just need to find a shop..)
(trying to get rid of the sword but my DM doesn't allow a simple banishment or remove curse to do it, should involve some dice rolling as well. And my character must make a WIS save in the first place to even think about removing it).

EDIT: Splatbooks and unearthed arcana is allowed after DM gives it a look over to make sure it isn't too OP.

[nickl_2000]

Level 15: Wizard 3
This nets you 2nd level wizard spell (Mirror Image, Misty Step, and many other useful spells) and three more rituals that you can put into your book.

Level 16: Barb 9
You are already crit fishing as a character, you may as well get another damage die when you crit.

Level 17: Mystic 1 Immortal Discipline (https://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/d.../UAMystic3.pdf)
Take Giant Growth Discipline, all of the sudden you now have a 10 foot reach with your great weapons. All kinds of fun can come from this. You also get two more disciplines for whatever sounds fun. This also give you talents that are not casting spells, so you can probably do them while raging.

Level 18: Mystic 2
Telepathy

Level 19: Mystic 3
4 temp HP per round, being a bearbarnian that's effective 8 temp hp per round! Also 1 more talent and discipline.

Level 20: Mystic 4
Another ASI, and Strength of Mind



Choices that I would look into
Mystic disciplines
Immortal: Giant Growth, Celerity, Iron Durability,
Other ones: Crown of Rage, Telepathic Contact

Talents
Light Step, Blind Spot, Mystic Charm, Mind Thrust

[strangebloke]

Consider just taking more barbarian levels? You'll get further enhancements to your crit damage next level and that's what you're built around. Moreover, some of the high-level barbarian totem features are really sweet. Flight from Eagle totem is I think the best example.

For a feat, +2 STR is great as always, although you can also go for savage attacker to try and maximize the exploding dice. It isn't a *good* option, but it does build to your crazy themes.

If you want to multiclass more, I would personally recommend a level of rogue.

[Arkhios]

Pardon me if I didn't notice if your DM handwaves the multiclassing requirements (such a wall of text, that OP).


Anyway, RAW, you shouldn't even have been able to multiclass into wizard. Headband of Intellect doesn't work like that. Your natural ability score is what counts for that, not the item.

[nickl_2000]

Pardon me if I didn't notice if your DM handwaves the multiclassing requirements (such a wall of text, that OP).


Anyway, RAW, you shouldn't even have been able to multiclass into wizard. Headband of Intellect doesn't work like that. Your natural ability score is what counts for that, not the item.

I noticed that as well, but since the PC has already done it to MC into Wizard I assumed that Mystic would be fine too.

[Mork]

Thanks for all the answers, and sorry for the wall of text!
As for the MC requirement, the rule is now that as soon as I take of the headband of intellect my wizard powers disappear. Same would be for mystic. So items can make it work, but a stat of 12 is not good enough :(

Speaking about the mystic, it is certainly an interesting option, I don't think concentrating on a psionic ability will be allowed during a rage, as Mike Mearls already tweeted that this was not how the rule was intended. Also the level 4 ability, strength of mind allows you to change your proficiency from WIS to something else, but as I won't be proficient in WIS.. what happens now? That being said a level 1 dip is very interesting for certain, even it is just for the passives from the disciplines, and level 3 ability of the immortal also looks very juicy. I will ask my DM if it is allowed :D.

As for staying in barbarian. I found there to be very little of interested compared to all the other things out there. The level 14 abilities is certainly nice, but I would only have these at level 20, which still feels like a long way off. for the rest it is 1 and then 2 d6 extra on crit and commune with nature and 1 extra damage from rage. I don't think that can compete with say paladin, for the smites and +1 AC from fighting styles

The 1 level rogue is a nice option though, 1 skill proficiency and 2 expertise (athletics!) do also sound tempting.