Barbarian vs Fighter

[a. Brand]

I know barb is top tier martial class in EA, but i read somewhere barb gets 3 attacks in total and fighter gets 4 down the road.

Do you think that makes figher stronger again when the game fully releases?
Or will barbs other traits give him the edge?

[KeepCleaving]

I really think it will just be adjacent and equally effective.
in 5e raw, (no multiclassing) That warriors win out, not due to the extra 2 attacks alone, but how action surge works with the added attack. making a whopping
1attack (lvl1)
1attack (lvl5)
1attack (lvl11)
1attack (lvl20 not available in full game release)
actionsurge do all those attacks again lol.

Barbarian only has max 2 attacks, they can be extremely hard hitting consistent attacks, but only 2 without feats.

The damage in BG3 however Barbarians are not just killing it with a lot of damage per swing consistently, but their strength in throwing stuff around may still keep them at the top.

I can only guess you came up with the extra attack via the berserker sub, but that is just a subclass.

[a. Brand]

So if we dont get lvl 20, figher has 3 attacks but can do it again with action surge and a berserker barb has also 3 but can throw things.

If you can really repeat all your 3 attacks with action surge, fighter sounds better for me.

[Hobocop]

Originally posted by Ezio:

So if we dont get lvl 20, figher has 3 attacks but can do it again with action surge and a berserker barb has also 3 but can throw things.

If you can really repeat all your 3 attacks with action surge, fighter sounds better for me.

Well, it's better once per combat. Meanwhile, Berserker is going in with three attacks every turn from level 5 onwards as long as they're Raging with their Rage damage bonus as well.

[IgnatiusJ.Reilly]

The fact of the matter is that the BG3 barbarian has been heavily home-brewed, while the Fighter has not. So, for the game presently, the Barbarian is much better.

And I'm using the Battlemaster Fighter for the comparison, the Eldritch Knight is awful. The EK doesn't have the spells and cantrips implemented that allow the sub-class to even partially compete with the Battlemaster Fighter.

[KeepCleaving]

Originally posted by Ezio:

So if we dont get lvl 20, figher has 3 attacks but can do it again with action surge and a berserker barb has also 3 but can throw things.

If you can really repeat all your 3 attacks with action surge, fighter sounds better for me.

Bingo! The wording of action surge makes for some interesting uses for making 2 spell casts or activating 2 devices etc. Because it lets you do an entire extra "action".

[Lax]

They are 1A and 1B for me. Both are great but I tend to like the fighter just slightly more due to action surge for the reasons that you have stated. One thing I like about the barb is their hit dice.

[Lord Adorable]

Originally posted by Ezio:

So if we dont get lvl 20, figher has 3 attacks but can do it again with action surge and a berserker barb has also 3 but can throw things.

If you can really repeat all your 3 attacks with action surge, fighter sounds better for me.

Yes, Fighter is the braindead class that hits things and..
That's it. Literaly it. Nothing else to say. Fighters are called bland and basic as a joke for a good reason.
Especially if you pick the Champion subclass which isn't in the game yet. "Hey we heard you like Fighter, so we put more Fighter in your Fighter."

Bonus points if it's a Human Fighter. That said, jokes about them being bland and basic aside they like hitting things, hitting them very hard and are VERY good at it to boot. So you can't really go wrong with one in most parties. They're also good pack mules.

[KeepCleaving]

Originally posted by IgnatiusJ.Reilly:

The fact of the matter is that the BG3 barbarian has been heavily home-brewed, while the Fighter has not. So, for the game presently, the Barbarian is much better.

And I'm using the Battlemaster Fighter for the comparison, the Eldritch Knight is awful. The EK doesn't have the spells and cantrips implemented that allow the sub-class to even partially compete with the Battlemaster Fighter.

Agreed the Eldritch Knight and Arcane trickster definitely very awful. Until they get the great bladetrips and spells from the other sourcebook. We can only hope.

[Indure]

Both Barbarians and Fighters start with 1 attack and get a second attack at level 5. The fighter will get a 3rd attack at level 11, which will most likely be near the end of BG3.

The fighter gets access to action surge which doubles their attacks for a turn, giving them 4 attacks at level 5 when action surging. The ability comes back on a short rest, so in BG3 that means basically once per every battle.

The barbarian subclass Berserker can use a frenzy attack on their bonus action to get the 3rd attack you mentioned. It requires a bonus action to use, which mean you can't use it on the turn you cast rage.

The biggest difference between the 2 is that Berserkers are almost always going to be attacking with advantage (due to reckless), but the enemies are also attacking them with advantage. While a battlemaster will have a lot more utility and harder hitting attacks with their superiority dice.

As for how both use GWM, the berserker can more easily ignore the -5 hit penalty, but the bonus attack is wasted on them, while the fighter can make good use out of the bonus attack, but the -5 hit penalty is much harsher.

Quick Edit: This is comparing the two as if they are both using a 2handed weapon. The fighter can go much wider with their builds and use two-weapon fighting or use a hand crossbow to weaponized their bonus actions to narrow the gap.

[sevensided]

Originally posted by IgnatiusJ.Reilly:

The fact of the matter is that the BG3 barbarian has been heavily home-brewed,

Beserker so far is rather spot on. They just removed the exhaustion from Frenzy (something I do at my tables I DM anyways).

Reckless attack + rage resistance is what really differentiates Barbs apart from Fighters. Go all in for that reliable GWM damage. Hopefully though, they add in multiclass to BG3 (I am having my doubts), because Barb with a splash of fighter for Action surge is *chef kiss*.

[KeepCleaving]

Originally posted by sevensided:

Originally posted by IgnatiusJ.Reilly:

The fact of the matter is that the BG3 barbarian has been heavily home-brewed,

Beserker so far is rather spot on. They just removed the exhaustion from Frenzy (something I do at my tables I DM anyways).

Reckless attack + rage resistance is what really differentiates Barbs apart from Fighters. Go all in for that reliable GWM damage. Hopefully though, they add in multiclass to BG3 (I am having my doubts), because Barb with a splash of fighter for Action surge is *chef kiss*.

couldn't have said it better for sure. And this might be the best way to experience both classes in any form, with maybe the exception of Polearm master if that feat ever gets released. That definitely deserves mostly warrior focus for all the feats required.

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

Originally posted by Lord Adorable:

Originally posted by Ezio:

So if we dont get lvl 20, figher has 3 attacks but can do it again with action surge and a berserker barb has also 3 but can throw things.

If you can really repeat all your 3 attacks with action surge, fighter sounds better for me.

Yes, Fighter is the braindead class that hits things and..
That's it. Literaly it. Nothing else to say. Fighters are called bland and basic as a joke for a good reason.
Especially if you pick the Champion subclass which isn't in the game yet. "Hey we heard you like Fighter, so we put more Fighter in your Fighter."

Bonus points if it's a Human Fighter. That said, jokes about them being bland and basic aside they like hitting things, hitting them very hard and are VERY good at it to boot. So you can't really go wrong with one in most parties. They're also good pack mules.

Fighter class description:

Sometimes hits, sometimes misses

My favorite Fighter subclass is Cavalier because I can sometimes hit/miss from horseback!

[GrandMajora]

I've had an epiphany lately... why is it that the Fighter is the class which gets a crap load of extra attacks as they level up? Shouldn't that be the Barbarian... the class who is known to fly into homicidal rages and brutally overkill their enemies?

[Gaius]

Originally posted by Ezio:

I know barb is top tier martial class in EA, but i read somewhere barb gets 3 attacks in total and fighter gets 4 down the road.

Do you think that makes figher stronger again when the game fully releases?
Or will barbs other traits give him the edge?

Probably the most powerful is multiclassing to have both reckless attack, berserker throw/frenzied strike and action surge. Half damage from a lot of common damage types is a huge plus.

[sevensided]

Originally posted by GrandMajora:

I've had an epiphany lately... why is it that the Fighter is the class which gets a crap load of extra attacks as they level up? Shouldn't that be the Barbarian... the class who is known to fly into homicidal rages and brutally overkill their enemies?

Barb being rage and Fighter being Skill, I think they chose to display skill as getting more attacks, and rage doing more damage per attack (and also shrugging off damage). So its not so much of a Furious Fury of Flurries type of Rage, except for Frenzy, which is aptly named.

I could see it being reverse, with fighters getting harder hitting attacks and Rage giving more attacks, but it makes sense as is.