Barbarian feats vs ASI?

[malkavius77]

So i'm planning to play a half orc barbarian on my first play through like I did with BG1 and 2. I don't have much experience with 5e outside of solasta and their feats were mostly meh. Barbarians seem like they really want to pump their str and con and even dex though. But GWM seems too good to pass up. Is there a consensus on which is typically better for a barb in 5e?

[Metallicus]

Feats in 5e are generally poor compared to older versions of DnD, however, you are also restricted to 20 for your ability scores so I suppose once you max your stats you could pick a feat.

[.Master Jiren, The Strongest]

The thing about DnD is that if you take +2 to STR, it still only gives you +1 to hit, and +1 damage. That is so meaningless. The number of times you're going to miss a hit by 1 point, or bring an enemy down to just 1 hp left, are completely outweighed by the prospect of dealing 10 extra damage every single hit or 20 extra on a crit.

There is virtually no situation in which gaining +2 to any stat will ever overshadow taking a feat. Especially when you consider a lot of feats give you +1 to a stat. So if you take a feat at 4, and another at 8, you can still get +2 to a stat and 2 feats. If you have a feat at level 1 and another one at 12, thats 4 potential feats with +4 ability score improvements.

And this is all saying nothing of what feats modders will add to the game, which is to say, all of them.

The thing you gotta remember is that BG3 gives you the % chance of your attack being a success before you even swing. So you already know if you should take that -5 to hit or not. You can do things to get yourself advantage or at least a higher chance to hit. You can make sure all allies are buffing your barbarian. Or, dont be a barbarian. Anyone can pick up a sword and take great weapon master. be a paladin. buff yourself with bless and then use great weapon master and smite to obliterate everything in your path while your entire party spams heals and buffs on you. This is a single player game and your entire party exists only to make sure you look awesome at all times. And given that you automatically know whether or not you'll hit before you swing, you pretty much cannot make mistakes.


Or, take 2 points in strength. And then get mad when you find belt of giant strength.

And to the guy who said they probably wont add items that boost stats over 20. They already did. Since the very beginning. helm of intellect boosts INT to 21 and you can get it very early on before you even meet any of the plot points if you want. Guaranteed they will add more. And, if they dont, modders already have.

In fact modders added all of the stat increasing items already. But right now they are just all found in act 1. on release modders will fix this and spread out the added magic items all over the place. Of course they will probably want to play the game first so might be waiting a couple weeks before the modders really start fixing up bg3.

[kosten07]

There is an orc specific feat that does something with crits, and I know that you will want to use a two handed axe with it since it already synergies with the barbarian critical mechanic... forgive my memory failing on what it is.... also its too bad that the capstones (level 20) wont be a thing because barb has the best capstone imo.

[GrandMajora]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von malkavius77:

So i'm planning to play a half orc barbarian on my first play through like I did with BG1 and 2. I don't have much experience with 5e outside of solasta and their feats were mostly meh. Barbarians seem like they really want to pump their str and con and even dex though. But GWM seems too good to pass up. Is there a consensus on which is typically better for a barb in 5e?

Feats on a Barbarian is just boastful showmanship.

Focus on ASI's, and prove yourself worthy to enter Ysgard!

(Ysgard being D&D's version of Valhalla)

[Umbra]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von kosten07:

There is an orc specific feat that does something with crits, and I know that you will want to use a two handed axe with it since it already synergies with the barbarian critical mechanic... forgive my memory failing on what it is.... also its too bad that the capstones (level 20) wont be a thing because barb has the best capstone imo.

Savage Attacks plus Great Axe = 3d12+STR damage and then with Brutal Critical = 4d12+STR damage. If using a Greatsword, that works out to be 6d6+STR damage.

GWM can ramp this up massively, but you will miss more often. I'm taking a Half Orc Barbarian Berserker and taking the ASI as that class already gets a bonus attack and you're better off hitting more often than hitting harder less often. They get nothing from the second part of GWM either.

[Izuzul]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von .Master Jiren, The Strongest:

T

And to the guy who said they probably wont add items that boost stats over 20. They already did. Since the very beginning. helm of intellect boosts INT to 21 and you can get it very early on before you even meet any of the plot points if you want. Guaranteed they will add more. And, if they dont, modders already have.

That Helm only raises Int to 17. It was 18 at first but has been changed.

[Yojo0o]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von .Master Jiren, The Strongest:

And to the guy who said they probably wont add items that boost stats over 20. They already did. Since the very beginning. helm of intellect boosts INT to 21 and you can get it very early on before you even meet any of the plot points if you want. Guaranteed they will add more. And, if they dont, modders already have.

In fact modders added all of the stat increasing items already. But right now they are just all found in act 1. on release modders will fix this and spread out the added magic items all over the place. Of course they will probably want to play the game first so might be waiting a couple weeks before the modders really start fixing up bg3.

The Band of Intellect increases intelligence to 17. Early Access has seen many changes in balance since October 2020. I'm talking about balance in 1.0.

[dolby]

Savage Attacker
not sure if that feat is as good as it looks on paper someone should do the math?...:)

Do you get like 1,5ish more damage on average per turn on long sword let say..?

[Gaius]

Considering your str is 18 or 20 (possible with a shield dwarf if you use the hag's hair with him at lv 4), GWM is the best option by far, specially because of reckless attack. BTW, after testing, playing a wolfheart barbarian is also a great choice if you want to use GWM with him and ANOTHER, non barbarian melee frontline/DPS (like a battlemaster or a paladin), because in this case not only the barb doesn't need to use reckless attack but the other will also receive advantage while rage is active.

This is by far the most damage per turn at lv 5 I managed to do in EA (excluding lots of small enemies killed by a single fireball, of course).

[Gaius]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von dolby:

Savage Attacker
not sure if that feat is as good as it looks on paper someone should do the math?...:)

I didn't do the math, but according to several good youtubes (like dungeon dudes, etc), it's a lot less useful than it appears. I dunno, the idea of crit fishing does look enticing, if anything, and orcs are really thematic for barbs anyway, but I'm so used to shield dwarves by now...

[dolby]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Gaius:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von dolby:

Savage Attacker
not sure if that feat is as good as it looks on paper someone should do the math?...:)

I didn't do the math, but according to several good youtubes (like dungeon dudes, etc), it's a lot less useful than it appears. I dunno, the idea of crit fishing does look enticing, if anything, and orcs are really thematic for barbs anyway, but I'm so used to shield dwarves by now...

well it's once per turn so thats' kinda blaa... i guess it depends how it works with crits...and how they made it in game.

[DarklordKyo]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Yojo0o:

GWM, and PAM if applicable, do tend to out-perform ASIs. They put in a LOT of work.

If I have a Barbarian in my party in BG3, my intention will likely be to grab GWM at level 4, then evaluate available magical items over the next few levels to decide whether or not to take PAM at level 8. If not, I'd probably pump strength.

Your mileage may vary on Polearm Master for a Barbarian. On one hand, the extra d4 is guaranteed as long as you have a Bonus Action. On the other, the d12 dice of a Greataxe synergizes better with Brutal Critical, arguably. Plus, Frenzy was buffed massively in BG3 because it doesn't cause Exhaustion, yes?

[Yojo0o]

Yeah, Berserker actually being viable does throw off my answer a bit. I know all about 5e DnD, but some of it doesn't translate perfectly to BG3. I don't put too much value on Brutal Critical, but Frenzy absolutely changes the value around a good bit.

[dolby]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Yojo0o:

I don't put too much value on Brutal Critical,

now only if assassin got the same bonus action as the thief. That would make half orc 9 Brutal Critical berserker 3 assassin great with larians suprise rounds... You get 3 more druid wolfs and your set, constant crits lol

[malkavius77]

Seems there is no consensus since a lot of people are disagreeing here ha. I was going to do the berzerker route for sure though. Are there any feats besides GWM that synergize with a great axe berserker then?