Is this too strong? Barb mods for complete playthrough.

Graiban

Alright, so I played IWD way back when it first came out and never played these two. I want to go back and do the experience, and having done some research I want to play a barbarian, with a big dumb two handed weapon. Now, my objective here is the most fun experience possible. I've messed around a little bit(went archer up to level three or so) and the most fun I've had is watching Dorn just annihilate people. Barbarian seems to be weaker than berserker, perhaps illogically so, and dual wield seems to outscale 2h pretty massively lategame. I want to play a barb for aesthetic reasons, and I want to use 2hs other than swords(probably halberds, even though the consensus seems to be they are weak). I want to mod my game(right now just using SCS, playing on second highest difficulty, it's hard heh) but I don't want to go so crazy that it just becomes too easy as I progress.

So here are my proposed mods:
Add a 3rd pip to 2h style which only barbarians can take, which adds crits at 17&18
Take the mage slayer innate(1% magic resist per level) which everyone says is terrible and double it to 2%
Add a str mod for going past 25 strength so that raging isn't wasted when compared to berserker lategame

Anyway, I want to play one time, on a hard difficulty, but I also don't want to feel like my char is just a tag along to the party. Would these changes be too broken, or just enough to accomplish my objectives? Just don't want to get halfway through BG2 and feel like the npc paladin/dual wielders/mages are carrying Charname.

Probably rolling dwarf, if that matters. Dwarf with a halberd seems amusing.

Thoughts?

FinneousPJ

Your objective is to have as much fun as possible. I think the barbarian is fun without modding.

pixie359

It's also not hugely underpowered. A Barbarian with a decent double-hander (if that's what you want) will do a decent whack of damage throughout, and there are some solid armours you can wear in SOA.

I think critting on 18s would be OK, but 17 is a bit much - you would be doubling your damage every five hits at that point.

Taking the main benefit of another class and doubling it sounds a bit excessive. Sure, wizard slayers are terrible, but definitely not because of their magic resistance. Maybe match it to your damage resistance in progression, but 20% magic resistance at the same time as 20% damage resistance is still really very good.

The strength mod I won't comment on - I'm sure it would be fine, but I don't know how easy it would be to do, and would only make a small difference in rare cases.

Yannir

Making your strenght more than 25 would put you above red dragons and storm giants in str level. So from a an RP perspective, I would not recommend it. Not even freaking Wulfgar is that strong, and he's probably the strongest man in the realms, without magical aid that is. Not even God-blood can make you that strong.

Barbarian's are pretty good anyway, they get increased mobility, immunity to backstab, d12 HP and other fun stuff, even if they are restricted to using chains. I ran a barbarian through BG2 and he gets more than 250 HP at the end. I would go with halberds btw if I was you. Dragon's Breath is pretty awesome as well as Ravager, which can decapitate enemies with no saves. Although you only get them in BG2, going with something else before that is advisable.

Jaheiras_Witness

Yeah barbs are fine as they are, they don't need additional unrealistic buffs.

While dualwielding might be mathematically more potent from a min/max point of view, two handed weapons are great too, and the double crit from 2HWS is a lot of fun (and quite powerful) as it is. Moreover you get some powerful 2H swords very quickly and easily in BG2...Lilarcor is easily good enough for the whole of SoA and you can use Item Upgrades mod to make it a +5 weapon after the Underdark (which also prevents INT drain).

As a barb limited to ** you'll have more than enough proficiencies to specialise in two handed swords and halberds. Go for 2HS first...you won't find a great halberd until the Underdark.

Flashburn

Well, you can go into NearInfinity and modify the weapon style bonus .2da file and tweak it to your liking. I've got mine set up so that 2 pips in 2-handed style gives +3 damage , -1 AC, and crits on 18-20.

Also if you're looking for a fun version of the Wizard Slayer, I recommend getting the Wizard Slayer Rebalancing mod. They get better MR, an ability that lets you cast Breach on each hit every 8 levels, and they get an HLA that will let them reflect all magic back to its source for 3 rounds.

DJKajuru

Barbarians become fast warriors, immune to backstab and with damage resistance. Could other classes be more powerful? Yes, but other classes could also be less powerful.

Besides, all fighters in the game can be backstabbed to death, except for your barbarian. That's pretty specil, IMO.

Trust me, you can go through BG, SoA and ToB slashing enemies and berseking your way to victory.

Graiban

Thanks for the discussion. I basically decided I wanted to play an offensive fighter who focused on 2h, and there isn't a class for that. When I think a barbarian I think a force of nature. He doesn't need your armor and it should take strong magic to hinder him. My final mods ended up as:

Two-Handed 3 - Crit on 17-20
Added an innate cast of Cloak of Fear since I couldn't figure out how to add it to barbarian rage(I like the idea of shouting and scaring all the weak enemies nearby and that seems like a cool, underused spell).
No armor above studded leather
2% magic resist per level.

Saving the 26 str mod for BG2. I just don't like the idea that the barb when raged has the same cap(25) as someone using the hammer that sets it to 25. If my guy can get to 22 natural strength when he goes crazy he goes CRAZY with the +4.

Maybe it is slightly overtuned, but I figure I'll be pretty squishy and staying alive while decapitating things seems like it will be entertaining. Swords are for my paladin so sticking to Staves/Halberds. The entire goal is to be the absolute best at one thing, and that one thing for me is going to be smashing people for the most damage possible in one hit. It's not about powergaming(I'd use swords or dual wield if it was), it's about the pc being unique/interesting when compared to the npcs and not getting carried. Default barbarian just seemed so bland so I wanted to spice it up a little bit. I just hope there aren't more things like the Ankheg armor further in, it seems overpowered as all hell the little bit I've played. Why put armor restriction in at all if that thing exists?