This build came about because I wanted to try and create a fun evil character, and because I'd heard so much that epic barbarians and blackguards were weak.
"The Doom Knight"
Character concept: This bulwark of evil makes opponents run in fear and saps their will to keep on fighting.
Human barbarian 15/blackguard 25
Starting stats:
STR 16(30) DEX 10(10) CON 14(14) WIS 8(8) INT 14(14) CHA 14(14)
Levelup progression:
1-7 barbarian, 8-16 blackguard, 17-20 barbarian for 11 barb/9 BG pre-epic. In epic, 21-24 barbarian, 25-40 blackguard.
* these feats are not essential to the build and can be swapped out for others the player prefers.
Skills: You get 7 skill points/level on your barbarian levels, and 5 points/level on your blackguard levels. You should max out discipline, taunt, intimidate, cross-class tumble, with 82 points left over to add to heal, lore, concentration, or cross-class spellcraft as you wish.
What you end up with is a warrior in heavy armor with a 9d6 sneak attack, epic vrock, better-than-average saves for a fighter, and the ability to Fear enemies with a Will save of 58 and taunt them with a DC of 48 (not including +charisma items). I intentionally omitted Devastating Critical because the PW I play on has banned it, however it should be fairly simple take that track if you wanted to.
The weaknesses of this build; if the module you're playing has gone way over the top with +saves items, you might run into players who are able to resist the Terrifying Rage, even with a DC of 64. The base AB is 44/39/34/29 wielding a non-magical greataxe, which is lower than what is possible with weaponmaster and/or RDD levels. Taunt helps in that it will always reduce AC by 6 for all those enemy fighters without points in concentration. The best part, however, has to be the fact that you can do your best evil laugh while chasing and hacking at your feared enemies:)
Comments by flash_in_the_flesh:
Hey I like this build : . I`m experimenting with multi-classed barbarians. Barbs have a hard time since Hotu release. For now I`m creating barbs only 4 their rage and this build have greater rage and can take rage upgrading feats. Very nice.
Machiavelli_IUB reply:
I agree, both barbarians and blackguards kind of got the shaft relative to other melee classes in HOTU. I loved Blackguards in SoU with the ability to do sneak attacks, get +saves, and still have a fighter's BAB. In HOTU, Champion of Torm steals a blackguard's thunder for +saves, you can take rogue levels in epic for sneak attacks without BAB penalty, DD is far superior to barbarian in damage reduction, and Weaponmaster just whips every other melee class in battle. This build is certainly not optimized from a powergaming perspective; going barb/fighter/WM or barb/rogue/WM would provide more punch, but it doesn't provide the same feel of an evil fighter cackling at his victims while he and his evil minion chase those running in terror. BTW, 15 barb is necessary for this build because Greater Rage (not 21st level as stated in the manual) is the prerequisite for all of the epic Rage feats that a barbarian can get.
Edited By Cinnabar Din on 02/27/08 19:39
So far only problem I ran into is that you forgot to say that you will need 5 points in Hide before you will be able to multiclass into the blackguard. Heh found that out the hard way
Nice build. I myself am trying to find a good blackguard build for use on a server I am playing. However, the PW I play on limits levels to 30, and you cannot have less than 5 levels in anything you multiclass into. Do you have any suggestions on how I could adapt this build for the player world I play on?
I think it might stop well at level 30.. just looking at it rather quickly on my morning run
-DaMouse
I agree...the one change I would make would be to take Epic Fiendish Servant at level 30 instead of Great Strength III. Having odd strength wouldn't be a big deal what with various strength boosting items, and the servant would be a nice addition. The rest of the feats after level 30 wouldn't be a big loss...the build takes most of its important epic feats prior to level 30 anyway. You'd finish Barbarian 15/Blackguard 15, so that would definitely meet your PWs multiclassing rules.
Steve
and I guess if you can get up to the max str easily you could drop great strs 2 and 3 and put in epic prowess to compensate for the 1 AB loss (or Armor skin to get 2AC for the sake of 1AB/DMG) and the epic servant.
-DaMouse
This would be more for a medium or high magic world, but I would drop the Iron Will and Toughness and take Divine Might and Divine Shield. The build already has the prerequisites. I would rother have the AC increase than the hit points and the damage increase than the extra two save bonus, especially on a high magic world where your charisma may be maxed. _________________ Click Here
Alright, supposedly the prereq for the epic servant is level 15, but I went and leveled this build up to 30 and epic servant isn't availible?!
It is available once you are a lvl 15 Blackguard, not lvl 15 overall.
Edit: NM, you will be 15/15 at lvl 30. I do not know. Maybe you can only take it with a Blackguard bonus feat? _________________ Click Here
Nice build. I myself am trying to find a good blackguard build for use on a server I am playing. However, the PW I play on limits levels to 30, and you cannot have less than 5 levels in anything you multiclass into. Do you have any suggestions on how I could adapt this build for the player world I play on?
I think it might stop well at level 30.. just looking at it rather quickly on my morning run 