I haven't read the other six threads for this, so sorry if this sort of build has been posted, but here's a fun build for anyone who just wants a big brute.
Beast of War
Concept: A monstrous terror (somewhat literally) on the battlefield, able to take and dish out lots of physical punishment when provoked into a rage. (Can also whistle a tune, has volatile breath, and is a great trash talker.)
Classes: Barbarian 29 / Bard 1 / Red Dragon Disciple 10 Race: Human Alignment: Any non-lawful.
Base Attributes: STR 18 DEX 12 CON 16 INT 8 WIS 8 CHA 8
Leveling Guide: 1 : START as Barbarian - : Focus skills on Discipline, Intimidate, Lore, Taunt - : Power Attack, Cleave 3 : Armor Proficiency (Heavy) 4 : CON +1 5 : Stop Lore at 8 6 : Weapon Focus (Greatsword) 8 : CON +1 9 : Improved Critical (Greatsword) 12: SWITCH to Bard - : CON +1 - : Put 3 SP into Perform, 1 SP into Discipline, Taunt - : Great Cleave 13: SWITCH to Red Dragon Disciple - : Put SP into Discipline, save SP for Intimidate and Taunt 15: Improved Initiative 16: CON + 1 18: Toughness 20: CON + 1 21: Epic Damage Reduction I 22: SWITCH to Barbarian - : Max Discipline, Initimidate, and Taunt 24: STR + 1 - : Overwhelming Critical (Greatsword) 27: Terrifying Rage 30: Thundering Rage 32: STR + 1 33: Mighty Rage 35: Epic Damage Reduction II 36: STR + 1 / Epic Damage Reduction III 38: Devastating Critical (Greatsword) 39: Superior Initiative 40: STR +1
Final Attributes: STR 32 DEX 12 CON 22 INT 10 WIS 8 CHA 10
Final Saving Throws: Fortitude: 33 Reflex: 18 Will: 24
Basic weapon and armor: greatsword and full plate.
Attack Bonus and damage: With standard greatsword: +39/+34/+29/+24 18-28 damage, 37-62 on critical (17-20/x2)
With standard greatsword and Mighty Rage: +43/+38/+33/+28 24-34 damage, 51-90 on critical (17-20/x2)
Defenses: AC with standard full plate: 23 Damage reduction: 16/- Immunities: sleep, paralysis, fire
Advantages:
* Huge Strength: Lots of attack bonus and damage from 32 strength and using a two-handed weapon to increase the damage. Mighty Rage gives the character enough strength to wrestle with dragons and elementals (at least until the Rage wears off). * High Constitution: Bunch of HP from 22 constitution, along with high Fort save and Rages that last for over a minute in real-time. * Lots of Damage Reduction: Epic Barbarian Damage Reduction and Epic Damage Reduction III combine to give the character 16/- reduction for physical attacks. * Terrifying Rage: Maximized Intimidate skill means many enemies will have to save against cowering in fear when the character gets mad. * Thundering Rage and Devastating Critical: Criticals do 3-22 extra damage and have a chance at killing an opponent outright when character is mad. * Other bonuses: Standard RDD bonuses such as a 6d10 breath once a day, various immunities, and +4 AC. Uncanny Dodge makes your Reflex save decent against traps. The one level of Bard means you can whistle while you whack and tack on a little extra damage for a few rounds with the Bard Song.
Disadvantages:
* No flexibility: Your response to hostile situations is to get mad and go hit things. Granted, it's a pretty effective response, but there's not a lot of variety there. * Low Reflex and Will saving throws: Poor Dexterity and Wisdom mean you're not going to make many of these kinds of saves. * Lower Attack Bonuses: To get the RDD stat bonuses in time for the Epic feats, you have to take Bard and RDD relatively early, which brings down the character's Attack Bonuses compared to a straight Barbarian for the first 20 levels. This is somewhat made up by the high strength, however. * Wasted class: The Bard class is there solely for the switch to RDD. With the low Charisma, you won't be able to use any Bard spells, and the Bard Song is marginal.
This build can certainly be done with a Half-Orc rather than a Human, for even more strength, but less skill flexibility (lower INT), and you'll have to sacrifice one feat.
I took Taunt so the Beast might have something else to try against spellcasters and other targets rather than just immediately running in and bashing them. If you don't like the skill, you can certainly use the 43 SP, along with the 31 extra SP, in any way you desire. The important skills here are Discipline (for defense), Intimidate (for Terrifying Rage), and Lore (to unlock Red Dragon Disciple). Putting 3 SP into Perform when you're a Bard also lets you use the Bard Song when you feel like it, after your Charisma goes up at level 21. You can put an extra point in to use it earlier, leaving you with 30 points to use somewhere else.
Many of the feats can be taken in a different order, especially the Epic feats starting with level 27. You may want Devastating Critical earlier, or the Damage Reduction earlier, or replace things such as Superior Initiative with Epic Weapon Focus. You may want to fit Improved Power Attack in there as well; the AB is high enough so that you stand a good chance of hitting many enemies with both versions of Power Attack.
The weapon used can also be changed, although it should be two-handed to take full advantage of the Beast's Strength. I took the greatsword because it had good damage and a bigger critical range than the other two-handed weapons, but you can go heavy flails, greataxes, scythes (enormous critical damage), or whatever else you want to use.
Note: The game seems to contain numerous bugs with Mighty Rage. Currently it's a separate feat with 3 uses, rather than completely replacing Greater Rage. It also requires a targeted use rather than a simple activation. Finally, it can be partially stacked with Greater Rage (which is very wrong); if you use Mighty Rage first, then use Greater Rage, you end up with +12 STR/CON, +7 Will, and -2 AC.