Savage of the Wild (custom)

Revised Paths: Savage of the Wild
These fierce barbarians fight like berserkers, always pressing the attack. They have tremendous power and do massive damage with their huge two-handed weapons.

Choose this path if you prefer a more aggressive role.

As a Savage of the Wild you will be one of the best at melee damage output. You will be able to quickly take down weak enemies and damage stronger enemies enough to keep them attacking you instead of the weaker members of your party.

You will focus mainly on fighting with large two-handed weapons. These are generally the most powerful weapons available and can do glancing damage to enemies other than your main target.

Concept
High damage dealer using two-handed weapons, favoring offense over defense.

Original path's flaws: Does not give access to the Frenzied Berzerker enhancement until L15, starts with too high Dexterity.

Main fixes: Lowered Dexterity in favor of Constitution and Wisdom, and re-ordered feats to be able to take the Frenzied Berzerker line at L6.

Build
Class: Barbarian

Character generator version: Dwarf (28 pt)

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral, Chaotic Good, Neutral, Neutral Good, Lawful Neutral, Lawful Good

Stats and Race (28/32 pt):

Ability increase every 4 levels: All in Str.

Skills, except Human and Drow: Keep Balance and Intimidate maxed out at all levels. At character creation, get one rank (two skill points) into Tumble and spend your last two points in Jump, then on next levels always spend your extra skill point into Jump.

Skills, Human and Drow: Same, but also keep Listen maxed out at all levels.

Feats (by level), except Human: Two-handed Fighting (1), Power Attack (3), Cleave (6), Improved Critical: Slash (9), Improved Two-Handed Fighting (12), Greater Two-Handed Fighting (15), Stunning Blow (18)

Feats (by level), Human: Same, but add Toughness at L1 (NOTE: my original build was a more min/max version taking Toughness at L18, but I decided to change it after feedback from Zaqs_dk; if you started a build with this other feat progression it is ok to keep following it as it remains entirely viable: you can find it here)

For more information about picking enhancements please read this post.

Enhancements (Barbarian): Constitution I, Damage Boost IV, Extend Rage III, Extra Rage I, Frenzied Berzerker III, Hardy Rage II, Improved Damage Reduction I, Might (capstone), Power Attack III, Power Rage III, Sprint Boost I, Toughness II (if Human)

Enhancements (Drow): Enchantment Resistance I

Enhancements (Dwarf): Axe Attack I, Axe Damage II, Constitution I, Spell Defense I, Tactics I

Enhancements (Elf): Enchantment Resistance I, Valenar Elf Melee Attack I, Valenar Elf Melee Damage II

Enhancements (Halfling): Cunning I, Guile II, Luck (Will) I

Enhancements (Human): Adaptability Strength I, Improved Recovery II, Racial Toughness II

Enhancements (Warforged): Constitution I, Construct Thinking I, Great Weapon Aptitude II, Healer's Friend II, Tactics I

Soloability by level
No hireling..: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 With hireling: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Tips

 * At low level, save your few rages for the important fights in the quest, and wear the highest AC medium armor you can find (typically Breastplate / Mithral Full Plate). Carry a shield for times when you need to save on healing costs.
 * Later on, your AC will be too low to matter: try to stay raged most of the time, and rely on your DR to mitigate damage and on your high HP buffer to stay alive. This is when you can simply wear robes/outfits, which are faster to swap than regular armor.
 * Guard items, that proceed when being hit, can be quite effective on barbarians.
 * On a Dwarf, use Greataxes. On an Elf, use Falchions. On other races, use either Greataxes, Falchions or Greatswords.
 * The Frenzy ability you gain with Frenzied Berzerker I is useful when the extra damage inflicted on yourself does not matter, but may be avoided otherwise. This contrasts with the Death Frenzy obtained with Frenzied Berzerker III, which is a significant improvement on your DPS output, and thus should be used as much as possible.

Variants

 * The Frenzied Berzerker line is mostly useful starting at L12, thus one may prefer to swap Cleave and Improved Two-Handed Fighting if not Human, to boost glancing blows earlier (and delay the Frenzied Berzerker enhancements until L12).
 * Warforged may choose to start with the Adamantine Body feat instead of Two-Handed Fighting (THF), then take THF at L3, then respec Adamantine Body for Power Attack at L5. The idea being that Adamantine Body in the early levels can make it easier.
 * If you are undecided between Two-Handed and Two-Weapon fighting, it can make sense to start with 15 Dex (this is easiest on a 32 pt build). This way, you may eventually be able to get the Improved and Greater Two-Weapon Fighting feats with just a +2 Dex tome. However, keep in mind that the cost of feat respec at L20 is very high, and it may actually be easier to obtain a lesser reincarnation token if you decide to switch feats at that point.
 * On a non Human, you may prefer Toughness instead of Stunning Blow at L18. Both are valid choices, so pick whichever you prefer. If you go for Toughness, do not forget the corresponding class and race enhancements.
 * Intimidate is mostly here to avoid chasing monsters around when they are after someone else. It is a useful skill, but only if you use it... If that is not the case, better max out Spot instead.
 * The most popular multiclass variants splash two levels of either Fighter (for extra feats) or Rogue (for evasion and UMD). The main losses are the capstone enhancement (+2 Str and extra chance of special effect on Glancing Blows), and the +2 to Str and Con a L20 barbarian gains when raging.
 * This build basically fits the same role (main damage dealer) as the Storm of Kargon path. The main differences between Two-Weapon Fighting (Storm of Kargon) and Two-Handed Fighting (this build) are that TWF allows more options in weapon combinations, is more effective w.r.t. special attacks like Trip and Stunning Blow (because your target may have to make two saves), and is a bit higher damage vs. a single target, while THF is easier to equip (you only need half the weapons) and is more effective when fighting multiple opponents (thanks to glancing blows).
 * This build is close in spirit to the Vanguard Warrior (Fighter) and Flame of Justice (Paladin) paths. To give a rough idea of the differences, in terms of overall sustained damage output, Barbarian > Fighter > Paladin (but all three classes can take the role of a primary damage dealer). In terms of self-suffiency, Paladin > Fighter > Barbarian. Finally, the Paladin is the one with most "active" combat (maintaining buffs, timing special attacks), while Fighter and Barbarian are more straightforward to play.

Color code: best to worst = green, yellow, orange, red