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Barbarians and CON

Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 11:35 pm
by tile
Hi, I have a question about one of the lines in the wiki Barbarian page.

Under the Rage bonus table it says:

'If the barbarian has 17 CON (base, i.e. before modifiers) or lower, the AB bonus is reduced by 1 (minimum 0), and the bonus physical immunities reduced by 5% (minimum 0%).'

Does this mean I won't see the first 2 bonuses until after my CON reached 18? Because they are essentially negated?

This seems odd as 18 CON on a level 4 is crazy high. Or is that kind of the point?

Re: Barbarians and CON

Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 11:39 pm
by Rwby
This is Arelith.
Isn't Con 20-22 by level 3 fairly normal, here?

[I mean, I play a Con 7 Sorcerer, but I'm told that's madness and stupidity.]

Re: Barbarians and CON

Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 11:45 pm
by PinataPlethora
Rwby wrote:
Thu Jun 14, 2018 11:39 pm
This is Arelith.
Isn't Con 20-22 by level 3 fairly normal, here?
ArelithWiki wrote:17 CON (base, i.e. before modifiers)
Starting at 17 with 15 at creation and a +2 CON gift is pretty reasonable, but if you do it without gifts, it really cuts into your stat distribution. Any more than that, and you risk being nothing more than a useless amorphous blob of HP.

Re: Barbarians and CON

Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 11:53 pm
by Rwby
While I've never read the cookie cutter page, and my characters are built for roleplay, not actually being good at everything, the general impression I've had is that every class in Arelith should take high levels of Con, but none more so than a barbarian, and that the Con Gift is pretty good/essential and not having 450-600hp ASAP means you die.

Re: Barbarians and CON

Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2018 12:12 am
by PinataPlethora
You do want to have as much CON as possible, but because most builds don't need it for feat prerequisites, it's pretty safe to have about 10-14 base, and then dump on as much as you can with gear enchantments and spells. It's not hard to get +10-12 with the right gear and a wand. Barbarians and summoner Warlocks are the notable exceptions.

That said, I've had several very successful front-liners with 300HP or less at level 30. It's just a lot trickier to play.

Re: Barbarians and CON

Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2018 1:40 am
by StrykerMontgomery
Also, epic damage reduction stacks with barbarian damage reduction. So sependimg how much barb you are taking, could be very well worth your time.

Re: Barbarians and CON

Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2018 1:58 am
by TimeAdept
16 + 2 at creation is pretty doable, even more so if you're a CON boosted race.

(I still think the con arbitrary divide for rage was a weird decision.)

Re: Barbarians and CON

Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2018 2:38 am
by PinataPlethora
TimeAdept wrote:
Fri Jun 15, 2018 1:58 am
16 + 2 at creation is pretty doable, even more so if you're a CON boosted race.

(I still think the con arbitrary divide for rage was a weird decision.)
Rather than an arbitrary divide, I see it as a way of forcing a CON investment at the cost of other stats, so that people can't go completely bonkers with late game builds that instead rely on gear and spells.

Re: Barbarians and CON

Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2018 2:38 am
by tile
Thanks everyone! Making me wish I'd read the fine print when I created my character to take the CON bonus. I'm pretty new here :)

Re: Barbarians and CON

Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2018 4:02 am
by StrykerMontgomery
TimeAdept wrote:
Fri Jun 15, 2018 1:58 am
16 + 2 at creation is pretty doable, even more so if you're a CON boosted race.

(I still think the con arbitrary divide for rage was a weird decision.)
gifts not requiring a RP rating.. or even gifts in general isn't exactly in the majority history of Arelith. I don't see why a player should have to figure out that they need to take a gift and increase their ECL just to play a bread and butter barbarian.

Re: Barbarians and CON

Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2018 4:18 am
by PinataPlethora
StrykerMontgomery wrote:
Fri Jun 15, 2018 4:02 am
gifts not requiring a RP rating.. or even gifts in general isn't exactly in the majority history of Arelith. I don't see why a player should have to figure out that they need to take a gift and increase their ECL just to play a bread and butter barbarian.
They don't need to. The gift just makes it easier. You can start with 16 CON, which is pretty common for heavy armor melee or casters, and then put in a point at level 4, which is easily reachable on day one.

Re: Barbarians and CON

Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2018 6:16 am
by TimeAdept
StrykerMontgomery wrote:
Fri Jun 15, 2018 4:02 am
TimeAdept wrote:
Fri Jun 15, 2018 1:58 am
16 + 2 at creation is pretty doable, even more so if you're a CON boosted race.

(I still think the con arbitrary divide for rage was a weird decision.)
gifts not requiring a RP rating.. or even gifts in general isn't exactly in the majority history of Arelith. I don't see why a player should have to figure out that they need to take a gift and increase their ECL just to play a bread and butter barbarian.
The ECL is absolutely irrelevant and will be a difference of 2-3 XP per monster after level 13 or so. Every character should always take every gift possible unless it's specifically a gift of humility reward farming PC.

Re: Barbarians and CON

Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2018 10:34 pm
by StrykerMontgomery
I whole heartedly disagree, pure or mostly pure wizards should take one gift at most. I guess with the writs system ECL means a lot less.now (i just gotto lvl 20 plus 3 ecl recently no writs till very recently)

Re: Barbarians and CON

Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2018 10:47 pm
by PinataPlethora
StrykerMontgomery wrote:
Fri Jun 15, 2018 10:34 pm
I guess with the writs system ECL means a lot less.now
I'm playing with +4 ECL. It's irrelevant with writs.

Re: Barbarians and CON

Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 1:28 am
by StrykerMontgomery
Ok, but this isn't going to be apparent or known by all new players that 'they ought to take all the gifts'. (and still isn't for those not hugely familiar with writs.. I can't even do them as I have troubles finding a group casual play high levels to do them with my main character).