Barbarian to fight Tiamat

[Threadnaught]

So a guy in an RPG group I'm in is beginning a 5e Campaign. Rules for Character Building are Elite Array, PHB+1, no homebrew.

He was thinking Totem Warrior/Rager with the Fighter Subclass: Champion.
The DM is wanting the party to take on Tiamat at level 20, so this is a 20th level build.

Let's see...

I just need some help in the right direction. How does a Half-Orc Barbarian CN STR based Berserker Pirate with Perception, Intimidation and Athletics sound?
So far haha
Also having a fighter for multiclass to have the level  3 bonus and subclass champion

Not knowing what any of that means, but attempting to help anyway. I've found myself stuck, using a system I don't enjoy. Plz help.

[SorO_Lost]

Not knowing what any of that means

Ok so breaking some of it down. Every Class in 5th gets a path option, think of it like a subclass.

Fighter 3 is a very powerful dip and the "Champion" is it's 3rd level subclass choice used for melee novas and it's primary use is boss killing. Essentially, once per Encounter it gains an extra Attack Action and four times per Encounter you can add +1d8 to your Attack Roll. This gives you a very high damage rate on the first round of combat and helps you hit Tiamat's really high AC (it's 25).

Then one of the Barbarian's subclass options is Totem Warrior which then splits into one of three options it's self. Bear, Eagle, and Wolf. So I'm not sure what you mean by 3rd's Incarnate "Totem Rager" PrC through, probably just a mislabel? Anyway, Bear is extremely defensive since while Raging you pretty much take 1/2 damage from nearly anything and I think that is the direction they are wanting to go since the Barb's offensive choice is Frenzy Berserker instead of Totem Warrior.

Overall, the Class choice is like the default "all-arounder" and it isn't a bad choice by any means.

"Pirate" is probably the Background. All 5th Edition Characters have a non-adventurer history that grants them Proficiency in a few extra Skills on top of the ones your Class provides, extra starting equipment and gold, maybe a Language, and a bonus "Feature" that's up to the DM to incorporate into the Adventure to help you roleplay. Most of the rest kind of speaks for it's self, progress Str to cap or snag a belt, CN is it's Alignment, Half-Orc is it's Race, and "berserker" is probably just a description of being an easily ticked off pirate.

Edit - What is the DM allowing for magic items? Over the course of 20 levels you're supposed to have obtained like sixty of them or so (counts consumables) and the DMG has a low/med/high-magic starting with guideline to use too.

[Wilb]

SorO I believe you mixed Champion with Battlemaster, the Champion gets increased crit range at 3rd level.

[Threadnaught]

The stuff in quotation marks were myself quoting the player verbatim. Fixed it, now it looks so much better.
Yeah, Pirate gives Proficiency to Athletics and Perception.

How are the numbers in 5e so low? 

Okay, more quotes from the player. I'm neither a player nor a DM in this situation btw, I'm the middle man between the player and the boards.

As a multiclass Fighter: the only benefit I would want/get would be the Dueling which would give me +2 to my attacks if I only equip one weapon and then get to level 3 with it to obtain an Archetype. Champion would just allow me to score a critical hit on 19 or 20 rather than just 20. Battle Master would allow me to choose 3 Battle Maneuvers such as Lunge Attack, Parry, etc. I think I may just do Totem Warrior Barbarian + Battle Master Fighter whilst gaining the Feats Lucky, Great Weapon Master and Sentinel. (Post this to the thread haha)
Both Fighter Archetypes are very helpful when it comes to Barbarians
The Dip would just be a struggle
Or I may just go straight Barbarian
And the DM hasn't mentioned Magic Items yet

[Nanshork]

How are the numbers in 5e so low? 

Because 5e is a game that doesn't require Christmas tree level magic items in order to meet basic minimum numbers at high levels, and in fact having too many magic items can break the game.

[SorO_Lost]

How are the numbers in 5e so low? 

Because 5e is a game that doesn't require Christmas tree level magic items in order to meet basic minimum numbers at high levels, and in fact having too many magic items can break the game.

Umm...

The Dungeon Master’s Guide assumes a certain amount of treasure will be found over the course of a campaign. Over twenty levels of typical play, the game expects forty-five rolls on the Treasure Hoard tables, distributed as follows:
- Seven rolls on the Challenge 0-4 table
- Eighteen rolls on the Challenge 5-10 table
- Twelve rolls on the Challenge 11-16 table
- Eight rolls on the Challenge I7+ table
Because many of the table results call for more than one magic item, those forty-five rolls will result in the characters obtaining roughly one hundred items. The optional system described here yields the same number of items, distributed properly throughout the spectrum of rarity, while enabling you to control exactly which items the characters have a chance of acquiring.

Interestingly, due to the Class vs Class debates 3rd went through a massive round of never mentioning consumables like Scrolls/Wands which combined with misconceptions like low-magic games are great, your 3rd Edition tabletop games had less Christmas tree items than 5th is meant to.

SorO I believe you mixed Champion with Battlemaster, the Champion gets increased crit range at 3rd level.

My bad.