D&D 5E Spiked Chain Barbarian... where do I go next?

[ascendance]

I have a L1 Half Orc Barbarian with 20 Str, 17 Dex, 16 Con, 13 Int, 16 Wis, 10 Cha. She wields a Spiked Chain, and has Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Spiked Chain.

What level should I take for L2, and why? I'm thinking of either fighter, or Psychic Warrior. With the latter, I was going down the Stand Still route. Assume I'm only allowed stuff from the core rulebooks or Psionics handbook.

 

[bret]

Take another level of Barbarian for the quick hit points and the Uncanny Dodge.

Loosing your Dex bonus on a surprise round, especially when in light armor, is a bad thing. You are going to want to pick up a second level of Barbarian, might as well do it early when every hit point makes a huge difference.

 

[Cyraneth]

You could take a few levels of fighter, just to gain some extra feats. About 7th level or so, you could (if ye fulfill the requirements) take the master of chains prestige class from Sword & Fist.

- Cyraneth

 

[LostSoul]

The psychic warrior with spiked chain is a killer combo.

Especially when you combine it with Stand Still and the Reach power (I don't know if you'd be able to use this or not; I think it's on the Wizards web site). And a Deep Impact with Power Attack is nice for chewing up those high-armour creatures.

 

[Number47]

I don't have Psionics, so it's hard to recommend. I would personally take a level of fighter now, and get the combat reflexes feat. Nobody approaches you now! Then for third level, take that second level of barbarian, and pick up another feat. Maybe get that power reflexes, cleave chain? Weapon focus?

A fun tactic to remember for later in your career is to get the wizard to Polymorph you.
As a size large creature (like a troll), your spiked chain increases to a huge spiked chain. A large creature with a 10' reach using a reach weapon has a 20' reach. That's right, 20' reach! Virtually guarantees that you'll get use out of cleave, and makes it very tough for anything to approach the party.

 

[Shallown]

I would go some level's fighter to pick up some feats. Combat reflexes, wpn focus, wpn sepcialization (to make up for the mediocre damage a spiked chain does.) Expertise to get imp trip and imp disarm. Also think about the power attack/sunder line. Use your AoO to sunder as some one closes. It really messes them up when You snap their weapon in half before they can even reach you. Trip works great for AoO as well. Usually makes them lose an attack as they get up.

Hold the line is also a good feat for this.

 

[NCSUCodeMonkey]

If you want to max out your reach ability, go psy warrior. You get lots of feats and such great powers as: Reach (on Mind's Eye), Prowess, and Polymorph Self. Combined with Stand Still, Combat Reflexes, and Deep Impact, you are the AoA master. 25 foot reach!

NCSUCodeMonkey

 

[Baron Von StarBlade]

As bret mentioned, definitely take another Level of Barbarian before anything else. Uncanny dodge is a life saver and barbs have a decent selection of skills to choose from. After that its your choice, Psychic Warrior is pretty cool but somewhat limited in its power selections. Obviously the Fighter is a great class with all the extra feats.
Of course YMMV.

 

[christm]

My brother regularly plays Rogues that use a spiked chain and he always gets the weapon finesse, combat reflexes, improved trip, and improved disarm. This combo with a spiked chain means he has reach, can trip and attack any body that rushes him without being counter tripped (a bonus feature of the spiked chain), and gains a +2 to his disarm roles (yet another bonus feature of the spiked chain).

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

With those kind of stats, even a poorly constructed character will rock. And your character looks to be pretty well constructed.

My advice for you: take a level of fighter and pick up combat reflexes.

That will dramatically increase the number of attacks you get (since you'll get an attack whenever your foes try to close with you) and will enable you to take AoOs while flatfooted.

Putting off the 2nd barbarian level for a while will also enable you to put more points into skills that you want high rather than restricting you to a maximum of five skill points in listen or wilderness lore for instance.

A reasonable progression for the character:
Bbn 1: Spiked Chain prof
Bbn 1/Ftr 1: Combat Reflexes
Bbn 1/Ftr 2: Power Attack, Cleave
Bbn 2/Ftr 2
Bbn 2/Ftr 3
Bbn 2/Ftr 4: Weapon Focus, weapon specialization: chain (or expertise and improved trip if you're already killing everything in one blow).
Bbn 2/Ftr 5
Bbn 2/Ftr 6: Great Cleave (or weapon focus if you need to do more damage and aren't facing many hordes at this point)
Bbn 2/Ftr 7: Extra Rage (or weapon specialization if you needed to take weapon focus earlier).