Ruthless reach barbarians are a strange idea, strap a long weapon on a damage dealing machine and let it loose, but not one that I am not unfamiliar with actually.
More after the jump.
My current party has a Warforged Barbarian, M.E.T.A, that uses a glaive - a rather 'effective' combo already, but almost specifically because he can dish out massive amounts of damage from behind our equally 'effective' Paladin.
Anyway, while I started to read through these reach themed barbarian powers, that on average seem to deal less damage then the already printed powers but with interesting effects like pushes and slides, all I could think was: "Kinda missing the point of the Barbarian class aren't you?" I mean, I've not yet met anyone that chooses to play a Barbarian primarily for any reason other than the massive, easily accessible damage output. But as I continued to read through the article I realized that with the Barbarian, WotC has already hit the nail on the head, as it were, and this article is for those players that want a different kind of Barbarian. Perhaps to play a primal themed warrior instead of just a massive damage factory.
I kid but this build does introduce a new secondary option for Barbarians as a controller. Not a strong secondary option, but the option is there. For instance the new at-will 'Savage Reach' that deals 1[W]+Str and slides the target 1 square, 2 while raging. It's not your typical Barbarian power, but the applicability of it is undeniable - if you're going to be using a reach weapon that is as it requires the use of one. I was also looking for some crazy synergy with a multi-class fighter/ polearm momentum cheese, but it seems that the worst you got is while raging 'Savage Reach' will also knock the enemy prone. Not bad, not broke. But the thing that really caught my eye was new Heroic tier feat 'Brutal Reach,' which basically makes any attack you make with your polearm at its reach increment brutal 1. I would consider that a good use of a feat, albeit situational at best.
All in all a decent "off the beaten path" type of build for the Barbarian. I wont expect to see many of them played at my local RPGA events, as the damage output isn't high enough for the players to flop over, but I think some of these powers and feats will find their way onto M.E.T.A's character sheet soon enough.
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