[RPG] Overly strong level 1 barbarian

Pros:

You get +4 str and +2 nat armor but at the cost of -2 Int. On the surface this looks good, but that -2 int makes it so you will lose your ability to cast extracts while using the mutagen. The natural armor is good, but will not scale as you level and I'll admit I have not researched it much, but at higher levels there are probably better ways to get more than +2 natural armor bonus.

Extracts are a positive for you. You only have 11 int, but that's all you need to use level 1 extracts. Useful level 1 extracts for a barb include enlarge person & true strike. Casting one of these will need to be done while not raging or under the mutagen effects and will be at the expense of you making an attack.

Taking a level in alchemist should also give you a small boost to your reflex save.

Increase range attack ability with bombs and Throw anything bonus feat. Not bad, but probably not that great for you either. (If you select the vivisectionist alchemist archetype instead of the base alchemist, this would be replaced with sneak attack. Definitely worth considering)

Cons:

No favored class bonus for that level.

No BAB increase that level.

d8 hit die for that level. Instead of your normal d12

You also slow down your barb class feature progression(cant say much more about this because it is going to be very dependent on which level you decide to cross class at and what your build is like)

In the end only you can decide the pros outweigh the cons, as is depends on your play style and the play style of your group.

Your first instinct-- gently talking to the player-- is a very good one. You can easily follow that up with a less gentle discussion laying out the basic idea that tabletop RPGs (unlike computer RPGs) are collaborative efforts where everyone needs to have fun. This includes not only the other players, but also you as the GM.

Your second instinct-- restricting this recruitment activity to when it "makes sense" in the game context-- is also a very good one. This, too, can be amplified beyond what you've already discussed: The idea that NPCs are just standing around waiting to be recruited is a trope in CRPGs and is sometimes a trope in tabletop RPGs but there's no overwhelming reason for it to be a trope in your game. NPCs who follow PCs around and risk their lives for them (especially when the PC is just hanging back and managing things!) are going to expect something for their troubles. It might be money, it might be respect, it might be help with their own agendas, but whatever it is, it should be something costly that the PC should have difficulty supplying.

Finally, building off that idea, there are many creative ways for a GM to make a follower at least as much trouble as he's worth, if not more. A non-exhaustive sampling includes:

• The incompetent NPC, who falls asleep on watch incurring a surprise attack at night
• The belligerent NPC, who always knows better than the boss and goes his own way
• The unpopular NPC, who manages to antagonize all the other NPCs
• The thief NPC, who robs the group
• The NPC with his own agenda, constantly steering the group into various trouble that advances his own purposes
• The wanted NPC, who has one or more groups after him for past transgressions
• The spy NPC, sent by someone else to take advantage of your PC's ardent love of followers.