Raging Barbarians (Creating Characters Part 2)
- Tanner Jensen
- Nov 8, 2017
- 9 min read
If we're going to do any sort of character building, we need to understand exactly what our options our. That's why we're going to be looking at each of the classes you can choose from, starting with our friends the Barbarians.
If you've ever watched Conan the Barbarian or just about anything with Vikings in it, you know that barbarians are generally large, shirtless warriors with bigger muscles than brains and a whole lot of angry. D&D barbarians are pretty close to that.
Playstyle
Strengths: Barbarians in D&D are good at two things: taking hits, and dishing them out. Their Rage ability lets them reduce the damage they take in battles, and when coupled with their high health pool they make excellent party tanks. Their bonuses to attacks and damage also mean that a properly built barbarian can deal out some serious damage to enemies.
Weaknesses: Their kit offers few options for ranged combat, even less for magic, and they have no real ability to directly help other characters. This also means that they have relatively few options within combat, which can be a problem for those players that like a bit of variety in their choice of actions.
Playstyles: In general, barbarians are played as front-line fighters in either a meat shield or damage dealer role. Certain subclasses offer bonuses that can benefit one or both of these playstyles, but in general there are few other options for barbarians.
Build
Ability Scores: Barbarians generally rely on three ability scores: strength, dexterity, and constitution.
Strength: With their class abilities geared towards strength-based skills and actions, barbarian players tend to gravitate towards high strength builds. This also allows them to make use of traditionally barbarian strength-based weapons; the heavier the better. After all, what kind of barbarian runs into battle with a dagger?
Dexterity: Dexterity is important for deciding a barbarian's Armor Class, but sees limited use outside of that. Some players build their barbarians as dexterity-based fighters, which can work well, but tends to lose out on some of the advantages that the class's skills offer.
Constitution: There's a reason why barbarians make such excellent damage-sponges: constitution determines not just their health, but also their AC. That's right, the higher their constitution gets, the more health they gain, and the harder they are to damage in the first place.
Health: Barbarians use a D12 for their hit dice, the highest of any class. Their incentive for high constitution combined with a hit die that is twice as big as that of Wizards and Sorcerers means that barbarians are some of the healthiest lads and lasses out on the battlefield.
Proficiencies: Barbarians gain proficiencies in light and medium armors (not that you'll need them), as well as shields and all weapons. You'll also have your pick of a few strength and wisdom-based skills; my recomendations are Athletics and Perception or Survival.
Starting Equipment: Starting as a new barbarian, you'll have your pick of:
A greataxe or a martial weapon of your choice
2 handaxes or a simple weapon of your choice
and an Explorer's pack and 4 javelins
My recommendation is to run with the first option in each of the first two lines; the greataxe pairs well with high strength and fits the class's theme, and the handaxes offer backup weapons and some ranged options, especially when paired with the javelins. If you feel strongly about another weapon choice, or if you want to go for a more Dexterity-focused build, feel free to make your own choices. The suggests I'm making are for a simple and straightforward strength-based barbarian.
Misc: Barbarians have no inherent spellcasting ability, and gain a second attack at 5th level
Abilities
While I cannot cover every aspect of a barbarian's toolkit, here are some of the class's defining characteristics.
Rage
Every class has its own ability central to their theme; for Barbarians, its their Rage.
A temporary buff that can be used twice before needing to rest, a barbarian's rage grants them bonus damage to strength-based weapon attacks, advantage on all Strength checks and Saving throws, and resistance to all physical damage (meaning they take 1/2 of what they would normally take). Sounds pretty good right? But here's the catch: the buff ends early if the barbarian goes a full round without attacking another creature or taking damage, and the feature cannot be used at all if the barbarian is wearing heavy armor. Remember what I said about barbarians being great on the front-line? It would be more accurate to say that they need to stay on the front line, dishing out and taking damage, to keep that Rage going strong.
As you gain levels in the barbarian class, you'll start to get more bonuses to your Rage: extended durations, choosing to survive hits that would otherwise kill you, and the ability to react to sneak attacks by instantly entering your Rage and acting normally when other characters would be frozen in surprise. The number of times you can choose to Rage will also increase, granting you unlimited uses at 20th level.
Unarmored Defense
D&D barbarians are a lot like Conan from Conan the Barbarian, especially when it come to armor choices; namely, their lack of armor. Through this class mechanic, barbarians can choose to wear no armor and still gain a bonus to armor. So how's that work?
If you remember when I covered it briefly in my first Reading Character Sheets post, a character's Armor Class represents the relative difficulty of injuring them; the higher the number, the more it takes for another creature to harm them. Armor Class is generally based off of a character's armor, usually taking a flat bonus and adding some portion of the character's Dexterity modifier. For barbarians, AC works a little differently. If barbarian is wearing no armor, their AC = 10 + (their Dexterity modifier) + (their Constitution modifier). That's right, the healthier you are, the harder it becomes to even hit and damage you, and the less that damage actually means when it is dealt to you.
A barbarian with 20 Constitution and 20 Dexterity would have an AC of 20, the equivalent to another character wearing full plate armor and holding a shield. Barbarians are the pinnacle of tanky muscle-heads; arrows break upon their muscled chests, and any injury they actually take while raging is cut in half (at least, physical damage).
Unarmored defense is good, but optional. Barbarians still have the option of wearing armor to get their Armor Class up; however, wearing any sort of heavy armor will leave them unable to use their Rage feature.
Fast Movement
You've got to move fast to survive in the wild, and that lack of armor helps barbarians stay ahead of others. Barbarians who do not wear heavy armor get a +10 bonus to their movement speed. Given that the average movement speed for most characters is 30ft, a 40ft movement speed is pretty good for staying ahead of allies and catching up to enemies.
Reckless attack
Sometimes, you just need to hit what you're attacking, even if it means taking a hit yourself. At any time, barbarians can choose to attack recklessly, granting them advantage on any attacks they make that turn (roll D20 twice, and take the higher of the two results). Until the start of the barbarian's next turn, any creature that attacks them also has advantage. If you feel like standing in one spot and swinging wildly at what you're attacking without regard for your own life, this is the feature for you.
Brutal Critical
The last of the barbarian class features worth examining here is their bonus to critical hits. When a creature rolls a 20 on a D20 to attack another creature, that roll is often considered a critical hit. To roll damage for a critical hit, you would take the weapon's normal number and type of damage dice (i.e. 1d12 for a greataxe) and double the number of dice being rolled (1d12 x 2 = 2d12). Barbarians do that and more. When a barbarian rolls a critical hit, they can add additional damage dice to that pile, starting at 1 additional dice (3d12 total) and increasing to a max of 3 additional dice (5d12 total). Like I said before, barbarians hit hard.
Subclasses
The Player's Handbook offers two subclasses for barbarians: the Path of the Berserker, and the Path of the Totem Warrior. Other supplements and homebrew creators offer additional subclasses, which I might go over later, but for now we'll look at the basic options.
Path of the Berserker
Barbarians of this subclass embody the Viking approach to barbarianism; a fighting style based on mindless ferocity rather than skill or tactics, attacking without regard for their own lives in an effort to destroy everything in front of them. The features offered by this subclass complement a simple, front-line fighter playstyle.
Frenzy: Choose to deepen your rage, gaining an extra attack per turn. When your rage ends, you gain a level of exhaustion (condition that will be discussed later)
Mindless Rage: Immunity to charms and fears while raging.
Intimidating Presence: Can inspire fear in other creatures.
Retaliation: When struck by an enemy within 5ft, you can immediately react by attacking them.
Path of the Totem Warrior
Barbarians of this path treat their life as a spiritual journey, and make this journey with the help of a spirit animal to guide them. To become a barbarian of this path, you choose a number of spirit animals to guide you; you may choose the same animal for each option, or you may choose different animals if you like their options better. This class offers some versatility that the base class lacks, and can benefit either an offensive or defensive playstyle depending on which options you choose.
Bear: Embodies the traits of physical might and toughness
While raging, gain resistance to all damage types (except psychic), rather than just physical damage
Your carrying capacity doubles, and you gain permanent advantage on all Strength checks made to lift, push, pull, and break objects.
While raging, creature within 5ft of you have disadvantage on attacks made against characters other than you.
Eagle: Embodies the traits of speed and accuracy
While raging, other creatures have disadvantage on opportunity attacks made against you, and you may take the Dash action as a bonus action.
You can see up to 1 mile away in perfect detail, and Dim light does not pose disadvantage on your Perception checks.
While raging, you gain a flying speed equal to your walking speed.
Wolf: Embodies the traits of cunning and ferocity
While raging, your allies have advantage on attacks made against hostile creatures within 5ft of you.
You gain bonuses to tracking other creatures while travelling
When you hit a Large or smaller creature while raging, you may knock them prone as a bonus action.
Depending on your choices, each of these options can benefit different playstyles. The Bear Totem is geared more towards a defensive, ally protecting strongman, while the Wolf Totem leads its allies in the charge, taking command of the front-line and benefiting its allies offensively. The Eagle Totem favors a more independent role, getting in and out of combat quickly and making sure that they are hard for enemies to pin down.
Stories
Barbarians are, for the most part, the strongest and greatest of tribe members surviving on the outskirts of civilization, living off the land and rarely interacting with more structured societies. They are fiercely protective of their lands and their people, and embrace the ferocity and power of nature to strengthen themselves. They are often combative, straightforward, and regard violence as the first and simplest solution. They are also fiercely proud and honorable within their own codes of justice, and often care more about their people than their own lives.
If you want to make a barbarian, you may want to consider what reason your character has for leaving their homeland and taking up a life of adventuring, especially if you plan to take them to civilization. What home and people are they leaving behind? What memories, good or bad, do they have of surviving in the wilderness? What connection do they have to the land, and how do they view those in civilization that seem to reject the natural world?
The Outlander background pairs very well with this class, and can help you in determining who your character is and why the act the way that they do. Note that despite the stereotypes you may be imagining about muscle-laden but empty-headed warriors, not all barbarians are idiots. Surviving in the unforgiving wilderness takes considerable skill and cunning, and while many barbarians are a little rough around the edges, there is no reason for them to be outright stupid, unless of course that is the kind of character you wish to play.
If you really want to think out of the box, you can ignore the wilderness aspect of the class altogether and stick only to the core mechanics. For example, a haughty noble that flies into a rage when their honor is insulted, or perhaps an experienced soldier capable of entering a battle trace that lets them ignore their own injuries. So long as the features themselves remain untouched, you can play the implementation and story behind each however you wish.
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