Barbarian (Dungeons & Dragons)
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| Characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Primary role | Striker |
| Secondary role | Defender or Leader |
| Power source | Primal |
| Alignment | Any non-lawful (prior to 4th edition) |
| Publication history | |
| Editions | 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 3.5, 4th |
| (as a standard class) | 3rd, 3.5 |
| (as an alternate class) | 1st, 2nd, 4th |
| Source books | Player's Handbook (3rd, 3.5) |
| First appearance | Unearthed Arcana (1st edition) |
| Based on | Barbarian |
| Image | Wizards.com image |
| Stats | OGL stats |
The barbarian is a playable character class in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.
Contents
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[edit] Publication history
[edit] Creative origins
The barbarian is based on Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian, Gardner Fox's Kothar and to a lesser extent Fritz Lieber's Fafhrd.[1]
[edit] Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition (1977-1988)
The Barbarian class first appears in the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons manual, Unearthed Arcana by Gary Gygax.[2]
[edit] Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition (1989-1999)
Barbarians appear in The Complete Fighter's Handbook as a character kit, and later receive full attention in The Complete Barbarian's Handbook.
[edit] Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition (2000-2007)
Barbarian is one of the base character classes presented in the Player's Handbook. The barbarian is seen as the archetypal warrior who uses brute strength and raw fury to excel in combat, instead of the honed skills of the Fighter or measured strength of the Monk. Of all the classes, only the barbarian begins the game illiterate and is forced to expend extra skill points or multiclass in order to read and write.
Half-Orcs, Minotaur, Korobokuru (a race of primitive Oriental Dwarves introduced in Oriental Adventures), and Diopsids (an obscure race of humanoid beetles that first appeared in Dragon magazine #267) all have Barbarian as a favoured class.
[edit] Mechanics and Abilities
The barbarian has fewer distinct tactical options than D&D's other primary melee combatant, the fighter. Instead of the many bonus feats that the fighter can choose from, barbarians receive a small but unique list of special abilities that make them equally valued on the battlefield.
[edit] Rage
Barbarians can tap their inner fury to fly into a berserker-like rage. Once the rage is expended, the barbarian becomes fatigued for the remainder of the encounter. Rage provides bonuses to Strength, Constitution, and Will saving throws (which can make barbarians surprisingly resistant to harmful magic), and a glut of additional hit points which expire along with their rage. Rage also reduces armour class and interferes with any skill requiring patience or concentration.
As barbarians gain in power, their rage can be used more often and provides even larger Strength and Constitution bonuses, while taking less of a toll on their bodies.
[edit] Other Abilities
The barbarian class confers a number of unique specific abilities to the character. Most of these come from the barbarian's feral alertness, and from sheer speed and endurance.
Barbarians can instinctively guard themselves against ambushes or opponents that surround them, as well as reacting more swiftly against traps. In straight movement they also enjoy faster than average speed for their race, able to run down most foes. Barbarians also enjoy damage reduction: every time they are damaged, they are allowed to reduce this amount. This damage reduction, while small, does grow as the barbarian gains levels, and it cannot be bypassed by any sort of weapon.
The Iconic barbarian is Krusk, a male half-orc.
[edit] Party Role
The barbarian's typical role within an adventuring party is as a straightforward front-rank tank. Barbarians make both good primary combatants as well as heavy scouts, owing to their granted speed bonus and survival skills. Their ability to absorb damage and shrug it off lightly while delivering shattering blows to opponents makes going toe-to-toe with one an extremely bad idea. With proper support from other party members by way of healing and spell counters, a well-built barbarian will prove immensely useful. In addition, the barbarian has some basic wilderness skills such as listen, and survival that help keep him aware of his surroundings and enable him to survive in a wilderness environment for long periods without supplies. However, they lack the tactical versatility of fighters with their plethora of feats, and many of their skills and abilities favour lighter armours, which, combined with rage, weakens their defence.
Moreover, if a barbarian adventures alone and encounters magic-wielding foes that he cannot charge and take out personally, he will most likely be defeated. The weakness of the barbarian is an inability to adapt to situations such as these - in aspects other than melée, the barbarian is often ill-prepared and ill-suited.
Strength is vital to barbarians as for most primary melee classes, but constitution is perhaps more so, as it determines the duration and hit point bonus of their rage, while their limited AC demands a hardy frame. Good dexterity can help redress this imbalance, as emphasised by their Uncanny Dodge ability.
[edit] Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition (2008-)
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The barbarian appears in the 4th edition as a player character class in Player's Handbook 2 (2009).[3]
As strikers, barbarians are focused on single target damage. Some defender or leader capabilities are also available to the class. Barbarians are proficient in melee weapons and light armor. Barbarians use the primal power source.
Barbarians possess several class features. Feral Might provides one of several options, chosen at character creation, Rageblood Vigor, first presented in the October 2008 preview article, which grants the barbarian temporary hit points and charge with the Swift Charge power whenever he or she reduces a foe to 0 points, as well as making some Barbarian powers more effective, another Feral Might is Thaneborn Triumph, which grants the power Roar of Triumph and gives allies a bonus to attack rolls when you bloody a target . Rampage allows barbarians to make extra attacks if they score critical hits with their attack powers. Rage Strike allows a barbarian to expend a rage power while already in a rage in order to attack a single target for damage dependant on the power's level.
Two barbarian builds have been detailed, the Rageblood Barbarian, which focuses on the Rageblood Vigor form of Feral Might, Strength and Constitution and leans towards the defender role, and the Thaneblood Barbarian, which focuses on Strength, Charisma and a different form of Feral Might, and leans towards the leader role. Barbarians' powers are called Evocations, and one other build has been mentioned. Most of the barbarian's daily attack powers have the Rage keyword, each such power combines an attack with a persistent buff on the barbarian, a barbarian can only benefit from one rage at a time, rages last until the end of the encounter unless the barbarian activates another rage or is reduced to 0 hit points. All published barbarian attack powers use Strength for attack rolls, some powers have other effects tied to Constitution or Charisma, many barbarian powers have effects which require the barbarian to be raging.
The Rageblood Berserker paragon path was first presented in the 2008 preview for Player's Handbook 2.[4] The Player's Handbook 2 has several barbarian paragon paths, including the Bear Warrior, Fearbringer Thane, Frenzied Berserker and Wildrunner.[3]
[edit] Barbarians in specific campaign settings
[edit] Eberron
In most Dungeons & Dragons games, the barbarian is represented as a savage, tribal warrior. However, in the Eberron campaign setting, barbarians are more like nomads -- while they may not be civilized, they are certainly not savages.
[edit] Forgotten Realms
Barbarians in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting are similar in presentation as the class presented in the core rulebook. Barbarians can be of any race in the Realms, though some are more uncommon than others. Barbarians are described as being confused by the cosmopolitan nature of certain regions of Faerûn.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ DeVarque, Aardy. "Literary Sources of D&D". http://www.geocities.com/rgfdfaq/sources.html. Retrieved 2007-02-23.
- ^ Acaeum "Later AD&D Manuals"
- ^ a b http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4pr/20090202
- ^ Heinsoo, Rob; Mike Mearls, Jesse Decker, Robert J.c Schwalb (October 2008). "Playtest: The Barbarian" (PDF). Dragon Magazine. Wizards of the Coast. http://www.wizards.com/files/368_Barbarian.pdf. Retrieved 2008-10-06.
[edit] External links
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