And the barbarian says RAAAAARRRHHH!

Wiseblood · Jan 8, 2019

Perhaps it’s my skewed perception from the DM side of things but...the Barbarian’s ability to rage feels off somehow.

It works fine, I guess. I don’t feel like it’s too strong or too weak. It just feels kind of, I don’t know.know, wrong. Uses per day and duration haven’t come up yet.

I like the idea of a barbarian as far as fanasy literature goes. Aside from an uncivilized warrior (RP wise) I haven’t been able to commit to a “Barbarian” class in any edition of D&D 5e being the version I currently use.

I can’t quite put my finger on what is causing this. Is there a question or cause that is obvious that I am missing?

The Crimson Binome · Jan 8, 2019

Personally, I'm more familiar with the raging barbarian archetype being represented as a glass-cannon with overwhelming damage at the expense of defense and possibly accuracy.

The raging barbarian in 5E is a tank, with mediocre damage and amazing defense, but also incredible accuracy. For contrast, the melee-damage champion is the paladin, who is significantly squishier than the barbarian.

It takes some adjustment.

lowkey13 · Jan 8, 2019

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Henry · Jan 8, 2019

I'm not sure, but your title has me suddenly thinking about a D&D Speak 'n Spell.

"The Barbarian goes 'RAAAARH!'"
"The Bard goes 'Tra-la-la!'"
"The Wizard goes 'FWOOOOSH!BOOM!'"

I can't say as I've had any problems with the 5e barbarian, but it sounds like you've never seen a version of the class that you think feels iconic or archetypical?

BookBarbarian · Jan 8, 2019

Part of the problem could be "What is Rage" can change depending on what subclass you take (not mechanically mind you but thematically).

Your rage might be frothing at the mouth uncontrollable anger (Berserker or Battlerager) or a primal survival state (Totem Warrior) or a channeling of your ancestors' spirits (Ancestral guardian) or the righteous will of a deity (Zealot) or the wild fury of a storm (Storm Herald).

Looking at that as a whole, do those themes really belong together on the same class? And I ask that as a guy who plays more Barbarians than anything else.

Anyway I have learned to see Rage as a bag of Mechanics that can suit a multitude of concepts.

MechaTarrasque · Jan 8, 2019

Saelorn said:
Personally, I'm more familiar with the raging barbarian archetype being represented as a glass-cannon with overwhelming damage at the expense of defense and possibly accuracy.

The raging barbarian in 5E is a tank, with mediocre damage and amazing defense, but also incredible accuracy. For contrast, the melee-damage champion is the paladin, who is significantly squishier than the barbarian.

It takes some adjustment.

I would say that fits the historical\mythical berserker pretty well (except for the accuracy part). They were scary because they were hard to put down, even in situations where anyone else would be "this fight is going bad, time to make a break for it", and because it was assumed they were being possessed by spirits/gods/fiends, all of which were likely to bring you problems if you fought (or killed) them. Hitting hard was a pretty distant third. Except for some recent Incredible Hulk stuff (where Banner's subconscious was apparently doing all kinds of math so that the Hulk never killed anyone while rampaging), I am pretty sure no one has ever expressed any admiration for a berserker's accuracy.

5ekyu · Jan 8, 2019

BookBarbarian said:
Part of the problem could be "What is Rage" can change depending on what subclass you take (not mechanically mind you but thematically).

Your rage might be frothing at the mouth uncontrollable anger (Berserker or Battlerager) or a primal survival state (Totem Warrior) or a channeling of your ancestors' spirits (Ancestral guardian) or the righteous will of a deity (Zealot) or the wild fury of a storm (Storm Herald).

Looking at that as a whole, do those themes really belong together on the same class? And I ask that as a guy who plays more Barbarians than anything else.

Anyway I have learned to see Rage as a bag of Mechanics that can suit a multitude of concepts.

One of the issues may be what you think a class is?

See i agree those three ragers are very different types with very different manifestations - just like an eldritch knight, arcane archer, battlemaster and champion are themselves very different.

I see class not as "a group of folks" but just as the organizational meta-game collection - so really to me - each sub-class is its own thing, its own package that happens to share some aspects with some others. Just like a celestial, dragon and shadow sorc may be very different in "what my powers represent" so are barbarians.

BookBarbarian · Jan 8, 2019

5ekyu said:
One of the issues may be what you think a class is?

See i agree those three ragers are very different types with very different manifestations - just like an eldritch knight, arcane archer, battlemaster and champion are themselves very different.

I see class not as "a group of folks" but just as the organizational meta-game collection - so really to me - each sub-class is its own thing, its own package that happens to share some aspects with some others. Just like a celestial, dragon and shadow sorc may be very different in "what my powers represent" so are barbarians.

Interesting, I see those fighters as much closer together then the Barbarian subclasses. To me those are "How do I best augment my fighting ability through magic, tactics, or elite athletic ability?"

To me the Barbarian subclasses radically change "Where does my power come from?" at level 3.

Likewise I think of Rogue as the stealthy guy (though admittedly it's not necessary) and archetype determines what they choose to be stealthy for primarily, and Ranger as "wilderness expert" again choosing how he specializes. Wizard is magic guy who studies, Sorcerer is magic guy who doesn't have to study, Warlock is magic guy who cheated because he did not what to study, Bard is magic guy through Music, or Oration, Cleric is magic from a deity. Druid is magic guy from nature. Paladin derives his power from his commitment to an Oath.

Barbarian to me is still the hardest one to pin down in a simple sentence. He's the guy who is better at fighting when he is mad, except sometimes it's not being mad.

Parmandur · Jan 8, 2019

Wiseblood said:
Perhaps it’s my skewed perception from the DM side of things but...the Barbarian’s ability to rage feels off somehow.

It works fine, I guess. I don’t feel like it’s too strong or too weak. It just feels kind of, I don’t know.know, wrong. Uses per day and duration haven’t come up yet.

I like the idea of a barbarian as far as fanasy literature goes. Aside from an uncivilized warrior (RP wise) I haven’t been able to commit to a “Barbarian” class in any edition of D&D 5e being the version I currently use.

I can’t quite put my finger on what is causing this. Is there a question or cause that is obvious that I am missing?

If uses per day and duration haven't been an issue, might be the encounter day is a bit anemic.

Wiseblood · Jan 8, 2019

Parmandur, I don’t have enough experience DM’ing for the class to say. Only have had 3 Barbarians that I’ve run games for. One session with a new campaign. One that died before level 2 and one multi-classed character that emphasizes the other class.

I can say they work okay. I can’t say I would play one but the thought has crossed my mind one or twice.

Conan is my point of reference in all forms of media.

And the barbarian says RAAAAARRRHHH!

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