D&D 5E Let us stat up Conan the *insert sub-title here*

[TheCosmicKid]

And clearly the best way to do this is single class barbarian with the scholar background. Finally, we can have Conan the Librarian, fully realized. (Well done 5e, well done).

Hey, the world's introduction to Conan, his very first scene in his very first story, has him... doing paperwork.

Just goes to show that the importance of first impressions can be overrated.

 

[Yardiff]

I really don't get the argument that rage is somehow not a thing that Conan does. He is... not a happy person.

Being an angry person does not equal the barbarian rage ability, in my opinion.

 

[cbwjm]

Being an angry person does not equal the barbarian rage ability, in my opinion.

Maybe not, but Conan did see red from time to time, gaining a boost and overcoming his foes. I think barbarian rage works well in modelling that, particularly in that it gives him advantage on strength checks. It was this untamed nature that gave him an edge over civilised folk.

 

[Yardiff]

Conan was first written up by Gygax in Dragon Magazine #36(1980). Then in Dragon Magazine #63 (1982) Gygax writes up the first Barbarian class which was a sub-class of Fighter. This is from the Wikipedia on "Barbarian (Dungeons & Dragons)" under 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."

Then we have the barbarian in the Unearth Arcana (1985), Oriental Adventures has a barbarian class (1985), Revised barbarian (Unearth Arcana) in Dragon Magazine #148 (1989). 2e again has the barbarian as subclass of fighter in the Complete Fighters handbook, then later gets its own complete handbook.

Greg K. mentioned that the berserker was a kit for the barbarian class, not a standard class feature. It wasn't until 3e that raging was standard for the barbarian class.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Hey, the world's introduction to Conan, his very first scene in his very first story, has him... doing paperwork.

Being an angry person does not equal the barbarian rage ability, in my opinion.

Then someone took his red stapler...

 

[Yardiff]

Maybe not, but Conan did see red from time to time, gaining a boost and overcoming his foes. I think barbarian rage works well in modelling that, particularly in that it gives him advantage on strength checks. It was this untamed nature that gave him an edge over civilised folk.

All/most/some/a few heroes have seen 'seen red from time to time, gaining a boost and overcoming foes' wasn't exactly new/unique to Conan.

 

[cbwjm]

All/most/some/a few heroes have seen 'seen red from time to time, gaining a boost and overcoming foes' wasn't exactly new/unique to Conan.

I'm not saying it was unique, but it did happen. One of Howard's stories even states "the sight sent a red wave of murderous fury through Conan's brain. In a crimson mist he smote the monster." He clearly entered a rage in this passage and I wouldn't be surprised if this was what the d20 Conan RPG based the name of the Crimson Mist barbarian ability on. There are other accounts in Howard's books where Conan was in a berserk rage, it was something that he was noted as doing in the original novels. So it is understandable that many of us feel that barbarian, and its rage ability, fits well for a build of Conan.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Pretty sure that the rage mechanic all the way back when the barbarian class was introduced to D&D was largely based on Conan, plus some of the Northern European mythology. If you look at the source material those guys read, there were more than a few barbarians in the fantasy novels & short stories...but none besides Conan were described in those ways.

 

[Yardiff]

I've read the Howard Conan stories, course its at least 20 yrs since I last reread them. I only vaguely remember Conan going into a rage at all, so it doesnt seem to be something he did all that often (at least to me). While I agree the first barbarian classes in D&D were in part based on Conan, the berserker feature was not (of course this is just my opinion).

 

[TheCosmicKid]

All/most/some/a few heroes have seen 'seen red from time to time, gaining a boost and overcoming foes' wasn't exactly new/unique to Conan.

Of course not. But it is certainly consistent with Conan. And when coupled with all the other Conan-based themes in the barbarian class (starting with the name "barbarian"), a clear picture begins to emerge. It becomes very difficult to argue that the class wasn't built from the ground up for Conan clone characters, much less that someone seeking to stat the Cimmerian himself shouldn't give him even one barbarian level.