D&D 5E Are Barbarian’s “Meh”

[Todd Roybark]

So, I’ve had two players in two separate campaigns ask to retire their single class Barbarian characters. Both were around 8th level, and both “ got bored w/ the character”. Both also felt other classes got more variety of powers and did more damage. The characters in question were a modified Beserker and Zealot ( Sohei inspired w/ Polearm Master & Sentinel Feats).

This is the only class that I have personally seen retired in 5e.

Anyone else seen/ experienced it?

As a DM I would say the class as a whole reads as a boring class, but holds up well in play......up into 8th level. Monks are fun, and everyone likes playing them, Fighters start really doing Nova Action surges, and to these two players the Barbarian leveling up “ felt more of the same”.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

So, I’ve had two players in two separate campaigns ask to retire their single class Barbarian characters. Both were around 8th level, and both “ got bored w/ the character”. Both also felt other classes got more variety of powers and did more damage.

Barbarian isn't a bad class, but it is the most predictable, and the most defensively-oriented. Reckless Attack means that they'll pretty much always hit, and always be hit. Resistance to damage means they will take a small, but steady, amount of damage from every attack. Honestly, it's great setup for the type of cautious player who doesn't care about winning the damage race, as long as they maintain their steady contribution.

As compared to the paladin, which is all about dealing un-maintainable burst damage, but which can fall quickly to a couple lucky hits. (In this edition, having a high AC means that every hit you take is a crit, so it feels like you have half as many HP as anyone else - or a quarter as many as the barbarian does.)

 

[Todd Roybark]

Not saying it is a bad class, (my campaign notes bears that out), but maybe a class that isn’t that much fun to play? (It looked fun from the DM side, across the screen).

Stat boosts to DMG, Crit Dice, and number of Rages, while Statistically meaningful are just not sexy to play.....that was the sense I got from my players, whom are both good role players.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

I played a Zealot Barbarian through level 10 and had a blast. The resistance and advantage on attacks is great, as are advantage on initiative checks and power critical. I've also played a paladin with anger issues until level 8, and finally felt right to take a level of barbarian for 9. It literally doubled that character's toughness with rage's resistance alone.

In my experience, the trick is:

1) Finding a fun personality and quirk to make interactions more fun outside of combat. For example, my full barbarian was superstitious and abhorred the use of magic, believing it was the path to the devil and a crutch. Considering I was in a party of mostly magic users, and it became a fun source of banter (I know the line and never let their use of magic become a point of contention or PvP, just bickering and jibber jabber).

2) Find ways to use your barbarian gifts out of combat. Their danger sense makes them great scouts when traps may be present. And their ability to rage can allow great feats of strength outside of combat (such as tossing allies across a canyon that they couldn't jump, or busting down doors). In combat its also helpful when you have that advantage on strength checks. Not only can you grapple a foe and knock them prone so that everyone can get advantage on their attacks, but it also becomes helpful when you need to drag a bad guy away from a fallen ally.

On the DM's side of it, it's important to find opportunities to let barbarians have moments to shine outside combat, remind players to play up their backgrounds, and create situations in combat that encourage tactics other than "I hit this thing until it falls" (as well as reward creativity when the players attempt more creative actions).

Personally, I think many martial classes suffer from this issue to varying degrees, because magic provides for so much utility. So for players choosing such classes, its important to make sure they are ok with simplified combat tactics, or are able to have fun with the character in a way that is not directly attached to their mechanics.

 

[Kurotowa]

Barbarian isn't a bad class, but it is the most predictable, and the most defensively-oriented.

I would phrase it that the Barbarian, or at least the Totem Warrior, offers very few tactical decision points. On the first round of combat you have to decide if you're going to attack or RAGE and attack. Then on every subsequent turn you'll just attack, no matter what choice you made before. That's only a hair more complex than the Champion Fighter. So I'm really not surprised that some players get bored with it by 8th Level and start looking into something with more tactical complexity.

Some players prefer that bare simplicity. Others are fine going on auto-pilot in combat and focusing on the RP elements. And, obviously, some find it unsatisfying not to have more choices in make in combat and decide they want to try playing something else. That's why the game offers such a range of options.

 

[ccs]

This'll happen when you play a monopoly piece with combat stats vs playing a character.

 

[generic]

So, I’ve had two players in two separate campaigns ask to retire their single class Barbarian characters. Both were around 8th level, and both “ got bored w/ the character”. Both also felt other classes got more variety of powers and did more damage. The characters in question were a modified Beserker and Zealot ( Sohei inspired w/ Polearm Master & Sentinel Feats).

This is the only class that I have personally seen retired in 5e.

Anyone else seen/ experienced it?

As a DM I would say the class as a whole reads as a boring class, but holds up well in play......up into 8th level. Monks are fun, and everyone likes playing them, Fighters start really doing Nova Action surges, and to these two players the Barbarian leveling up “ felt more of the same”.

Barbarians are certainly a very direct class, but if you get bored of playing one, you may be playing the Barbarian incorrectly. Barbarians aren't strategy-anemic, and they can use weapons like polearms, pikes (no, not the fish), and other cool weapons.

In other words, Barbarians don't have to be living greataxes with anger management issues. Try other weapons, new tactics, and different flavor options.

 

[Coroc]

Barbarians are certainly a very direct class, but if you get bored of playing one, you may be playing the Barbarian incorrectly. Barbarians aren't strategy-anemic, and they can use weapons like polearms, pikes (no, not the fish), and other cool weapons.

In other words, Barbarians don't have to be living greataxes with anger management issues. Try other weapons, new tactics, and different flavor options.

Ugh a barbarian with a polearm is already unfitting but a formation weapon like a pike?
Sorry, but that is minmaxing for mechanics, a legit playstyle nevertheless but not my kind of thing.

 

[CleverNickName]

A better question would be, "Do you enjoy playing the Barbarian class?" There's nothing wrong with the class as written; it's just not my style.

If anyone's got a homebrew for Barbarian as a Fighter subclass, I'd love to see it. I think that would be a little closer to what I think of when I think "D&D barbarian."

 

[Charlaquin]

Barbarians are certainly a very direct class, but if you get bored of playing one, you may be playing the Barbarian incorrectly. Barbarians aren't strategy-anemic, and they can use weapons like polearms, pikes (no, not the fish), and other cool weapons.

Ok, but consider: yes, the fish.