D&D General Naming the Barbarian? [added battlerager]

[Morrus]

So it's come up a few times recently that the word 'barbarian' isn't necessarily the best choice for the class. Or maybe it is? That's what I'm here to find out!

The reasoning is that 'barbarian' means uncivilized or uncultured - it's derogatory. It's used as an insult, and people don't usually refer to themselves with insults, only other people. Barbarian either means cruel and barbaric, or primitive and brutish. And the class abilities have nothing to do with that -- they're all about raging.

The counterpoint is, of course, Conan and others. That 'barbarian' in this context refers to a particular archetype.

Anyway, some alternatives have been mentioned. Ravager, Rager, Berserker. I'm going to guess that most folks will vote for Barbarian, but I'm curious.

(I've added Battlerager to the list now, but you might have to change your vote if you like it more than your previous vote)

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I voted ''other'', but ravager is pretty good also.

I'm a big fan of Foebreaker, taken from the FF series, of Foehammer from LotR.

 

[commandercrud]

WOTC should eliminate the class to be PC. Kobolds can't even be physically weak anymore. Ban the barbarian!

 

[CubicsRube]

For me it's beserker, which ties into their key ability: the Beserker Rage

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

I like the term Barbarian, and all its heap of negative connotations. Maybe I want to play that kind of character, crude, brutish, uncivilized, primitive.

Oh yeah, and Conan the Barbarian was a great movie!

If you want to divorce culture from the class (background), you're left with the iconic berserker fighting style. Though if we go back to the Conan movie, his fighting style was highly weapon trained, with a penchant for stealth kills and decapitation.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Everyone says that we have to with Barbarian because of Conan.

....how quickly we forget that he was the Destroyer, as well.

 

[Shiroiken]

The name barbarian is a holdover from the 1E day when the class was also an inherit aspect of the character. The barbarian WAS an uncultured brute, fully described as part of the class with abilities on the assumption of an uncivilized lifestyle. However, 5E has divorced the concept of class and background, so a barbarian class character can be from a more civilized society. This means the name of the class is a misnomer, so I prefer Berserker. The concept of the term being used as an insult is completely irrelevant.

 

[commandercrud]

Barbarian should be a background, not a class. Conan was a fighter/rogue.

 

[Morrus]

For me, I feel like I prefer a class to describe what the characters does -- a fighter fights, for example. Not all classes do that well, but barbarian probably does it the least. A barbarian rages/berserks, pretty much, in D&D. But you could totally have a civilized elf battlerager type.

 

[Cadence]

So it's come up a few times recently that the word 'barbarian' isn't necessarily the best choice for the class. Or maybe it is? That's what I'm here to find out!

The reasoning is that 'barbarian' means uncivilized or uncultured - it's derogatory. It's used as an insult, and people don't usually refer to themselves with insults, only other people. Barbarian either means cruel and barbaric, or primitive and brutish. Barbarian is never a compliment.

The counterpoint is, of course, Conan and others. That 'barbarian' in this context refers to a particular archetype.

Anyway, some alternatives have been mentioned. Ravager, Rager, Berserker. I'm going to guess that most folks will vote for Barbarian, but I'm curious.

Will all of your Barbarians have the typical "berserker type" rage, or will there be some major variants to that (like the rage powers of the Geminate Invoker, Mooncursed, or Urban Barbarian in PF)?

I wonder if some of those options might help fill the gap that used to be filled by a less spell-casting ranger, and might fit someone like Conan a bit better.