D&D General Has D&D abandoned the "martial barbarian"?

[Blue Orange]

D&D has become its own world at this point (a pretty natural development after 50 years). It has wizards more similar to academic scientists than any historical priest, imam, or tribal shaman, religious organizations that marry ancient polytheism with medieval hierarchies and modern religious tolerance, cities with populations typical of the 19th century, armor types that never existed, numerous intelligent humanoid species with resemblances to different subphyla coexisting and having offspring (dragonborn?), and gender roles more typical of the early 21st century than any historical preindustrial society. The 'generic RPG world' is its own recognizable alternate universe, like Middle-Earth or the Star Wars universe.

I actually think it's an impressive collective creation, to be honest.

 

[le Redoutable]

par exemple, les Ninjas c'est une multiclasse : un mix de Moine, de Voleur, d'Acrobate et d'Espion
mais les Moines, ce serait pas une multiclasse ? un mix d'acrobate et de sage ;

Ninja : Nécromancien+ Voleur + Acrobate + Espion
je sais, ce serait plus facile de ne pas intégrer les Assassins aux Nécromanciens;

 

[Northern Phoenix]

Yes, but i think that is a good thing. The Barbarian doesn't need to (and imo, shouldn't) be casting spells, but by opening the class up beyond "strong guy" into (to use 4e words) a fully Martial "Primal Power" character, you can get a great many character concepts that still fall squarely within the broader Barbarian theme. Beast, Totem, Storm, and so on are all great Barbarian archetypes that meld the thematic primal shamanism of "primal power" with a fully martial class still centered around the thematic core of "rage".

(Also, most "fully martial" character classes in modern High Fantasy video games these days generally use a bunch of not-magic-magic abilities like "earthquake stomp", "shattering roar", "shockwave smash" and other such things). DnDs martial characters could probably benefit from a bit of that.)

 

[Minigiant]

Question: How do you keep the absolutely pure Warrior of Physicality relevant, in a game where you must be supernatural in order to do anything that even remotely deviates from "the laws of physics as they exist on real-world Earth"?

There's no need to be strangled with the laws of physics.
The issue is that action movies and comic books can get supernatural Warriors of Physicality without farting lightning or growing claws.
In fact, the norm is for movie and comic brutes to not have overt supernatural powers.

The Juggernaut doesn't blast you with ice. The Juggernaut runs into you and bullrushes you through the wall.

Yes, I grant that the Warrior of Physicality can be a fun trope. The problem is that the D&D system (a) has poorly supported that archetype since its very inception (remember that the 1e Fighter got the best saves against magic--it was supernatural, just in a "supernatural toughness/immunity" way, rather than a "supernatural powers" way), and (b) has repeatedly powered up the supernatural archetypes while repeatedly depowering the pure-physical archetypes. 4e even tried to reverse this trend a little, by letting the Fighter very much focus on pure raw strength (the Brawler Fighter was literally able to chokeslam dragons, it was awesome)

DM: Roll imitative.
Barbarian: Lou Thesz Press then I punch them while they are down.
DM: What? Well the orc rolled higher so he goes first. The orc roars and charges you with...
Barbarian: As a reaction, scoop powerslam. I didn't draw my axe yet.
Rogue: Classic.

Edition warriors near-constantly griped about it to no end, talking about how unrealistic and impossible it was, making utterly false claims like that fighters could emit lightning from their hindquarters or fart fireballs or whatever.

D&D has been leaving behind the Warrior of Physicality because the designers almost never make the effort to make it worthwhile, and even when they do, at the very least a vocal minority will beat the drums of edition war to show just how much they hate the Warrior of Physicality getting to contribute on the same level as the Wizard or Druid.

Can't we just meld the 2 a bit.

Let the barbarian be powered by their ancestors and throw Mankind from the Hell in the Cell onto the announcer table in 1998?

 

[Steampunkette]

Path of the Brutal Pugilist

3) Brutal Pummeler
When you take the Brutal Pugilist path you become a master of brutal unarmed combat. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d4 damage, 1d6 if you are raging. In addition, whenever you use the attack action on your turn you can make an unarmed strike as a bonus action.

3) Grit
You also gain the ability to perform surprising acts with your unarmed strikes on your turn by expending grit. You have a number of Grit Points equal to your Proficiency Bonus. You recover all used Grit point at the end of a Short or a Long Rest. Your Grit Saving throw is DC 8+Str+Proficiency.

-Knock Down: While raging, you may expend a Grit point to focus your rage into each strike. Any successful attack you make before the start of your next turn forces your victim of large size or smaller to roll a Strength Save or be knocked prone.

-Drag Out: As a reaction after landing a successful unarmed strike you may expend 1 Grit to Grapple your target.

-Whallop: By expending a Grit point before making an unarmed strike you can increase the damage of the attack by 1d4.

6) Swift Feet and Fists
At 6th level your unarmed damage increases from 1d4 to 1d6, 1d8 if you are raging. Your movement rate also increases by 5ft.

10) Gangway!
At 10th level you are the Brute Squad. You may spend 1 Grit while moving to attempt to clear a path. Any creature of Large size or smaller occupying your path may either move 5ft out of your path, or make a Strength Save to attempt to hold their ground. On a successful save they do not move, though you still move through their square.

14) Stonebones
At 14th level your unarmed strike damage increases to 1d8, 1d10 if you are raging. In addition, you may now expend 1 Grit as a reaction to taking damage that you are resistant to to reduce the damage to 0. Once you've used this ability you cannot do so, again, until you take a short or long rest.

There you go!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

aussi, Conan c'est un Peau-Rouge ( Indien d'Amérique )

1) While english is not your primary language, it IS the primary lang of this board. Please do you fellow posters and the moderation staff the courtesy of using english while posting here.

2) Of the terms you used for the indigenous people of North America, you have landed on the 2 that are currently least favored. Furthermore, the first one has racist connotations that could seriously irritate some and lead to possible discipline.

 

[Minigiant]

For a while now, I've been pondering doing Wrestling Gimmicks as Gladiator sublcasses for many classes.

Barbarian: The Monster/Giant
Bard: The Manager
Fighter: The Technician
Monk: The High Flyer/Luchador
Paladin: The Celebrity
Ranger: The Hardcore or The Foriegner


In this incarnation, the barbarian subclass would let walk up to D&D monsters and laugh at size limitations as the toss giants and dragons around like ragdolls.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I just think a Barbarian subclass with the ability to turn into an animal would be cool.

I understand that, but personally, I prefer my “totemic” barbarians to be more subtle. Leave the real shapechanging to Druids, lycanthropes, Hengeyokai and the like.

For example, instead of actually shapechanging when Trhog calls on “Brother Wolf”, he channels supernatural endurance, he can see in lower light conditions, and his sense of smell sharpens for a while. But he remains visually human…though some perceptive people might sense a change.

 

[Charlaquin]

I understand that, but personally, I prefer my “totemic” barbarians to be more subtle. Leave the real shapechanging to Druids, lycanthropes, Hengeyokai and the like.

For example, instead of actually shapechanging when Trhog calls on “Brother Wolf”, he channels supernatural endurance, he can see in lower light conditions, and his sense of smell sharpens for a while. But he remains visually human…though some perceptive people might sense a change.

That’s fine and cool, and the Totem Barbarian already exists for that. I’m not saying to get rid of the Totem Barbarian or change how it works. I just think it would be cool for there to be a different Barbarian subclass that could turn into an animal, as the Viking Berserker were sometimes said to be able to do.

 

[billd91]

Some people want their martial characters to be able to do cool things without having to multiclass into a caster class.

That's always a terribly loaded statement. The barbarian can do plenty of cool things without multiclassing into a caster class - just not that particular cool thing.