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

[Charlaquin]

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.

Jeez, I just think a wild shaping Barbarian would be cool! Why is everyone so defensive about it?

 

[billd91]

Jeez, I just think a wild shaping Barbarian would be cool! Why is everyone so defensive about it?

Among other things, the "not able to do cool things" is often an edition war dog whistle around here.

 

[Charlaquin]

Among other things, the "not able to do cool things" is often an edition war dog whistle around here.

I like 4e and I make no secret of it. I also like 5e. And none of that has any relevance to the fact that I think a wild shaping Barbarian would be cool and I don’t want to have to multiclass with druid to be able to do it.

 

[Ancalagon]

Has D&D more or less given upon promotion of a barbarian that doesn't have overtly supernatural or magical features?

In 4e the barbarian was firmly placed in the Primal Power source. Even the essentials berserker was martial/primal. It took a bit of finagling to avoid the powers that didn't give you claws, flight,or lightning powers.

In 5e, barbarian base doesn't have unmistakable magical abilities. However once you get passed the bad berserker, the subclasses really push the Rage Magic. 5e barbarian subclasses are straight up called "primal paths" and mostly adjust your rage by having spirits or energy spout out of your barbarian when they rage. The Totem Warrior takes along while to not be visibly magical from the outside. However WOTC has the other paths quickly run pass the barbarian having blatant supernatural feature.

Even in 3e, the prestige classes and feats that weren't patchworks to the rigid system to give barbarians options... quickly go down the "when you rage you turn into a bear" mindset.

So has the D&D designers and community given up on the martial barbarian? Or is it more that the supernatural primal barbarian is more exciting and easier to design and homebrew?

One thing I feel D&D is missing or losing is the Warrior of Physicality. The fighter, as time marches on, has become more academic in its method of fighting. Fighters have become masters of the weapon arts. Whereas traditionally the barbarian was just harder better, faster stronger and would cleave opponents in two with mostly their higher strength and speed. However there has been a shift of barbarians being more warlocky and reliant on the support of spirits, gods, or straight magic to make the axe swing faster. If the axe swings faster at all.

The fighter has been getting more magical too. Echo Knight, Psi Warrior, Rune Knight... these are all "magicallish"

 

[Mind of tempest]

The fighter has been getting more magical too. Echo Knight, Psi Warrior, Rune Knight... these are all "magicallish"

the fact they can't find a way to make non-magical interesting is what I hate, that and monk being wrong and the lack of a proper psionic class but there first takes residence in this thread.

 

[le Redoutable]

oh! I forgot Conan's Mentor, the Necromancer Toth Amon that Conan flees and fights off
so Conan is no Demonologist, but apprenti ( Rookie ? ) Necromancer

 

[le Redoutable]

I'm sorry, but it's true : Conan, in the comics, has a red skin !

 

[Steampunkette]

oh! I forgot Conan's Mentor, the Necromancer Toth Amon that Conan flees and fights off
so Conan is no Demonologist, but apprenti ( Rookie ? ) Necromancer

Conan is not Thoth Amon's apprentice. By any stretch of the imagination.

In Howard's work he deals with stuff having to do with the sorcerer priest only twice. The God in the Bowl, where he's hired to steal a bowl that has Thoth Amon's sigil imprinted on it, and The Phoenix Sword, where Thoth Amon works with Ascalante to try and overthrow Conan, King of Aquilonia. They never meet in either story.

Derleth and other writers wind up expanding his interactions with the sorcerer by making them nemeses.

As to Conan's ethnicity, he is a Cimmerian, roughly analogous to Irish or Scottish. His skin has a ruddy tone because he's in the sun all the time and has a tan. He's not a Pict or a Native American.

 

[Steampunkette]

Also worth noting: In The God in the Bowl, Conan winds up caught trying to steal the bowl. The guy who hired him tries to disavow all knowledge so that Conan takes the fall.

Conan's response is to cleanly sever the man's head from his shoulders in one clean blow.

Because Conan is a Barbarian with Rage Issues!

 

[Minigiant]

When it comesto the shapeshifting barbarian, I think the class could emcompass all levels of the spectrum of man to wolf

When you rage, you are a...

1. Path of the Ulfhednar- Man who fights like a wolf
2. Path of the Totem Warrior- Man with wolf powers
3. Path of the Beast - Man with wolf body parts
4. Path of the Lycantrope- Half Man Half Wolf
5. Path of the ???- Wolf with Man intelligence