D&D 5E Are Barbarian’s “Meh”

[FlyingChihuahua]

I winced a little bit at the elf one... but I shouldn't have. The class is a lot more fun if you realize that the class doesn't have to be the culture.

A fighter could be a medieval knight, a samurai or a spaniard duelist.

A barbarian could be a conan-like barbarian sure. But she could be a viking berserker, a soldier with anger issues, a brutal thug or - as I mentioned earlier - a mendicant dervishe.

So kudos to that angry elf!

I think it's a consequence of Barbarian being the easiest name for what that class actually is supposed to be, which is "melee fighter with a big dumb Anime super mode".

Try finding a better name for that archetype that also fits into D&D's pseudo-medieval/renaissance setting. Barbarian is the best we got, short of just making something up.

 

[ad_hoc]

I think it's a consequence of Barbarian being the easiest name for what that class actually is supposed to be, which is "melee fighter with a big dumb Anime super mode".

Try finding a better name for that archetype that also fits into D&D's pseudo-medieval/renaissance setting. Barbarian is the best we got, short of just making something up.

I don't think anything in 5e is designed to be anime. Not even the monk.

 

[FlyingChihuahua]

I don't think anything in 5e is designed to be anime. Not even the monk.

I mean, it's a silly, partially joking descriptor, don't worry about it to much.

Although, Super Sayain could be analogous to Raging and Sun Soul monk gets those ki blasts, hmm...

 

[Undrave]

I don't think anything in 5e is designed to be anime. Not even the monk.

Barbarians are nekketsu AF

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Some barbarians need to be hit in at the earliest possibility in a combat, or they need to be hit from time to time, one good thing about barb which 5e does right is that they do not rely so much on AC, but also on HP and DR

Which doesn’t make Unarmored Defense a trap.

 

[Todd Roybark]

CCS statements like how hard is it too add a shield bonus make you sound as if you are lacking in empathy.

Have you ever played with someone w/ a learning disability?

Have you ever had to do mathematical operations while breastfeeding your newborn, keeping an eye out on your 5 year old, worried about your big presentation Monday, and chronically sleep deprived for the last 3 months due to said newborn?

I find you lack of empathy/imagination disturbing

As for the comment someone made about seperating stats from role playing...I disagree entirely w/ this premise.

A person's characteristics should not always transfer to their fictional personas. My second group has a verbally brilliant stand up comic who is a master of improvisation and another player on the Autism spectrum playing a bard. It would be a diservice in my opinion to allow the Cha dump stat- ted comic to use his natural talent to run roughshod over the Bard player.

I appreciate hearing people's experiences, but reality is much grander than our direct experience and philosophy typically allow.

All game tables are different.

 

[BookBarbarian]

I've love it if barbarians actually were dangerous to their allies.

Now that would be some effing old school flavour.

Start handing out some Berserker Axes

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[BookBarbarian]

I winced a little bit at the elf one... but I shouldn't have. The class is a lot more fun if you realize that the class doesn't have to be the culture.

A fighter could be a medieval knight, a samurai or a spaniard duelist.

A barbarian could be a conan-like barbarian sure. But she could be a viking berserker, a soldier with anger issues, a brutal thug or - as I mentioned earlier - a mendicant dervishe.

So kudos to that angry elf!

And those are really still just sticking to the Berserker.

Given the Ancestral Guardian, Storm Herald, Totem, and Zealot your barbarian could be a Hermit struck by lightning who now deals with occasional surges, a Sage caught in a Library Fire that took a little of that fire with them. A misfit girl whose ancestors are determined to help her out, A Guild artisan who feels a kinship to eagles, a Haunted One blessed/cursed with power by a god.

As a class the Barbarian is a grab bag of options with the most common part being "fights better in an altered state while not wearing heavy armor"

 

[Chaosmancer]

And those are really still just sticking to the Berserker.

Given the Ancestral Guardian, Storm Herald, Totem, and Zealot your barbarian could be a Hermit struck by lightning who now deals with occasional surges, a Sage caught in a Library Fire that took a little of that fire with them. A misfit girl whose ancestors are determined to help her out, A Guild artisan who feels a kinship to eagles, a Haunted One blessed/cursed with power by a god.

As a class the Barbarian is a grab bag of options with the most common part being "fights better in an altered state while not wearing heavy armor"

Which, thematically, makes it one of my favorite classes to make characters for