Barbarian Class in this month's Dragon !

[Henry]

If Barbarian turns out to be a defender, what will be his class "stickiness" ability, a la the Paladin's divine challenge and the Fighter's Combat Chanllenge, I wonder?

My money is probably on "striker", but if it is, I think we're getting a few too many of those already.

 

[Falling Icicle]

If Barbarian turns out to be a defender, what will be his class "stickiness" ability, a la the Paladin's divine challenge and the Fighter's Combat Chanllenge, I wonder?

My money is probably on "striker", but if it is, I think we're getting a few too many of those already.

If the barbarian is a defender, I think that his "stickiness" ability will be more agressive than the fighter's or paladin's. I don't see him marking targets, but rather lashing out against those who dare to assault his friends. Perhaps he will be able to make opportunity attacks whenever an adjacent opponent attacks someone other than him? That would fit both the defender role and the ruthless fighting style of the class quite nicely, I think.

 

[Exen Trik]

Nope, that was said about the Druid at some point. But I believe Mearls recently debunked the idea of "hybrids," saying that's not really a direction the game will go. Wish I had a link...

And yes, hybrids was an idea that went the way of the dodo - and I'm really glad for it!

Well, color me disappointed. I wonder why they decided on that... I think that with creative application of class features that a dual role character is possible, or at least one that can focus on one or another with class options.

I might have to throw around some ideas on that in house rules.

 

[Tikigod]

I'm guessing the Barbarian will have a ton of abilities that activate when bloodied. That is very barbaric in style.

 

[That One Guy]

Berserker Weapon? The weapon for Barbarians, or a weapon that gives a taste of their power?

I think the barbarian will (as most have said) have a Rage state. I think this will be the barbarian's version of cursing or hunter's quarrying. Rather than placing a sort of mark (I know, not mechanical marking... but I hope you get me) on a target, I think the barb'll start a rage. I'm guessing there might be different builds that correspond to when and how often a barbarian can rage. Maybe an endurance rage where one gains damage reduction when Bloodied. The more damage oriented one could kick in when the barb is hit vs. the target who hit him/her until the end of the barbarian's next turn.
I'm guessing to follow tradition, the barbarian will have a lot of mobility/charging type of powers. Maybe specific rages or rage buff utilities?

Thought of a different way things could work. Any encounter power puts the barbarian into a rage until the end of their next turn. A daily power until the end of the encounter. Rage would give benefits, but prevent certain actions... like maybe utility, encounter, and daily powers? It would increase damage output (by a D6 or two) and provide DR. So, it would demand a different type of resource management than normal, but still fall in line with the rest of the game. No idea how that idea jives with people.

I'll bet on at the very least a striker with the ability to rage. The specific mechanics will hopefully good.

 

[OpsKT]

Just to throw an odd idea out there...

I'd like to see a martial controller myself. He makes a 3x3 square area the worst place on the map to be...

 

[ppaladin123]

Yeah, I definately think we will see some kind of mechanic like this in play.

As for defender vs striker, I see teh barbarian as more of a striker, but again I would be fine with it either way.

However, it will be interesting to see how they go with it if he's a striker. My guess is they will stay traditional and give the Barbarian up to hide armor proficiency. I wonder if they will do a DR mechanic, just give him defender hitpoints, perhaps teh ranger toughness feat or something similar. Basically...what will they give the low AC guy who stands in front that will ensure his survivability.

I look forward to finding out.

I could see the barbarian having some sort of intimidation aura that gives enemies a -2 to hit as long as the barbarian does X. Something like that.

 

[frankthedm]

I suspect the barbarian with a two hander will have damage potential of the brutal type rogue without the requirement of flanking. Toss in the masochism of a Hellfire warlock and you'll have the feel of a barbarian.

I'd like to see the barbarian start with very few proficiencies in armor and weapons, but I am not sure they would balance the class in that way

I too suspect a few or hopefully a LOT of "You won't like me when I'm bloody [angry]" abilities bonuses. Like an at willl that gets "+1d6" damage when bloodied.

And props to the mozilla spell checker for I am faaaaar too wasted to spell correctly.

{crunches some cheap aspirin to fight the inevitable hangover from the Ultra cheap Dimitri Vodka}

 

[Jack Colby]

Each issue of Dragon and Dungeon has been completed and compiled into a 'release' PDF on a monthly basis so far. It's being done to a magazine schedule with the added bonus of being able to preview the articles throughout the month leading up to "publication." So I'm not sure what the loss is compared to the dead tree format.

The loss is a printed copy you can read anywhere.

 

[Exen Trik]

I think the barbarian will (as most have said) have a Rage state. I think this will be the barbarian's version of cursing or hunter's quarrying.

How about this: Normally the barbarian has a defender like ability, in which all enemies adjacent are considered marked. He gets another ability that is similar to the fighters combat challenge, but doesn't stop movement. When he goes into a rage, he gets added damage to all attacks, but loses the benefit of his marking "aura", and only a single target that is hit is considered marked, and only for that round.