D&D 5E Barbarian preview!

[Lalato]

2 second search... found something better. I'm sure there is even better with a 3 second or more search. View attachment 63176

Looks like a Ranger with an animal companion.

 

[Hussar]

Oh yeah I know that, but also Riverwind never showed any sign of going into a rage, apart from escaping Xak Tsaroth. But also lots of Ranger-y stuff, tracking etc.

Again, timing matters. Raging barbarian is a 3eism. That's about twenty years too early to have a rage barbarian.

I do kinda hope we get a rage-less barbarian option in the DMG. But, then again, a spell-less ranger would fit that bill pretty well. There's a lot of overlap there.

 

[mach1.9pants]

Again, timing matters. Raging barbarian is a 3eism. That's about twenty years too early to have a rage barbarian.

I do kinda hope we get a rage-less barbarian option in the DMG. But, then again, a spell-less ranger would fit that bill pretty well. There's a lot of overlap there.

You are so right, man I'd forgotten that UA Barbarian wasn't a Berserker too!

 

[Gradine]

It's been mentioned in other threads that it looks like the Barbarian is... lagging in the damage department. The preview confirms, if nothing else, that the bonus Rage Damage hasn't changed at all since the Forbidden Tome, and it's... it's not exactly inspiring of terror. And I had actually had an idea for a simple change that, while not radically altering the class, would help the Barb dish out a little more damage.

Replace the flat bonus to damage with a bonus damage die.

+2 becomes 1d4, +3 to 1d6, and +4 to 1d8.

This would have a few effects. First, the Barbarian's damage will raging becomes more swingy and less precise, which is exactly what one should hope to expect from a raging Barbarian. And while the average damage boost is only 0.5 per attack, the potential damage is quite a bit higher, which should help. The biggest difference is that as a damage die, it gets doubled on a crit (while the flat Rage Damage bonus doesn't), which synergizes well with Brutal Critical.

I suppose by making it a damage die it would draw unfavorable comparisons to Sneak Attack, but I think it's objectively better for the Barbarian than the flat bonus. I'm not a huge on math so I don't know greatly this would impact the class beyond a minor boost, but like I said, it was an idea I'd been kicking around that I thought seems like a good alternative for the class.

 

[SoulsFury]

Going through thirteen pages after having seen the art, I hate this depiction of a barbarian in D&D... however, this is really my first big complaint about the new edition. My only other complaint is not having an in print way to create characters. Reading pdfs everyday hurts my eyes. My first thought was, "wtf is wrong with this barbarian?" and nothing that has been said in this thread changes my mind. To me, its just bad art depiction of a D&D barbarian. Could I do better? Nope... but that doesn't mean I have to like it. I am still going to buy the product though.

 

[The Human Target]

I like that picture a lot.

 

[Sadras]

Replace the flat bonus to damage with a bonus damage die.

+2 becomes 1d4, +3 to 1d6, and +4 to 1d8.

This would have a few effects. First, the Barbarian's damage will raging becomes more swingy and less precise, which is exactly what one should hope to expect from a raging Barbarian. And while the average damage boost is only 0.5 per attack, the potential damage is quite a bit higher, which should help. The biggest difference is that as a damage die, it gets doubled on a crit (while the flat Rage Damage bonus doesn't), which synergizes well with Brutal Critical.

I suppose by making it a damage die it would draw unfavorable comparisons to Sneak Attack, but I think it's objectively better for the Barbarian than the flat bonus. I'm not a huge on math so I don't know greatly this would impact the class beyond a minor boost, but like I said, it was an idea I'd been kicking around that I thought seems like a good alternative for the class.

Yoink! I think this is a great idea - I too have not looked at all the math, but we stick to the lower levels (1-10) anyways. Definitely proposing it at our table and see what they say. Thanks.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I think this thread raises the question of whether it's better to have art that people just accept, without thinking, or better to have art that causes a bit of controversy, challenges some views, and so on. I mean, I suspect the latter, personally. A lot of the 5E art seems to challenge stereotypes about classes, and I think that's really good because it helps make people realize that this is Dungeons & Dragons, not just some generic thing, and an RPG about playing individual characters, not just about playing the standard generic thing.

(Total tangent - I do wonder, though, if there is would be a market for "pre-designed" characters, with their appearance, personality, stats, progression and so on all fixed? You could then market said characters. I suppose this has been experimented with a little with the Iconics, but they've never tried to make them marketable in the way MOBA characters and the like are, for better or worse)

 

[Wepwawet]

I think that what's wrong with this barbarian is that it doesnt have enough muscles and bulk. He's too thin, he looks just like a common lumberjack.

It's great that they chose this picture for one, as barbarians typically come from colder regions up north (in most campaign settings). So it makes sense that he's dressed for that weather...

But he should be bigger, wider and brawnier!

 

[Klaus]

Tanis shaved his beard for the pic then? Man that is a confusing pic, either Tanis has gone Beef, super expensive sworded and clean shaven or Riverwind has gone ginger. Parkinsons art takes a lot of poetic licence, a reason why he's never been one of my faves. Your provided Elmore much better.

ANd Riverwind was a Ranger from a barbarian tribe, not a D&D class Barbarian. Another reason to drop the Barbarian class name and pick up Beserker, which describes it so much better. But, yeah, sacred cows.

That is not Keith Parkinson, that is Clyde Caldwell.

This is Riverwind (and Goldmoon) by Keith Parkinson: