Barbarians without rage
- Thread starter Soul
- Start date
I guess if I had to break it down into a role/niche to fill, I'd say light/no armor, and heavy weapons (great swords, bastard swords, battle axes, pole-arms, etc) who rely on brute strength. Maybe a bit more like the 1e or 2e barbarian (ala the barbarians hand book). Does that help?
Spatzimaus
First Post
Well, a Barbarian without Rage is just a slightly different Fighter. That's pretty boring, IMO. Of course, I could say the same about the "spell-less Ranger" concepts I've seen, too.
The biggest complaint I've heard is that the Rage ability is too limiting. There's no flexibility in what it gives, or what drawbacks it has, so if it doesn't quite fit with your character concept, you're out of luck. My question is, do you want to get rid of the "temporary boost in power" type of ability altogether, or is it just a dislike for the specific STR/CON/-AC/Can't cast spells ability the PHB Barbarian has?
A while back on these boards, we came up with the Build-A-Rage (tm) system! (From the makers of Build-A-Monk and Build-A-Mount)
The BAR method had three lists of bonuses (minor, moderate, major) and two lists of drawbacks (minor, major). The player tapped into some primal spirit for temporary power, but exactly WHICH primal spirit depended on the individual, so two Barbarians could have entirely different "rage" abilities; and, all of those "trance" abilities like the Dwarven Defender's "Defensive Stance" ability could be rolled into one ruleset.
The player started with a relatively weak ability (3 minor bonuses, 2 minor drawbacks, 1 major drawback), and every 3 levels upgraded it. At higher levels you could remove minor drawbacks instead of gaining more bonuses, but everyone had one Major drawback you could never get rid of. (For PHB Rage, this was the "can't cast spells" part) If you wanted to cast spells, pick a different Major Drawback.
Basically, powerwise it was balanced with the PHB Rage, but the flexibility made it a nicer ability in general. Anyway, I'm sure you could find it on these boards, but it was a good six months ago at least.
The biggest complaint I've heard is that the Rage ability is too limiting. There's no flexibility in what it gives, or what drawbacks it has, so if it doesn't quite fit with your character concept, you're out of luck. My question is, do you want to get rid of the "temporary boost in power" type of ability altogether, or is it just a dislike for the specific STR/CON/-AC/Can't cast spells ability the PHB Barbarian has?
A while back on these boards, we came up with the Build-A-Rage (tm) system! (From the makers of Build-A-Monk and Build-A-Mount)
The BAR method had three lists of bonuses (minor, moderate, major) and two lists of drawbacks (minor, major). The player tapped into some primal spirit for temporary power, but exactly WHICH primal spirit depended on the individual, so two Barbarians could have entirely different "rage" abilities; and, all of those "trance" abilities like the Dwarven Defender's "Defensive Stance" ability could be rolled into one ruleset.
The player started with a relatively weak ability (3 minor bonuses, 2 minor drawbacks, 1 major drawback), and every 3 levels upgraded it. At higher levels you could remove minor drawbacks instead of gaining more bonuses, but everyone had one Major drawback you could never get rid of. (For PHB Rage, this was the "can't cast spells" part) If you wanted to cast spells, pick a different Major Drawback.
Basically, powerwise it was balanced with the PHB Rage, but the flexibility made it a nicer ability in general. Anyway, I'm sure you could find it on these boards, but it was a good six months ago at least.
Argus Decimus Mokira
First Post
Hey Spatz
Could ya post a link to that thread?
Thanks
-Matt
Could ya post a link to that thread?
Thanks
-Matt
if you can get a hold of a Dragon #310 look at the variant fighters and monks maybe switching out barbarian abilities for other abilites might be the way to go
possibly instead of raging a Barbarian could get a special mount and mounted bonus feats In the Image of the Unicorn Riders of Rokugan they didn't really rage much in the books
possibly instead of raging a Barbarian could get a special mount and mounted bonus feats In the Image of the Unicorn Riders of Rokugan they didn't really rage much in the books
Cheiromancer
Adventurer
You should check out Character Customization by Throwing Dice Games . It has exactly what you are looking for!
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Thanks to everyone who replied.
Sadly none of this is what I was looking for.
Like I said, I was hoping for more of an old school barbarian feel.
I just think rage is better suited for a prestige class, or feat chain.
Though thats just a side note, my main issue is I just don't want to represent all barbarians as berserkers.
Thanks again though.
Sadly none of this is what I was looking for.
Like I said, I was hoping for more of an old school barbarian feel.
I just think rage is better suited for a prestige class, or feat chain.
Though thats just a side note, my main issue is I just don't want to represent all barbarians as berserkers.
Thanks again though.
