D&D 5E Halfling Barbarians-Finally a edition that lets the monster out of it's cage.

[GameOgre]

Nope. plenty of halfling barbarians. Not everyone plays a class/race combo based on the optimization. Just like there were plenty of halfling fighters in 1e. Shocker, I know.

Heck, just yesterday I posted my own halfling barbarian, and he wasn't strength based at all. Still perfectly viable and fun to play.

Well just as much as a Wizard with a low int but a high strength is viable. ANYTHING is viable if by viable you mean someone somewhere will play it. I really don't think you have taken a good look at barbarian if you think Dex is anywhere near as important as strength. Heck some class features will not even work with a finesse weapon.

A Dex based barbarian is just as viable as a strength based wizard or a Cha based fighter. Sure, just being those things doesn't mean you can't have fun and still kill some stuff but most players will not be all that interested in playing them.


Bah,I think I'm just grouchy this morning. I understand that there is a difference between optimal and viable and probably a dex based barbarian is indeed viable as long as you are not in a optimal type game. I think I need to go grab some coffee.

 

[billd91]

Well just as much as a Wizard with a low int but a high strength is viable. ANYTHING is viable if by viable you mean someone somewhere will play it. I really don't think you have taken a good look at barbarian if you think Dex is anywhere near as important as strength. Heck some class features will not even work with a finesse weapon.

I can't find any barbarian powers in 3e that require strength or that are invalid with a finesse weapon, and in 5e you get to choose between using your Dex or your Str modifier with finesse weapons. So I'm not sure what you mean by some class features not working with finesse weapons.

 

[GameOgre]

I can't find any barbarian powers in 3e that require strength or that are invalid with a finesse weapon, and in 5e you get to choose between using your Dex or your Str modifier with finesse weapons. So I'm not sure what you mean by some class features not working with finesse weapons.

The Reckless Attack class feature gives you advantage on all attacks that use Strength. If you make a dex based Halfling barbarian (pumping up his dex instead of his strength) and use Finesse weapons to take advantage of that aspect for combat....you will not be able to use the reckless attack feature.

Well I suppose you could argue that you could still use it and attack with your weaker strength instead of taking advantage of the finesse aspect of your weapon but that kinda defeats the whole reason for making a dex based barbarian.

 

[billd91]

The Reckless Attack class feature gives you advantage on all attacks that use Strength. If you make a dex based Halfling barbarian (pumping up his dex instead of his strength) and use Finesse weapons to take advantage of that aspect for combat....you will not be able to use the reckless attack feature.

Well I suppose you could argue that you could still use it and attack with your weaker strength instead of taking advantage of the finesse aspect of your weapon but that kinda defeats the whole reason for making a dex based barbarian.

It may dilute the focus a bit but it certainly doesn't defeat the point. You could play the barbarian in Mongol-inspired style - focusing mainly on using a bow in combat (making good use of Dex) - then shifting over to a rage and strength based melee when unable to fight at range. I don't see anything non-viable about that.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Well just as much as a Wizard with a low int but a high strength is viable. ANYTHING is viable if by viable you mean someone somewhere will play it. I really don't think you have taken a good look at barbarian if you think Dex is anywhere near as important as strength. Heck some class features will not even work with a finesse weapon.

A Dex based barbarian is just as viable as a strength based wizard or a Cha based fighter. Sure, just being those things doesn't mean you can't have fun and still kill some stuff but most players will not be all that interested in playing them.


Bah,I think I'm just grouchy this morning. I understand that there is a difference between optimal and viable and probably a dex based barbarian is indeed viable as long as you are not in a optimal type game. I think I need to go grab some coffee.

I disagree. While there are some features that are strength based (reckless attack and some rage features), there are also features that are CON and DEX based, or not based on an ability at all. Barbarians also end up getting an extra +4 bonus to STR and CON* that a wizard doesn't get to INT. I've played a DEX based barbarian (as I mentioned) with a 10 STR and he's a lot more "viable" than a wizard with an INT of 10. Pretty much everything a wizard does in combat is tied to INT (spell attack or saves), and with my barbarian, I still have full bonuses because I use my DEX ability mod, and my AC is higher than a STR based barbarian.



*a barbarian can increase his or her strength by 14 points. So if you start a barbarian with a STR of 10 (like mine), I could still end up with the max 24 strength. So it's entirely plausible that if you cap a halfling's natural strength, you can still get the max by playing a barbarian.

 

[GameOgre]

I disagree. While there are some features that are strength based (reckless attack and some rage features), there are also features that are CON and DEX based, or not based on an ability at all. Barbarians also end up getting an extra +4 bonus to STR and CON* that a wizard doesn't get to INT. I've played a DEX based barbarian (as I mentioned) with a 10 STR and he's a lot more "viable" than a wizard with an INT of 10. Pretty much everything a wizard does in combat is tied to INT (spell attack or saves), and with my barbarian, I still have full bonuses because I use my DEX ability mod, and my AC is higher than a STR based barbarian.



*a barbarian can increase his or her strength by 14 points. So if you start a barbarian with a STR of 10 (like mine), I could still end up with the max 24 strength. So it's entirely plausible that if you cap a halfling's natural strength, you can still get the max by playing a barbarian.

Well first of all thanks for the +4 str and Con info. Somehow I missed that feature all together! Second of all my train of thought was the you capped their stats and that meant no advancement for those stats. If you are fine with letting them advance at 4th,8th...ect then indeed your house rule isn't as crushing. Heck my Halfling barb only started with a 15 in strength without a cap. I would still debate with you if I was your player that your cap was unnecessary but eh I have dealt with worse house rules (and even official ones like small sized greatswords) so no big deal.

 

[TarionzCousin]

The very first 5E game I played in was a one-shot at a convention. One of the players was playing a halfling barbarian, which he described as having blond hair and a pet unicorn that apparently only he could see.

Yeah, this:
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