D&D General Has D&D abandoned the "martial barbarian"?

[Steampunkette]

How is a Totem Barbarian non-magical? They can fly and speak to animals. How is that non-magical?

You "Fly" at your movement rate (40ft or less if you're not a Tabaxi or something with a speed boost) but you have to be on the ground at the end of your turn or you fall.

This is also known as a "Leap".

It basically gives you a standing high and standing long jump of 40ft. It just uses a fancy movement mode mechanically to make it work in the game's terms.

 

[Blue]

That's my point. The barbarian went from a warrior of power, speed, and toghness to a rager. Then D&D made the rage more and more supernatural.

So today in 5e. the only remanants of the "warrior who is just very strong, fast, and tough that doesn't read weapon maunals during free time" is the barbarian berserker and the champion fighter. And neither fully capture the spirit of this traditional archetype fully either.

I think you are confusing the class called barbarian with being a barbarian - or with being Conan. 5e explicitly puts this in with backgrounds. Conan being a fighter/rogue (how Gygax hisself stated him in AD&D) with the Outlander background. He's a canny fighter, not a rage machine.

 

[PsyzhranV2]

You "Fly" at your movement rate (40ft or less if you're not a Tabaxi or something with a speed boost) but you have to be on the ground at the end of your turn or you fall.

This is also known as a "Leap".

It basically gives you a standing high and standing long jump of 40ft. It just uses a fancy movement mode mechanically to make it work in the game's terms.

Okay, but what about them being able to outright cast Beast Sense, Speak with Animals, and Commune with Nature? Albeit as rituals only, but the Magewright NPC from ERftLW also can only cast leveled spells as rituals, yet nobody denied that they are magic.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Conan is a multiclass
barbarian/1 or 2
Fighter/5 or 6.
Rogue/2 or 3 (scout or thief)

That should be enough.
Stats
Str 16 (as strong as a tiger)
Dex 14
Con 14
And probably ok int/wis/cha.

 

[Steampunkette]

Okay, but what about them being able to outright cast Beast Sense, Speak with Animals, and Commune with Nature? Albeit as rituals only, but the Magewright NPC from ERftLW also can only cast leveled spells as rituals, yet nobody denied that they are magic.

You and @Hussar are right about them being able to perform a ritual version of Commune With Nature to speak with an animal spirit. But you could also write that off in-character as a Drug Trip on some Ayahuasca or similar.


As far as Speak with Animals, there's always Mick Dundee, who no one thinks is actually magic, just VERY Australian.


Beast Sense, though, is 100% Beast Masterish.


Though he could also speak with animals, it feels way more "Disney Princess" than actual magic.

Point is, based on how you play it out you can be pretty much a Martial character with Totem Barbarian as long as you play it that way. And there's no material requirement (or ability) for Totem Barbarians to use magic to fight. Which is what a Martial Barbarian cannot do to maintain the "I'm just a big strongboi who bashes things" that was outlined in the OP.

You -can- play up the Totem Barb as mystical AF in combat, going full Vixen from DC Comics where you tap a magic necklace and the Bear Spirit appears behind you, jumps in your body, and makes you super durable. But you don't -have- to.

You can just be a big strong character who has a particular style of fighting based on animals that makes them super duper cool beans awesome without any magic whatsoever. Though they have the option of doing some shamanistic magic rituals outside of combat if they -want-.

 

[Blue Orange]

Conan is a multiclass
barbarian/1 or 2
Fighter/5 or 6.
Rogue/2 or 3 (scout or thief)

That should be enough.
Stats
Str 16 (as strong as a tiger)
Dex 14
Con 14
And probably ok int/wis/cha.

Mike Myler here on ENWorld had him as barbarian 1/ ranger 1/ rogue (thief) 3/fighter (champion) 11, which speaks to many of the points the other posters are making: he's got a whole range of abilities that cut across classes, because he's a literary character and REH never played D&D (Seriously, he would have LOVED it.)

Mythological Figures: Conan the Barbarian (5E)

WHAT IS BEST IN LIFE? Click here to find out! This week's Mythological Figure is one sure to generate a lot of discussion, as we delve into Conan the Barbabarian! If by some strange chance you are not already familiar with this wildly popular character my first recommendation is to check...

www.enworld.org

'Canny fighter not a rage machine' is a really good point--he's actually a pretty good example of what a relatively high-INT/WIS fighter would be played like.

 

[mrpopstar]

I mean, I'm the monster who thinks barbarian should just be a fighter subclass.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I mean, I'm the monster who thinks barbarian should just be a fighter subclass.

That is a perfectly sensible stance. If barbarian was just a fighter who gets angry, it wouldn't need to be a whole separate class. Just make a fighter subclass that gets rage and unarmoured defence. But if barbarian is its own class, it has to be more distinct to the fighter, and leaning into primal and mystical aspects is one way to do it.

 

[Steampunkette]

Conan the Barbarian would probably be best described with the following:

1 level of Barbarian. While he doesn't rage a -ton-, he certainly does lose control of his temper and murder people on occasion. Also rage is his typical response to fear situations.

1 level of Ranger. Dude's a hunter and gatherer in the wild. Just enough to qualify for Natural Explorer. He also has a tendency to pick one person or creature and murder the absolute heck out of it. So the Tasha's Favored Enemy variant would work well.

5 levels of Fighter. Battlemaster. Oh, I know people think he's just a Champion, but he takes people off their feet with his swings and stuff.

Criminal Background. Yeah, he was raised as a slave, but it gives him Stealth as a skill which is honestly all he needs to be a Thief in Hyboria.

Stats? Str 18, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 15, Wis 12, Cha 12. He rolled for stats and often slaps on medium armor bits for added defense, but can totally go bare-chested for combat.

And that's Conan in a nutshell. Smarter than he looks, just a little bit on the charismatic side, lightly sneaky, with a few combat tricks and a temper control issue.

 

[Delazar]

I mean, I'm the monster who thinks barbarian should just be a fighter subclass.

As should Paladin! And Ranger!