How do you make a Barbarian interesting? :)

[LegionError121]

Out of all the different classes in D&D I come up with characters for I find the Barbarian is the hardest to avoid tropes with The hardest to do things differently with due to their angry destructive nature and violent tendancies So, anyone got any suggestions?
My only successful Barbarian so far was a Kenku from the tundra who speaks in the tongue of his dead clansman and wants to find a clan called "civilization"

 

[GlassJaw]

Be a halfling with good Dex.
Don't wear armor.
Fight with a weapon & shield.
Take Bear Totem.
Take the Shield Master feat.
Profit!!

 

[Rossbert]

An academic nihilist that fights with no care for consequences.

 

[Afrodactyl]

You could easily fluff raging as a battle-trance if you wanted to go for a more zen/spiritual combatant or a combatant that just used an aggressive fighting style rather than just being a wall of anger and teeth in a loincloth.

I've also seen raging as a way of running a "lycanthrope" in game. So minor transformations brought on by stressful situations (Ala The Incredible Hulk, but toned down) which dissipate once the stress passes.

 

[Blue]

Re-fluff the rage. Razor Fighting Focus, zen-state martial arts, what have you. Even if you want to keep it as hyper aggression, it could be by possession, by sharing your soul with an ancestor or spirit of an animal.

Just like any character, come up with an interesting story and work out from there. The mechanics of rage can fit a lot of different narratives.

And while the class is called "barbarian", there's no need to keep it as an uncivilized savage. Pit fighter, drunken sailor, whatever - even more with re-flavoring rage.

 

[BlackSeed_Vash]

The last barbarian I played was a "ranger" who in his youth had made a foolish deal with an Erinyes. Whenever he raged, it was really a devil behind the wheel... which put allies in danger if they weren't quick enough to leave her prey alone.

 

[Arial Black]

Re-fluff the rage. Razor Fighting Focus, zen-state martial arts, what have you. Even if you want to keep it as hyper aggression, it could be by possession, by sharing your soul with an ancestor or spirit of an animal.

Just like any character, come up with an interesting story and work out from there. The mechanics of rage can fit a lot of different narratives.

And while the class is called "barbarian", there's no need to keep it as an uncivilized savage. Pit fighter, drunken sailor, whatever - even more with re-flavoring rage.

Exactly! The game mechanics of the class are not a role-playing straitjacket forcing you to be a loincloth-wearing savage Conan clone!

Be a super-civilised, highly trained warrior with anger management issues.

Take the Acolyte background and fluff the barbarian mechanics as a secret fighting style involving faith and focus.

In the Deathstalker books by Robert R Green, the Deathstalker clan is a noble house in a star-spanning futuristic empire. Each noble house had its own shtick, and the Deathstalkers had surgically implanted organs and other modifications that could release adrenaline and other engineered enzymes that temporarily increased their physical capabilities in combat, resembling D&D's Rage mechanic. They even had a limit of how many times they could 'rage' in a day, because it takes time and rest for the body to replenish those enzymes.

Or, y'know, just fluff some werewolf heritage into your family history.

All you have to do is divorce the game mechanics of this (or any other) class from any pre-conceived fluff. One way to get your mind thinking along these lines is to choose a background that the stereotypical Conan clone would never choose. If you choose Outlander, you're doing it wrong. Instead, choose Acolyte, Noble, Urchin, Folk Hero, Charlatan....whatever, and think about how the Rage mechanic could be fluffed for that ability to arise from that background. Once you've done that, your characterisation is half done, and you'll have a cool and refreshingly unique 'barbarian', without a loincloth is sight!

 

[jgsugden]

I'm just going to say that a "stereotypical" barbarian can be a lot of fun, even if not original. I've played a few barbarians in 5E, and each felt different.

Tyrstern is a dwarf fighter/barbarian. He plods ahead with little concern about his hps. For example, he saw an enemy at the bottom of a 100 foot drop. So he performed a "death from above" by leaping on the enemy and attacking it as he crashed into it. He wa playful and mischevious.

Torgo was remake of a barbarian from a prior edition. He sought to be the best warrior ever... and called upon the spirits of his ancenstors to make it happen. His rages were (drug fueled) trances. While Tyrstern was funny, Torgo was intimidating ad fearsome.

I played a paladin barbarian as well. He was a one shot character that ended up being reused for several one shots. Nameless was a worshipper of chaos. He never spoke. He was highly unpredictable. He grinned constantly and never looked directly at you....

 

[Ancalagon]

Lal Qalendar is a barbarian with the hermit backround. He's a dervish - a traveling mendicant, seeking to deepen his understanding of the universe.

When he rages he doesn't get angry, he goes in a deep meditative trance, where he becomes one with the Universe.

In general, *backgrounds*. The barbarian doesn't have to be a savage.

 

[Herosmith14]

Yeah, I try to split fluff from mechanics with a lot of characters.

Though I do have a very stereotypical one that I love to play, I also have another that is a Half-Sea Elf who has some connection to storms or the elements (Storm Herald with Magic Initiate.) He's actually a decent guy who just funnels magic when he "rages".

Also, the subclasses are kind of meant to let you put a different spin on the fluff as well as give mechanical variety.