D&D 5E Let us stat up Conan the *insert sub-title here*

[BookBarbarian]

I believe all of Howard's Conan stories were recently compiled into three books:

The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian
The Bloody Crown of Conan
The Conquering Sword of Conan

 

[Warmaster Horus]

I believe all of Howard's Conan stories were recently compiled into three books:

The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian
The Bloody Crown of Conan
The Conquering Sword of Conan

Yep. Got them all when they came out. Before that I started with the Lancer/Ace and Bantam books in the '80s which started with enough REH to get me hooked and then I sort of tollerated the L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter along the way. The Tim Truman comics are great, too. These days I still love the Howard stories most for their raw, unabashed energy and style.

 

[Slit518]

Name: Conan
Class: Conan
Background: Conan
Race: Cimmerian
Level: 20
HP: 285 (315)
Str: 20 (24)
Dex: 18
Con: 20 (24)
Int: 13
Wis: 17
Cha: 18
Saves - Str 11 (13) Dex (10) Con 11 (13) Int 7 Wis 9 Cha 10
Skills - Athletics 17 (19) Acrobatics 10 Stealth 10 History 7 Investigation 7 Nature 13 Animal Handling 9 Insight 9 Perception 9 Survival 15 Deception 10 Intimidation 16 Performance 10 Persuasion 10
AC: 19 (21) Unarmored 21 (23) Unarmored with a Shield
Attack: The Atlantean (Bastard Sword) +13 (15) to Hit / 2d4+7 (9) Slashing Damage one-handed (the sword does 2d4+2 damage) or 2d6+7 (9) Slashing Damage two-handed (the sword does 2d6+2 damage)
Languages: Cimmerian +1;2 others?
Tools: Smith's Tools
Feats:
Light, Medium Armor
Shields
Simple, Martial Weapons
Medium Armor Master
Rage 1/Short Rest
Reckless Attack
Danger Sense
Fast Movement
Brutal Critical 3 die
Unarmored Defense (Con)
Jack of all Trades (maybe)
Inspire Self or Other within earshot for 1 minute for a d8 1/Short Rest
Tough +2 HP a level
Fighting Style Great Weapon Fighting
Improved Critical 19-20
Extra Attack
Extra Attack 2
Extra Attack 3
Expertise in Athletics, Nature, Survival, and Intimidation
Lucky 3 die rerolls recharge on a Long Rest
Second Wind 1d10+20 1/Short Rest
Tavern Brawler
Natural Explorer Forest
Battlemaster Maneuvers d10 3/Short Rest
Alert
Mobile
Disarming Attack, Evasive Footwork, Goading Attack, Menacing Attack, Parry, Pushing Attack, Riposte, Sweeping Attack, Trip Attack

From the "class" build above, what DO YOU agree with, and what DON'T YOU agree with?

 

[Yardiff]

Robert E. Howard's Conan very seldom casts spells.

Also, the D&D barbarian class was transparently built for Conan clones.

So let's not be talking any more crazy talk.

AD&D Barbarian classes 1e and 2e I'd agree were somewhat build off of Conan but those barbarian classes didn't have a rage ability, that was added in 3e.

 

[Yardiff]

Harry Dresden doesn't have that hat, either. Cover art usually lies.

From the stories I'm familiar with, he only wears armor if he knows that he's going into combat.

I remember a scene with Conan just wandering around a town at night and having a run in with guy that broke into a fight, he was wearing armor even though he really wasn't expecting to fight. Though he was probably just arriving into the town.

 

[Greg K]

Just because he's known as "Conan the Barbarian", doesn't mean he fits any of the D&D Barbarian classes - whoever invented the D&D stuff didn't really have REH's Conan in mind, or if they did they probably didn't read the original (unmodified/finished by Cap et. al.) stories very closely and had someone else's version of Conan in mind...

The official 1e Barbarian did not rage. 2e's Complete Fighter's Handbook had several "barbarian" kits for the Fighter and, of those kits, only the Berserker kit had rage. Also, one of the designers for 4e stated that Conan was the basis for the 4e Fighter class.

 

[TiwazTyrsfist]

My point of view has always been, Conan fights with skill, cunning, and often deceit. In Howard's own stories, his code of honor in battle is generally "If I live, I win, there is no such thing as cheating."

So, my builds for Conan are generally some mix of Rogue and Fighter. In 3.X/Pathfinder it's Pile on the Combat feats and try to find some way to get sneak attack damage with larger swords.

In 5E, I'd go Battle Master fighter and Thief rogue. Probably F7/R13, because Conan is known for using magic items he doesn't really understand successfully, so he NEEDS the Theif 13 UMD ability. Also, He 'rolled' his stats and got all 18's 'totally legitimately' *wink wink* so he gives up most of his Stat Advancements for Feats, including a homebrewed feat that gave him 2 extra Superiority dice for his battle master maneuvers.

Conan's a bit of a power gamer...

 

[Ancalagon]

Oh come on now. *backgrounds* are the way to properly stat Conan.

And clearly the best way to do this is single class barbarian with the scholar background. Finally, we can have Conan the Librarian, fully realized. (Well done 5e, well done).

 

[TheCosmicKid]

AD&D Barbarian classes 1e and 2e I'd agree were somewhat build off of Conan but those barbarian classes didn't have a rage ability, that was added in 3e.

I really don't get the argument that rage is somehow not a thing that Conan does. He is... not a happy person.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

Also, one of the designers for 4e stated that Conan was the basis for the 4e Fighter class.

Well, that's 4E, though. There wasn't a barbarian class in the PHB, and Conan is one of the most iconic characters in fantasy fiction so you sort of have to say he's in the PHB somewhere. And when the 4E barbarian did come around, it was magical.