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

[Caliburn101]

Barbarian (Berserker) 3/Rogue (Thief) 3/ Fighter (Battlemaster) 14

 

[Guest 6801328]

Barbarian (Berserker) 3/Rogue (Thief) 3/ Fighter (Battlemaster) 14

Battlemaster!? How do you figure? Sure, he often ends up the "leader" but once in combat he leads by charging in and wreaking havoc, not by micro-managing others.

 

[Guest 6801328]

I like giving Conan a few levels of rogue (no more than 3!) simply for the class abilities.

His athletic ability is beyond extraordinary, particularly in the area of climbing. His scaling of the Elephant Tower is matched only by Taurus of Nemedia, who is called a Prince of Thieves. He scales sheer cliffs and walls like it ain't no thang, suggesting he has climbing ability far beyond simply being trained and strong. Gaining double-proficiency bonus on Athletics from rogue expertise seems valid; if you go as far as 3rd level rogue, you also get Second Story Work from the Thief sub-class (full movement when climbing) which seems appropriate for several of the canon stories. As a 1st level rogue gets expertise in two skills, I'd probably go Survival for the other one. Conan exhibits the ability to survive far longer than normal men in hostile terrain (or when nailed to crosses). You could argue this is just a factor of his high Con saves, but he consistently shows terrific ability as a tracker, hunter and woodsman (Beyond the Black River, Black Stranger, Jewel of Gwahlur, and other tales). So, expertise in Athletics and Survival.

Sneak Attack is questionable, but he does take out a number of people quickly and quietly when attacking from surprise (the doorman and the innkeeper in Shadows in Zamboula, for example). So, it's not beyond reason. Cunning Action is more justifiable; he is sometimes described as having the speed of a great cat, and a surprising number of Conan stories involve him evading and fleeing from opponents (usually hordes of picts, or creatures-from-beyond like the iron statues or the black ones). Being able to disengage or dash as a bonus action would seem to be justified from many of the canon stories.

So, really, it's just about that 3rd level of Rogue, for me. Picking up Second-Story Work is nice, as it models Conan's outstanding climbing and jumping abilities quite well. Barbarian and Fighter class abilities aren't helping so much in those areas. Fast Hands is less important (he's not a lock-picker!), although Use Item as a bonus action could be appropriate to model events in some of the stories. Conan does make fairly extensive use of terrain features and objects in a lot of his adventures. But I could concede the 3rd level of Rogue, in a debate. Assuming he's a Barbarian 6 / Fighter 11 for the other levels, I'd give him a 12th level of Fighter for the ability score improvement or feat. Given his ability array, he needs as many of those as possible - although he's not going to be a stat buy PC anyway. R E Howard clearly rolled "best 3-of-9d6" a whole bunch of times until he got the array he wanted...

So you'd give up +4 to both Strength and Con in order to increase his Athletics from +14 to +19?

 

[Caliburn101]

Battlemaster!? How do you figure? Sure, he often ends up the "leader" but once in combat he leads by charging in and wreaking havoc, not by micro-managing others.

He frequently outfights his opponents, and when facing skilled ones, is able to defend against any and all techniques and tactics. He is, as you point out, an inspiration to his troops/pirates/companions as well.

All of this says Battlemaster to me.

His toughness and hitting like a train is all about his stats, his Barbarian levels and his skills come from the Rogue in him. I think that covers everything as far as he can be shoehorned into the 5th Edition class system anyway...

 

[Warmaster Horus]

He frequently outfights his opponents, and when facing skilled ones, is able to defend against any and all techniques and tactics. He is, as you point out, an inspiration to his troops/pirates/companions as well.

All of this says Battlemaster to me.

His toughness and hitting like a train is all about his stats, his Barbarian levels and his skills come from the Rogue in him. I think that covers everything as far as he can be shoehorned into the 5th Edition class system anyway...

I can sort of see that, but more often his native instincts, strength and reflexes along with experience seem to guide him rather than honed martial training. Champion seems a better fit to me - he hits hard and has excellent athleticism.

 

[Slit518]

Let's list a few attributes Conan does have and go from there:

1. Extremely strong
2. Really fast
3. Athletic
4. Acrobatic (he does flips and such in some comics)
5. Super tough (seriously, he can take hits like no tomorrow)
6. Stealthy (he can hide with ease, move about silently, break into places without making noise)
7. Survivalist (he has endured all sorts of harsh conditions and kept moving forward, always prevailing, somehow)
8. Proficient in Simple & Martial Weapons, all Armor, and Shields
9. Also has proficiency in Unarmored defense, the Barbarian kind, as he can seemingly take hits and ignore them
10. Also has Rage, where he can bug out, kill people (soliders and the like) with one hit, and take hits
11. Sneak Attack, can catch people off guard and knock them out/kill them without anyone noticing
12. Eventually becomes a king
13. Really awesome climbing ability, which falls under Athletics, but might as well fall under Expertise as well
14. Can regale people with tales of his adventure and splendor
15. Has an unending curisoity
16. Born on the battlefield
17. Is probably one of the top 3 fantasy characters ever created
18. Has killed demons without magic weapons

 

[jasper]

Conan the Barbarian 12 level.
Con 18
All others 8
Conan is fairy hairy chap know through out the pubs of Dublin. Some say the looks like a bear with a bad toothache.
Feats IRON Liver. Can drink his 1/3 his weight in beer and be immune to the effects.
Feat Pub Crawl. After consuming more than 1/3 his weight in beer, he can move his normal speed regardless of modifiers/terrain/spells in a low crawl. A
Skills
expertise History (of Dublin pubs)
Last seen leaving the Templar Bar on r138 in Dublin.

 

[Yardiff]

Let's list a few attributes Conan does have and go from there:

1. Extremely strong
2. Really fast
3. Athletic
4. Acrobatic (he does flips and such in some comics)
5. Super tough (seriously, he can take hits like no tomorrow)
6. Stealthy (he can hide with ease, move about silently, break into places without making noise)
7. Survivalist (he has endured all sorts of harsh conditions and kept moving forward, always prevailing, somehow)
8. Proficient in Simple & Martial Weapons, all Armor, and Shields
9. Also has proficiency in Unarmored defense, the Barbarian kind, as he can seemingly take hits and ignore them
10. Also has Rage, where he can bug out, kill people (soliders and the like) with one hit, and take hits
11. Sneak Attack, can catch people off guard and knock them out/kill them without anyone noticing
12. Eventually becomes a king
13. Really awesome climbing ability, which falls under Athletics, but might as well fall under Expertise as well
14. Can regale people with tales of his adventure and splendor
15. Has an unending curisoity
16. Born on the battlefield
17. Is probably one of the top 3 fantasy characters ever created
18. Has killed demons without magic weapons

Personally I disagree with 9 and 10. I've never thought of Conan as fitting the D&D barbarian class, course I've only ever read the Howard, Decamp, Carter novels (Lancer/Ace books) and just flipped through the comics.

 

[Yardiff]

I would build Conan as a Ranger 2(spell-less)/ Fighter 18 (Champion or Battlemaster) with the Outlander background.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

D&D's barbarian class seems more Tarzan than Conan to me. Tarzan tends to go berserk at the beginning of melee (admittedly usually after using guerrilla warfare tactics for a bit before entering melee). When Conan starts seeing red, it is usually at the end of a fight, when there is nothing else to do. REH did like heroes that went out in a blaze of glory (although they tended to only get knocked out), but he liked them steely eyed and steel nerved before then. Even Sailor Steve Costigan, who I would argue is the most D&D Barbarian like REH character in disposition, usually took a little bit of time before blowing up in a fight (unless you kicked his dog, and honestly if you did that, you had bigger problems then Sailor Steve).

Pathfinder made Red Sonja a magic-less ranger (and in the same series, Pathfinder Warlords [of Mars] are proficient with ray guns), and in some ways a modified and customized scout fighter might be the best fit.