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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lancelot" data-source="post: 7061063" data-attributes="member: 30022">Well, the only way he's getting that +4 Str/Con is if he's Barbarian 20, with no levels of fighter or rogue at all. And that's just not consistent with the character as described in the books. He has extensive organized military training and has been employed as a soldier, captain and general in multiple books. He's literate and introspective. He is proficient with all the trappings of civilization: he has captained a ship multiple times, commanded armies, worked for rulers, knows his way round a dozen cities like the back of his hand, and spends the latter part of his career being a competent and well-regarded ruler of one of the most civilized nations in the Hyborian world. Sure, he has some barbarian levels... but as multiple posters here have commented, he's clearly more of a fighter (in D&D terms) than a barbarian in the source material. He doesn't fly into a rage very often, and (by story count) he's far more inclined to fighter-type roles than barbarian-type roles.In terms of ability scores, where's the story justification for him suddenly gaining a +4 Str/Con bump towards the end of his career? He gets 20th level as an aging king in his 40's or 50's, and suddenly "powers up"? Naaah. He always had huge stats, probably starting with an 18 or more in Str and Con, and improving from there. He gets the big Athletics bonuses fairly early in his career, to justify the extraordinary things he did in the earlier stories. Towards the end of his career (Hour of the Dragon, Phoenix on the Sword), he probably picks up his fighter levels 9-11... Indomitable, Improved Maneuver Dice and Extra Attack (2) representing his more tactical style of fighting and usage of heavy armor on the battlefields of the King Conan books (Scarlet Citadel and Hour of the Dragon).In purely D&D mechanical terms, that Fighter 11 level is particularly important because it gives him 3 attacks per round. When he's described as fighting hordes of men on the battlefield in the later stories, we want some way to model his ability to cut down swathes of dudes quickly.As for the choice of Battlemaster: it's not so much about leading men; it's about giving him options in combat. Here are some highly appropriate maneuvers for Conan, all of which have justifications in the published stories: Evasive Footwork, Goading Attack, Menacing Attack, Parry, Pushing Attack, Sweeping Attack. The latter is particularly important for those times when he's taking on a literal horde of attackers.</blockquote>

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