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 out any of the Conan the Barbarian films (starring Arnold Schwarzenegger), but there’s also a Conan RPG from Modiphius and a relatively recent Conan video game. I’m not going to summarize his history -- as far as I’m able to tell there are at least 13 different public domain works featuring Conan.

If you read this column for the context this just isn’t your week but for the stat junkies, behold!

Design Notes: Conan here is one of the most hotly contested character builds for fantasy RPGs. It’s opinions, @$$#%^&$, and Conan builds out here: everybody has one. At one point or another I ran across a rationale I thought was pretty good and made a comment in my working document about it. If you are the person who posted this on Facebook or elsewhere on EN World or wherever it is I saw it, thank you:

“First thing - no more than 1 level of Barbarian class. Barbarians from Hyboria aren't D&D Barbarians. You just need it to reflect that he was formidabble even without any armour. So Barbarian 1 and no more. Second thing - Ranger 1. Conan was good tracker and knew how to take care of himself in the wilderness, his favoured enemies should be humans and human-abomination hybrids. Third - Rouge 3 with Thief Roguish Archetype. He spent a lot of time as ordinary thief. Rest should go to Fighter with Champion as Martial Archetype as Conan was more interested in crushing his enemies (and seeing them driven before him) as quickly and effectively as possible.”

For his Challenge Rating I erred on the side of caution and rounded up to 9 because he’s got a ton of features, can leap like a monster, and has incredible mobility (and if you are going to cry fowl about needing a higher Strength or Constitution, drop Mobility and increase one or the other by +2).

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Conan the Barbarian
Medium humanoid (human), neutral barbarian 1/ranger 1/rogue (thief) 3/fighter 11 (champion)

Armor Class 14 (hide)
Hit Points 118 (1d12+12d10+3d8+32)
Speed 40 ft.

STR​	DEX​	CON​	INT​	WIS​	CHA​
18 (+4)​	14 (+2)​	14 (+2)​	12 (+1)​	13 (+1)​	10 (+0)​

Saving Throws Str +9, Con +7
Skills Athletics +14, Intimidation +5, Sleight of Hand +7, Stealth +12, Survival +6; disguise kit +5, thieves’ tools +5
Senses passive Perception 11
Languages Common, Thieves’ Cant
Challenge 9 (5,000 XP)

Background: Guttersnipe - Urban Knowledge. Conan and his allies (while outside of combat) move at double their normal speed when traveling between two locations in the same city.

Action Surge (1/Short Rest). Once on his turn, Conan can take an additional action on top of his regular action and a possible bonus action.

Cunning Action (1/Turn). Conan can take a bonus action to take the Dash, Disengage, Hide or Use Object action, Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check, or to use thieves’ tools to disarm a trap or open a lock.

Favored Enemy. Conan has advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track humans and human-abomination hybrids, as well as on Intelligence checks to recall information about them.

Feat: Mobile. Conan can Dash through difficult terrain without requiring additional movement. Whenever he makes an attack against a creature, he doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks from that creature until the end of his turn.

Feat: Power Attack. When Conan makes his first melee weapon attack in a turn, he can choose to take a -5 penalty to his melee weapon attack rolls in exchange for a +10 bonus to melee weapon damage. In addition, Conan can use a bonus action to make one melee weapon attack after he uses a melee weapon to reduce a creature to 0 hit points or scores a critical hit with it. Conan can only use this feature on his turn.

Fighting Style: Great Weapon Fighting. When Conan rolls a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack he makes with a melee weapon that he is wielding with two hands, he can reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for Conan to gain this benefit.

Indomitable (1/Long Rest). Conan can reroll a saving throw that he fails but must use the new roll.

Natural Explorer: Mountains. When Conan makes an Intelligence or Wisdom check related to the forest, his proficiency bonus (+5) is doubled if he is using a skill that he’s proficient in. While traveling for an hour or more in his favored terrain, Conan gains the following benefits:

• Difficult terrain doesn’t slow his group’s travel.
• Conan’s group can’t become lost except by magical means.
• Even when he is engaged in another activity while traveling (such as foraging, navigating, or tracking), Conan remains alert to danger.
• If Conan is traveling alone, he can move stealthily at a normal pace.
• When he forages, Conan finds twice as much food as he normally would.
• While tracking other creatures, Conan also learns their exact number, their sizes, and how long ago they passed through the area.

Rage (2/Long Rest). On his turn, Conan can enter a rage as a bonus action. His rage lasts for 1 minute, ending early if he is knocked unconscious or if his turn ends and he hasn’t either attacked a hostile creature since his last turn or taken damage since then. Conan can also end his rage on his turn as a bonus action. While raging, he gains the following benefits.

• Conan has advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws.
• When Conan makes a melee weapon attack using Strength, he deals 2 extra damage.
• Conan has resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.

Remarkable Athlete. Conan adds +2 to any Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution check he makes that doesn’t already use his proficiency bonus. In addition, when he makes a running long jump, the distance he can cover increases by 4 feet.

Second-Story Work. Climbing does not cost Conan extra movement. When he makes a running jump, the distance he covers increases by 2 feet (with Remarkable Athlete, 6 feet).

Second Wind (1/Short Rest). On his turn, Conan can use a bonus action to regain 1d10+11 hit points.

Sneak Attack (1/Turn). Conan deals an extra 7 (2d6) damage when he hits a target with a weapon attack and has advantage on the attack roll, or when the target is within 5 feet of an ally of Conan that isn’t incapacitated and Conan doesn’t have disadvantage on the attack roll.

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ACTIONS

Multiattack. Conan attacks three times.

Greatsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) slashing damage.

Dagger (4). Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d4+4) piercing damage.

Longbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, range 150/600 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8+2) piercing damage.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

He may have wanted to write more but couldn't due to page limitations as well.

Pulp writers like Howard were paid by the word. Padding was extremely common. I'm confident that Howard wrote his action scenes the way he did because he was a good enough writer to know they were more effective that way.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

As for the build itself, I don't think Conan needs to be quite so multiclassed. He is definitely a multiclassed character: if the multiclassing rules aren't for a guy who started his life as a barbarian, spent some time as a thief, and then moved on to work as a mercenary, then who the heck are they for? But the ranger is superfluous. If you feel the need mechanically to boost his survival skills beyond proficiency, consider making him a scout rogue instead of a thief. Furthermore, although most Howard-faithful interpretations I've seen map his mercenary days to the fighter class, for parsimony's sake (and, I must confess, because it's right there in his title), I think it's just as viable to simply advance him again as a barbarian. So something like a barbarian X/rogue 3ish is how I'd do it.

But my real sticking point in this build is the background. Conan is an outlander. Is that even in doubt? A guttersnipe -- a child of the civilized city -- is about as far from Conan as it is possible to get.

 

[dave2008]

20th level PCs are dealing with threats that can endanger the multiverse. Conan is awesome...but he ain't that awesome. He simply lives in a world where the vast majority of people are like 1-5th level.

Except in D&D 20th level PCs don't do that alone. Conan mostly acted alone.

 

[Jay Verkuilen]

Pulp writers like Howard were paid by the word. Padding was extremely common. I'm confident that Howard wrote his action scenes the way he did because he was a good enough writer to know they were more effective that way.

True that and I totally agree that REH avoided writing a lot of grind because he knew it wasn't good reading. However, I do think that the authors were often operating under constraint, either time or space. The editor says "you have 5000 words and need to turn this story in next week". If you don't have good ideas, it's time to pad (think undergrad research papers). If you do (and REH often did), you have to write much more leanly.

 

[Jay Verkuilen]

20th level PCs are dealing with threats that can endanger the multiverse. Conan is awesome...but he ain't that awesome. He simply lives in a world where the vast majority of people are like 1-5th level.

Conan often does deal with pretty cosmic stuff. He defeats multiple liches and other greater sorcerers (Tulsa Doom, Xaltotun, Thoth-Amon, etc.). Even early in his career, he encounters a master sorcerer who rules an entire kingdom by fear and stolen sorcerery (Yara). He doesn't always win by direct confrontation, though. So in the case of Yara, he defeats him by talking to Yag-Kosha and mercy-killing Yag-Kosha, which undoes Yara's base of power.

All that said, I agree. Many of the foes Conan encounters are markedly lower level than him.

 

[Selvarin]

My own -half-arsed contribution:

Conan
Human Male, N(G)
Barbarian 2/Fighter 6 (Champion)
ST 18, DEX 14, CON 14, INT 12, WIS 14, CH 15
Feats: Grappler, Resilient (WIS), Skilled (**), Tavern Brawler
Background: Outlander(*)
Skills: Acrobatics**, Athletics*, Intimidation, Perception, Sleight of Hand**, Stealth**, Survival*.

Doesn't need rogue or ranger levels. (Not all 'assassins' are rogues, nor are all 'thieves' rogues, nor are all 'wilderness trackers' rangers.) By 13th level he would be at 19 STR, 20 at 16th. Also, by 5E standards the world he lived in was magic-scarce so threats like liches, etc., were likely also a little underpowered as well.

Also, I rule-zeroed one rule in the process. I count all character levels when determining bonus feats or +1 attributes/4 levels.

 

[Quartz]

You wouldn't have to rule zero anything if you bumped him to Fighter 8. Personally, I would bump him to Fighter 9 for the Indomitable ability.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Clearly the only way to make this as bad@$$ as the real Conan is to make him Paladin 20. Because we all know that's completely OP. Homebrew an "Oath of Savagery" and refluff divine smite as Savage Attacks.

 

[Selvarin]

True, but I hate the rule in general on how bonus feats and attribute points are handed out. In any event i wanted to first stat him at a lower level range and go from there.

 

[squibbles]

My entirely too long take on Conan as a D&D 5e PC, with far too many quotes:

(apologies if I quoted any of you out of context or otherwise fumbled the quoting)

There's a tldr at the end.


Abilities:

All of Conan's ability scores are clearly very high.

Conan never encounters a Human stronger than himself. Maybe a few that are as strong, but never outright stronger. So if you have Conan is at 18, than that's pretty much the limit of the setting. Also there's a sweet Athletics contest in Shadows in Zamboula where Baal-Pteor the strangler is trying to strangle Conan (and nearly does so) but Conan snaps Baal-Pteor's neck first.

His 'mighty thews' are repeatedly called out by Howard, and any mortal NPC whose strength is compared to his is weaker--with the exception of Baal-Pteor, described as Conan's equal, who unfortunately had dumped Constitution on char creation.

Conan's prowess is often compared to a great cat.

he's not just "agile as a tiger" he's more agile than basically anybody he meets, even those he encounters who are primarily agile.

Yep.

His Constitution is also quite high, he can take blows, ward of diseases, survive harsh environments

This seems also to be related to his mighty thews.

Intelligence in 5e is not the ability to outsmart a foe, or come up with a good battle strategy. It's the ability to recall information you have previously learned about History, Magic or Nature for example. While Conan is decent at this there's not much to suggest his recall was on the level of a sage or scholar.

I disagree. In The Servants of Bit-Yakin, we are told "In his roaming about the world the giant adventurer had picked up a wide smattering of knowledge, particularly including the speaking and reading of many alien tongues. Many a sheltered scholar would have been astonished at the Cimmerian's linguistic abilities". In Beyond the Black River, Conan unexpectedly jumps into an extended explanation of the god Jhebbal Sag and his powers. Conan is very knowledgeable, and Howard, at least once, explicitly compares him to a scholar.

Conan is Perceptive and Insightful and that justifies a decent to high Wisdom.

Agreed.

Charisma is another good stat of Conan, with getting a kingdom, talking his way out of things (even crazy things where he shouldn't be able to), and all the women that swoon over him, convincing people to fight with him, he has a decent Charisma

He is often portrayed as becoming the leader of others through force of personality, for example in A Witch Shall be Born or Queen of the Black Coast... though maybe its supposed to be that others intuit his manly competence just by looking at him

Conan definitely rolled his stats - and probably cheated...

This! I think this is the defining characteristic of Conan--his player kept rerolling until Conan got straight 18s (and then spent one ASI to max Strength). This is also partly why Conan is so good at so many skills.

Moving on...


Rogue Levels:

Conan's thiefly abilities are most due to his incredible climbing, high perception, and decent stealth. He's not a lockpicker or pickpocket. I agree he doesn't really need Rogue levels, or at least not many.

In no depiction of him ever have I seen him use Thieves tools. Conan is a successful thief, but that's because he is stealthy and athletic.

These are good commentaries on the heists he attempts in The Tower of the Elephant and The God in the Bowl. We also don't really see him sneak attack his enemies in combat. Though Howard refers to him as a thief several times, Conan isn't the rogue class.

Conan was definitely a skill monkey

Definitely, but I think its because he took the skilled feat with one of his ASIs, which, coupled with his ridiculous ability scores, gives him big bonuses to a lot of skills. Also, as I mentioned above, I think he probably took the linguist feat.


Barbarian Levels:

The rage ability is very representative of how he acts in many stories

He has at least one barbarian level. He is explicitly described as using the rage ability in several of Howard's stories like, for example, he does at the end of The Devil in Iron, when he chases down and stabs to death Khosatral Khel.

The problem is that while the base class Barbarian abilities (like damage reduction, bonus damage to melee attacks made with strength, increased accuracy with melee attacks made with strength, faster movement, advantage on initiative, and advantage on Dex saves) actually fit Conan quite well, no Barbarian subclass fits him very well at all.

I would also hazard that some of the base class abilities don't fit very well either. Reckless attack, feral instinct, and relentless rage all seem a bit out of place to me. Conan doesn't attack recklessly, he is catlike, and, while he is noted in some stories as going into a rage-like state, he doesn't do it very often. He doesn't open a fight by using the rage ability and he doesn't use the rage ability to survive near death encounters. He just, sometimes, goes super saiyan so that he can wreck face harder. I'd say he has 1-2 barbarian levels at most. He multiclassed to fighter sometime around leaving Cimmeria/Nordheim.


Fighter Levels:

It's curious that we debate whether and how many barbarian and rogue levels Conan has, but not fighter levels. In any case, I'm in agreement that it makes sense for fighter to be his main class.


Total Level:

Conan is also a good fit for a high level NPC as his a long and stored list of adventures and incredible accomplishments that map onto a high level character pretty well.

He does have a lot of adventures and accomplishments in his career but, even at an advanced age when he is king of Aquilonia, he is always dealing with grounded human concerns or minor encounters with the supernatural. All his adventures stay in sword and sorcery-land, he never goes to wuxia-land or epic fantasy-land. I don't think his level is all that high.

20th level PCs are dealing with threats that can endanger the multiverse. Conan is awesome...but he ain't that awesome. He simply lives in a world where the vast majority of people are like 1-5th level.

Conan runs away a lot in the REH stories.

you could drop him to 7 and he'd still feel very Conan like

I think you guys are right on the money. Hyboria is a gritty, low-magic, sword and sorcery world; you don't need a lot of levels to be its greatest warrior.


Misc:

Another aspect of Conan is how dispensable gear is for him. He often starts and/or ends stories with nothing but a loin cloth

I'd do a random roll to see what gear Conan shows up with. Maybe he's half naked and unarmed. Maybe he's rocking a sword, shield, and breastplate. The only thing he doesn't seem to turn up in is heavy armor.

Mariner covers his time as a Pirate and general athletic ability.

This is inspired.

Feat: Mobile. Feat: Prodigy. Feat: Lucky. Feat: Alert.

Feats: Grappler, Resilient (WIS), Skilled (**), Tavern Brawler

These all make sense, but I don't see him being high enough level to get all of them. Maybe in Conan's game, the DM has a variant rule for PCs to learn feats as a downtime activity. Or maybe Conan's in something like an E6 game and is gradually taking all the feats. Wait... that's it! He is 100% in an E6 game.


Tldr:
Conan is playing in an E6 variant of 5e. He has 18s or 20s for all of his ability scores. He has one barbarian level and 5 fighter levels (and took mariner fighting style). His background is outlander. He has no consistent set of gear. And, since he spent so much time adventuring, he took a buttload of post-6th feats.