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Mythological Figures: Conan the Barbarian (5E)
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<blockquote data-quote="squibbles" data-source="post: 7762252" data-attributes="member: 6937590"><p>My entirely too long take on Conan as a D&D 5e PC, with far too many quotes:</p><p></p><p>(apologies if I quoted any of you out of context or otherwise fumbled the quoting)</p><p></p><p>There's a tldr at the end.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Abilities:</strong></p><p></p><p>All of Conan's ability scores are clearly very high.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yep.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This seems also to be related to his mighty thews. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite6" alt=":cool:" title="Cool :cool:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":cool:" /></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I disagree. In <em>The Servants of Bit-Yakin</em>, 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 <em>Beyond the Black River</em>, 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.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Agreed.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>He is often portrayed as becoming the leader of others through force of personality, for example in <em>A Witch Shall be Born</em> or <em>Queen of the Black Coast</em>... though maybe its supposed to be that others intuit his manly competence just by looking at him <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/erm.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":erm:" title="Erm :erm:" data-shortname=":erm:" /></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>Moving on...</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Rogue Levels:</strong></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>These are good commentaries on the heists he attempts in <em>The Tower of the Elephant</em> and <em>The God in the Bowl</em>. 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.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Barbarian Levels:</strong></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>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 <em>The Devil in Iron</em>, when he chases down and stabs to death Khosatral Khel.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Fighter Levels:</strong></p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Total Level:</strong></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Misc:</strong></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This is inspired.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Tldr:</strong></p><p>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.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="squibbles, post: 7762252, member: 6937590"] 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. [B]Abilities:[/B] All of Conan's ability scores are clearly very high. 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. Yep. This seems also to be related to his mighty thews. :cool: I disagree. In [I]The Servants of Bit-Yakin[/I], 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 [I]Beyond the Black River[/I], 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. Agreed. He is often portrayed as becoming the leader of others through force of personality, for example in [I]A Witch Shall be Born[/I] or [I]Queen of the Black Coast[/I]... though maybe its supposed to be that others intuit his manly competence just by looking at him :erm: 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... [B]Rogue Levels:[/B] These are good commentaries on the heists he attempts in [I]The Tower of the Elephant[/I] and [I]The God in the Bowl[/I]. 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. 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. [B]Barbarian Levels:[/B] 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 [I]The Devil in Iron[/I], when he chases down and stabs to death Khosatral Khel. 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. [B]Fighter Levels:[/B] 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. [B]Total Level:[/B] 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. 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. [B]Misc:[/B] 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. This is inspired. 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. [B]Tldr:[/B] 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. [/QUOTE]
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