D&D 5E [poll] Barbarian Satisfaction Survey

[Seramus]

I voted "Mostly" because I really enjoy the Barbarian base class, but I see many Totem Warriors and almost no other kind of Barbarian. That tells me some balance tweaks might be necessary.

 

[Sacrosanct]

We had a Berserker Barbarian with us in Tyranny of Dragons up to about level 11. The exhaustion thing wasn't too bad really, as he'd generally save frenzy for those big fights where we could rest afterwards. And boy was he a damage machine.

We had one in our group, same campaign, but up to level 15. She really liked the class, and as the tempest cleric of the group, I didn't really cast restoration on her all that much to remove exhaustion. It wasn't a major issue for us.

 

[Xetheral]

The rule about Rage ending early is annoying: I want to encourage all of my players (even the ones playing barbarians) to be creative in combat, so I don't want the Rage mechanics to discourage them from using improvised actions (or Help, etc). Also, as a DM, I want to be able to include chases and drawn-out encounters without the players of Barbarians feeling like they wasted Rage every time they need to Dash. So I simply ignore that rule at my table, and let Rage last the full minute.

Otherwise, I second the lack of viable subclasses other than totem, but at least totem has a fair amount of flexibility and diversity.

 

[Bardbarian]

I play a frenzy barbarian and the exhaustion thing is a non-issue. Frenzy is something I use one or two times a day max the rest of the time I have a perfectly good rage that makes me immune to charm and fear. At higher levels i can take 88 damage from a breath weapon no problem but when a dragon fears, the totem barbarians can't make their saves and have to sit the fight out in fear or have a caster take their turn to return the barbarian back into the fight. If your campaign allows feats then the frenzy itself is basically a ribbon. Its a bit counterintuetive at first for many reading the class because Totem (bear) gets its defensive feature at 3 while Frenzy gets it at 6 but its worth the wait. At level 14 Frenzy becomes even stronger with a VERY easy to trigger reaction attack. In one home campaign we did try one change which was to allow a con save vs exaustion that went up in DC by 5 every time per day similar to the reduced to zero HP save. we applied this at level 10 instead of the fear which just doesnt synergize very well with it's inevetably low save DC. It was a nce fix but made the frenzy choice a no brainer.

Over all both versions of the barbarian are amazing and one of my favorite choices for single and multiclass characters.

 

[Tinker-TDC]

Not a change I'd suggest, but it seems more like barbarian could easily be renamed 'fighter' and fighter could change to 'warrior'.

I mean, it's a silly thing and my only real issue is depending on DM barbarian may be the only one ever to gain exhaustion (to be perfectly clear, I love exhaustion mechanics, but it seems weird only one class can gain it directly).

 

[DaveDash]

I play a frenzy barbarian and the exhaustion thing is a non-issue. Frenzy is something I use one or two times a day max the rest of the time I have a perfectly good rage that makes me immune to charm and fear. At higher levels i can take 88 damage from a breath weapon no problem but when a dragon fears, the totem barbarians can't make their saves and have to sit the fight out in fear or have a caster take their turn to return the barbarian back into the fight. If your campaign allows feats then the frenzy itself is basically a ribbon. Its a bit counterintuetive at first for many reading the class because Totem (bear) gets its defensive feature at 3 while Frenzy gets it at 6 but its worth the wait. At level 14 Frenzy becomes even stronger with a VERY easy to trigger reaction attack. In one home campaign we did try one change which was to allow a con save vs exaustion that went up in DC by 5 every time per day similar to the reduced to zero HP save. we applied this at level 10 instead of the fear which just doesnt synergize very well with it's inevetably low save DC. It was a nce fix but made the frenzy choice a no brainer.

Over all both versions of the barbarian are amazing and one of my favorite choices for single and multiclass characters.

Heh yeah immunity to fear was definitely handy for the Barbarian in our Tyranny of Dragons campaign.

 

[Chuck Ocenasek]

Played one in Sunless Citadel and a Thousand tiny deaths. He was a Half Orc Eagle build and after arming him with a shield and Shatterspike he functioned as a better tank than our Paladin.

 

[TerraDave]

I expect Barbarian to do well in this. It and rogue seem to work well for characters looking for more straight-forward (aka easier) options. Or looking to play a barbarian or rogue.

 

[Ancalagon]

One of the thing I do like about barbarians is that with the backgrounds, you don't *have* to play an uncivilized barbarian. I'm currently playing a mendicant warrior (ie a dervish) and it's a lot of fun.

 

[Sacrosanct]

One of the thing I do like about barbarians is that with the backgrounds, you don't *have* to play an uncivilized barbarian. I'm currently playing a mendicant warrior (ie a dervish) and it's a lot of fun.

A barbarian with the sage (researcher) background.

"You didn't put the books back where they belong! RRRRAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!"