I was tossing up the idea recently of something like this. A soldier/guard, sworn to protect another party member. They are a perfectly intelligent and normal person (though stoic) but should their charge be hurt in any way...oh boy she goes into a rage. Was not sure whether to go the tradition Beserker, or maybe the Ancestral Guardians and it in her bloodline to protect this person.
I've never played a Barbarian before so I've got not idea, but it seemed like a fun RP idea.
I play a Storm Herald tiefling. He's a grouchy woodcarver who lives in Red Larch, raised by his foster moms while his dad disappeared on a quest. He's not dumb, just really bad with people ( 6 CHA ). When he was 16 he got struck by lightning and now he can kinda channel that when he needs to. He tries not to start fights but he can absolutely finish them.
My current character went barbarian during his backstory, not because he was a brutish lout but because of the grief and anger he felt watching his wife die. He now stalks the world hunting the demon that killed her. He is currently a devout follower of the goddess of righteous vengeance and took the Path of the Zealot
I waa just about to post a similar thread about a twist on the barbarian character concept. Everyone sees Barbarians as the type to gladly go into a frothy-mouthed, axe-biting rage at the first mean glance. But what if a Barbarian was afraid of their raging (possibly a multi-class for this concept)? This may not be a strictly-pacifist character as it would make for a very polar campaign: "I can't fight" *first hit* "KILL EVERYTHING". I'm thinking more of a warrior who either matures with age or goes through a traumatic experience. This character could grow to be a tactical leader, political envoy, guard captain, etc. but fights with a suppressed urge for pure release. In a way, think of The Hulk contained within a spartan warrior; someone who is already a formidable, competent, and comfortable warrior, but is also struggles internally against going pure-bloodbath.
For a bit of interesting context about the Berserker type of barbarian, I would direct you to watch the following: https://youtu.be/PBUGQkpk3RE. The YouTuber Lindybeige goes into detail about what a "Berserker" was. In reality, these were not savages, they did not (always) charge into battle naked, and were not nearly the loose-canons we believed them to be. The original title "Bersekr" - meaning "Bear-Shirt", not because of an animalistic rage, but because they wore distinctive pelts as status symbols - was given to those who served lords as a personal bodyguard and martial champion. When whipped into a frenzy (and spiked with some great mushrooms), they were certainly a singular force to be reckoned with. However, this was not their typical state and could be very reasonable people day-to-day.
The character I'm playing in the DND campaign my friends and I are streaming has that in his backstory... being a berserker-type barbarian who just went into a blind rage. But at one point he lost control and hurt someone important to him, so he ended up afraid of his own rage. He ended up leaving to try and overcome this flaw, and I don't want to get into too many details since it hasn't come up in-game yet, but he got seriously injured and chose to retrain, which was just my roundabout way of explaining why he has a backstory of being an experienced and decently-known gladiator, but starts the new game at level 3 (we're one of those groups that skips right to level 3 on the first session).
Interestingly, he actually had basically the epiphany that Spartanwhimp mentioned, of being a Storm Herald barbarian who learns to focus his anger into the power of nature itself to maintain control and connect on some level with his spiritual side. On top of everything else, being a Gladiator in our setting is treated like being a professional wrestler, and I'm essentially doing a Macho Man impersonation while voicing him, but that also means that he has really solid Charisma, with CHA being his third-highest stat after STR and CON. Although overall I rolled insanely lucky on his stats when rolling him up, so he doesn't have any stat below a 12.
I think a noble who has barbaric blood and instinctively rages would be interesting.
I used to play a beasthide shifter barb, totem warrior. He was a noble, and had a rage after seeing most of his family slaughtered, as someone payed assassins to kill a whole shifter community, as the hirer thought they were dumb, wild people. Only his little brother and sister are left alive. He has gone to find a new home that is safe, leading him on an adventure..
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'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
Battlerager is a kind of interesting subclass for a non-tribal barbarian. The description if it implies that its part of Dwarven society, and dwarves are a fairly civilized bunch generally.
Scrooge McDuck is an Ancestral Guardian Barbarian, just saying.
Anyway, there are lots of ways that one can play a civilized barbarian. The Acolyte Zealot someone mentioned is an interesting idea (I've had almost the exact same idea :) ). A vigilante type character could also work. Heck there's even a certain Commander of the City Watch who seems to have taken a few levels of Path of the Cow.
My advice. Don't focus too much on justifying the "savage" part of the barbarian concept. Classes are more like guidelines than "this is what my character does for a living" (that's more background territory). Just play around with different ideas as to why the character needs mindless rage-based violence to work as a character. A fighter that channels their anger into red-hot fury is just as viable as a Monk for a martial artist, in my book. Go crazy!
I play a barbarian/rogue who uses STR on finesse weapons. He lays between the skillfullness of a rogue and the reckless attitude of a barbarian. Expertise in Athletics makes it fun to break down doors, shove people, or grapple. I would say he thinks things out and holds to the belief that with enough strength you can overcome any obstacle. But I think I treat rage as more of a battle focus like you have the pinnacle of concentration during a fight which allows you to minimize damage to yourself.
Last night I rolled up a new character for a game who's a Battlerager Mercenary Veteran. She acted as a shock trooper in battle and doesn't rage so much as use a sort of Combat Focus that lets her deflect attacks and put extra power into her blows.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
After talking it over with my GM, we ended up heavily modifying the flavor of my Battlerager. Rather than wearing armor, she instead uses an exotic martial arts style that incorporates rope darts hidden under her clothing and specially made boots with retractable spikes. Her "rage" is actually a martial arts stance that revolves around deflecting attacks and striking with both her maul and hidden weapons. Mechanically the same as the standard rage but she gets her Battlerager abilities without needing armor and therefore fights in a fancy dress.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I have previously played a zealot barbarian noble, Quigley Reginald Gildenfield III, the son of a high cleric in a long line of clerics and he wanted nothing more than to follow his family's footsteps. He wore the robes, he attended mass, he learnt the psalms, he tended the sick, he manned the soup train, everything he could to reach the piety of his father, and father's father and so on. But no matter how hard he tried, so matter how 'good' he was, for some reason, he just couldn't cast a single spell. For some unknown reason his god just did not look favourably upon him. 'This is ok', he thought, 'maybe I still haven't earned it, after all, father was an adventurer for a time. Maybe that's what I must do to gain my god's favour." So adventure he did, yet on his first foray an ally fell and he just KNEW this was his time, that was the moment! He went to his ally's side, knelt beside him, chanted the verbal incantation to cure the wounds while holding his holy symbol aloft... nothing. That was the last straw. This just made him SO MAD!!! He did not regain composure till he realised all who opposed him were strewn across the battlefield. He dusted off and straightened his robes, he licked his handkerchief and dabbed his cheeks clean of the blood and polished his spectacles clear again. With nothing but a "sorry about that chaps," they continued on their way. He maintained he was a cleric the whole time I played him and tried to cast a cleric spell (RP) at the beginning of every battle from then on and just lost his temper every time. It was a hoot!
Hjalmar Gunderson, Vuman Alchemist Plague Doctor in a HB Campaign, Post Netherese Invasion Cormyr (lvl20 retired) Godfrey, Autognome Butler in Ghosts of Saltmarsh into Spelljammer Grímr Skeggisson, Goliath Rune Knight in Rime of the Frostmaiden DM of two HB campaigns set in the same world.
My Barbarian, Grom, is very mild mannered person. He grew up on a farm outside of a small village. He was taught not to get up set and channel his anger in other ways. He isn't very civilized, but he is not a complete savage wild man. He just comes from a small farming village.
Not sure if this counts, but my Tiefling(Zariel) Barbarian is sort of like the messenger between his tribe and civilization. They trade, make alliances, and more importantly... ale.
My barbarian was a orphaned street urchin that went to work with the thieves guild as muscle until she left town and went her own way. She eventually met a master to teach her the way of the Iron Body (Bear totem). Her Rages are not the typical crazed fighter type, but more of a calm focus.
One of my favorite characters I’ve played is a sailor who was struck by lightning. She now has a storm raging inside her, and she can let it out in battle. Imagine Elsa, but more pirate and less princess
I'm working on a Barbarian character with the Sage background. His backstory and traits are riddled with mediocre jokes, but I still think he'd be fun to play (particularly with my group). Thus was born Bronan the Librarian. He's a member of a well off family in Waterdeep with a long history of military service. The men of his family have always served in the city's gryphon cavalry. His father (Brotorius), his elder brother (Brosef), and his younger brother (Brodo), are all currently serving in the defense of their beloved city. Bronan, however, felt himself drawn to a more intellectual path. He is a member of the Scriveners, Scribes, and Clerks guild and is apprenticing under the priests of Ohgma of the Spirit Soaring as a Librarian. He is an academic, but has still inherited the warrior spirit so prominent in his family's blood. As a result of his limited martial training he lacks the ability to focus his fury and thus loses himself in his battle rage at times. His ultimate dream is of uniting all of Faerun in the search for knowledge and understanding by inventing a standardized system of organizing and cataloging the inventories of libraries across the land, thus making books and academic works accessible to all. He's basically a great hulking book worm with a temper problem.
halfling barbarian, he has an lance, a shield, an steed and is actiually a prince third in line for sucession should the crown ever be lost. He has used the money and connections to help the party objective. He also has an palladin sibling (also played by me (i have a lot of characters in this campaign)) oh yeah and he multiclassed into fighter for the dueling fighting style
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i am soup, with too many ideas (all of them very spicy) who has made sufficient homebrew material and character to last an thousand human lifetimes
I was tossing up the idea recently of something like this. A soldier/guard, sworn to protect another party member. They are a perfectly intelligent and normal person (though stoic) but should their charge be hurt in any way...oh boy she goes into a rage. Was not sure whether to go the tradition Beserker, or maybe the Ancestral Guardians and it in her bloodline to protect this person.
I've never played a Barbarian before so I've got not idea, but it seemed like a fun RP idea.
I play a Storm Herald tiefling. He's a grouchy woodcarver who lives in Red Larch, raised by his foster moms while his dad disappeared on a quest. He's not dumb, just really bad with people ( 6 CHA ). When he was 16 he got struck by lightning and now he can kinda channel that when he needs to. He tries not to start fights but he can absolutely finish them.
My current character went barbarian during his backstory, not because he was a brutish lout but because of the grief and anger he felt watching his wife die. He now stalks the world hunting the demon that killed her. He is currently a devout follower of the goddess of righteous vengeance and took the Path of the Zealot
The character I'm playing in the DND campaign my friends and I are streaming has that in his backstory... being a berserker-type barbarian who just went into a blind rage. But at one point he lost control and hurt someone important to him, so he ended up afraid of his own rage. He ended up leaving to try and overcome this flaw, and I don't want to get into too many details since it hasn't come up in-game yet, but he got seriously injured and chose to retrain, which was just my roundabout way of explaining why he has a backstory of being an experienced and decently-known gladiator, but starts the new game at level 3 (we're one of those groups that skips right to level 3 on the first session).
Interestingly, he actually had basically the epiphany that Spartanwhimp mentioned, of being a Storm Herald barbarian who learns to focus his anger into the power of nature itself to maintain control and connect on some level with his spiritual side. On top of everything else, being a Gladiator in our setting is treated like being a professional wrestler, and I'm essentially doing a Macho Man impersonation while voicing him, but that also means that he has really solid Charisma, with CHA being his third-highest stat after STR and CON. Although overall I rolled insanely lucky on his stats when rolling him up, so he doesn't have any stat below a 12.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
I used to play a beasthide shifter barb, totem warrior. He was a noble, and had a rage after seeing most of his family slaughtered, as someone payed assassins to kill a whole shifter community, as the hirer thought they were dumb, wild people. Only his little brother and sister are left alive. He has gone to find a new home that is safe, leading him on an adventure..
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
Battlerager is a kind of interesting subclass for a non-tribal barbarian. The description if it implies that its part of Dwarven society, and dwarves are a fairly civilized bunch generally.
Hombrew: Way of Wresting, Circle of Sacrifice
I built a "shonen protagonist" Storm Herald- in fights he just got so worked up that he'd spontaneously catch on fire.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Scrooge McDuck is an Ancestral Guardian Barbarian, just saying.
Anyway, there are lots of ways that one can play a civilized barbarian. The Acolyte Zealot someone mentioned is an interesting idea (I've had almost the exact same idea :) ). A vigilante type character could also work. Heck there's even a certain Commander of the City Watch who seems to have taken a few levels of Path of the Cow.
My advice. Don't focus too much on justifying the "savage" part of the barbarian concept. Classes are more like guidelines than "this is what my character does for a living" (that's more background territory). Just play around with different ideas as to why the character needs mindless rage-based violence to work as a character. A fighter that channels their anger into red-hot fury is just as viable as a Monk for a martial artist, in my book. Go crazy!
I play a barbarian/rogue who uses STR on finesse weapons. He lays between the skillfullness of a rogue and the reckless attitude of a barbarian. Expertise in Athletics makes it fun to break down doors, shove people, or grapple. I would say he thinks things out and holds to the belief that with enough strength you can overcome any obstacle. But I think I treat rage as more of a battle focus like you have the pinnacle of concentration during a fight which allows you to minimize damage to yourself.
Your secret is safe with my indifference - Percy
Last night I rolled up a new character for a game who's a Battlerager Mercenary Veteran. She acted as a shock trooper in battle and doesn't rage so much as use a sort of Combat Focus that lets her deflect attacks and put extra power into her blows.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
After talking it over with my GM, we ended up heavily modifying the flavor of my Battlerager. Rather than wearing armor, she instead uses an exotic martial arts style that incorporates rope darts hidden under her clothing and specially made boots with retractable spikes. Her "rage" is actually a martial arts stance that revolves around deflecting attacks and striking with both her maul and hidden weapons. Mechanically the same as the standard rage but she gets her Battlerager abilities without needing armor and therefore fights in a fancy dress.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I have previously played a zealot barbarian noble, Quigley Reginald Gildenfield III, the son of a high cleric in a long line of clerics and he wanted nothing more than to follow his family's footsteps. He wore the robes, he attended mass, he learnt the psalms, he tended the sick, he manned the soup train, everything he could to reach the piety of his father, and father's father and so on. But no matter how hard he tried, so matter how 'good' he was, for some reason, he just couldn't cast a single spell. For some unknown reason his god just did not look favourably upon him. 'This is ok', he thought, 'maybe I still haven't earned it, after all, father was an adventurer for a time. Maybe that's what I must do to gain my god's favour." So adventure he did, yet on his first foray an ally fell and he just KNEW this was his time, that was the moment! He went to his ally's side, knelt beside him, chanted the verbal incantation to cure the wounds while holding his holy symbol aloft... nothing. That was the last straw. This just made him SO MAD!!! He did not regain composure till he realised all who opposed him were strewn across the battlefield. He dusted off and straightened his robes, he licked his handkerchief and dabbed his cheeks clean of the blood and polished his spectacles clear again. With nothing but a "sorry about that chaps," they continued on their way. He maintained he was a cleric the whole time I played him and tried to cast a cleric spell (RP) at the beginning of every battle from then on and just lost his temper every time. It was a hoot!
Hjalmar Gunderson, Vuman Alchemist Plague Doctor in a HB Campaign, Post Netherese Invasion Cormyr (lvl20 retired)
Godfrey, Autognome Butler in Ghosts of Saltmarsh into Spelljammer
Grímr Skeggisson, Goliath Rune Knight in Rime of the Frostmaiden
DM of two HB campaigns set in the same world.
My Barbarian, Grom, is very mild mannered person. He grew up on a farm outside of a small village. He was taught not to get up set and channel his anger in other ways. He isn't very civilized, but he is not a complete savage wild man. He just comes from a small farming village.
Want to be a professional Dnd Player
Not sure if this counts, but my Tiefling(Zariel) Barbarian is sort of like the messenger between his tribe and civilization. They trade, make alliances, and more importantly... ale.
My barbarian was a orphaned street urchin that went to work with the thieves guild as muscle until she left town and went her own way. She eventually met a master to teach her the way of the Iron Body (Bear totem). Her Rages are not the typical crazed fighter type, but more of a calm focus.
She/Her College Student Player and Dungeon Master
One of my favorite characters I’ve played is a sailor who was struck by lightning. She now has a storm raging inside her, and she can let it out in battle. Imagine Elsa, but more pirate and less princess
I'm working on a Barbarian character with the Sage background. His backstory and traits are riddled with mediocre jokes, but I still think he'd be fun to play (particularly with my group). Thus was born Bronan the Librarian. He's a member of a well off family in Waterdeep with a long history of military service. The men of his family have always served in the city's gryphon cavalry. His father (Brotorius), his elder brother (Brosef), and his younger brother (Brodo), are all currently serving in the defense of their beloved city. Bronan, however, felt himself drawn to a more intellectual path. He is a member of the Scriveners, Scribes, and Clerks guild and is apprenticing under the priests of Ohgma of the Spirit Soaring as a Librarian. He is an academic, but has still inherited the warrior spirit so prominent in his family's blood. As a result of his limited martial training he lacks the ability to focus his fury and thus loses himself in his battle rage at times. His ultimate dream is of uniting all of Faerun in the search for knowledge and understanding by inventing a standardized system of organizing and cataloging the inventories of libraries across the land, thus making books and academic works accessible to all. He's basically a great hulking book worm with a temper problem.
Can I steal the name "bronan the librarian"? That is an A++ pun
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
halfling barbarian, he has an lance, a shield, an steed and is actiually a prince third in line for sucession should the crown ever be lost. He has used the money and connections to help the party objective. He also has an palladin sibling (also played by me (i have a lot of characters in this campaign)) oh yeah and he multiclassed into fighter for the dueling fighting style
i am soup, with too many ideas (all of them very spicy) who has made sufficient homebrew material and character to last an thousand human lifetimes
.