If you want to go fun over function, I played a Tabaxi barbarian in a campaign- and holy crap it was so much fun! tiny cat cleaving some dude clean in half with an axe twice their size is so entertaining.
As a Duergar, take 3 lvls of fighter for Rune Knight. Then go Battlerager for the armor. Make a Grappler build. Can use Giant's might and enlarge as the racial trait to keep the grapple in place while doing damage.
Well, he story goes...our group is kicking off a new campaign. My daughter suggested we all be he same race. I told her she picks race, she picks Halfling. She's a Ranger (going Rogue later, apparently), her friend is a Monk. I didn't want to be a healer, and we didn't have a viable tank, so.......I am a Halfling Barbarian! He eats enough to feed a company of men, enjoys the pain and so far, has rolled amazing on the "carnival that we opened with, so he is strutting around like Superman at the moment. I theorycrafted him to 20 and I can max his Str and Con by then and Dex will be 16. We use Point buy and we were permitted Tasha's number fumble, but I don't like it so won't do it. It'll work fine and I expect it to be a hoot to RP these little tykes.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Talk to your Players.Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
1.Min/Max: Human Variant, hands down. Martial classes depend heavily on feats.
2. Thematic: Dwarf IMO. Bearded, angry, and swinging a greataxe.
3. Odd ball: Stay away from Halfling. You’ll want to reckless attack all the time, so you’ll only be rolling 1’s about once per 400 attack rolls. Half-elf. A bit odd thematically, but 4 AS bonus points really helps the Barb, as does advantage verses charm and immunity to magic sleep.
1.Min/Max: Human Variant, hands down. Martial classes depend heavily on feats.
2. Thematic: Dwarf IMO. Bearded, angry, and swinging a greataxe.
3. Odd ball: Stay away from Halfling. You’ll want to reckless attack all the time, so you’ll only be rolling 1’s about once per 400 attack rolls. Half-elf. A bit odd thematically, but 4 AS bonus points really helps the Barb, as does advantage verses charm and immunity to magic sleep.
Lucky also works on Saving Throws and Ability checks, which can still be of benefit to barbarians. As for the attack rolls, you could check with your DM to see if Lucky would apply to any 1 that shows up among the advantage rolls. Don't be surprised if the answer is no or if you are forced to keep the new roll (even over the higher advantage roll) if the answer is yes.
Custom lineage is a good option in the vein of human variant with different benefits and should be considered if available. It's not always the automatic selection over human variant like some people make it out to be, particularly with barbarians that want to go unarmored defense.
I really like the idea of a Half-Elf for a barbarian, regardless of whether Tasha's ability score rules are in play. Getting a 16 str and some combo of 16 and 14 for dex and constitution is great for the unarmored defense option, giving you a starting AC of 15. However, even with the +2 going to Charisma, that's higher than normal mental saves and a good option for intimidation checks that aren't reliant on being a wookie. The extra skill proficiencies can add some extra flavor to the barbarian and any extra social options can give you're character some depth that they may not have otherwise (mechanically speaking). Oh, and Fey Ancestry might be interesting for a barbarian for some reason related to the mental saves mentioned earlier.
Revisiting my Halfling Barbarian (In his new "cape of irony" attained from reading the above posts)
Lucky has been nice so far, on saves and checks for stuff my Halfling has CRAP stats in. Given what I wanted/needed mechanically, Int, Wis and Cha were obvious dumps and as such, a chance to reroll on occasion for them has allowed me to NOT suffer effects more than once. On fights where I don't bother to reckless, I have again rerolled 1's and twice that I can recall, got a crit.
Things I will point out: 1. Finding an angle to RP the short, yet powerful wasn't easy for me, at least. While sorting who and what he was, in my mind, some REALLY good dice rolls in a few combats gave him a minor God complex. He's becoming more fun to play because of it. Little guy, big muscles, I think you need something quirky or odd to make that a fun character. 2. DM assistance is HUGE in keeping it effective. Custom weapons allow me to keep my damage where the class should be, as a small sized character. Otherwise, you're behind a large hurdle in being as effective as you can be in fights. 3. Stats/Feats wise, you will be much less effective than many, many other options. I am min/maxing mine as best I can and I will still be behind my companions, whose class better suited the stat perks for Halflings. Using the musical abilities thing from Tasha's would even the field, but I am too stubborn and play the stats as they first appeared, a sucker for nostalgia. It's being behind, but so far (only level 4) not enough to really notice. I expect this to hold true, as I will end up, at most, 1 behind in to hit or damage and I have yet to see a point where that one made a big difference. (Not that I don't GO for getting that 1 AC or to-hit, lol)
He's getting to be fun now and I think if you're going for a non-ideal or "odd" choice, fun is what it should be all about. You can get the numbers close enough to be viable, without being top dog and have a character that is unique, fun and interesting to RP. With the short list of NON combat things Barbarians are good for, finding some fun RP paths can keep you involved and engaged when you're not killing things.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Talk to your Players.Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
It’s delightfully cheesy to make a Tortle barbarian. Shore up your weak AC while channeling the spirit of the angry turtle from those pistachio commercials.
centaur for increased movement and a built in bonus action attack with hooves, which would benefit from rage and strength bonus.
shifter wildhunt would be situationally ridiculous. The bonus action could counteract reckless attacks detrimental advantage given to enemies. The higher level barbarian with the ability to rage as a reaction to avoid surprise could even make sure rage and shifter activation happen on the same turn when the circumstances deem them most necessary.
the Orcs aggressive feature allows for the barbarian to spend a bonus action to move toward an enemy. This could be useful when a barbarian would be unable to close to melee distances.
The Centaur bonus action often doesn't work very well mechanically with the Barbarian though. Using it means raging only turn two the earliest and it's rare that you get to make a full 30 feet move straight forward in the middle of combat to utilize it afterwards. Minotaurs have a similar problem. If you take those races do it for the flavor, not for their charge mechanics.
40ft of base movement, 10ft of unarmored movement.
Add mobile feat and the bonus action attack can happen almost every round.
The Centaur bonus action often doesn't work very well mechanically with the Barbarian though. Using it means raging only turn two the earliest and it's rare that you get to make a full 30 feet move straight forward in the middle of combat to utilize it afterwards. Minotaurs have a similar problem. If you take those races do it for the flavor, not for their charge mechanics.
Minotaur does give you another option for preserving rage, similarly to what the Charger feat would do.
I agree that setting up the charge can be difficult to do, particularly if your DM likes to use difficult terrain. I was playing a centaur Paladin in Curse of Strahd (which was fun from a role play perspective since the natives had never seen a centaur before), and the one time that I could have done the charge attack was hampered by difficult terrain. We were unable to finish the campaign, so I didn't have as many opportunities and getting the bonus movement from Fast Movement at 5th to stack on with the Centaur's 40 ft walking speed would certainly help. However requiring the attack to get the bonus attack doesn't really help with preserving rage like the minotaur option does.
The Minotaur having Charger more or less baked in is a bit easier to use, especially if the movement isn't limited by a straight line as the character builder suggests. Having the prerequisite of dashing first does hamper the options a touch. Ultimately, it's only a better option than throwing a javelin if you are more than 60 ft away from the creature you are attacking (70 after fast movement) since the attack wouldn't be made with disadvantage at that point.
1) Mountain Dwarf, Half-Orc or Goliath. If you want to min/max a Barbarian you need Str and Con in spades, after all. Mountain Dwarf gives you the best stat bonuses, Half-Orc has a couple of racial abilities that complement the Barbarian really well, plus a skill that is fun for Barbs. Goliaths get a skill that every Barbarian should have, and Powerful Build is just so on-brand.
1) Mountain Dwarf, Half-Orc or Goliath. If you want to min/max a Barbarian you need Str and Con in spades, after all. Mountain Dwarf gives you the best stat bonuses, Half-Orc has a couple of racial abilities that complement the Barbarian really well, plus a skill that is fun for Barbs. Goliaths get a skill that every Barbarian should have, and Powerful Build is just so on-brand.
You forgot Leonin!
They didn't actually. Their post predated the digital release of Mythic Odysseys of Theros by a week and almost two months of the hard cover release.
The daunting roar is an interesting angle to take for a barbarian, the claws are mostly flavor, but do give you better damage if you find yourself weaponless.
Hunter's Instincts overlaps the Barbarian skills (add Animal Handling and Nature and you have all 6 options). You'll start with the normal 2 skills that you have from barbarian, and 1 of the Hunter's Instincts skills. You'll pick up another at 3rd level from Primal Knowledge and another at 10th if playing with Tasha's rules. That means you'll eventually have 5 of the 6 skills. If you aren't careful with your skill selection and background (say Outlander, which gives you Athletics and Survival), you might not have any benefit from one of the Primal Knowledge skill ups, depending on how your DM handles skill selection. If using the Beyond character builder, it'll drop whichever background skill you select with the 10th level primal knowledge skill which you can then replace with any other skill. If your DM doesn't let you do that you'll just be out a skill proficiency. Talk to them at session zero if planning to use a Leonin Barbarian (or any race that adds skills that overlap with barbarian skills) along with Tashas and find out how they'll rule on the topic. If playing with Tasha's, there shouldn't be a problem since Tasha's allows for custom race options that would let you select a different skill at creation anyway, but some DMs might get silly and say that you can't select the new skills after character creation. If that's the case, plan accordingly by selecting a different background or selecting the alternate skills at character creation. This shouldn't be a problem most of the time, but it's always a good idea to address these things in session zero instead of needing surprised by it later.
Ah, I wasn't sure. It looked like people had been referencing Tasha's in the thread and thought MOoT came out before that, but I didn't look at the dates of posts/remember when things came out lol. Good catch!
I'm playing a Tasha's custom race for my barbarian, but it's hard to recommend choosing a custom race for an interesting barbarian race...unless you can add a lot of flavor to it. Not to say the custom race option isn't great, it just depends on the player and DM to make it flavorful.
I went with custom race for my barbarian because I am Path of the Beast and wanted to create a human with more bestial qualities (Tavern Brawler to highlight he's dangerous with natural weapons even when not raging, and darkvision because he has canid eyes even when he isn't transformed). It's not super interesting but it's fun for me.
Bugbear - increased melee reach. Pick up Sentinel and PAM, and no enemy would be able to move past you.
Hill Dwarf - increased hit points. Become a Totem Warrior and choose Bear Totem. Take the Tough feat later, and you'll be incredably difficult to kill.
Dhampir - spider climb and vampiric bite. Since you retain movement speeds from your original race, become a lizardfolk dhampir or aarakocra dhampir. Then go Path of The Beast for even more movement options! Ask your DM if you can use your Vampiric Bite with your Form of The Beast Bite Attack.
Lizardfolk and Tortle - natural armor and natural weapons. Hopefully your DM will allow you to add your Constitution modifier to your Natural Armor AC.
Orc - aggressive. Close in on your target if they try to run, or get up close and personal more quickly!
Harengon - high initiative, burst jump, and better DEX saves. Features synergize well with Danger Sense and Feral Instinct, so you will almost never go last in initiative. You already have high STR and CON saves, so imagine having high DEX saves as well. Take Alert and Resilient (Dexterity), and nothing will catch you off guard, whether traps or monsters.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Brains over brawn? Mind over matter? These canny warriors rightly answer, "Why not both?" - Tasha
Bugbear - increased melee reach. Pick up Sentinel and PAM, and no enemy would be able to move past you.
Hill Dwarf - increased hit points. Become a Totem Warrior and choose Bear Totem. Take the Tough feat later, and you'll be incredably difficult to kill.
Dhampir - spider climb and vampiric bite. Since you retain movement speeds from your original race, become a lizardfolk dhampir or aarakocra dhampir. Then go Path of The Beast for even more movement options! Ask your DM if you can use your Vampiric Bite with your Form of The Beast Bite Attack.
Lizardfolk and Tortle - natural armor and natural weapons. Hopefully your DM will allow you to add your Constitution modifier to your Natural Armor AC.
Orc - aggressive. Close in on your target if they try to run, or get up close and personal more quickly!
Harengon - high initiative, burst jump, and better DEX saves. Features synergize well with Danger Sense and Feral Instinct, so you will almost never go last in initiative. You already have high STR and CON saves, so imagine having high DEX saves as well. Take Alert and Resilient (Dexterity), and nothing will catch you off guard, whether traps or monsters.
Just remember that Long-Limbed only works on your turn and likely won't be a factor with the majority of OAs. As such, your still looking at 5 ft (10 with a reach weapon) for all of your attacks that don't occur on your turn. Still effective, just not as effective as people think on a quick read.
All I can think of now is a Grung Grappling master with a dagger
Path of the depths. Yes!
'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!
If you want to go fun over function, I played a Tabaxi barbarian in a campaign- and holy crap it was so much fun! tiny cat cleaving some dude clean in half with an axe twice their size is so entertaining.
As a Duergar, take 3 lvls of fighter for Rune Knight. Then go Battlerager for the armor. Make a Grappler build. Can use Giant's might and enlarge as the racial trait to keep the grapple in place while doing damage.
Well, he story goes...our group is kicking off a new campaign. My daughter suggested we all be he same race. I told her she picks race, she picks Halfling. She's a Ranger (going Rogue later, apparently), her friend is a Monk. I didn't want to be a healer, and we didn't have a viable tank, so.......I am a Halfling Barbarian! He eats enough to feed a company of men, enjoys the pain and so far, has rolled amazing on the "carnival that we opened with, so he is strutting around like Superman at the moment. I theorycrafted him to 20 and I can max his Str and Con by then and Dex will be 16. We use Point buy and we were permitted Tasha's number fumble, but I don't like it so won't do it. It'll work fine and I expect it to be a hoot to RP these little tykes.
Talk to your Players. Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
1.Min/Max: Human Variant, hands down. Martial classes depend heavily on feats.
2. Thematic: Dwarf IMO. Bearded, angry, and swinging a greataxe.
3. Odd ball: Stay away from Halfling. You’ll want to reckless attack all the time, so you’ll only be rolling 1’s about once per 400 attack rolls. Half-elf. A bit odd thematically, but 4 AS bonus points really helps the Barb, as does advantage verses charm and immunity to magic sleep.
Lucky also works on Saving Throws and Ability checks, which can still be of benefit to barbarians. As for the attack rolls, you could check with your DM to see if Lucky would apply to any 1 that shows up among the advantage rolls. Don't be surprised if the answer is no or if you are forced to keep the new roll (even over the higher advantage roll) if the answer is yes.
Custom lineage is a good option in the vein of human variant with different benefits and should be considered if available. It's not always the automatic selection over human variant like some people make it out to be, particularly with barbarians that want to go unarmored defense.
I really like the idea of a Half-Elf for a barbarian, regardless of whether Tasha's ability score rules are in play. Getting a 16 str and some combo of 16 and 14 for dex and constitution is great for the unarmored defense option, giving you a starting AC of 15. However, even with the +2 going to Charisma, that's higher than normal mental saves and a good option for intimidation checks that aren't reliant on being a wookie. The extra skill proficiencies can add some extra flavor to the barbarian and any extra social options can give you're character some depth that they may not have otherwise (mechanically speaking). Oh, and Fey Ancestry might be interesting for a barbarian for some reason related to the mental saves mentioned earlier.
Revisiting my Halfling Barbarian (In his new "cape of irony" attained from reading the above posts)
Lucky has been nice so far, on saves and checks for stuff my Halfling has CRAP stats in. Given what I wanted/needed mechanically, Int, Wis and Cha were obvious dumps and as such, a chance to reroll on occasion for them has allowed me to NOT suffer effects more than once. On fights where I don't bother to reckless, I have again rerolled 1's and twice that I can recall, got a crit.
Things I will point out:
1. Finding an angle to RP the short, yet powerful wasn't easy for me, at least. While sorting who and what he was, in my mind, some REALLY good dice rolls in a few combats gave him a minor God complex. He's becoming more fun to play because of it. Little guy, big muscles, I think you need something quirky or odd to make that a fun character.
2. DM assistance is HUGE in keeping it effective. Custom weapons allow me to keep my damage where the class should be, as a small sized character. Otherwise, you're behind a large hurdle in being as effective as you can be in fights.
3. Stats/Feats wise, you will be much less effective than many, many other options. I am min/maxing mine as best I can and I will still be behind my companions, whose class better suited the stat perks for Halflings. Using the musical abilities thing from Tasha's would even the field, but I am too stubborn and play the stats as they first appeared, a sucker for nostalgia. It's being behind, but so far (only level 4) not enough to really notice. I expect this to hold true, as I will end up, at most, 1 behind in to hit or damage and I have yet to see a point where that one made a big difference. (Not that I don't GO for getting that 1 AC or to-hit, lol)
He's getting to be fun now and I think if you're going for a non-ideal or "odd" choice, fun is what it should be all about. You can get the numbers close enough to be viable, without being top dog and have a character that is unique, fun and interesting to RP. With the short list of NON combat things Barbarians are good for, finding some fun RP paths can keep you involved and engaged when you're not killing things.
Talk to your Players. Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
It’s delightfully cheesy to make a Tortle barbarian. Shore up your weak AC while channeling the spirit of the angry turtle from those pistachio commercials.
centaur for increased movement and a built in bonus action attack with hooves, which would benefit from rage and strength bonus.
shifter wildhunt would be situationally ridiculous. The bonus action could counteract reckless attacks detrimental advantage given to enemies. The higher level barbarian with the ability to rage as a reaction to avoid surprise could even make sure rage and shifter activation happen on the same turn when the circumstances deem them most necessary.
the Orcs aggressive feature allows for the barbarian to spend a bonus action to move toward an enemy. This could be useful when a barbarian would be unable to close to melee distances.
tabaxi for similar reasons as Orc.
40ft of base movement, 10ft of unarmored movement.
Add mobile feat and the bonus action attack can happen almost every round.
Minotaur does give you another option for preserving rage, similarly to what the Charger feat would do.
I agree that setting up the charge can be difficult to do, particularly if your DM likes to use difficult terrain. I was playing a centaur Paladin in Curse of Strahd (which was fun from a role play perspective since the natives had never seen a centaur before), and the one time that I could have done the charge attack was hampered by difficult terrain. We were unable to finish the campaign, so I didn't have as many opportunities and getting the bonus movement from Fast Movement at 5th to stack on with the Centaur's 40 ft walking speed would certainly help. However requiring the attack to get the bonus attack doesn't really help with preserving rage like the minotaur option does.
The Minotaur having Charger more or less baked in is a bit easier to use, especially if the movement isn't limited by a straight line as the character builder suggests. Having the prerequisite of dashing first does hamper the options a touch. Ultimately, it's only a better option than throwing a javelin if you are more than 60 ft away from the creature you are attacking (70 after fast movement) since the attack wouldn't be made with disadvantage at that point.
You forgot Leonin!
They didn't actually. Their post predated the digital release of Mythic Odysseys of Theros by a week and almost two months of the hard cover release.
The daunting roar is an interesting angle to take for a barbarian, the claws are mostly flavor, but do give you better damage if you find yourself weaponless.
Hunter's Instincts overlaps the Barbarian skills (add Animal Handling and Nature and you have all 6 options). You'll start with the normal 2 skills that you have from barbarian, and 1 of the Hunter's Instincts skills. You'll pick up another at 3rd level from Primal Knowledge and another at 10th if playing with Tasha's rules. That means you'll eventually have 5 of the 6 skills. If you aren't careful with your skill selection and background (say Outlander, which gives you Athletics and Survival), you might not have any benefit from one of the Primal Knowledge skill ups, depending on how your DM handles skill selection. If using the Beyond character builder, it'll drop whichever background skill you select with the 10th level primal knowledge skill which you can then replace with any other skill. If your DM doesn't let you do that you'll just be out a skill proficiency. Talk to them at session zero if planning to use a Leonin Barbarian (or any race that adds skills that overlap with barbarian skills) along with Tashas and find out how they'll rule on the topic. If playing with Tasha's, there shouldn't be a problem since Tasha's allows for custom race options that would let you select a different skill at creation anyway, but some DMs might get silly and say that you can't select the new skills after character creation. If that's the case, plan accordingly by selecting a different background or selecting the alternate skills at character creation. This shouldn't be a problem most of the time, but it's always a good idea to address these things in session zero instead of needing surprised by it later.
Ah, I wasn't sure. It looked like people had been referencing Tasha's in the thread and thought MOoT came out before that, but I didn't look at the dates of posts/remember when things came out lol. Good catch!
I'm playing a Tasha's custom race for my barbarian, but it's hard to recommend choosing a custom race for an interesting barbarian race...unless you can add a lot of flavor to it. Not to say the custom race option isn't great, it just depends on the player and DM to make it flavorful.
I went with custom race for my barbarian because I am Path of the Beast and wanted to create a human with more bestial qualities (Tavern Brawler to highlight he's dangerous with natural weapons even when not raging, and darkvision because he has canid eyes even when he isn't transformed). It's not super interesting but it's fun for me.
Bugbear - increased melee reach. Pick up Sentinel and PAM, and no enemy would be able to move past you.
Hill Dwarf - increased hit points. Become a Totem Warrior and choose Bear Totem. Take the Tough feat later, and you'll be incredably difficult to kill.
Dhampir - spider climb and vampiric bite. Since you retain movement speeds from your original race, become a lizardfolk dhampir or aarakocra dhampir. Then go Path of The Beast for even more movement options! Ask your DM if you can use your Vampiric Bite with your Form of The Beast Bite Attack.
Lizardfolk and Tortle - natural armor and natural weapons. Hopefully your DM will allow you to add your Constitution modifier to your Natural Armor AC.
Orc - aggressive. Close in on your target if they try to run, or get up close and personal more quickly!
Harengon - high initiative, burst jump, and better DEX saves. Features synergize well with Danger Sense and Feral Instinct, so you will almost never go last in initiative. You already have high STR and CON saves, so imagine having high DEX saves as well. Take Alert and Resilient (Dexterity), and nothing will catch you off guard, whether traps or monsters.
Brains over brawn? Mind over matter? These canny warriors rightly answer, "Why not both?" - Tasha
My Homebrews: Monsters, Magic Items, Spells, Races
Rhulg- Hobgoblin Gunsmith
Just remember that Long-Limbed only works on your turn and likely won't be a factor with the majority of OAs. As such, your still looking at 5 ft (10 with a reach weapon) for all of your attacks that don't occur on your turn. Still effective, just not as effective as people think on a quick read.
I played a Scourge Aasimar Zealot last year. He could really crank out the radiant damage.
In my next campaign I'm thinking about doing a Reborn Zealot; he'll be pretty much impossible to kill.
Behind every successful Warlock, there's an angry mob.