I'm a DM for a party of three, and recently one of our players rolled a barbarian, and now we have both a barbarian and a fighter in the group. I recognize the differences in the classes, but was wondering about any ideas people may have about challenges or monsters that can help them both shine in their own way?
They aren't super different, but in general a fighter tends towards high ac and high spike damage, whereas barbarians are more about a sustained ability to do and absorb damage.
One thing you can do when narrating the action is highlighting the coordination of their attacks when they play as a team. Maybe the fighter uses technique to exploit an opening from the barbarian's reckless swings, that kind of thing. It's a way to spotlight them both and emphasize the difference in their approaches.
They will both shine in combat, just play it off when rage reduces a big hit or action surge gets off a barrage of attacks. They can also presumably shine in different areas skill-wise outside of combat. Although neither are particularly good at that kind of thing compared to other classes, they do tend to have different proficiencies.
Make sure to leverage magic wielder's spells like Dominate Person or something that plays to the Barbarians & Fighters traditionally lower INT or WIS scores. Watch the party panic when the evil mage turns their barbarian against them.
Hi!
I'm a DM for a party of three, and recently one of our players rolled a barbarian, and now we have both a barbarian and a fighter in the group. I recognize the differences in the classes, but was wondering about any ideas people may have about challenges or monsters that can help them both shine in their own way?
Thank you!
They aren't super different, but in general a fighter tends towards high ac and high spike damage, whereas barbarians are more about a sustained ability to do and absorb damage.
One thing you can do when narrating the action is highlighting the coordination of their attacks when they play as a team. Maybe the fighter uses technique to exploit an opening from the barbarian's reckless swings, that kind of thing. It's a way to spotlight them both and emphasize the difference in their approaches.
They will both shine in combat, just play it off when rage reduces a big hit or action surge gets off a barrage of attacks. They can also presumably shine in different areas skill-wise outside of combat. Although neither are particularly good at that kind of thing compared to other classes, they do tend to have different proficiencies.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Make sure to leverage magic wielder's spells like Dominate Person or something that plays to the Barbarians & Fighters traditionally lower INT or WIS scores. Watch the party panic when the evil mage turns their barbarian against them.
What subclasses have they picked? In terms of base classes, they perform very similar roles unless the fighter builds for ranged attacking.
Presumably the fighter is STR based rather than DEX based?
If the Fighter is an EK that opens up a lot of variation.