I think everyone has basically said everything. There are a few combo's of spells you can use, but as you say a bard can counterspell. Only once mind you, some one guy throws a fireball at the party he counterspells. Next guy heats metal on the barbarians weapon, no save...he either drops it or takes damage. etc etc.
Have the barbarian fall into a pit that seals shut above him and then his party are attacked. In the pit phasing out of the walls comes five kobolds each turn. He can deal 60 damage to two of them kill them, bonus action do 60 damage to a third and kill it too. The other two get advantage and between them lets say he takes...four damage (after resistance). Turn after turn. Eventually swarmed by a room full of kobolds taking a total of 4, then 8, then 12, 16, 20, etc as kobolds pile up with spears attacking from two ranks, throwing from those behind.
This will out right kill him if you want or drop him to zero, the trap stops etc.
There are ways to stop him for sure and if they are gamers then a huge boss fight and big fights along the way are perhaps what they enjoy most over story. If there are huge fights in a dangerous place, then they don't get to short rest as monsters, guards etc find them and interrupt it. No restoring HP with hit dice, no one gets anything back from the rest.
Or a smart NPC that they are pitting themselves against will plan for them, attack them when they least expect it or send them off on a diversion while they get their plans and schemes going somewhere else and summon that greater demon in a different cave.
But. As things are, are you the only one not having fun? If your players are all having fun then the only thing that needs fixing is how to help YOU have more fun. Do you need to bring down a PC to do that? If you want to run a story based game why do you need him to die/almost die in a fight? I think the thing to do is to be honest with your players and say you are struggling with it and not enjoying it. See what they think, if they are or not and go from there. Perhaps bring this campaign to an end earlier than intended and start again, insisting on the standard array and low magic for the next one and a story based game....If you can convince them to try it that way. Otherwise it is an issue of your style and theirs not mixing well and finding other players (if you can).
The answer is simple. Do what a GM is supposed to do when they encounter an overpowered game element.
Nerf it, or ban it. Don't go out of your way changing things, don't complicate things with weird niche strategies that nobody would actually prepare for, just go 'yeah, this is broken, we're changing it or getting rid of it'.
Ghosts. Lots of ghosts. Possess the barbarian and have him slaughter the party. Or watch as the barbarian ages by failing saves and approaches death by old age.
Ghosts. Lots of ghosts. Possess the barbarian and have him slaughter the party. Or watch as the barbarian ages by failing saves and approaches death by old age.
Ghosts don't get class features or proficiencies of the possessed person, they use their own.
I had this same kind of problem once. One tactic you can use is to not attack the party head on. I find hags and devils are great in this area. Come at the party sideways. Take out their friends. Spread rumors about them in town, so no one will deal with them. Night Hags attack in their dreams. Send minions, lots and lots of minions. Manipulate the PCs into attacking the wrong guy, getting them in trouble with the law.
Then just start customizing monsters. Jack up their AC. Raise HP. Give them legendary actions and lair actions. Turn tropes they know on their head. Reskin monsters into other things.
Then, if all else fails, just hand them the Deck of Many Things, and let the world burn.
I know they're not too big into role play but you could begin to experiment with his relationship with his spirit animal. Is he living up to the ideals of the bear? It was once said that barbarians are the paladins of the wilds. Who is his bear spirit guide and does it approve of his actions? Does it feel taken for granted? Does teddy feel that barbie deserves that elemental resistance today? You could implement a honor code as detailed in the DMG to keep it gamist and mechanical so when in dispute with the bear spirit, honor rolls become the order of the day. Obvious penalties being the lose or postponing of totemic abilities and potential benefits giving him new once daily abilities where his bear spirit can used as a ranged spell attack or can possess an ally giving it barbie powers for a turn or two. "He guys remember how teddy was feeling sleepy yesterday so I didn't rage to give some R&R? Well... BOOM Pally's a barber. You're welcome." "Teddy hold that Lich still for five and a thousand salmon shall sacrificed to you on the first morn of fall."
Giving a gamer a mechanical reward for better role playing seems a running theme. I'd talk to the group about this and see if they're cool with it and if they'd like to work out similar systems for their class, could be a nice twist on you and your's gaming experience. I really don't like over using "lose your turn" effects like banishment or charms on players, or Louis Lane kidnappings. So the occasional villain subverting the barbarian into pissing of his totem for a day could be a nice change of pace.
I recently attacked my totem barbarian with a lot of swarms. Not only were they good for resisting damage (they resist every damage type) and soaking those barbarian attacks, I had the other players try to help get the swarms off, and I ruled that they were doing damage to the barbarian. It almost took him to 0 with most of the damage being caused by the party! It was a fun encounter with no hard feelings had.
There’s so many replies I didn’t read them all, so this might have already been suggested, but try this:
Talk to your player about retiring the barbarian. Just say, “hey, I don’t think the writers and play testers were as clever as you and they let a too powerful character slip into the game. It’s not fun for me and it’s not a challenge for you. How about starting up a more balanced character and letting your barbarian go retire?”
Maybe plan a farewell adventure and give the barbarian a big reward, like the hall of gods needs a warrior to kill a tarrasque or something and they need him. Then he rides off into the sunset and into bigger things.
I agree with many of the responses here. There are a number of ways you could deal with this. I think being creative though is the way to go about it and should make things more fun. I have run into similar situations in the past where players are treating the game like a video game. I think that is partly because they probably played RPG/action adventure video games long before they even thought of playing D&D. I have also run into the player that looks for that perfect build usually there looking for that overpowered build. I think thats its sort of natural for a player to want that advantage but when they want that advantage over other party members it can be an issue.
As for the players knowing the rules so well. This should not be an issue at all and they should respect you as a DM and is sounds like they do. Be open to rules debates if a player wants to discuss it providing it will not take up much time slowing the game progress. You are the DM and you will always have the final say. Now if a player is being that ever knowing rules master pull them aside and have a chat with them. And with that said, the same goes for the player that just has to have that advantage over the rest of the group or even the game.
I have had a friend of mine that was very much this way all around. Sad to say he no longer plays with us. Ill try to keep it short but here is a bit about what was going on. I was running a D&D game with a group of friends I work or worked with at one point. My buddy Nick (I dont think he will read this and if ed did I would not care.) He did every bit of research he could on exactly what class and build was the most damaging. Ok fine. But I started to run into major issues. Ill spare you the details. He was also a major pain in the rear when it came to the rules. He would question everything I did and he was a new player at that where I have been running D&D for many years. It started to slow the game for one. He would only want to debate the rules when something was pertaining to only him if he was put at a disadvantage. This got old with not just myself but the rest of the group as well. It got to the point where none wanted to play with him any longer. The other players were not to happy with hip when he started to seem untouchable. When I made correction to the game to challenge him this is when he really wanted to discuss the rules.
I and another friend invited him to a warhammer group we had met up with on a regular basis because he was wanting to get into it. Well the same thing happened with that. First he did his homework and got the most OP army build he could get at that time (Grey Knights). He also bought his army used and already painted which did not sit well with a lot of the guys. Every one of us built and painted our stuff and if someone got something used it was cleaned up and repainted. Anyway when we were playing the game he would question every single thing that went on that he was involved in, and I mean everything. There were a few guys there who have been playing the game as if it was a religion from when it first came out. And you know what they were also cool as hell. These dudes had the number down. So Nick ended up pushing himself out of that group also. I got a bit of friendly heat over bringing him into the group for a while.
Sad thing is there will always be players like this. Players who are only in it for themselves even to the point where other players are not enjoying themselves. Sadly with Nick he found enjoyment in other players frustration and dismay. Lesson to him. Good luck finding others to group with and if he gets a group it wont be for long.
I do apologize if I went a bit off topic but my point in the end is you dont have to play with toxic players if it gets to out of hand. I would just have a good talk with the player in question though.
Sounds kind you’ve been dealing with this for some time. If I was you I would do a few things. Instead of trying to out do this guy every session and go ham with your bag of tricks I would save the bag of tricks for once an arch.
Throw a couple famorians at them and let him get cursed and have him deal with the curse for a few sessions. If they are open to you home brewing things I’d buff the DC of the curse.
Maybe try and create drama between him and the rest of the party I’m game if your table is into that.
You mentioned a lot of the players have phds. Worst case scenario talk them about the issue your having. Maybe even specifically the player. Maybe he would agree into making his character into a villain 🤔
i once had a super OP barbarian that screwed the scale of everything. Everyone at the table knew it. There was a discussion between the player and myself and the player was happy to work with me behind the screen into turning his player into a bad guy
Have your villains fly and cast spells from the air. Barbarian can rage all it wants while waving his axe. This works well against any melee focused group.
Have your enemies cast levitate on your players. No fly speed and no ranged attacks? Ignore the barbarian so the rage fizzles, then rinse repeat.
Pitfall traps mid combat.
Have your large flying beast pick up the barbarian and carry him off to the far side of the combat. Duel time. Fun for everyone.
Shifting, multi leveled terrain. Keep him on the move and keep your own creatures on the move.
You’re the dm, you can have your monsters misty step every single turn and there’s nothing they can do to stop it. Except that’s the whole scenario. Let them find a way to stop it.
Surrround your villains in your very own force cage. Prevent the melee fighters from getting in while blasting away with ranged attacks. This way your players don’t feel cheated by being separated from the fight. Same effect, but sneakier.
DM screen for a reason. Sometimes you crit and do 40 damage all at once. Put the fear of god in the barbarian every once in a while. Just don’t abuse this. Or just cast crazy spells like disintegrate. Just... lead the fight with it while they still have most their hitpoints and don’t use it to dust someone when they get kinda low.
there’s so much that can be done when you can do literally anything.
I'm curious about whether this every got resolved for you, OP.
Hey thanks for asking. It is not really fully resolved but it is better. There are a lot of good ideas and responses in this thread I wish I could respond to each individually. I put to use many of the ideas and just ruminated on what was said as well to better adjust my own attitude towards things.
A couple of points. First is that I have been DMing (and running various other games) for over 30 years at this point, 5e for about 3 now, and am familiar with the many tricks up a DM's sleeve. That said, I found there are always more things to learn and consider so thank you all. Secondly, please don't misunderstand me in that I am not looking to kill or remove the player. I understand that they are supposed to win and I want the players to. As I said before, it is more about combat being able to have narrative weight, to make the players understand there is risk involved in fighting. Which in turn fosters roleplay and solutions to encounters outside sword and spell slinging. That can be very hard to do when a character is more or less invincible.
I also realize as the DM you are allowed to do anything. Literally anything. But it is my opinion, and just my own opinion, that having to stretch the rules to extreme degrees seems unfair to all the players involved. Both in just targeting a particular character and in making the world fun. I think there needs to be consistency to the rules so that the players feel like they are taking part of a story in a world that turns on its own rather than them being the center of all. Even though the players know the latter to be true. That's why I don't like bending the rules too far, but again that is just how I feel about it.
And yes, I have had consequences for the group because of some of the barbarian's actions. Lost allies, friends killed, the Paladin losing his god's favor and needing to get it back, general havoc and chaos, enemies made etc etc. But how much do you really want to punish someone and derail the campaign? The player is a very likable guy, who plays the game with mirth and in the end everyone enjoys themselves. So how much of a slog do I want to make it for the others by constantly cutting off story avenues and roleplay? A good piece of advice I was told: 'How much of a dick do you really want to be?' And I dislike removing player agency because at that point, why play the game?
So that out of the way, I found a stone golem and slow to be far more effective then I would have thought. I did use a Fomorian and Umber Hulk combination which was effective. At one point the confusion had him run in a random direction and he fell into the hole the Umber Hulk made when it dug up from the ground. He only fell a few feet but we all had a laugh. Using more minions and mob attack rules is useful. Traps and such as well. He's still a pain in the ass but its bearable.
Roleplay wise I did something I normally don't do which was just come up with something and hoist it on him. His background was pretty basic. Dwarf village, attacked by orcs, last survivor, wandered years in the wilderness, came out a barbarian. Long story short that was just a memory to hide the truth. That he had raged and killed everyone. There was no orc attack. Now, to give the player a bit of an out the idea was the dwarves of the clan had imprisoned a demon of steel and fire into their forge so the items made by their smiths were powerful. A derivative idea I know but classic. At one point the demon tried to use him as a vessel to escape, making the demon the source of his rage powers. He managed to throw off the demon's influence and fled (but not before killing everyone). The totems had been watching the village, tried to warn them about this demon and were ignored (still developing the idea but sort of nature vs iron). They decided to help him, giving him the false memories to help keep his rage in check.
So I came up with a reason for them to return to ruins of his old village and clanhold. He wanted to forge a special weapon, not remembering the truth about the forge, it was suggested he make his weapon there. He did so, the demon was awakened, this time managing to possess him but not control him. Lying in wait inside the barbarian. And every time he rages, the demon gets a little stronger. I have not had any mechanical consequences... yet. But it is just enough to have him think twice about raging. Which is just the kind of thing I was looking for.
Seems like you came up with a very RP way to deal with someone who likes to smash and avoid RP.
Evil bastard, I like it lol
Did the totems try to warn him when they went back to the village or was it something he ignored. So whenever he rages not only does the demon get stronger will his totem get weaker as a consequence? It could be a whole new quest to get rid of this demon, and re-connect with his totem who would only then let him access his full power with conditions (ie play nice or be screwed lol).
Make the Barbarian bear a tattoo overnight, he doesn‘t recognize where it‘s coming from - like in Curse of the Azure Bonds. Driven by some unknown force who wants to take control over him, because he‘s got the power it needs.
Some sudden disease for which noone has a cure, and which is reducing his combat power.
Making usage of the totem requires a physical object to be worn. Clever enemies will will remove/destroy this totem, making all further attacks by the barbarian much less effective. I agree having ‚resistance to all but psychic‘ at 3rd lvl. is too much.
Rage ends when either taking damage, or when no hostile enemy can be hit. Enemies are very likely to dash away until the Barbarian is out of rages. As with characters being able to suspend initiative using the ‚Ready‘ action, the enemies will do for just this reason.
By the way it doesn‘t say you get the DAMAGE bonus of weapon master, when using polearm master. Just the ability bonus modifier as with the primary attack (for the attack bonus).
Sadly it seems there is no official rule clarification forum @ Wizards, as it is with Paizo. However it looks like this player is trying every trick to make his char the best possible by interpreting rules likes he see‘s fitting. This is a different topic, though.
Don‘t be fooled. You are the DM. If you think it‘s too unbalancing, change the rules to make it fun for the majority of the players (and yourself) at least.
I have player wanting to continuously casting cantrips, because there is no restriction. Besides it being boring, it‘s unbalancing (depending on what to achieve, e.g. casting illusion to get always advantage, or stuff like that). I simply said casting 2/3 (40 mins.) in an hour, will grant a possible exhaustion roll.
The best advice I can give you is status conditions. If you truly want to counter a barbarian the incapacitated condition ends their rage and hold person also paralyzes. Otherwise hidden enemies, enemies who hit and try to hide. If they're being supported by a healer take care of them first. Use environments with traps and such, A barbarian may be tough but if they aren't perceptive and trigger a pitfall by running straight into it they're stuck in a hole for however many rounds. Use wall of force to twist terrain in casters favor. Have them use stone skin to be tougher. Hold person though is definitely the tough one for barbs especially if your enemies space to attempt to avoid counter spell knockback spells to keep paladin away from them or simply holding the spell for when the barb moves away also work.
Honestly dude, just disallow or alter the class. The rules are just guidelines after all, and if youre the DM then you ARE the rules.
I play a heavily bastardized 2e - Ive altered, overhauled and scrapped so much core content that I cant even imagine what core 2e plays like anymore.
Weve been in similar positions before, and we use them as learning curves. Ive nerfed every damn class at one point or another, all to align them with my vision of the game. Do the same thing for yours.
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I think everyone has basically said everything. There are a few combo's of spells you can use, but as you say a bard can counterspell. Only once mind you, some one guy throws a fireball at the party he counterspells. Next guy heats metal on the barbarians weapon, no save...he either drops it or takes damage. etc etc.
Have the barbarian fall into a pit that seals shut above him and then his party are attacked. In the pit phasing out of the walls comes five kobolds each turn. He can deal 60 damage to two of them kill them, bonus action do 60 damage to a third and kill it too. The other two get advantage and between them lets say he takes...four damage (after resistance). Turn after turn. Eventually swarmed by a room full of kobolds taking a total of 4, then 8, then 12, 16, 20, etc as kobolds pile up with spears attacking from two ranks, throwing from those behind.
This will out right kill him if you want or drop him to zero, the trap stops etc.
There are ways to stop him for sure and if they are gamers then a huge boss fight and big fights along the way are perhaps what they enjoy most over story. If there are huge fights in a dangerous place, then they don't get to short rest as monsters, guards etc find them and interrupt it. No restoring HP with hit dice, no one gets anything back from the rest.
Or a smart NPC that they are pitting themselves against will plan for them, attack them when they least expect it or send them off on a diversion while they get their plans and schemes going somewhere else and summon that greater demon in a different cave.
But. As things are, are you the only one not having fun? If your players are all having fun then the only thing that needs fixing is how to help YOU have more fun. Do you need to bring down a PC to do that? If you want to run a story based game why do you need him to die/almost die in a fight? I think the thing to do is to be honest with your players and say you are struggling with it and not enjoying it. See what they think, if they are or not and go from there. Perhaps bring this campaign to an end earlier than intended and start again, insisting on the standard array and low magic for the next one and a story based game....If you can convince them to try it that way. Otherwise it is an issue of your style and theirs not mixing well and finding other players (if you can).
The answer is simple. Do what a GM is supposed to do when they encounter an overpowered game element.
Nerf it, or ban it. Don't go out of your way changing things, don't complicate things with weird niche strategies that nobody would actually prepare for, just go 'yeah, this is broken, we're changing it or getting rid of it'.
Ghosts. Lots of ghosts. Possess the barbarian and have him slaughter the party. Or watch as the barbarian ages by failing saves and approaches death by old age.
Ghosts don't get class features or proficiencies of the possessed person, they use their own.
I'm curious about whether this every got resolved for you, OP.
If I were in your shoes, I'd have that Barbarian find himself a Deck of Many Things. He draws a Talons card or a Void - that would solve that problem.
I had this same kind of problem once. One tactic you can use is to not attack the party head on. I find hags and devils are great in this area. Come at the party sideways. Take out their friends. Spread rumors about them in town, so no one will deal with them. Night Hags attack in their dreams. Send minions, lots and lots of minions. Manipulate the PCs into attacking the wrong guy, getting them in trouble with the law.
Then just start customizing monsters. Jack up their AC. Raise HP. Give them legendary actions and lair actions. Turn tropes they know on their head. Reskin monsters into other things.
Then, if all else fails, just hand them the Deck of Many Things, and let the world burn.
I know they're not too big into role play but you could begin to experiment with his relationship with his spirit animal. Is he living up to the ideals of the bear? It was once said that barbarians are the paladins of the wilds. Who is his bear spirit guide and does it approve of his actions? Does it feel taken for granted? Does teddy feel that barbie deserves that elemental resistance today? You could implement a honor code as detailed in the DMG to keep it gamist and mechanical so when in dispute with the bear spirit, honor rolls become the order of the day. Obvious penalties being the lose or postponing of totemic abilities and potential benefits giving him new once daily abilities where his bear spirit can used as a ranged spell attack or can possess an ally giving it barbie powers for a turn or two. "He guys remember how teddy was feeling sleepy yesterday so I didn't rage to give some R&R? Well... BOOM Pally's a barber. You're welcome." "Teddy hold that Lich still for five and a thousand salmon shall sacrificed to you on the first morn of fall."
Giving a gamer a mechanical reward for better role playing seems a running theme. I'd talk to the group about this and see if they're cool with it and if they'd like to work out similar systems for their class, could be a nice twist on you and your's gaming experience. I really don't like over using "lose your turn" effects like banishment or charms on players, or Louis Lane kidnappings. So the occasional villain subverting the barbarian into pissing of his totem for a day could be a nice change of pace.
I recently attacked my totem barbarian with a lot of swarms. Not only were they good for resisting damage (they resist every damage type) and soaking those barbarian attacks, I had the other players try to help get the swarms off, and I ruled that they were doing damage to the barbarian. It almost took him to 0 with most of the damage being caused by the party! It was a fun encounter with no hard feelings had.
There’s so many replies I didn’t read them all, so this might have already been suggested, but try this:
Talk to your player about retiring the barbarian. Just say, “hey, I don’t think the writers and play testers were as clever as you and they let a too powerful character slip into the game. It’s not fun for me and it’s not a challenge for you. How about starting up a more balanced character and letting your barbarian go retire?”
Maybe plan a farewell adventure and give the barbarian a big reward, like the hall of gods needs a warrior to kill a tarrasque or something and they need him. Then he rides off into the sunset and into bigger things.
I agree with many of the responses here. There are a number of ways you could deal with this. I think being creative though is the way to go about it and should make things more fun. I have run into similar situations in the past where players are treating the game like a video game. I think that is partly because they probably played RPG/action adventure video games long before they even thought of playing D&D. I have also run into the player that looks for that perfect build usually there looking for that overpowered build. I think thats its sort of natural for a player to want that advantage but when they want that advantage over other party members it can be an issue.
As for the players knowing the rules so well. This should not be an issue at all and they should respect you as a DM and is sounds like they do. Be open to rules debates if a player wants to discuss it providing it will not take up much time slowing the game progress. You are the DM and you will always have the final say. Now if a player is being that ever knowing rules master pull them aside and have a chat with them. And with that said, the same goes for the player that just has to have that advantage over the rest of the group or even the game.
I have had a friend of mine that was very much this way all around. Sad to say he no longer plays with us. Ill try to keep it short but here is a bit about what was going on. I was running a D&D game with a group of friends I work or worked with at one point. My buddy Nick (I dont think he will read this and if ed did I would not care.) He did every bit of research he could on exactly what class and build was the most damaging. Ok fine. But I started to run into major issues. Ill spare you the details. He was also a major pain in the rear when it came to the rules. He would question everything I did and he was a new player at that where I have been running D&D for many years. It started to slow the game for one. He would only want to debate the rules when something was pertaining to only him if he was put at a disadvantage. This got old with not just myself but the rest of the group as well. It got to the point where none wanted to play with him any longer. The other players were not to happy with hip when he started to seem untouchable. When I made correction to the game to challenge him this is when he really wanted to discuss the rules.
I and another friend invited him to a warhammer group we had met up with on a regular basis because he was wanting to get into it. Well the same thing happened with that. First he did his homework and got the most OP army build he could get at that time (Grey Knights). He also bought his army used and already painted which did not sit well with a lot of the guys. Every one of us built and painted our stuff and if someone got something used it was cleaned up and repainted. Anyway when we were playing the game he would question every single thing that went on that he was involved in, and I mean everything. There were a few guys there who have been playing the game as if it was a religion from when it first came out. And you know what they were also cool as hell. These dudes had the number down. So Nick ended up pushing himself out of that group also. I got a bit of friendly heat over bringing him into the group for a while.
Sad thing is there will always be players like this. Players who are only in it for themselves even to the point where other players are not enjoying themselves. Sadly with Nick he found enjoyment in other players frustration and dismay. Lesson to him. Good luck finding others to group with and if he gets a group it wont be for long.
I do apologize if I went a bit off topic but my point in the end is you dont have to play with toxic players if it gets to out of hand. I would just have a good talk with the player in question though.
I once had a demon appear out of nowhere, grab a player, and teleport him away.
The player ended up in a cage deep in the dungeon, and the other players had to find him.
In the meantime, they had to make due without him.
Sounds kind you’ve been dealing with this for some time. If I was you I would do a few things. Instead of trying to out do this guy every session and go ham with your bag of tricks I would save the bag of tricks for once an arch.
Throw a couple famorians at them and let him get cursed and have him deal with the curse for a few sessions. If they are open to you home brewing things I’d buff the DC of the curse.
Maybe try and create drama between him and the rest of the party I’m game if your table is into that.
You mentioned a lot of the players have phds. Worst case scenario talk them about the issue your having. Maybe even specifically the player. Maybe he would agree into making his character into a villain 🤔
i once had a super OP barbarian that screwed the scale of everything. Everyone at the table knew it. There was a discussion between the player and myself and the player was happy to work with me behind the screen into turning his player into a bad guy
Have your villains fly and cast spells from the air. Barbarian can rage all it wants while waving his axe. This works well against any melee focused group.
Have your enemies cast levitate on your players. No fly speed and no ranged attacks? Ignore the barbarian so the rage fizzles, then rinse repeat.
Pitfall traps mid combat.
Have your large flying beast pick up the barbarian and carry him off to the far side of the combat. Duel time. Fun for everyone.
Shifting, multi leveled terrain. Keep him on the move and keep your own creatures on the move.
You’re the dm, you can have your monsters misty step every single turn and there’s nothing they can do to stop it. Except that’s the whole scenario. Let them find a way to stop it.
Surrround your villains in your very own force cage. Prevent the melee fighters from getting in while blasting away with ranged attacks. This way your players don’t feel cheated by being separated from the fight. Same effect, but sneakier.
DM screen for a reason. Sometimes you crit and do 40 damage all at once. Put the fear of god in the barbarian every once in a while. Just don’t abuse this. Or just cast crazy spells like disintegrate. Just... lead the fight with it while they still have most their hitpoints and don’t use it to dust someone when they get kinda low.
there’s so much that can be done when you can do literally anything.
Hey thanks for asking. It is not really fully resolved but it is better. There are a lot of good ideas and responses in this thread I wish I could respond to each individually. I put to use many of the ideas and just ruminated on what was said as well to better adjust my own attitude towards things.
A couple of points. First is that I have been DMing (and running various other games) for over 30 years at this point, 5e for about 3 now, and am familiar with the many tricks up a DM's sleeve. That said, I found there are always more things to learn and consider so thank you all. Secondly, please don't misunderstand me in that I am not looking to kill or remove the player. I understand that they are supposed to win and I want the players to. As I said before, it is more about combat being able to have narrative weight, to make the players understand there is risk involved in fighting. Which in turn fosters roleplay and solutions to encounters outside sword and spell slinging. That can be very hard to do when a character is more or less invincible.
I also realize as the DM you are allowed to do anything. Literally anything. But it is my opinion, and just my own opinion, that having to stretch the rules to extreme degrees seems unfair to all the players involved. Both in just targeting a particular character and in making the world fun. I think there needs to be consistency to the rules so that the players feel like they are taking part of a story in a world that turns on its own rather than them being the center of all. Even though the players know the latter to be true. That's why I don't like bending the rules too far, but again that is just how I feel about it.
And yes, I have had consequences for the group because of some of the barbarian's actions. Lost allies, friends killed, the Paladin losing his god's favor and needing to get it back, general havoc and chaos, enemies made etc etc. But how much do you really want to punish someone and derail the campaign? The player is a very likable guy, who plays the game with mirth and in the end everyone enjoys themselves. So how much of a slog do I want to make it for the others by constantly cutting off story avenues and roleplay? A good piece of advice I was told: 'How much of a dick do you really want to be?' And I dislike removing player agency because at that point, why play the game?
So that out of the way, I found a stone golem and slow to be far more effective then I would have thought. I did use a Fomorian and Umber Hulk combination which was effective. At one point the confusion had him run in a random direction and he fell into the hole the Umber Hulk made when it dug up from the ground. He only fell a few feet but we all had a laugh. Using more minions and mob attack rules is useful. Traps and such as well. He's still a pain in the ass but its bearable.
Roleplay wise I did something I normally don't do which was just come up with something and hoist it on him. His background was pretty basic. Dwarf village, attacked by orcs, last survivor, wandered years in the wilderness, came out a barbarian. Long story short that was just a memory to hide the truth. That he had raged and killed everyone. There was no orc attack. Now, to give the player a bit of an out the idea was the dwarves of the clan had imprisoned a demon of steel and fire into their forge so the items made by their smiths were powerful. A derivative idea I know but classic. At one point the demon tried to use him as a vessel to escape, making the demon the source of his rage powers. He managed to throw off the demon's influence and fled (but not before killing everyone). The totems had been watching the village, tried to warn them about this demon and were ignored (still developing the idea but sort of nature vs iron). They decided to help him, giving him the false memories to help keep his rage in check.
So I came up with a reason for them to return to ruins of his old village and clanhold. He wanted to forge a special weapon, not remembering the truth about the forge, it was suggested he make his weapon there. He did so, the demon was awakened, this time managing to possess him but not control him. Lying in wait inside the barbarian. And every time he rages, the demon gets a little stronger. I have not had any mechanical consequences... yet. But it is just enough to have him think twice about raging. Which is just the kind of thing I was looking for.
Seems like an awesome way to handle it!
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Seems like you came up with a very RP way to deal with someone who likes to smash and avoid RP.
Evil bastard, I like it lol
Did the totems try to warn him when they went back to the village or was it something he ignored. So whenever he rages not only does the demon get stronger will his totem get weaker as a consequence? It could be a whole new quest to get rid of this demon, and re-connect with his totem who would only then let him access his full power with conditions (ie play nice or be screwed lol).
From Within Chaos Comes Order!
Make the Barbarian bear a tattoo overnight, he doesn‘t recognize where it‘s coming from - like in Curse of the Azure Bonds. Driven by some unknown force who wants to take control over him, because he‘s got the power it needs.
Some sudden disease for which noone has a cure, and which is reducing his combat power.
Making usage of the totem requires a physical object to be worn. Clever enemies will will remove/destroy this totem, making all further attacks by the barbarian much less effective. I agree having ‚resistance to all but psychic‘ at 3rd lvl. is too much.
Rage ends when either taking damage, or when no hostile enemy can be hit. Enemies are very likely to dash away until the Barbarian is out of rages. As with characters being able to suspend initiative using the ‚Ready‘ action, the enemies will do for just this reason.
By the way it doesn‘t say you get the DAMAGE bonus of weapon master, when using polearm master. Just the ability bonus modifier as with the primary attack (for the attack bonus).
Sadly it seems there is no official rule clarification forum @ Wizards, as it is with Paizo. However it looks like this player is trying every trick to make his char the best possible by interpreting rules likes he see‘s fitting. This is a different topic, though.
Don‘t be fooled. You are the DM. If you think it‘s too unbalancing, change the rules to make it fun for the majority of the players (and yourself) at least.
I have player wanting to continuously casting cantrips, because there is no restriction. Besides it being boring, it‘s unbalancing (depending on what to achieve, e.g. casting illusion to get always advantage, or stuff like that). I simply said casting 2/3 (40 mins.) in an hour, will grant a possible exhaustion roll.
You aren't the only one who feels challenged by the Bear Totem Barbarian.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
The best advice I can give you is status conditions. If you truly want to counter a barbarian the incapacitated condition ends their rage and hold person also paralyzes. Otherwise hidden enemies, enemies who hit and try to hide. If they're being supported by a healer take care of them first. Use environments with traps and such, A barbarian may be tough but if they aren't perceptive and trigger a pitfall by running straight into it they're stuck in a hole for however many rounds. Use wall of force to twist terrain in casters favor. Have them use stone skin to be tougher. Hold person though is definitely the tough one for barbs especially if your enemies space to attempt to avoid counter spell knockback spells to keep paladin away from them or simply holding the spell for when the barb moves away also work.
Honestly dude, just disallow or alter the class. The rules are just guidelines after all, and if youre the DM then you ARE the rules.
I play a heavily bastardized 2e - Ive altered, overhauled and scrapped so much core content that I cant even imagine what core 2e plays like anymore.
Weve been in similar positions before, and we use them as learning curves. Ive nerfed every damn class at one point or another, all to align them with my vision of the game. Do the same thing for yours.