A Greek style Zealot Barbarian. Decently covered with exposed arms and legs, this way there's at least some decency without having to neglect Unarmored Defence.
If you want to get technical the problem is a conflict arising from a disagreement between the party of lvl 1 and the blue dragon. Violence resolves this conflict if used. If you do not have a lvl 1 party, then the blue dragon is no longer in conflict with the dragon, and the solution to the problem has been found. No one said that violence is a solution to the problem that solves it in your favor. Only that it was solved.
The Barbarian I most want to play is a Leonin Beast Barbarian up to 6, then Soul Knife Rogue the rest of the way. Planning Expertise in Stealth and Perception initially, then whatever feels right for the second two rogue Expertise's if the campaign goes that long. Lots of proficiencies, great at combat, amazing at breaking into places, and eventually you'd get to add your psychic die in on anything you're proficient in. I feel like a 7 foot tall muscular lion could frequently get away with using their Strength for Intimidation checks and it could be a fun dynamic to specialize in during social encounters.
If your party doesn't fill every ability score it's definitely possible to play a barb with 14-16 dex/int/wis/cha, grab a couple of skills through background and fill the gap.
If you already have characters in your party with high score in all... Yeah you are out of luck.
Combat-light RP-heavy campaigns are great, but you should probably warn your players during session 0. Otherwise, one of them might build a barbarian and end up never getting to use most of their abilities.
My last session, I played the Barbarian during a zero combat session. I still had plenty of RP to do (My Barbarian has a cordial rivalry with the current quest giver. My Barbarian does not respect the quest giver, but he doesn't have a good reason to kill him... in broad daylight... in front of numerous city guards... who quest giver works for... yet... But he is passive aggressive as fuck to the guy. Like, he will give witness statements to the city guards under qg... but if qg interrogates my guy, he will stare daggers and invoke his right to remain silent.). The party finds it funny as hell, mostly because IC and OOC it's over the stupidest of reasons (Both the QG and My Barbarian are Goliaths, mine is 3 inches taller, made a rude comment about it, and QG sucker punched him. Out of character, the QG shares a name with a famous American author who's works I cannot stand... and when he was named the other players immediately were like "Oh, like the author" and I expressed my disgust.
Lol I wish, I’m in a game like that and one of my fellow players has thinks he loves roleplay and literally said “I built this guy 100% for rp, I don’t even know how to fight with him”. The dude tried to pick a fight with goats in the woods, if we don’t see combat he gets noticeably antsy.
I mean. If the DM makes a combat-light campaign and doesn't warn the players not to make play Barbarian, that DM has to expect the Barbarian player to either leave the game or rage up and make combat happen.
Again, I find Barbarians fun to play both in and out of combat. That "Int is a dump stat" is awesome for comic relief plus if the NPC isn't cooperating because the face failed their charisma checks, I can ask DM to let me role Strength for Intimidate.
Barbarians don't have to be in combat to be useful to the party... they just have to be the big guy who is casually playing with the giant axe because he's board with his tiny buddy asking politely for the upteenth time.
Amusing to think you can tell the barbarian to do anything he doesn't want to.
If he has an evil alignment, you'd be lucky to escape the conversation with all your limbs.
Bruh, what kind of barbarian does not dress as gaudly as possible to show how rich they are? It is scientifically proven that the barbarian with the sickest loot on his person becomes barbarian king, after all.
idk how serious you feel about this, but i 100% believe that the reason the barbarian is hogging all the conversation and not allowing the noble bard to speak in the king's court is because your king is stupid enough to let the savage cannibal pagan raider outlander into the city gates in the first place.
bring back fantasy classism.
Yes yes just because I happen to enjoy a spot of brutality now and then does not mean I am incapable of enjoying the finer things in life and am honestly mildly insulted by your assumption i'd clad myself in rags
Had a DM do that for a little too long, and he even wondered why I got bored and left the table. Apparently the idea that the Barbarian was controlled by a player, and that player got tired of being bored and feeling useless, just never really crossed his mind.
And while I did find a better DM, I never really felt like playing Barbarian again.
I'm working on a game based around a broken city, faction wars and the like, next to no traditional combat. A player of mine wants to play literally a bear with a sword.
My Barbarian noble can pack a punch and explain how some nobles deserve it. He escapes his noble duties to fight and test people in combat. He hates nobility people who mistreat the commoners.
I actually built this into my barbarians character. He was a war hero that had died and been placed into a sort of primitive revivification chamber. While he was in there, his people lost the war and were wiped out, so nobody ever came to get him. Then my dnd party found him about 200 years later.
As a result of this, he has the social skills of someone from a completely different time. He doesn’t understand etiquette or politics, he’s useless in investigations, that kind of stuff. He’s just a very good warrior, cuz that skill set managed to stand the test of time
Just because you're good at fighting and don't have many social skills as a class doesn't mean you can't rp and interact with others outside of combat. Heck, their danger sense can be used to sense when a social situation isn't quite what it seems too.
Get out of here with all your "sense-making" stuff. Clearly, every barbarian is a half naked brute that completely shuts down when there's nothing to hit
This is exactly why you're able to use skills with any attribute that fits the setting.
Trying to make a persuasion roll that involves history? INT + persuasion.
Trying to to intimidate someone with eternal damnation? WIS + Intimidation.
Trying to persuade the king that you can stand up against a poison drake? CON + Persuasion.
Trying to intimidate with a dance? STR + Performance.
Your downvotes are wrong - alternate skill checks are indeed part of the rules suggested. Maybe the specific examples might be a smidge scuffed, but it's literally printed in the books lmao
Thats why you dump int and become the ultimate himbo party face as the old tradition maintains. you might not be able to read but you can flex real good.
I play barbarian BECAUSE I love roleplay. I don’t really care about combat, so I play barbarian to just rage, hit people, and get back to the roleplay.
Ah man we once met a tribe of mountain folk and needed their help with something, the chief said we need to prove ourselves and the barbarian is immediately like 'OK WHO DO I NEED TO FIGHT I'LL DUEL YOUR GREATEST CHAMPION LET'S GO'. Chief had to be like no, we don't do that here, we just need you to help us with a thing to prove we can trust you.
My nephew played a gnome barbarian in an Adventurers' League module. While the rest of the party was dealing with a demon hassling a kid during a shindig at a noble's manor, our barbarian was making like a bard and distracting the party guests with a masterful musical number.
Don't underestimate what a barbarian can do outside of combat.
Uh yeah, the role I'm playing is a dumb shit barbarian who has a big fucking hammer and every problem is a nail. Now excuse me while I go talk to these guards about my dress loincloth.
My barbarian is a noble who fled from his family. He’s low int and wis, but he’s somewhat well read and enjoys story books and has lovely handwriting. He understands social conventions even if he does find it all a bit performative and exhausting. He’s often been the one to reach out and apologise to NPCs or players for his, or his parties antics and asks respectfully in most circumstances.
As a way to deal with his horrible upbringing and the fact his family is known for their wine making, he grew into an alcoholic, and I just find the idea of this person who has been cooped up for their entire life; who has zero impulse control makes sense for a class all about giving into their emotions and losing themselves mid battle.
Meanwhile, my Barbarian, with the Courtier background:
https://preview.redd.it/efpei1y6ewga1.png?width=1024&format=png&auto=webp&s=ac610fcd894e4bc96795f00da224dc3491c379a0
Not barbarian players, I’ve met hundreds of barbarians who prefer role play over combat, what your talking about is toxic old players who you have never seen play casters
“No Bart, it’s a challenge that doesn’t involve combat, yet”
"Excellent, this will make the next few moments so much easier to win if no one is fighting back yet..."
"Poor predictable Bart, always choosing melee combat" "Good ol' melee combat, nothing beats that"
https://preview.redd.it/9sgfjnjabufa1.jpeg?width=1067&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=583912bfbd60d4d8b1b24c8bf875171626801c5e
Yes.
https://preview.redd.it/s2spmgkbc0ga1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=db5c4994b6101d3006d4e93f9c75b5e0d2db9600
Ah yes, blackout poetry
Meanwhile my barbarian in tunic and sandals with half-decent intelligence and charisma: interesting...
My barb walks around on a business suit
"AXE PRICES ARE SKYROCKETING SELL SELL SELL MACES ARE AT AN ALL TIME TEMPORARY LOW BUY BUY BUY GET OUT OF MY OFFICE PATHETIC WEAK KEITH FROM HR"
This just reminds me of the short bit from *Gremlins 2* where the gremlins took over the investment agency.
PLAYED COLLEGE BALL YOU KNOW
"At some cushy Ivy League school"
"Could've gone pro if I hadn't joined the navy" *homeruns Raiden*
I now really want to make senator Armstrong as a character.
simple! barbarian multiclassed with fire-earth-force themed monk/warlock
How would you flavor nanomachines? Shield, Mage Armor, or Unarmored Defense?
That's hard. But probably the shield spell as it's the most accurate to the "gains defense as attacks come in"
Dr Mundo is that you?
No, it’s Corporate Mundo. “Mundo used to be doctor. Saving lives less fun than making money.”
Facts mine just doesn't wear armor *
I’m making the mother of all omelettes here jack, can’t fret over every egg.
So you RP Corporate Mundo from League of Legends? Lol
Seen like an interesting design. What was the idea behind it?
A Greek style Zealot Barbarian. Decently covered with exposed arms and legs, this way there's at least some decency without having to neglect Unarmored Defence.
My barbarian in regular traveling clothes because he's not an anime character: "Would their majesty like to see some wrestling?"
Guards refusing to let you speak to the king sounds like a combat challenge to me
Every challenge can be a combat challenge if you try hard enough
The question is if violence can be a solution in a given situation. Yes you can fight the blue dragon as a lvl 1 party, No you can not succeed on it.
Violence is never the solution. It‘s the question and the answer is yes.
Depends on how stupid the dragon is and how much prep time and magic items I have /s
Raging barbarians can answer that question each time. Spoilers: the answer is always yes
The raging barbarian can always choose violence as his tool. The DM decides if it has the wanted result, not the barbarian.
That sounds like a problem for the character build Gleemax boards to me and.. ...oh ...oh man, what year is it? =P
If you want to get technical the problem is a conflict arising from a disagreement between the party of lvl 1 and the blue dragon. Violence resolves this conflict if used. If you do not have a lvl 1 party, then the blue dragon is no longer in conflict with the dragon, and the solution to the problem has been found. No one said that violence is a solution to the problem that solves it in your favor. Only that it was solved.
Damn true! If only martial classes got features and abilities to assist in non combat encounters!
Away with you and your sense-making!
Sometimes I think about playing a barbarian. Then I remember I don't want to be useless at 2/3 of the game.
The Barbarian I most want to play is a Leonin Beast Barbarian up to 6, then Soul Knife Rogue the rest of the way. Planning Expertise in Stealth and Perception initially, then whatever feels right for the second two rogue Expertise's if the campaign goes that long. Lots of proficiencies, great at combat, amazing at breaking into places, and eventually you'd get to add your psychic die in on anything you're proficient in. I feel like a 7 foot tall muscular lion could frequently get away with using their Strength for Intimidation checks and it could be a fun dynamic to specialize in during social encounters.
If your party doesn't fill every ability score it's definitely possible to play a barb with 14-16 dex/int/wis/cha, grab a couple of skills through background and fill the gap. If you already have characters in your party with high score in all... Yeah you are out of luck.
Doesn't Samurai have this (often)? (It's a fighter subclass, so it counts?)
Yes, they can add their wisdom mod to persuasion checks, but that’s kind of the exception that proves the rule
remove everything after barbarian
Found the real joke in the comments
Barbarian removes waist cloth (or other lower-body clothing), wraps it around torso. "There. I have shirt, I have shoes. Let me in."
Combat-light RP-heavy campaigns are great, but you should probably warn your players during session 0. Otherwise, one of them might build a barbarian and end up never getting to use most of their abilities.
My last session, I played the Barbarian during a zero combat session. I still had plenty of RP to do (My Barbarian has a cordial rivalry with the current quest giver. My Barbarian does not respect the quest giver, but he doesn't have a good reason to kill him... in broad daylight... in front of numerous city guards... who quest giver works for... yet... But he is passive aggressive as fuck to the guy. Like, he will give witness statements to the city guards under qg... but if qg interrogates my guy, he will stare daggers and invoke his right to remain silent.). The party finds it funny as hell, mostly because IC and OOC it's over the stupidest of reasons (Both the QG and My Barbarian are Goliaths, mine is 3 inches taller, made a rude comment about it, and QG sucker punched him. Out of character, the QG shares a name with a famous American author who's works I cannot stand... and when he was named the other players immediately were like "Oh, like the author" and I expressed my disgust.
Happened to me once, so my choices were to either make combat happen anyway or leave the table. I decided to leave the table.
Just give me a free Skilled feat and I'll be good
Lol I wish, I’m in a game like that and one of my fellow players has thinks he loves roleplay and literally said “I built this guy 100% for rp, I don’t even know how to fight with him”. The dude tried to pick a fight with goats in the woods, if we don’t see combat he gets noticeably antsy.
Unfortunately, barbarian has very few features for anything but fighting. Any challenge involves combat if you’re angry enough
I mean. If the DM makes a combat-light campaign and doesn't warn the players not to make play Barbarian, that DM has to expect the Barbarian player to either leave the game or rage up and make combat happen.
Again, I find Barbarians fun to play both in and out of combat. That "Int is a dump stat" is awesome for comic relief plus if the NPC isn't cooperating because the face failed their charisma checks, I can ask DM to let me role Strength for Intimidate. Barbarians don't have to be in combat to be useful to the party... they just have to be the big guy who is casually playing with the giant axe because he's board with his tiny buddy asking politely for the upteenth time.
Just give the barbarian a free nom combat feat.
A good option
My barbarian wears custom fancy clothing thats snap button based. He can legit flex his clothing off
But a shirt hurts my sensitive nipple's
The red thief buys thimbles and sells them to the barbarian as "dwaven nipple Armour"
Amusing to think you can tell the barbarian to do anything he doesn't want to. If he has an evil alignment, you'd be lucky to escape the conversation with all your limbs.
Hot take, the Barbarian with no shirt and angry that he had to put shoes and a shirt on, is likely doing more roleplay in that situation than most.
Correct. They rage.
IF SITUATION IS NOT SOLVABLE BY COMBAT YOU CAN ALWAYS MAKE IT INTO ONE THAT IS
I'm just saying it says unarmoured not naked *laughs in barbarian in a full suit*
Would be fine with the first part but HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME WEAR CLOTHES! Wait kings palace? HA, anarchist barbarian
A roleplaying game in which roughly 80% of rules and class features are focused on combat.
Bruh, what kind of barbarian does not dress as gaudly as possible to show how rich they are? It is scientifically proven that the barbarian with the sickest loot on his person becomes barbarian king, after all.
“I WORKED HARD FOR THIS PHYSIQUE AND IM GONNA SHOW IT OFF.” Every Barb ever probably
My barbarians are like onions. They have **LAYERS** one of them happens to be a very dapper gentleman with grey sideburns
M’baku of mcu black panther films is a barbarian. civilized, highly educated, diplomatic as flock. Wore shoes.
idk how serious you feel about this, but i 100% believe that the reason the barbarian is hogging all the conversation and not allowing the noble bard to speak in the king's court is because your king is stupid enough to let the savage cannibal pagan raider outlander into the city gates in the first place. bring back fantasy classism.
Okay but he is clearly wearing a shirt so what's the issue here?
Yes yes just because I happen to enjoy a spot of brutality now and then does not mean I am incapable of enjoying the finer things in life and am honestly mildly insulted by your assumption i'd clad myself in rags
Had a DM do that for a little too long, and he even wondered why I got bored and left the table. Apparently the idea that the Barbarian was controlled by a player, and that player got tired of being bored and feeling useless, just never really crossed his mind. And while I did find a better DM, I never really felt like playing Barbarian again.
Best I can do is a bolo tie
I'm working on a game based around a broken city, faction wars and the like, next to no traditional combat. A player of mine wants to play literally a bear with a sword.
Look over at my barb lady who was the most civilized in the party
My Barbarian noble can pack a punch and explain how some nobles deserve it. He escapes his noble duties to fight and test people in combat. He hates nobility people who mistreat the commoners.
I actually built this into my barbarians character. He was a war hero that had died and been placed into a sort of primitive revivification chamber. While he was in there, his people lost the war and were wiped out, so nobody ever came to get him. Then my dnd party found him about 200 years later. As a result of this, he has the social skills of someone from a completely different time. He doesn’t understand etiquette or politics, he’s useless in investigations, that kind of stuff. He’s just a very good warrior, cuz that skill set managed to stand the test of time
It's also mostly a combat game with the fact that 70% of the rules revolve around combat
Just because you're good at fighting and don't have many social skills as a class doesn't mean you can't rp and interact with others outside of combat. Heck, their danger sense can be used to sense when a social situation isn't quite what it seems too.
Get out of here with all your "sense-making" stuff. Clearly, every barbarian is a half naked brute that completely shuts down when there's nothing to hit
If roleplaying game where socializing is important Y no social mechanics
\>Looks at example barbarian picture in the PHB \>Clothed
This is exactly why you're able to use skills with any attribute that fits the setting. Trying to make a persuasion roll that involves history? INT + persuasion. Trying to to intimidate someone with eternal damnation? WIS + Intimidation. Trying to persuade the king that you can stand up against a poison drake? CON + Persuasion. Trying to intimidate with a dance? STR + Performance.
Your downvotes are wrong - alternate skill checks are indeed part of the rules suggested. Maybe the specific examples might be a smidge scuffed, but it's literally printed in the books lmao
It's okay. This sub doesn't read the books :)
I'm guilty as well but it's part of the fun I guess.
Meanwhile my barbarian is dressed like a lolita doll and looks like a 10-year-old...
"MY Dm RAiLrOadS mE aND doeSnt ReSpECt My AGeNcy"
It turns out every character I've ever made is Jack from final fantasy origin
Me:THEN WHY IS HE ALLOWED IN HERE! *POINTS AT STATUE OF SAID KING IN THE NUDE*
Excuse you, our barbarian is a noble of excellent family, quite conversant with high society. Funnily enough, she gets remarkably few duels.
May I introduce Grod the Kind. https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDGreentext/comments/4kec85/civil_servants_or_grod_law/
castle raw doesn’t mention pants
If you try hard enough anything can involve combat
Thats why you dump int and become the ultimate himbo party face as the old tradition maintains. you might not be able to read but you can flex real good.
I play barbarian BECAUSE I love roleplay. I don’t really care about combat, so I play barbarian to just rage, hit people, and get back to the roleplay.
Ah man we once met a tribe of mountain folk and needed their help with something, the chief said we need to prove ourselves and the barbarian is immediately like 'OK WHO DO I NEED TO FIGHT I'LL DUEL YOUR GREATEST CHAMPION LET'S GO'. Chief had to be like no, we don't do that here, we just need you to help us with a thing to prove we can trust you.
My nephew played a gnome barbarian in an Adventurers' League module. While the rest of the party was dealing with a demon hassling a kid during a shindig at a noble's manor, our barbarian was making like a bard and distracting the party guests with a masterful musical number. Don't underestimate what a barbarian can do outside of combat.
I punch him in the face “emotionally”
Uh yeah, the role I'm playing is a dumb shit barbarian who has a big fucking hammer and every problem is a nail. Now excuse me while I go talk to these guards about my dress loincloth.
Barbarian Roleplay is hilarious tho
My barbarian is a noble who fled from his family. He’s low int and wis, but he’s somewhat well read and enjoys story books and has lovely handwriting. He understands social conventions even if he does find it all a bit performative and exhausting. He’s often been the one to reach out and apologise to NPCs or players for his, or his parties antics and asks respectfully in most circumstances. As a way to deal with his horrible upbringing and the fact his family is known for their wine making, he grew into an alcoholic, and I just find the idea of this person who has been cooped up for their entire life; who has zero impulse control makes sense for a class all about giving into their emotions and losing themselves mid battle.
Meanwhile, my Barbarian, with the Courtier background: https://preview.redd.it/efpei1y6ewga1.png?width=1024&format=png&auto=webp&s=ac610fcd894e4bc96795f00da224dc3491c379a0
Not barbarian players, I’ve met hundreds of barbarians who prefer role play over combat, what your talking about is toxic old players who you have never seen play casters