Cunning.
You have a sword (not magic, just pretty good), biceps, and your wits.
You beat down evil snake gods, high priests, wizards, and shit that melts the faces off lesser men.
Cast-titanium testicles also required.

>>4581716
No help at all?

>>4581763
I wasn't asking how to play Conan exactly, he was just the first pic to come up when plugging "barbarian" into GIS.

>>4581716
Go read House of Chains by Steven Erikson. Karsa Orlong is a barbarian done right.

>>4581795
And I was giving you an answer.

Go read The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie. Logen Ninefingers is a somewhat atypical barbarian done right.

>>4581804
Ah, sorry. the "evil snake gods" thing threw me, as it seemed kinda specific and I thought you were referencing something from a Conan story. My apologies.

>>4581799
>>4581823

Sorry, I have neither of those books and my library card expired three years ago. Care to clarify?

>>4581763
In short, you're a fighter in 3.5.
Abuse what you can and run like fuck from what you can't.

Work on personality. The key there is to try to use barbarian as a springboard, but not as sole PURPOSE of the character. In other words, like trying to play a paladin that isn't just a knight in shining armor.

It's allowed me to have some reasonably interesting characters in the past, like ...

The wizened matriarch, who became the leader of her tribe by virtue of strength and skill alone, EARNING her wisdom and honor. Or the superstitious tracker, who can best any mortal foe through the use of his environment and primitive traps.

Or the musclebound pirate, sold into slavery and liberated by his new kinsmen, covered in tattoos, wielding a harpoon, and hunting sharks for trophies and food.

>>4581716
>How could someone roleplay a barbarian without turning it into a joke or stereotype?
By making a barbarian who's more than a joke or a stereotype. Flesh out the personality. DURR.

For the accent, use a british accent. I did that with a barbarian once. Then invent the game of gold by smacking a halfling into a hole with a club.

>>4581875
That should be golf, not gold.

>>4581872
That's what I was asking for, was adivce on expanding the personality, duh.
>>4581852
Thank you; finally a straight answer.
>>4581875
Hm... accents are fun, yeah, but british? Maybe it's just me, but I can't really picture that type accent without envisioning an intellectual person, and barbarians aren't exactly known for their scholastic achievements.

>>4581906
Lots of British accents friend.
The idea of a Geordie barbarian sounds like fun, Scottish is one of the classics for the archetype as well.

>>4581906

>>4581906
just be some chav, they are plenty dumb

>>4581906
soccer hooligans

>>4581940
>>4581929
I dunno balls about terms like "geordie" and "chav", but Scottish could be fun...

>>4581716

Why do people show Conan as a "clueless musclegoon"? Do people know only of the movies? He was the very fucking incarnation of a sneaky bastard when he wanted to in the books. Of course, if sneaking around was just as easy as cutting EVERYONE'S heads off, he would do the latter, but he was not a stupid guy.

CONAN THE BARBARIAN WAS A ROGUE.

HAS ANYONE ACTUALLY READ THE MATERIAL?

EVEN THE FIRST MOVIE PORTRAYED HIM AS A THIEF.

WHY DOES EVERYONE REMEMBER THIS WRONG?

>>4581965
>>4581972
Conan-is-a-rogue-mind

Kinda cliche, but a loner sort of barbarian can work. sorta like youd think a ranger or druid would be, but...barbarian. skilled hunter/tracker, but fights like an angry bull. when not fighting, hes reserved, generally doesnt socialize, but is solidly loyal to those who earn his friendship.

>>4581972
Because he has big ugly muscles and everyone knows thieves are lithe long haired bishies with 18+ dex and low str=^:^=

>>4581965
God damn I loved the books. I think my favourite'd have to be when he goes upriver with a pirate queen. Needless to say, shit goes down.

>>4581972

Conan was a Rogue/Barbarian multiclass.

>>4581972
Close fag, but still wrong.
Going off of core only; Conan The Barbarian is a Barbarian 2/Rogue 8/Fighter 4

Our group once had a "barbarian" that instead of being from some savage land, was actually from a well-bred family of a minor noble house, and had lived in a city his entire life. Thing is, he was dumb as a box of rocks, illiterate, and had VERY poor anger-management skills. So one day after he beat yet another servant to death over some trivial matter, his relatives suggested that he go off and become an adventurer (hoping the family embarrassment would go off and get himself killed in some dark forgotten cave).

A rather interesting character concept. Too bad the guy's character only lasted four sessions before he kicked the bucket.

>>4581992
I like that idea. The "generally doesn't socialize" bit might make it tricky to get him into a group session, but overall I like it.

>>4582005
Wasn't Conan also a pirate?

>>4582009
interesting backstory, yeah, but still sounds like he was the stereotypical "clueless musclegoon" I mentioned earlier.

...Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of Earth under his sandaled feet....

>>4582035
>gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth

melancholies = testicles
mirth = penis

I don't get what you're asking for, OP. It's like you're saying:

"I'm allergic to all forms of fungus. BTW, can you recommend me some shrooms?"

You could RP him as a hunter/warrior, as most barbarians were both. Of course he fights, what man doesn't? His pride though, is in his hunting prowess. In his tribe all the hunters worth the title hunt big game, the bigger the better.

Lots of hunting related skills: hide, move silent, survival, etc.

If you give him low CHA, RP it as distainful aloofness, like you'd see from a noble. He's superior to all the people from the "lesser" tribes (all but his own) and the "shit sitters" (anyone non-nomadic, most medival cities deserve that slur) are beneath his notice. Don't have him be rude though, just distant and insuferably arrogant.

I have a strong desire to play a barbarian painter.

He paints watercolor landscapes and battle scenes (the latter, from memory) and mails them home to his tribe.

Should he ever discover that the couriers have shortchanged him, his wrath will sunder the earth. And their offices.

you wanna be on the level of conan?

You have to break what needs breaking,

Fuck any hot girls you come across but with james bondian class.

Steal shit thats begging to be stolen

Kill the sorcerers that need killing.

Travel with vikings and mercs one day, fight slightly different vikings and mercenaries the next day.

Do it all with intelligence and cunning born out of being a survivor who grew in a harsh fucking land.

>>4582073 continued
extra int and skills if you can get 'em: a few points in apraise and as many languages as you can grab. (he's traded with outsiders and knows their ways)

He knows all about city life, he just thinks it's a low and pathetic existance, not worthy of real men.

>>4581875
I'd pay lots of glod to see that.

>>4582073
>>4582090

These are awesome. But I can't decide which I like better.

>>4582090
>Should he ever discover that the couriers have shortchanged him, his wrath will sunder the earth. And their offices.

I read that as 'orifices'. That was more fun.

>>4582121
he'd sunder those too.

>>4582097
Seriously. I wish I knew where this made up barbarian model came from. Conan didn't even usually outmuscle opponents. He could; but he just as often had the crap beat out of him.

Where did this originate?

I onced played a barbarian based on the lion.

He was from a tribe that worshiped the lion as a god and they took on it's traits in battle. Cunning and swift but alway powerful.

>>4582151

Blame D&D.

>>4582151
Nerdling fantasies of being the musclyest, plus Ahnold in the films is FUCKHUGE.
Loved him punching out that camel.

>>4582186
No way, when the Barbarian first showed up in D&D he had more in common with a rogue than a fighter.

Blame Reagan-era action movies.

>>4582192
Wut? 1E barbarians were all about HUEG MOSCLES. They had fucking insane str and con. See: Unearthed Arcana

I too share the frustration of other Anon with Conan being a moronic musclegoon.

The man was insanely smart, but not wanky about it. Inifinitely practical but not overly-intellectual. Exactly the kind of smarts you need to kick ass, take what you need, and scrape through no matter what.
Hell, Conan means "Little Wolf", and Robert E. Howard give him that name for the specific reason that Conan is a scrappy, cunning survivor.

>>4581841
Let's see, IIRC Karsa Orlong:
-overtly a violent brute
-bloody-minded but not a wanton mass-murderer
-disciplined hunter instead of brawling tavern oaf
-very pragmatic but very principled, even honorable
-never a mercenary
-disdainful of words but articulate, although blunt
-capable of instrospective thought
-iconoclastic and not cowed by the supernatural
-accepts that his birth-society is flawed, maybe even doomed, but "civilization" is so much shittier, filthier and more decadent. If he were boss, he'd round up all the clans and purge the fuck out of these fags.

Play him like a different shade of the warrior-poet trope.

warrior poet ala goliath perhaps?

>>4582265
Ooh, that could work. I kinda always pictured Gargoyles and "classical" barbarians as being two sides of the same "noble savage" coin.

>>4582009

This but not stupid. A learned, elloquent, noble who abandoned his birthright because HE IS FUCKING ANGRY AND WANTS NOTHING MORE THAN TO RIP YOUR STERNUM OUT WITH HIS BARE HANDS AND BEAT YOU TO DEATH WITH IT

he should spend most of his downtime trying to clean the blood out of his cape

>>>/rs/unearthed+arcana

Well-bred, sophisticated gentleman from the city. Well versed in the gentlemanly martial art of bare-knuckle boxing, and familiar with the wilderness and its dangers, as well as handling of animals, from many a fox hunt on horseback.

Simply refluff his barbarian rage as gentlemanly vigor and indignance. Have him speak in a thick upper-class British accent and punctuate his sentences with phrases like "Old Salt".

Also, GUTTER TRASH

>>4582349
Give him a monocle and a hat. Call him Hatsworth.

>>4582349
Noble's son.
Is still massively spoilt.
Rages are Tantrums.
Is immensely fat and babylike.
...
Actually, that would make a better villain.

Also, use your "FUCK THAT SHIT, LET'S KILL THEM TO DAETH" catchphrase sparingly and wisely.

Just play your character like this and you'll do fine.

>>4582515
What, cliche clueless musclegoon?

Yeah.
But with a gun.

GO unarmed, Punch Horses

Or be a wise barbarian who "don't need a sword"
Bonus points if you catch me

>>4581841
Logen Ninefingers was a barbarian from the North, known for countless legends. He used to be young and full of lust for honour and glory but he survived battle after battle, war after war thanks to his brutal berserker rage that can only be described as an alternate personality.
Generally, he grew tired of killing brothers and sisters. He didn't want a part in conflict but he ended up being drawn into it. When he got drawn into conflict, sometimes he got immersed in it. That's when he manifests his rage and that's when he becomes the Bloody-Nine. Cold, ruthless, mad killer who will do anything to kill anyone, friend or foe.

Playing a barbarian like Logen would be something like playing a character who just wants to survive and wants nothing to do with conflict, but in order to survive, he has to partake in conflict anyway. Take a few levels of frenzied berserker and you get a man who becomes a ruthless, insane bloodthirsty murderer, the cold-blooded freak of legends.

In the series, the First Law, Logen Ninefingers is used like a tool by an incredible dick of a magus (like, this guy makes eldrad look tame), with no regard for his sanity or for consequence. The result was Logen killing his companions one by one throughout the conflict, butchering them when he was submerged in his endless rage. In the end, he's regarded as a monster and cast off a cliff by one of his former companions, into the freezing waters of a river.
A bit of a tragic character, but in that series, there was no such thing as a good end for any character but the magus.

>>4582553
Thors is the manliest barbarian in this and in any other world.

>>4582555
Man, The Blade Itself was great, and then it was seriously downhill from there. Guy tried a little too hard to SUBVERT EVERY CLICHE AT ONCE and the story was just kind of... pointless. Okay, he's an enormous dick, and he wins. Great?

>>4582555
>He didn't want a part in conflict but he ended up being drawn into it.
>he survived battle after battle, war after war thanks to his brutal berserker rage that can only be described as an alternate personality
>When he got drawn into conflict, sometimes he got immersed in it. That's when he manifests his rage and that's when he becomes... [a] ruthless, mad killer who will do anything to kill anyone, friend or foe.
>a character who just wants to survive and wants nothing to do with conflict, but in order to survive, he has to partake in conflict anyway.
>...a man who becomes a ruthless, insane bloodthirsty murderer, the cold-blooded freak of legends.
>A bit of a tragic character

Does he turn green and burst out of his shirt, too?

Everyone's on the notion of a british barbarian. Kick the door in, cutlass in one hand, tea in the other, monocle and top hat blazing, shouting "LET'S HAVE A PROPER GO AT IT, THEN!" as your monocle flies off.

Mmmmmm... Kamahl.

>>4582756

Why was the single coolest character, who the entire fucking storyline there revolved around, get the shittiest card ever?

How about a sneaky barbarian? He's a fifth son of a fairly wealthy farmer, a retired adventurer. When he came of age he decided to take to the road instead of trying to carve out a new farm from the surrounding wilderness.

Specializes in thrown weapons, really high hide and move silent. He spent his youth engaged in hard farm work and hunting. The farm was not in an area free of bandits, so all the men know how to fight.

Built like a barrel, he almost looks like a 5'11" dwarf. His clothes are worn out but his personal hygene is beyond reproach (his attitude is "you want them to smell you coming? idiot"). Carries a huge number of tools on his person. (axe, shovel, pick, saw, sledgehammer, etc.)

Sings (mostly obcene) ballads (badly) when not engaged in killing. I'm thinking low cha and 1 point in perform: sing. Have him try to score free meals at inns with song, but not get too upset when he fails.

Generally good natured, but quite capable of violence. Educated in several languages and cartography.

>>4582779
Him and Chainer. Kamahl had the most badass flavor text, too.

Play a barbarian like Conan.

Conan might be a barbarian, but he sneaks when he can, he talks when it's smart to talk and he gives up when the odds are just a bit too high.

Being a barbarian isn't about being a cavemen, being a barbarian is about surviving, not giving up and relying on your own strenghts.

>>4582589

This made me lol

>>4582589
"It's fucking ON now, you bloody queen-hating chaps!"

Sounds like Raffles the Gentleman Thug

>>4583058

That doesn't seem like a very gentlemanly thing to say. A true gentleman doesn't need to use such vulgar four-letter words.

It'd be more like "You've really gone and aroused my anger now, you vile bilge-quaffing street refuse!"

Play it flavor wise more like a druid.

Barbarians and druids seem to have more faith in nature than in religion. I think it'd be fitting to play a druid that ingested too many anabolic steroids.

Not exactly scared of magic and its practitioners but deeply impressed and respectful of it. Sometimes he may refuse to make eye contact with more powerful magic users, and he'll be impressed and excited by spells which civilised people may find mundane.

While aware of money and the existence of an economy he still sometimes tries to attain goods through barter or feats of strength. "I'll arm-wrestle you for this ale". This isn't because he has no grasp on supply and demand, but because he'd quite like to save his gold. He'll pay for things when he has to.

Civilisation has given him many more distractions than he had at home. He takes quickly to carousing and the chasing of women. If the party are invited to some sort of grand function he'll smarten up for it, but his idea of "smartening up" may well be putting on a lot of armour and making sure it's well polished.

He has a pragmatic attitude to religion and will take easily to paying lip-service to any god if it will help him find work.

The sight of elderly people begging in the streets will ENRAGE him. You don't treat people who are about to become ancestor spirits like that. Why the hell doesn't their clan take them in, or at least give them a sword and send them for a final battle?

He'll jump into a fight with which he has nothing to do just for fun. But he knows the difference between a good, fun punch-up and a fight where he has to draw his sword.

While he finds a lot of civilisation's aspects "soft", to be a noble or an esteemed warrior of a civilised society would be fun, and he'd show them a thing or two about how to kick heads in. As long as he didn't have to do too much pointless work to keep the job.

Isn't the whole point of playing a barbatian just to be a beefy accented dude?

>>4583618
NO, obvioudly not.

This should be archived.

>>4583401
"Now listen here you lout. I have made a proper go of trying to be civil throughout this debacle. But I must say you are trying my patience terribly. HAVE AT YOU WHORESON!"

>>4583913

This has got a ways to go yet before it's archive worthy.

Bump for further barbarian discussion.

>>4583538
See some people DO get the point of Conan.

How about a massive endurance barbarian instead of wall of muscle? Raised among one of those tribes that run their food down til it drops of exaustion, then thanks it and ganks it.

Take the Run and Endurance feats and refuse to use mounts.

>>4581716
/r THE EYE OF ARGON
by Jim Theis
plox.

Play Giorgio Vasari. He'd make a good barbarian as he was just as melancholic and violent as Conan.
And playing an artist, family man and art historian barbarian certainly is as far from cliche as you'll ever be.

>>4584093

Woah. Like Haile Gabreselassie with a sword. I can dig it.

>>4584093
>Endurance Barbarian.
I like this idea and wish to see it come to fruition.

Also, put some time into traps. If you are running away, put down some caltrops. If you are running in, throw a net. Attack from a distance using reach weapons or javelins.

Similarly, use the environment. Ambushes, hidden trap-pits, moar nets.

ENDURO-BARB!

>>4584196
Like a Zulu warrior... Awesome.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!

>>4584271

Lol, I was about to say "how about a female barbarian".

I don't see why you would want to play a barbarian type without making him a joke/stereotype.

For that matter I don't really see why anyone would want to play any character without making him a joke/stereotype. Roleplaying is inherently a bit ridiculous and if you try to take it seriously, it stops working.

>>4584367
Because stereotypes and cliche's are boring and dull. The devious greedy bastard rogue, the idiot meatshield warrior/barbarian, the arrogant mystical asshole spellcaster - everyone knows these cookiecutter portrayals and nobody likes them because they've been done to death and are just Not Interesting. They're stock characters, not player characters. This is D&D, not 8-Bit Theatre.

>>4583538
elderly people begging in the streets?
why have you not cast them out of the city to join their ancestors?
in some eskimo/survival oriented cultures your old people were strongly encouraged to take the long walk to die so that they did not use the resources needed to keep the tribe going.

>>4584569

On the contrary, Tropes Are Not Bad.

The reason those stereotypes are so common is that they do work, though it doesn't hurt to mix in something of your own to personalize the character.

It's when players try to intentionally go against every stereotype and create unique and complex characters instead of defining their characters in broad strokes that they tend to fail, since most of them usually lack the requisite roleplaying ability to portray these subtle characteristics to the rest of the group.

In summary, those outrageously stereotyped PCs you hate so much are easier to roleplay for those of us who aren't drama school alumni, whereas your realistic, nuanced character will come across to others as bland, even if you understand his motivations perfectly.

>>4582586
I imagined the magus as Belgarath.

I lol'd a bit.

>>4584625
Actually, /tg/, stat Belgarath. This should be fun.

>>4584608
they're easier, yeah, but it's hard to pull away from the stereotype and have something distinctive to stand out from being just Generic Muscular Imbecile #237 or Random Greedy Asshole #314.

I'm thinking of an idea for a character, what about a barbarian that's more of a hunter than a fighter, with around 11 CHA and some points in performance, I've been thinking of multiclassing him as a bard for the sheer aspect of having him become a skald.

Would that work as original?

>>4584641
OH SHI- *Booom*

>>4584641
Well. His magic is more psionics for a start. From descriptions somewhere in the Mallorean I'd imagine he'd have an Iggy Poppish body, all whipcord and not an ounce of fat, let's say slightly above average CON but average STR, max CHA and INT fairly high WIS.

>>4584641
Belgarath the Sorceror.
Sorcerer (30)

Done.

>>4584703
Does Polymorph:Self cover his shapeshifting?

>>4584713
Yes, now go find your own thread. Barbarians have no need for demon magics.

>>4584659

Of course creating an original and interesting character is difficult. Which is why the less skilled among us are encouraged to rely on tropes, since at least then you'll have something to fall back on. Even your examples, cliched as they are, are better for the party than Generic Protagonist #1519.

For what it's worth, my solution is usually to mix a number of normally unrelated tropes to make something seemingly original. My characters may not be realistic, but at least they're distinguishable from one another.

>>4584730
Individuality is a good thing, yes...

To be a barbarian is to be ruthless and pragmatic.
You are part of a tribe and there is no room for slack.
Your people might have a few fields and a couple of huts in your regular camps but for the most part you are hunter gatherers or nomads following the herds.
Your tribe may have some pack or riding animals mostly you walk or run everywhere for days on end.
Once a child is old enough to walk he must keep up with rest of the tribe or be left behind.
Once he is old enough to pick berries with the women he must do so or he is not fed.
Once he is old enough to swing an axe he must cut wood and brush for the fires and the Laager or he is not given shelter.
When he is stong enough to string a bow and wield a spear he must hunt with the other boys or he goes hungry and so does his family.
When he is strong enough to think himself a man he must seek out a foe of the tribe and defeat it.
When he wishes to sire a child he must find a woman and take her. If the child is malformed in any way he must kill it for the gods do not favor the ill formed.
He must teach his own children these ways, and when in his dotage, he cannot keep them. He must take his bow and spear, hand his sword to his eldest son and walk past the horizon and battle all enemies he comes across until his spirit can join his ancestors.

Low intelligence doesn't mean not serious. So don't be a comic relief character.

I guess you're thinking it's hard to develop a character like a barbarian.

>>4584768
when you want to avoid cliches not only for yourself but also convince your game-mates of the same, yeah. Playing your character as somewhat cunning is little help if the party leader still thinks you're an idiot solely because of your class.

>>4584768
>So don't be a comic relief character.

Why not? I'm not saying all low INT characters need to be played as total retards, but you shouldn't be above giving your character a comic relief side as well. Many players take their characters too seriously and then end up getting upset whenever the game makes them look bad.

>>4584791
I'm not afraid of my character having comic moments, don't get me wrong - I just don't want him to be solely for comic relief like some sort of "durr, okay boss, huhuhuh" witless henchman.

Fun fact barbarian originally mean
You could look at examples of real life "barbarians"
Rainforest indians
bushmen
some african tribes
pre western influx native americans
eskimos/inuit whatever they want to be called today.

Awesome i'm going to play an eskimo barbarian with a harpoon and a kayak. On his last hunt headed south looking for death, who realises that life down in the warm is much easier than being in the snow.

YAARRRRR!

I'm a terrible barbarian!

>>4584827
Yes, yes you are.

>Fun fact barbarian originally mean
got distracted
I meant to say "anyone not from Rome as languages that are not latin sound like sheep."
so you could have anyone who isn't the dominant culture of whatever your world is.

>>4584928

*Originally* it referred to any non-greek speaker, and the Greeks called the Romans barbarians even after they had long been conquered and raped seven ways by them.

>>4584135
Seconding the request. Upon Googling the book sounds lulzy.

I speak Greek, Latin and mandarin.

I'll never be a barbarian!

>>4584827
Think you're plainly terrible.

What other weapon but this, does a barbarian need? None, says I.

>>4584761

The last part of this makes me want to play an elderly barbarian SO HARD.

>>4584761
Epic Goddamn Hero.

>>4584761
>>4585031
>>4585064

>>4585075

>>4585077

>>4581716
put plenty of points in wisdom and intelligence, make him full of earthly wisdom and knowledge of herb-craft and tracking.

>>4585087
From the Thumbnail I thought it was Barbarian Master Roshi

>>4585133
Now there's an amusing idea.

>>4585133
He basically is. Just swap all pervertedness with awesome.

>>4585087
>>4585077
>>4585075
i just found this at my local library

fuck year

Make a TRUE barbarian.

True barbarians (Saxons, Gauls, Norse, Goths, Gaels, Picts, Angles, etc.) were pastoralists.
Do you know what that means?
You spend all damn day long thinking about business. Where to move your herd next, how much to allow them to feed, where to let them feed, how to marry your son to the daughter of another clan's chieftain in order to gain more grazing land for your livestock, how to conquer another clain in order to gain more grazing land, how to attain another wife to gain more land and more sons who will gain your clan more land, etc.
Constantly thinking about livestock, clan loyalties, land ownership, and business marriages.

This leads to being cunning, greedy, and shrewd.

Anyone wanting to play a smart barbarian

Read the original Conan stories

COHEEEEEEEEEN!!!

>>4585216
Bah, that is for the tribe cheiftain to concern himself with, not the typical tribesman.

>>4585216
That's actually rather interesting.

>>4585231
Actually, if the chieftain was thinking it, so was everyone else. That's the way pastoralist societies work. It's a goddamn business, and the chieftain is the boss while everyone else works for him.

Anthro student here, btw.

>>4585238
I happen to think so. Why I've dedicated a few years to studying this sort of thing.

>>4582090
I love this idea. Since traditionally in fantasy (and even in D&D, I think) barbarians are basically illiterate (unless you spend a point or two of feats at character creation), having him send portraits of places he's been and people he's encountered back to his clan and tribesmates via courier would be an interesting variation on the "letters to home" concept.

>>4585117
that sounds more like a druid than a barbarian.

>>4583008
>Play a barbarian like Conan.
>Conan gives up when the odds are just a bit too high.
>being a barbarian is about not giving up

I had a barbarian who also came from a noble family, but he left of his own will. Sick and tired of the red tape and beating around the bush to get shit done, he picked up a family heirloom great axe and went to take care of it himself.

The family then cut all ties with him, but didn't give a shit as he had found his calling.

Something I've never been clear on, especially in light of posts like >>4585436...

What exactly is the difference between a barbarian and a regular fighter? And I don't mean game-mechanics stuff like x-per-day Rage uses and such.

>>4584135
>Product Description
>This is not a hoax. Jim Theis was a real person, who wrote The Eye of Argon in all seriousness as a teenager, and published it in a fanzine, Osfan in 1970. But the story did not pass into the oblivion that awaits most amateur fiction. Instead, a miracle happened, and transcribed and photocopied texts began to circulate in science fiction circles, gaining a wide and incredulous audience among both professionals and fans. It became the ultimate samizdat, an underground classic, and for more than thirty years it has been the subject of midnight readings at conventions, as thousands have come to appreciate the negative genius of this amazing Ed Wood of prose.

Shit! Now I want to read it. Does anon have this "underground classic"?

>>4585579
You must read it out loud, in a hammy narrator voice, to your friends. See how long you can do without bursting to laughter.

>>4585579
google it, retard. it's not like it's some obscure unknown mystery.

>>4585579
Sounds like FATAL: the book.

>>4585516
A fighter is disciplined. He learns either through experiance o=r by being taught by somepone who knows what he's doing. This is represented in the huge amount of feats.

A barbarian is more of a brawler who doen't give two shits about '[proper' technique. It's all brute power.

>>4585516

A barbarian is not a civilized man, he lives more on feral instinct and animal's cunning than rational thought. He of course has no formal education and is usually depicted to despise the civilization as a whole.

>>4585634
>>4585660

YOU ARE BOTH WRONGS

BARBARIAN GETS ANGRY AND THEN HE GETS BONUSES FOR IT

>>4585579
Just Google it

>>4581965
even in the movies, he's potrayed as cunning and sneaky.

He's a thief and warrior.

>>4585666
Shut up satan

>>4585660

So basically, super rednecks.

>>4585516

Depends on how widely you cast the net of "Fighter".

If there is no mechanical difference, then it comes down to weapon selection, armor selection, and "who has the bigger city."

By the original definition of the word, Barbarians don't speak Greek. That was it.

>>4585686

Oh god lol, you got me for that

9/10

From the mountains. taught to kill. parents dead, etc

>>4585294
Dahling I met the most entertaining man, he's from Cimmeria. he does the most entertaining little watercolours and i've invited him to the dukes ball this friday to do a sketch of the new crown jewels.

>>4585634
So... a Fighter is more formally-trained, while a barbarian is more "school of hard knocks" selftaught, right?

>>4585779

I now wish to see drawfaggotry of a Conan-esque barbarian sitting at an easel. Instead of an axe and shield in his hands, it's a brush and paint-palette.

>>4585802
essentially.

>>4585848
That's kinda what I figured, but I wasn't 100% sure.

>>4585579
http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/susan/sf/eyeargon/eyeargon.htm

Grignr is taken from his cell by two soldiers. He takes the rat pelvis he has fashioned into a dagger and slits one soldier's throat. He then strangles the second and takes his clothes.

What separated Conan from other swordsmen in the original novels was that he was free from doubts brought by education. A civilized man, no matter how well trained, will act with some amount of doubt and hesitation, unsure if his course is the wisest one. The barbarian has no such thoughts distracting him, he acts instantly, with pure animal lizard-brain instinct unfettered by consciousness. That made him faster and more ferocious than any of his opponents.

>>4585968
>The barbarian has no such thoughts distracting him, he acts instantly, with pure animal lizard-brain instinct unfettered by consciousness. That made him faster and more ferocious than any of his opponents.

Odd. I'd expect that would just make him predictable, and then dead. The more you know...

Fuck yeah.

Barbarians.

>>4586018

The comparison's meant to make Conan seem like an earthquake...a hurrican or any other unstoppable force of nature.

Make him a sneaky fat bastard. Nobody sees that coming.

If I was going to play Conan I'd make him a Swashbuckler.

>>4586084
>sneaky
>fat bastard
>barbarian

How about NO.

How would you play a gun-using barbarian?

>>4585516
Honestly, there's no set difference. It depends on how you play them. Typically a Fighter is a professionally trained fighting expert of some sort who fights with skill while Barbarians are typically big dudes with anger problems that make them fight harder.

But, you can play them however you want. You can flip the two sterotypes if you want. Maybe the Fighter learned to fight like he does because he was born a slave and was used as a gladiator while the Barbarian was professionally trained to fight and kill due to the harsh world they live in, and the man had severe anger issues and his teacher worked those in and taught him to fight in a way that used his anger as a plus.

I agree with the whole "tropes are not Bad" idea. Take the achetype and subvert it, rather than throw it out. Make a barbarian with INT 14, who has a few points of knowledge (geography, nature, local, arcana), and spent the skill points for literacy. In his tribe, he was their equivalent of a nerd, a scholar, an intellectual. He has a simple, jovial manner, but he can quote from "Evard's Treatise on Interdimensional Interbleed" or describe the breeding habits of the cuckoo. You could even give him a level of wizard, take practiced spellcaster, and have a few problem-solving utility spells available (expeditious retreat gives +13 to jump, mage hand is always usefull, detect magic, 5-min Shield, alarm, silent image)

Another one is, make a barbarian...who isnt a barbarian. He's a sorceror who fights like a barbarian. Imagine Sorceror 4/Barbarian 2 for a build. He can charge in with his big-ass hatchet battle axe, screaming with primal fury, being moderately effective, or he can charge in with his bare hands, screaming with primal fury, then punch a guy in the face, and INCINERATE HIS HEAD (combust, 1d8/level fire damage, bitch. Maxes at 10). His spells are based on fire and cold, with alot of buffing for melee. Go eldrich knight later on. Or his spells are Fire&Fear, with lots of de-buffing like ray of enfeeblement..

>>4586102
Go watch Full Metal Jacket.

Keep an eye out for Animal Mother.

>>4586175

Barbarians have no need for sorcery! His strength and his axe are good enough for any foe!

Well, no. The idea is, he's a sorceror from a barbarian society, who essentially can be played like a "steriotypical" barbarian, be it dumb muscle or cunning savage. But, he developed kickass sorcerous powers that he now uses with the same FROTHING RAGEHATE that a normal barbarian uses an axe.

>>4586386
Interesting. I'll keep it in mind if I ever decide to multiclass.

>>4586386
I suppose he worked on the mental discipline needed to focus and cast spells between his bouts of sleeping, wenching, raping, killing, and pillaging?

Really now, you don't need to try and crappily rationalize a sorcerer barbarian in such a silly way.

>>4586429
And you don't need to make it sound like all barbarians are mindless id-driven brutes.

Just want to say? Great thread. I hope it gets archived. :D

Also: Here's Eye of Argon...on tape.

http://www.tindeck.com/listen/varg

archive, please?

>>4586447
Excuse me? I wasn't the one who said >He can charge in with his big-ass hatchet battle axe, screaming with primal fury, being moderately effective, or he can charge in with his bare hands, screaming with primal fury, then punch a guy in the face, and INCINERATE HIS HEAD

So piss off.

>>4586386

Dragon Magic and Cosmic Magic sorcerers in 4e share the exact same key ability scores as Thaneborn Triumph barbarians, Strength and Charisma, and even perform most effectively when they're wading into melee, shivving enemies with a pair of daggers using muscle-enhanced spells. So 4e may have a better means of expressing such a concept.

Speaking of barbarians, one of the characters I've recently made as a sample character for a level 22 game was a firestorm (firesoul/stormsoul) genasi barbarian/avenger/Bear Warrior/Planeshaper. His race was genasi because I wanted the +4 fire damage and +4 lightning damage on melee attacks from Dual Manifestation from Shocking Flame, his paragon path was Bear Warrior because there weren't any other non-mediocre PPs out there for barbarian/avengers, and his epic destiny was Planeshaper because I wanted a second use of Storm of Blades each encounter. Through this optimization endeavor, I ended up with a barbarian with 18 Intelligence (12 base + 2 racial + 2 level ups + 2 racial) who turns into a flaming, electricity-arcing bear, out on a quest to smash his hammer into as many foes as possible, because whenever he does so, parts of his foe's soul chunk off and contribute to his demiplane under construction in the Astral Sea. A demiplane of that looks like the jungle from Metal Gear Solid 3, Tselinoyarsk. I didn't bother giving him training in Arcana for hilarity.

>>4586450
Thank you, archivist!

>>4586540
holy shit, that actually sounds pretty damn awesome.

Yeesh, I was being Evocative. The Barb Sorc can be played however you want it. I was taking an example of how you could take the "boring, dumb muscle" archetype and make it interesting, becoming arcane muscle. All the other popular subversions of the barbarian class still apply.

And what, barbarian societies cant produce sorcerers? He would spend time meditating and so forth in between looting and pillaging. Or WHILE pillaging and looting.

>>4586566
Considering the barbarian mentality and feelings about magic, anyone that(maybe) isn't a shaman is probably going to be killed as soon as they start showing signs of magic. SO while sorcerers are probably born, yes, they're just as probably killed.

>>4586580
1. Barbarians are not homogenous.
2. The Sorcerers are the shamans, you git.

>>4586580
>potential mountain-moving artillery for the tribe
>killed if born

That there that's one tribe of mighty smart people there.

There's ways around that.

1. Exception. His tribe isnt so supersticious, and accepted a kickass witch-warrior into their ranks.
2. Practicality. Using sheer arcane badassery, he proved himself a worthy member of the tribe.
3. Crazy involved backstory. He's the son of a Sorcerer-Chieftain, just like himslef, who ruled his tribe with a mighty magical fist. he wasnt too popular, and when he was deposed, the character was forced to flee. Goal is to return to tribe and rule it after attaining enough power, revenge on father, eventually realizes what an evil bastard father was, yadah yadah yadah. This shit practically writes itself.

>>4586580
What good is sorcery? Tricks of devils, and those who call them allies. Worthless toys and deceptions, all of it. One's own strength, and the steel one carries into battle, that alone has honor, has true power. Not wizardry and lies.

>>4586595
If you're playing a barbarian who isn't magic hating and violent, you best be playing an exceptional exception like Wulfgar.

As for sorcerers being shamans, MAYBE you could fake that. But there's a hug difference from "I throw lightning" and "I get my power from the gods!"

>>4586540

>(12 base + 2 racial + 2 level ups + 2 racial)
Er, that last +2 should be from the Planeshaper epic destiny. I'd consider being a goliath instead of a genasi for the +2 Constitution, which means another attack on Storm of Blades, and for access to the Stoneblessed paragon path, which means +1 reach, but then I'd miss out on +2 Intelligence and the +8 damage from the three-feat Shocking Flame combo.

>>4586580

>Considering the barbarian mentality and feelings about magic
What "barbarian mentality and feeligns about magic"? Barbarians aren't universally Cimmerian-ish brutes who don their tinfoil hats as they put spellcasters to the stake, and I'd be surprised if a good deal of them were. In fact, barbarians end up channeling the elements themselves to fuel their rage, so what's the problem with the supernatural stuff?

>>4586630
>Shaman
>Gods, not spirits
Why shouldn't they trust the sorcerer to speak for the gods?
He's been granted power by them.

>>4586652
>barbarians end up channeling the elements themselves

Um, that's a Shaman, not a barbarian.

>>4586663
>>4586652
In before edition war.
Seriously, though.
A barbarian shouldn't need to fear magic.
An axe or sword or club (or an axeswordclub) to the face will fix those bastard casters right up.

>>4586663
In 4th, it's both.

>>4586663

Are we talking about the same D&D here? Because you're referring to barbarians and shamans, both of them being primal classes in 4e from the Player's handbook who channel elements and nature spirits, whereas the shaman in 3.5 is some obscure class in the splatbook that is Oriental Adventures, not having much to do with barbarians.

>>4586690
I think he means 'shaman' in the lowercase general sense, as in the spiritual leader of a tribe or clan.
In which case pretty much any caster class can work.
Even wizard.

>>4586676
I have no fear of them or their demon magicks... I simply distrust them - any who would make such pacts with spirits and demons to perform such sorcery has no reason to be trusted.

Remember Minsc from BG2 ? He was travelling with his witch, protecting her from natural hazards/ bandits/ etc...

Well, now, picture a tribesman who does the same, but saner than Minsc.
He can be quiet like a hunter can, but when his witch is threatened, he rages like an angry god.
His tribe does not shun magic (why else would he protect a witch?) maybe not even necromancy (spirit of the ancestors)
Although he's chaotic, duty is everything to him; a guardian without a witch is the same as a warrior without a sword.
Duality is everywhere; the material world and the spiritual world overlapse. People from the city call him savage, let them say; they can no longer see and feel the spiritual, they are dried up inside. He pities them.

Read Eaters of the Dead (or watch 13th Warrior) and imagine your Barbarian as the viking king. Calculating, serious, perhaps unread but makes things choppy when they need to be choppy.

Also, in a story I wrote, a barbarian had left his kingdom, sick of the blood lust and war only to find a community where there was no such thing (encircled by huge forests, thick with wild beasts, so they had only avian communications with neighboring cities) where he basically hunted the wild beasts for the people. Then another barbarian who had sent out searching for him came upon another of these isolated cities, and began turning it toward war -- teaching the people to kill and pillage, so they mowed through the forests and enslaved/raped the other cities, so that they had several cities as slaves under their one rule. The old barb had to pick up his bastard sword once again to not only defend his city from bloodshed, but return peace to the cities that had been trampled along the way. He realized the passion he had been missing from war, and his purpose, so he couldn't return back to the simple life, but went back to his homelands.