Barbarians as a Race

[endlessruin]

Does anyone else think that Barbarian's should be a race instead of a class? To me a Barbarian falls somewhere between a human and giant. They are massive and powerful men who have their own culture, society, and unique characteristics. I don't believe in elf or dwarven Barbarians, they do not seem plausible to me. I think they should be a race and the could make a berserker class instead. I could see a berserker of many different races. What do you guys think?

 

[pawsplay]

EverQuest agrees with you.

Bard Games's Atlantis featured nine foot tall Aesir.

 

[Klaus]

Does anyone else think that Barbarian's should be a race instead of a class? To me a Barbarian falls somewhere between a human and giant. They are massive and powerful men who have their own culture, society, and unique characteristics. I don't believe in elf or dwarven Barbarians, they do not seem plausible to me. I think they should be a race and the could make a berserker class instead. I could see a berserker of many different races. What do you guys think?

No.

Barbarians are a culture, not a race.

And the class should be called "Rager" or "Primal Warrior". Or maybe "Primal Rager". That's a 4e name, right there.

 

[Mercule]

Huh?

I would say "no" because you postulate something so foreign to my mindset that I can't fully parse it. Barbarians are outsiders, usually at a lower tech level. Race is irrelevant -- other than the fact it would be rather odd to call someone of another species/race "barbarian". More likely, "flower-eater" or some other race-specific slur would be used.

 

[SoulStorm]

Yes, Barbarians are a culture, not a class or race. 4th edition should have Berserkers, not Barbarians. Someone should make a poll. Maybe the name should be changed to Flumph.

 

[Voadam]

Does anyone else think that Barbarian's should be a race instead of a class? To me a Barbarian falls somewhere between a human and giant. They are massive and powerful men who have their own culture, society, and unique characteristics. I don't believe in elf or dwarven Barbarians, they do not seem plausible to me. I think they should be a race and the could make a berserker class instead. I could see a berserker of many different races. What do you guys think?

Everquest RPG PH did this with humans, barbarians, and some big headed smarty types.

I didn't really care for it in practice. I prefer to think of Conan and vikings as human.

 

[Cyronax]

Huh?

I would say "no" because you postulate something so foreign to my mindset that I can't fully parse it. Barbarians are outsiders, usually at a lower tech level.

Wait .... so which plane do your barbarians originate from? So I guess barbarians are a member of any given race, with the extraplanar barbarian template?

You say low tech, so I assume it would be the Feywild since ... that plane is ...um....wild.

I think this goes against what 4e is about, and also it would put two Feywild races in the 4e PHB, the barbarians and the eladrins. I also don't think template races should be in the PHB either.

4e isn't about duplication of roles or continuity, hence the pogrom against gnomes. 4e is about radical change and kicking ass.

C.I.D.


TROLL Thread?

 

[grimslade]

No.

Barbarians are a culture, not a race.

And the class should be called "Rager" or "Primal Warrior". Or maybe "Primal Rager". That's a 4e name, right there.

In 4E fashion the class would be Primal Gorgon Rager. You need a mythic beast in there.

Barbarian is a slur the 'civilized' world labels the cultures it oppresses and fears. The stuttering masses who can't speak Greek. Any race can be barbaric.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I don't think barbarians should be a race either. Even using barbarian as a generic term for 'savages' (as defined by the existing 'civilised' races) I can't see any reason for not allowing for savage dwarves, savage elves, savage halflings (or civilised orc societies, come to that).

Perhaps a useful halfway house to consider might be to have Barbarians as coming from particular regions, with some unique regional characteristics.

e.g. in the Conan OGL game the different nationalities all had their own bonuses and penalties for being Pict/Cimmerian/Stygian/Zamoran/etc replacing the racial differentiation which you see in D&D.

 

[Atlatl Jones]

In 4E fashion the class would be Primal Gorgon Rager. You need a mythic beast in there.

You also need a compound word: Primal Gorgon Rageborn