D&D 5E Building a better Barbarian

[Paul Smart]

Hi everyone.

Lets talk Barbarians. What works about them? What would you change and why? How can they be improved?

I would love to hear everyones thoughts.

 

[Yunru]

Rage works, the split between Dexterity and Strength features works. Wouldn't change anything except the Berserker getting a feature to remove a level of exhaustion each rest, and make rages refresh on a short rest.

 

[Mercule]

I don't think that Rage works, thematically, with any of the subclasses besides Berserker. I'd actually take Rage and make the Berserker into a Fighter subclass. Then, I'd dismantle the Barbarian class, entirely, and replace it with a Warder (or whatever name you want). This new class would have three subclasses to start with:

1) A totem warrior that pulled the totem concept from the existing subclass, tweaking as necessary to account for not having Rage.
2) A shifter that stole the Druid's shapeshifting ability and made it worthy of standing without spells. (Yup, that means Druids aren't shifters -- at least not the alpha shifters.)
3) A beast master that stole the Ranger's pet.

That'd actually fix problems with three different classes. But, the Barbarian as a raging warrior? Nah, cull it from the game.

 

[Kobold Stew]

My biggest problem with the barbarian is the use of the exhaustion mechanic for the Berserker's Frenzy. It's tedious and fiddly, since this is (I think?) the only class ability that uses it.

Further, Frenzy's average effectiveness decreases as you level up. Since you remove one level of exhaustion at the end of a long rest, a level 3 barb can frenzy w/out penalty 1/3 (=33%) of the time, but a level 19 barb can do so 1/6 (17%).

 

[Ashkelon]

I think rage should be a per short rest ability instead of per day ability. Give it half as many uses (rounded up) but with the uses recharging after a short rest.

I think rage should give you advantage to attack rolls, but make attacks against you have advantage. I think reckless attack should then become -5 to attack rolls for +10 to damage (and great weapon master should not have -5 for +10).

Truth be told though, I really miss the primal elements of the barbarian that simply were not captured in 5e. I miss elemental rages, rages related to specific primal beasts, and a variety of unique rages that changed the way the barbarian fought. I miss the barbarian being much more than merely an angry fighter. I miss the barbarian having a very unique approach to combat and abilities that truly reflect that. I miss a barbarian who actually plays differently from other melee classes while in combat. I don't know if any amount of changes to the 5e barbarian could remake the kind of barbarian I had come to love though.

 

[BookBarbarian]

Barbarians work right out of the box. You don't have to gain a few levels feel like you are playing finally the concept. Rage and Reckless attack work very well together. with the strength of the former shoring up the weakness of the latter.

I also dislike the exhaustion mechanic. No other class or subclass is penalized like this for using their third level ability.

My one complaint about the class as a whole is that at higher levels it doesn't get a lot of new things to do. Sure, all the things it can already do are improved, but it would be nice to see a subclass get something like a high level AoE ability, a ground stomp or thunderclap type would make sense to me. The UA Barbarians seem to be going along this path.

And as much as I love Barbarians, I can see Mercule's point. "Guy that gets mad" may not be a cohesive enough theme for a class, and could have been a Fighter subclass. Although, mechanically I think the class is pretty solid.

 

[FrogReaver]

Each subclass should get its own unique rage

 

[S'mon]

The 5e Barbarian is my favourite class. I love it, the only thing I change from RAW is to let the Berserker recover 1 level of Rage induced Exhaustion 3/day on a Short Rest.

I like that it's basically a Fighter subclass. It's a lot better designed than the actual 5e Fighter. I had a
literal warrior princess PC I built as a Battlemaster Fighter, who did not work well. As a Barbarian she would have been awesome. I was too stuck on the class name, not the abilities.

 

[S'mon]

My one complaint about the class as a whole is that at higher levels it doesn't get a lot of new things to do.

My son was pretty excited when he got his Dragonborn Totem Barbarian to 15th level, grew a pair of wings and gained the (modified Eagle totem) ability to Fly!

If anything I am struck by how many new awesome powers Barbarians get as they level up, much better than eg Champion Fighters.

 

[Raith5]

I like the Barbarian subclasses and like them being different from the fighter (which is already waaay too broad a class).

The Barbarian class is low down on my list of things that need tweaking in 5e. That said except for the exhaustion problem, I would like there to be more interesting primal themed abilities and rages. I also think the skills for Barbarian's could be more interesting - I feel like my Totem Barbarian is only useful with athletics really, he should surely be better with nature.