A party built around a barbarian theme
Its so Wild, Baby
Making a party built around a Barbarian character, intended to let the Barbarian’s strengths shine, we will assume that this party will spend a lot of time in untamed areas.
Brawn
Obviously, the Barbarian suits the brawn needs of such a party. He has an excellent attack bonus, with the Rage ability can temporarily have exceptional damage-dealing and damage-taking capabilities. The Barbarian is the Tank and the Sponge.
Divine Magic
Arcane stuff is nice, but there’s no substitute for divine mojo. A Paladin or Cleric would likely be unsuitable due to their more civilized leanings. Put a Druid in here. Druids are comfortable in the wilder areas of the world, and have access to magics that will make life more comfortable for the barbarian party.
Cunning
A Rogue or Bard traditionally fills this role, cunning being their key characteristics. However, the bard is not particularly well suited to life away from civilization. Bards typically seek out the attention of large groups of people, who are unlikely to be found during protracted stints in the wilderness. A Ranger may suit this role, for while he has few skill points to distribute, his abilities are widely applicable to the outdoors in which this party will operated.
Arcane Magic
As before, Bards are probably a bad pick here. A Wizard would be better served with a more civilized base of operations, where he can keep his spellbooks and grimoires under lock and key, so a Sorcerer may work better here. Provided he has access to his spell components, he need not worry about his books.
Final combo
I would go with a Barbarian + Druid + Ranger + Sorcerer for flavor’s sake here. They could run around in war paint with bones through their noses, wearing monster-tooth necklaces, and not break from the basic concept of the class. It would be like having a party uniform.
Strengths
This party would be strong in combat with 1d12+1d10+1d8+1d4 hit points and a favorable attack bonus progression overall.
While in the wilds, the Ranger and Druid can use their class abilities and spells to arrange for devastating ambushes.
This would be a great group for waylaying travelers on a remote road or harassing an incursion of evil humanoids.
Weaknesses
This party would need to spend considerable amounts of time recovering from injuries until later levels, when the Druid gains access to some truly useful healing magic.
Outside of their element (in a traditional dungeon crawl or a city) this party would have a hand tied behind its back. The Sorcerer will likely end up with a spell selection that complements the Ranger and Druid’s outdoorsman skills, which will be utterly crippled in an urban or dungeon environment.
quoting….
“This party would be strong in combat with 2d10 + 1d8 + 1d4 hit points ….”
now u made a lil mistake there.. cuz there’ s one
1d12 + 1d10 + 1d8 ….
remember barbs are 1d12 hitpoints per lvl + con mod
Hehe.. you caught me. Finally somebody proofread me. Consider it fixed. And in D&D3.5 it’s 1d12+2d8+1d4, I understand.
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Sure thing. I simply publish content about the things I’m personally interested: Computers (esp. games), Web tinkering, Anime (and comics), and Dungeons & Dragons. Fire off an email to me (jdf@sonic.net) with what you’d like to have posted. Please don’t take it personally if I exercise editorial authority with an iron fist, however.
I am open to the idea of giving publishing access to other people for this site, provided things stay on-topic and don’t chafe me the wrong way 🙂
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I AM JUST STARTTING TO PLAY A NEW A WITH Barbarian AT 4TH LEVEL .WE WILL BE GOING TO THE TEMPIL OF ELMINTER OF EVIL CAN YOU HELP ME OUT.
Dean,
First piece of advice is to turn off your capslock key. You’re killing me. Seriously.
Second, attacking everything that looks like a monster is a bad idea. This is true in general, but especially true in the Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. There are several encounters that can be more easily and quickly handled by talking your way through it than by putting a greataxe through something’s head.
Third, most encounters are of the “putting a greataxe through something’s head” variety in that adventure. It’s a long adventure and there’s an awful lot of combat to do.
Fourth, as a Barbarian your specific role is to lay down massive amounts of melee damage in combat and be available to get hit instead of the spellcasters in your party. Do not hesitate to put your character at risk in order to prevent your Cleric or Wizard from coming to harm. Hesitation in the face of combat is unbefitting your berzerker nature. You’ll be spending some quality time underground, so many of your combat encounters will be very well suited to strong melee skills. Barbarian is an excellent main-fighter for that adventure. Enjoy!