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Dungeons & Dragons Online Guides » Barbarian

Living on the fringes of civilization or in the wilderness, barbarians survive by taking foes head-on and being the last one standing. They are Eberron’s untrained warriors and gain more hit points than any other class, but can use only medium armor. Unlike fighters, who benefit from devotion to training, barbarians gain their fighting prowess as a matter of necessity. When a barbarian enters a rage, her frenzy usually doesn’t cease until all of her foes are vanquished—or she gets killed.

Adventuring parties appreciate the brute strength and heavy hits barbarians contribute to the group. Barbarians almost never show cowardice, and adventurers quickly learn to rely on their savage determination. The barbarian class will pay off for players who want to take massive damage to protect traveling companions and still add damage for the team.

Barbarians develop on the frontiers anywhere the playable races live. Drow barbarians are cunning and quick. Dwarf barbarians are less charismatic than those of the other races, but they are four feet of damage-soaking fury. Halfling barbarians use more precise attacks to counteract their slightly weaker hits. The extra dexterity of elf barbarians compensates for their inability to use heavy armor and lower hit points due to their lesser constitutions. The human barbarian has no ability modifiers but gains an extra feat at Level 1. A warforged barbarian can survive tremendous damage due to its high hit points and natural armor feats; the offset is that it will have less wisdom and charisma than other barbarians.

Motivation
Barbarians lack the discipline to perform the tedium of city patrolmen and the charisma to serve as a knight to nobility. Sometimes they quest to rid a region close to their homes of a particular abomination—usually undead or demons. Revenge against a hated foe is another factor that can spur a barbarian to traverse the lands. A few barbarians seek adventure in the hopes of being accepted by more “civilized” folks.

Class Features
Damage Reduction: Barbarians become more resistant to physical damage as they gain experience, gaining a damage reduction of 1 against all unarmed, weapon or natural attacks at Level 2. The damage reduction increases to 2 at Level 10.

Fast Movement: Barbarians can move 10% faster than other classes.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Barbarians wield all shields and simple and martial weapons capably. They can wear light or medium armor.

Rage: Barbarians are capable of entering a rage during combat that increases their Strength by 4, Constitution by 4 and saves against mind-altering effects by 2. While enraged, they suffer reduced AC (-2) and cannot use most skills based on charisma, dexterity, or intelligence.

Trap Sense: Starting at Level 3, barbarians enjoy +1 Reflex save vs. traps, +1 AC vs. trap attacks. These benefits increase by 1 each at Levels 6 and 9.

Uncanny Dodge: In DDO, this is an active Feat that grants a temporary bonus to AC and Reflex saves that becomes available at Level 2. At Level 5, the Feat also prevents flanking monsters from receiving the normal bonus to their attacks against the barbarian.

Suggested Races

Dwarf (nice resistances to magic, and hardy people)
Human (it’s hard not to love the extra Fets and Skills)
Warforged (armor bonuses and racial Enchancements that add a lot to the barbarian)

Key Abilities
Each class begins with 28 points to spend over 6 abilities (Intelligence, Wisdom, Constitution, Dexterity, Strength, and Charisma). Strength is a major concern for barbarians as it affects their chances to hit enemies and the damage they do when they land a blow. Dexterity is also a good choice because it contributes to armor class—a good thing since barbarians are often in the thick of the action. Constitution is as good an option as Dexterity since it provides barbarians with more hit points. Finally, some players will want to put some points into Charisma so that their barbarians will be most successful at using the Intimidate skill to draw the attention of monsters away from comrades.

Suggested Skills
Barbarian class skills are Intimidate, Jump, Listen, and Swim. Intimidate will save the lives of a barbarian’s companions, and swim could save his own life. Jump and Listen may not be the best place for the limited skill points remaining: most parties will have a designated scout who specializes in such things. Instead, consider cross-class skills such as Heal or Repair to help the group recover more hit points at rest shrines. Tumble is also a valid choice for the barbarian who focuses on being the best fighter he can be. Balance will help against those pesky foes who use Trip too much.

Suggested Feats
Warforged barbarians will find Adamantine Body an excellent selection because of the huge bonus to armor class and the damage reduction it grants. Mithral Body is a good alternative for warforged, giving less armor class and no damage reduction but a smaller penalty to Dexterity and Skill checks. Stunning Blow can help a lone barbarian out of a tight situation by stunning her enemies for a short time. Power Attack is also a good early choice because it can deal a lot of damage and is the prerequisite for many other combat feats. Finally, Bullheaded can be a practical selection because of its bonuses to Intimidate and will saves.