Friday, 22 March 2013

The Barbarian

Who is the Barbarian, other than the most awesome motherfucker you can possibly be? Let's begin, perhaps, with what the Barbarian is not. The Barbarian is not a mindless machine of war- while they're rarely educated per se, the greatest barbarians are cunning warlords, not mere brutes. Conan relied almost as much on his guile as his strength and neither Attila the Hun or Genghis Khan would have gone very far without their primal charisma. A barbarian is a product of a brutal and harsh environment, someone who has learned to rely on themselves first and foremost, who has a healthy disdain for civilization, even if they may enjoy certain of its benefits (steady work, liquor, brothels). 

The Barbarian:
Hit Dice: d12
Attack Bonus: As Fighter
Experience: As Fighter
Skills: All Barbarians are skilled at foraging for themselves and orienting themselves in natural environments. The skills of individual Barbarians may depend by tribe. 
Armour: Barbarians can generally only wear light armours such as leather, studded leather or hide. 
Weapons: Any melee or thrown weapons. True barbarians generally eschew missile weapons, save for those tribes that specialize in mounted archery. 

Cleave: Any time a Barbarian fells an opponent in combat, they can immediately make a melee attack against another adjacent enemy. 

Primal Might: Barbarians know how to conserve their strength and can release it in shocking bursts of energy and might that shock enemies. Once per day per level, a Barbarian can take a+4 bonus on a Str, Dex or Constitution related check or saving throw. 

Primal Endurance: At 5th level, a Barbarian has enough mastery of themselves that they can call upon their final reserves of might and instead of falling unconscious at 0 hit points, remain standing and fighting until reduced to -10, at which point they die like anyone else. 

Stronghold: At 9th level, a Barbarian will automatically attract barbarian followers, who will serve the Barbarian as long as they prove a successful and capable combat leader. The barbarian can rely on d6 1st level barbarian underlings and d6 non-combat underlings (slaves, concubines) as they or the GM determine. 

Call to War: At 12th level, a Barbarian can call together followers for a specific purpose, either bondsmen or close allies and grant upon them the benefits of an additional hit dice (+1 to attack, saves, bonus to HP, but not other benefits of gaining a level) for a period of one week or until a specific task is completed. The Barbarian can give this benefit to up to one individual per level. 

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