Post/Author/DateTime	Post
marsfire 07-28-03, 12:39 PM	How would you justify a neutral good fighter multiclassing with a barbarian? The player's handbook says alittle about what kind of characters would be a barb, but doesn't give enough information on what it would take to multiclass. can someone help? please!
Domni Dalrose 07-28-03, 01:21 PM	I can't say that I could actually :( Why are you(I assume it's your character?) wanting to multiclass into barbarian?
Mister Mayhem 07-28-03, 01:31 PM	Primarily, I'd find a reason to be really, really angry about something, in order to provoke a beserk rage during a combat. But it depends what you are after - the beserker aspects or the "primitive" fighter aspects.
Barrid 07-28-03, 03:35 PM	Barb and Sorc always seemed to me to be classes you start with than what you multiclass into. But, it can be done. -Have your fighter start losing his grip on sanity...making him more like a beast. -Have him meet a tribe and become adopted and live with them for a bit. -Have him witness something that throws him into a beserker rage -Have him actually be a member of the tribe who was raised by someone else (his history is a "lie") He meets his new family and is taught their ways. -He is on an island or some other isolated place and regresses into savagery That's what I can think up so far....all of them require a bit more down time than the average multi....g'luck
Xalxika 07-28-03, 03:59 PM	Barrid has the right idea. If you look into the Greek Pantheon stats, it shows that Hercules is a Fighter 20/ Barbarian 20. This shows that he tends to lose his temper with certain individuals, yet maybe not all of them.
marsfire 07-29-03, 09:59 AM	Thanks for all the help guys! I think it will fit in best if he witnesses some terrible events that cause him to rage. It just seems to fit into the storyline best
Barrid 07-29-03, 04:55 PM	I suggest that event be "Gun Shy." Egads.
Edymnion 07-29-03, 10:32 PM	A good example (even if a bad movie), is Anakin Skywalker from Episode II. He's a fighter (well, a psychic warrior, but you get the idea), but he has got some anger managment issues. He flies into a rage and destroys and entire villiage down to the last man, woman, and child (not a very Jedi-ish thing to do). I'd try to play it as the character is getting more and more fed up with the injustices in the world. When he finally takes that actual lvl in Barbarian, work with DM to have him witness the razing of a villiage with horrible scenes of children burning to death, then the badguys coming into view. Something in your character just snaps, he sees nothing but red, and doesn't stop until every last invader is dead. But please, try to keep when your character rages actually in character. One of the things that is kinda funky with the 3.x Barbarian is that he can go into a rage whenever he wants. I can just see it now. Barbarian gets to the bottom of his box of fruitloops and doesn't find the toy. "They... didn't... give... me... MY... TOY!!!!!! ARGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Just, try to keep it reasonable. Don't go flying into a rage in every fight. Try to rage only when there's a good reason for it.
Barrid 07-29-03, 11:48 PM	I'd be like that fruitloops guy :D. Getting irate over everything and having no rage left for real fights. "HUGE!!!!!" Err...I mean, "RAAGGH! My toggle fell off my pants!!!!" *Smashes several innocent trees and one not-so-innocent tree* "PORRIDGE!??! AGAIN!?!? Me crush!!!" "Orcs! Um...hrm...I'm not angry anymore...."
Trydan 07-30-03, 07:57 AM	I have a barbarian/sorcerer character based on the Magic: The Gathering character: Dakkon Blackblade. The "rages" that he has are when he taps into the land for additional power (a long story...). They do not represent anger, but more the ability and circumstance to channel the energy of the ley-lines (or whatever) of the earth. As a result, he can rage whenever he wants (still within the limits of the class - just not requiring a reason, that's all), and be somewhat cooler about it than your average berserker. However, he still can't do anything that requires concentration, etc.. However, tied in with all of this is the role-playing requirement that he must actually be in contact with the ground (caves, beaches, mountains, fine... but multi-storey buildings, ships, etc. no).
Campeador 07-30-03, 08:11 AM	I had a barbarian that couldn't rage by himself. He had to take quite some damage, before he got so fed up that he burst loose. Also I would throw to who I would attack, and just go for it, even if he was in furthest away. I did start out with Greater Rage though, so it wasn't naught when my character did break....;) And he wouldn't be winded till 1d8 of the opponents was down, even though my time would be up. After the amount of rounds or after the 1d8 enemies were dead, he'd faint...
Barrid 07-30-03, 04:01 PM	Although....self-imposed rages kinda remind me of Dragonball Z. Barb-"Time to fight? RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA----" Enemy-"I'll take a nap..."
phosis21 07-31-03, 12:37 AM	I've got a Barbarian/Fighter guy, he's sort of an Arena fighter type, and he represents his tribe in this Core Arena, when he fights it is said the Ancestors of his people land him thier skill and strength, boosting his spirit, his eyes become dark and he begins to fight with an ancient mastery. Its all within the rules, but its much more controlled, less Berzerkery, and i like that over the typical "WHAT?!?! NO TOY IN FRUITY LOOPS RAAAAAGEEE!!!!" He's always very cool calm and collected, even in combat (we used point buy) and i even took a few points off of his strength to boost his Intelligence to support this role playing choice in his Abilities, he's one of the smartest people in his tribe.(With a whopping 13 int!) He meditates before battles he knows about and those that he doesn't know about, well he doesn't Rage (no communing with spirits, no spiritual boosters). Joe
Reverend_Chaos 07-31-03, 05:41 PM	This may, or may not help, but here is what I did with my half-orc character who started as a fighter, and then multi-classed into barbaian. August Blackbanner. His mother was the daughter to a wealthy and semi-powerful merchant. No one knows for sure the circumstances of August's conception, but it is whispered that she was not raped. In any case, this is a huge embarrasment to her father, but for the sake of his only daughter, he must accept his grandchild. Or as it turns out, pretend to. August is trained in the martial arts, and grows up in a fairly sophisticated environment, so he becomes a fighter instead of a barbarian. Once he is nearly a man grown, His grandfather sends him out with one of his trade caravans, "To become a man". The father however arranges for a group of bandits to attack the caravan, and ensures that there are insufficient guardsmen. August survives this encounter, and decides that it is best if he does not return home. He joins an adventuring company and travels the world. During a particularly nasty encounter, August watches in vain as his entire party is slain, and their adversary escapes. August is then recruited by another adventuring company. His first adventure with this group is quite successful, and August starts to regain some of his confidence. The next two encounters however, do not go well. Several PC's die, as well as August. He is Resurrected the first time, and the second time, because he ended up in a large acid pool, he had to be true resurrected, but lost all of his equipment, save for his shield and sword. This deeply upset August, who then felt like a failure. He travels north trying to find his heritage, and figure out why he is continually failing his comrades. He does not find his father's tribe, which is nearly wiped out, but he does spend some time with an orc tribe, where he is taught how to unleash his anger and frustration upon his adversaries.
Sken Dingle 08-01-03, 01:46 PM	It depends on where your fighter comes from. The "rage" doesn't even have to be savage or barbaric. If the fighter comes from a society has a warrior class that trains in the Warp Spasm, or enlightenment means that the fighter gains a new level of Battle Frenzy. It could be a totem thing. The Badger God visits the fighter touching him with the totem fury. There are many options.
Monikerrpg 08-03-03, 07:44 AM	"Send it back into the dark until you need it..." -Commander Samuel Vimes, Terry Pratchett Night Watch He was referring to his anger, resentment, adreneline and violent instincts. He calls it 'the Beast', and the same thing is referred to by many other characters is other books for similar things. Even a civilized man can find these things in himself and find them spilling out when he fights. It's the part of you that will push beyond the limits of what you think you can do and even what your body will let you do for fear of breaking itself. That's why you don't get temporary hit points- pushing yourself like that can kill you, if you override the body's safety fuses and push to hard, it will rush back like the wave receeding, and leave you nothing. Sometimes anger is how this happens, but I think that fear of death (your ownof a loved ones) is a much better motivator to initial super-human effort, which you learn to channel more easily with practice. Of cours,e channeling the spirits of ancestors or Channeling the Flame is also acceptable. Just find what works best with your camapaign (or get your DM to do so) and roll with it.
Warskull 08-03-03, 06:48 PM	Probably the easiest and most seemless transition would be to have your fighter adopt a new view on combat. Have him start leaning away from technical style while using raw power and emotion to fuel his success in combat. Instead of deftly looking for an opening he would begin simply overpowering his enemies. Once looking to raw emotion and energy for his strength in battle it would be pretty easy to justify multiclassing into a barbarian. To trigger it have him get extremely desperate in a battle. Things are looking bad, he doesn't think he will survive, and with all his strength he lets loose a warcry like he has never before and charges into battle. If he survives that he has found a strength inside him that he didn't know about before and begins dabbling in it. In combat he begins to just lose himself in his emotions and acting on instinct. Once he begins digging deeper into this path of combat he begins taking barbarian levels. Raging into combat, growing tougher and stronger, ect.
Crusher Nate 08-05-03, 03:30 PM	Maybe it could be arranged for a Wizard (friendly or hostile) to hit him with some sort of spell that makes him go berserk... and he decides he likes it. Either it makes him a more effective warrior, or it just feels great. Either way, he's hooked. He begins practicing to try and draw on the rage that naturally dwells within him. Or maybe he gets to see a Barbarian in action, and he decides he'd like to learn to fight like that.
Barrid 08-05-03, 03:57 PM	Curse of the Brute...Cleric Spell
PhaedrusXY 08-05-03, 08:37 PM	I play a ranger in one game who picked up his first level of barbarian at level 15. In his case, his background both before and after starting adventuring lent itself quite easily to barbarism. He grew up in the wilderness as a child after seeing his family slaughtered by orcs, using his father's trained falcon to catch food for him. Alot of his adventuring career has been filled with frustration, the loss of loved ones, and a few deaths of his own. Recently, he's become even more grim and brutal than he used to be, and in his frustration and often desparation, he's begun lashing out in fits of extreme rage.