DnD Barbarian

Unleash the Fury

Looking for a Barbarian 5e guide? this is it. This guide explains dnd Barbarian in details. Lets start with the level table because that is the most important (and probs what you're lookin' for eh?) lets go!

Greetings, mighty adventurers, to the thrilling realm of Dungeons & Dragons! If you crave raw power, unbridled rage, and savage combat, the Barbarian class might be your perfect fit.

In this quick build guide, we'll show you how to create a Barbarian character and provide valuable insights into playing this ferocious class.

Table Of Content
1. Introduction
2. Level table
3. Class feature

Barbarian Class Details

A tall human tribesman strides through a blizzard, draped in fur and hefting his axe. He laughs as he charges toward the frost giant who dared poach his people’s elk herd.

A half-orc snarls at the latest challenger to her authority over their tribe, ready to break his neck with her bare hands as she did to the last six rivals.

Frothing at the mouth, a dwarf slams his helmet into the face of his drow foe, then turns to drive his armored elbow into the gut of another.

These barbarians, different as they might be, are defined by their rage: unbridled, unquenchable, and unthinking fury. More than a mere emotion, their anger is the ferocity of a cornered predator, the unrelenting assault of a storm, the churning turmoil of the sea.

For some, their rage springs from a communion with fierce animal spirits. Others draw from a roiling reservoir of anger at a world full of pain. For every barbarian, rage is a power that fuels not just a battle frenzy but also uncanny reflexes, resilience, and feats of strength.

Primal Instinct

People of towns and cities take pride in their settled ways, as if denying one’s connection to nature were a mark of superiority. To a barbarian, though, a settled life is no virtue, but a sign of weakness. The strong embrace nature—valuing keen instincts, primal physicality, and ferocious rage. Barbarians are uncomfortable when hedged in by walls and crowds. They thrive in the wilds of their homelands: the tundra, jungle, or grasslands where their tribes live and hunt.

Barbarians come alive in the chaos of combat. They can enter a berserk state where rage takes over, giving them superhuman strength and resilience. A barbarian can draw on this reservoir of fury only a few times without resting, but those few rages are usually sufficient to defeat whatever threats arise.

A Life of Danger

A barbarian plays an important role as a protector of their people and a leader in times of war. Life in the wild places of the world is fraught with peril: rival tribes, deadly weather, and terrifying monsters. Barbarians charge headlong into that danger so that their people don’t have to.

Their courage in the face of danger makes barbarians perfectly suited for adventuring. Wandering is often a way of life for their native tribes, and the rootless life of the adventurer is little hardship for a barbarian. Some barbarians miss the close-knit family structures of the tribe, but eventually find them replaced by the bonds formed among the members of their adventuring parties.

Creating a Barbarian

When creating a barbarian character, think about where your character comes from and his or her place in the world. Talk with your DM about an appropriate origin for your barbarian. Did you come from a distant land, making you a stranger in the area of the campaign? Or is the campaign set in a rough-and-tumble frontier where barbarians are common?

What led you to take up the adventuring life? Were you lured to settled lands by the promise of riches? Did you join forces with soldiers of those lands to face a shared threat? Did monsters or an invading horde drive you out of your homeland, making you a rootless refugee? Perhaps you were a prisoner of war, brought in chains to another land and only now able to win your freedom. Or you might have been cast out from your people because of a crime you committed, a taboo you violated, or a coup that removed you from a position of authority.

QUICK BUILD

You can make a barbarian quickly by following these suggestions. First, put your highest ability score in Strength, followed by Constitution. Second, choose the outlander background.

The Barbarian Table

Level	Proficiency Bonus	Features	Rages	Rage Damage
1st	+2	Rage, Unarmored Defense	2	+2
2nd	+2	Reckless Attack, Danger Sense	2	+2
3rd	+2	Primal Path	3	+2
4th	+2	Ability Score Improvement	3	+2
5th	+3	Extra Attack, Fast Movement	3	+2
6th	+3	Path Feature	4	+2
7th	+3	Feral Instinct	4	+2
8th	+3	Ability Score Improvement	4	+2
9th	+4	Brutal Critical (1 die)	4	+3
10th	+4	Path Feature	4	+3
11th	+4	Relentless Rage	4	+3
12th	+4	Ability Score Improvement	5	+3
13th	+5	Brutal Critical (2 dice)	5	+3
14th	+5	Path Feature	5	+3
15th	+5	Persistent Rage	5	+3
16th	+5	Ability Score Improvement	5	+4
17th	+6	Brutal Critical (3 dice)	6	+4
18th	+6	Indomitable Might	6	+4
19th	+6	Ability Score Improvement	6	+4
20th	+6	Primal Champion	Unlimited	+4

Class Features

As a barbarian, you gain the following class features.

Hit Points

Hit Dice: 1d12 per barbarian level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 12 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d12 (or 7) + your Constitution modifier per barbarian level after 1st

Proficiencies

Armor: Light armor, medium armor, shields
Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons
Tools: None
Saving Throws: Strength, Constitution
Skills: Choose two from Animal Handling, Athletics, Intimidation, Nature, Perception, and Survival

Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

(a) a greataxe or (b) any martial melee weapon
(a) two handaxes or (b) any simple weapon
An explorer’s pack and four javelins

Rage

In battle, you fight with primal ferocity. On your turn, you can enter a rage as a bonus action.

While raging, you gain the following benefits if you aren’t wearing heavy armor:

You have advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws.
When you make a melee weapon attack using Strength, you gain a bonus to the damage roll that increases as you gain levels as a barbarian, as shown in the Rage Damage column of the Barbarian table.
You have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.

If you are able to cast spells, you can’t cast them or concentrate on them while raging.

Your rage lasts for 1 minute. It ends early if you are knocked unconscious or if your turn ends and you haven’t attacked a hostile creature since your last turn or taken damage since then. You can also end your rage on your turn as a bonus action.

Once you have raged the number of times shown for your barbarian level in the Rages column of the Barbarian table, you must finish a long rest before you can rage again.

Unarmored Defense

While you are not wearing any armor, your Armor Class equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Constitution modifier. You can use a shield and still gain this benefit.

Reckless Attack

Starting at 2nd level, you can throw aside all concern for defense to attack with fierce desperation. When you make your first attack on your turn, you can decide to attack recklessly. Doing so gives you advantage on melee weapon attack rolls using Strength during this turn, but attack rolls against you have advantage until your next turn.

Danger Sense

At 2nd level, you gain an uncanny sense of when things nearby aren’t as they should be, giving you an edge when you dodge away from danger.

You have advantage on Dexterity saving throws against effects that you can see, such as traps and spells. To gain this benefit, you can’t be blinded, deafened, or incapacitated.

Primal Path

At 3rd level, you choose a path that shapes the nature of your rage. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 6th, 10th, and 14th levels.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Using the optional feats rule, you can forgo taking this feature to take a feat of your choice instead.

Extra Attack

Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Fast Movement

Starting at 5th level, your speed increases by 10 feet while you aren’t wearing heavy armor.

Feral Instinct

By 7th level, your instincts are so honed that you have advantage on initiative rolls.

Additionally, if you are surprised at the beginning of combat and aren’t incapacitated, you can act normally on your first turn, but only if you enter your rage before doing anything else on that turn.

Brutal Critical

Beginning at 9th level, you can roll one additional weapon damage die when determining the extra damage for a critical hit with a melee attack.

This increases to two additional dice at 13th level and three additional dice at 17th level.

Relentless Rage

Starting at 11th level, your rage can keep you fighting despite grievous wounds. If you drop to 0 hit points while you’re raging and don’t die outright, you can make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. If you succeed, you drop to 1 hit point instead.

Each time you use this feature after the first, the DC increases by 5. When you finish a short or long rest, the DC resets to 10.

Brutal Critical

At 13th level, you can roll two additional weapon damage dice when determining the extra damage for a critical hit with a melee attack.

This increases to three additional dice at 17th level.

Persistent Rage

Beginning at 15th level, your rage is so fierce that it ends early only if you fall unconscious or if you choose to end it.

Brutal Critical

At 17th level, you can roll three additional weapon damage dice when determining the extra damage for a critical hit with a melee attack.

Indomitable Might

Beginning at 18th level, if your total for a Strength check is less than your Strength score, you can use that score in place of the total.

Primal Champion

At 20th level, you embody the power of the wilds. Your Strength and Constitution scores increase by 4. Your maximum for those scores is now 24.

Primal Paths

Rage burns in every barbarian’s heart, a furnace that drives him or her toward greatness. Different barbarians attribute their rage to different sources, however. For some, it is an internal reservoir where pain, grief, and anger are forged into a fury hard as steel. Others see it as a spiritual blessing, a gift of a totem animal.

Path of the Berserker

For some barbarians, rage is a means to an end—that end being violence. The Path of the Berserker is a path of untrammeled fury, slick with blood. As you enter the berserker’s rage, you thrill in the chaos of battle, heedless of your own health or well-being.

Frenzy

Starting when you choose this path at 3rd level, you can go into a frenzy when you rage. If you do so, for the duration of your rage you can make a single melee weapon attack as a bonus action on each of your turns after this one. When your rage ends, you suffer one level of exhaustion.

Mindless Rage

Beginning at 6th level, you can’t be charmed or frightened while raging. If you are charmed or frightened when you enter your rage, the effect is suspended for the duration of the rage.

Intimidating Presence

Beginning at 10th level, you can use your action to frighten someone with your menacing presence. When you do so, choose one creature that you can see within 30 feet of you. If the creature can see or hear you, it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier) or be frightened of you until the end of your next turn. On subsequent turns, you can use your action to extend the duration of this effect on the frightened creature until the end of your next turn. This effect ends if the creature ends its turn out of line of sight or more than 60 feet away from you.

If the creature succeeds on its saving throw, you can’t use this feature on that creature again for 24 hours.

Retaliation

Starting at 14th level, when you take damage from a creature that is within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against that creature.

What to Expect as a Barbarian

Barbarians are primal warriors who harness their rage to become formidable combatants. They excel at melee combat, soaking up damage and dishing out brutal attacks. As a Barbarian, you can expect:

Rage
Tap into your inner fury to gain bonuses to damage, resistances, and advantage on Strength checks.

Unarmored Defense
Trust your tough hide and instincts for protection instead of heavy armor.

Brutal Critical
As you level up, your critical hits become even deadlier.

Quick Build Steps for a Barbarian

Creating a Barbarian character is a straightforward process. Just follow these steps:

Choose a Race: Select a race that complements your Barbarian's abilities. Half-Orcs, Goliaths, and Dwarves make excellent Barbarians due to their physical prowess.

Distribute Ability Scores: Prioritize Strength for devastating melee attacks and Constitution for added durability. Dexterity can be useful for improving your Armor Class.

Choose a Background: While Barbarians often hail from tribal backgrounds, you can choose a background that suits your character's story, such as Outlander or Folk Hero.

Select Skills: Barbarians are skilled in Athletics and Perception. These skills reflect their physical prowess and keen senses.

Pick a Path: At 3rd level, choose a Barbarian path that matches your character concept. The Path of the Berserker offers even more destructive power, while the Path of the Totem Warrior provides a spiritual connection to nature.

Equip Yourself: Barbarians favor two-handed weapons like greatswords or greataxes, but you can choose any melee weapon that suits your style. Consider a shield for added defense.

Plan Your Backstory: Create a backstory that explains your character's rage, tribal affiliation, or the source of their untamed power.

Organize D&D Campaigns via a Calendar

To ensure your Barbarian can attend sessions and coordinate with your party, use a shared calendar. This can help schedule game nights and ensure everyone's availability. Here's a guide on creating events in Discord.

Example

Meet Grom, the Half-Orc Barbarian

Race: Half-Orc - Grom's mixed heritage gives him the raw strength and endurance of an Orc.

Ability Scores: Grom prioritizes Strength, making it his highest score, followed by Constitution for resilience. His Dexterity isn't as high, but his tough hide compensates for it.

Background: Outlander - Grom grew up in the wilderness, living off the land and learning the ways of survival.

Skills: Grom excels in Athletics and Perception, making him a master of physical challenges and alert to dangers in the wild.

Barbarian Path: Path of the Berserker - Grom channels his rage into a frenzy, becoming a whirlwind of destruction on the battlefield.

Equipment: Armed with a massive greataxe and wearing animal hides for protection, Grom is a menacing sight.

Backstory: Grom's life has been marked by battles against monstrous threats in the untamed wilderness. His fierce rage, inherited from his Orcish bloodline, empowers him to protect his tribe and seek glory in combat.

External Resources

For more in-depth information on playing a Barbarian in D&D, check out these external resources:

D&D Beyond - Barbarian Class Guide: A comprehensive guide to the Barbarian class, including subclass options and tips on playing the class effectively. Read the Guide
Critical Role - Barbarian Spotlight: Watch the experts at Critical Role explore the intricacies of playing a Barbarian in their campaign. Watch the Video
Barbarian Boot Camp - Tips and Strategies: A YouTube channel dedicated to Barbarian gameplay and strategies. Visit the Channel

Embrace your inner fury, and let the power of the Barbarian flow through you. Whether you're cleaving through hordes of enemies, shrugging off blows that would fell lesser warriors, or simply roaring with primal rage, playing a Barbarian offers an exhilarating and visceral D&D experience.