Character Classes: Barbarians

'Barbarians' do not exist. While the word is still used as an insult towards those of a different culture, religion, or city, the stereotypes that it conjures up, of uncivilised violent marauders or noble primitives, are not true. Even the orcs who live on the outskirt of society, who frequently raid seemingly for the pleasure of it, have a complex social organisation. 

However, there are many people who take the Barbarian class. Any warrior who relies on instinct and ferocity over training and equipment may be a barbarian. A sailor who uses whatever weapons come to hand, a street thug, or the leader of a peasant revolt might be a barbarian. Many soldiers may take some levels of barbarian.

The berserker subclass is characterized by how it puts itself in harm's way to better hurt the enemy. Any barbarian who is heedless of their own safety might be a berserker. Totem warriors, meanwhile, have been inspired by a particular animal. In some cases, this is done formally: various military units have fierce animals as their insignia, and some cultures venerate certain animals, or have a particular connection to them. In other cases, it may be less formal. One branch of Church doctrine says that the animals were created to inspire humans to certain behaviour, or to act as a warning. A totem barbarian may have seen such an animal once, and been inspired by it on a subconscious level to imitate it.


Art: 'Hercules slaying Antaeus.' Antonio Pollaiuolo, c. 1460.

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