Barbarians at the Gates

Wizards of the Coast released the barbarian playtest article in Dragon a couple of days ago.  This was originally scheduled for September, then pushed back a month.  As of this writing, it’s still free, but it’s scheduled to switch to Insider subscribers only at some undefined time this month, so hurry and grab it if you want it. (Edit:  Apparently it’s going to remain free.  Good news!  It really is a terrific article.)

The class is rather interesting.  It’s another striker, this time based on the primal power source — they draw on animal and nature spirits.  Purists might not care for that flavor, but I rather like it.

Barbarians are quite tough for strikers — they have as many hit points as fighters, and only one fewer healing surge.  However, they’re a little squishy.  They have proficiencies in only light armor, and neither Dexterity nor Intelligence is a primary stat for them, meaning their armor class will be relatively low.  Mitigating that, many of their abilities grant them temporary hit points, making them even more damage-absorbent.

The playtest presents about half the barbarian class.  There’s one build option, the rageblood, which has some defender-ish abilities and focuses on Strength and Constitution.  (The other, the thaneborn, is evidently going to lean to leader, and focus on Strength and Charisma, which should be interesting.)  There are typically two powers of each level, with three at-wills.  It’s certainly everything that’s necessary to play the class, but at the same time, it’s not complete — build options are limited.  Given it’s over six months until the Player’s Handbook II sees publication, though, this is a pretty good representation.

Unlike the other existing official strikers, the barbarian gets no bonus-damage class ability — at least, not directly.  He makes up for this in two ways:  his powers typically have high-end base damage, and his class abilities give him the opportunity to cause even more.

First, a rageblood gets a power similar to the infernal warlock’s:  Every time he downs an enemy, he gains temporary hp equal to his Con modifier.  (+5 at paragon tier, +10 at epic tier.)

Second, Rampage:  once per round, when the barbarian scores a critical hit, he gets to make a free melee basic attack.  He doesn’t have to target the same creature, either.  This is potentially a lot of damage, given the barbarian’s high Strength and propensity for large weapons.

Third, Rage.  All of the barbarian’s daily powers are rages.  They inflict lots of damage on their own (half on a miss), and then they give the barbarian a special effect that lasts until the end of the encounter, until he drops to 0 hp, or until he enters a new rage.  While raging, he can convert his other daily powers into Rage Strikes, a massive-damage attack (up to 9[W] at top levels).  All of the barbarian’s at-will powers also get better when he rages.  There’s no more exhaustion, either.

I’m not sure how the math stacks up as far as actual damage inflicted goes, but these mechanics look to me like a lot of fun.  I never really liked the third-edition barbarian, but I would play this one in a heartbeat.  At-wills like Howling Strike, which you can use when charging — and which cause the charge not to provoke opportunity attacks if you’re raging — make the barbarian very mobile, which is fun.  Recuperating Strike, another source of temporary hit points, lets the barbarian keep going while being pounded on, which is fun.  The level 1 encounter power Avalanche Strike, which causes 3[W] + Str mod, + Con mod if you’re a rageblood, in exchange for offering all enemies a +4 to hit you for a round, is thematic and fun.

The rages, though, seem a little overpowered.  The level 1 Swift Panther Rage gives you a +2 bonus to movement and lets you shift 2 squares for the encounter.  The level 5 Thunder Hawk Rage allows you to automatically knock an adjacent enemy prone as a free action at the start of each of your turns.  The level 9 Stone Bear Rage grants resistance to all damage equal to 3 + Con mod.  The level 19 Storm Drake Rage causes any enemy who hits you with a melee attack to take 5 damage and be knocked prone.

Now, I haven’t actually played it yet, so those are just my instincts.  They might very well turn out to be fair.  I’m very skeptical about the automatic knock-prone at level 5, though.  No doubt rogues will love it, but gamemasters might hate it.

The playtest document presents one paragon path, the Frenzied Berserker.  In 3e, this prestige class was a nearly unplayable morass of bonuses and loss of control of your character.  In 4e, it looks as if it works.  It’s not a paradigm I really enjoy, so I’d probably steer clear of that path, but I like the way it handles the berserk fury — if you’re raging, you cause extra damage, but if you start your turn adjacent to an enemy, you must make an attack that includes that enemy, or else you’re stunned for a turn.  No longer do you endanger your allies with your blind rage.

It also has some pretty cool powers.  The level 20 daily power, Final Confrontation, is particularly interesting.  After its initial damage, the target gets the chance to make a free melee basic attack against the barbarian.  If it does, the barbarian can make a melee basic attack back.  Then the target can choose whether to make another attack, and so on.  This continues until the target decides not to attack the barbarian.  I am a little concerned that this could cause the barbarian’s turn to go on for quite a while, but the idea behind the power is very appealing, and could be very dramatic.

All things considered, this definitely seems like a different sort of striker.  I’m now really looking forward to seeing the PHB2.

Related posts:

1. Incoming Barbarians
2. Hunter of the Dead
3. Adapting the 4e Shadowdancer
4. Myth Direction: Dragons’ Teeth
5. Wizards’ Monk Playtest