PC companions for Barbarian / FAERUN

[Painted Cheetah]

Hi there,

my wife is learning to DM and to keep it simple I am playing a human barbarian in the western heartlands of Faerun and a close friend of mine from childhood recently got in touch. He said he would like to learn to play alongside me and we figured it would be great for them to play with my barbarian character. My friend isn't much of a bookish type person and we wanted to keep it simple for him but not dumb it down too much that it is insulting. I was trying to come up great companion ideas for his character. What classes mesh the best with barbarian or fit well in a setting like this?

Obviously I talked to my friend and explained the races and classes and such to him, but he had a hard time choosing. Obvious choice may be fighter but I also thought monk might be a good choice for him since he loves pro wrestling and is something an athletic type guy. He loves old 70s thru 90s marvel comics and classic TMNT. I thought monk may be a nice choice as he could be a great grappler and use cool exotic weapons from the monk wpn Profs. that might fit his interests in the pop culture stuff I mentioned. Are monks maybe too hard to figure out for a real beginner? He's never played tabletop anything, but he's played some video game rpgs.

Ranger might also suit him I thought, but I don't know how interested he would be in an archer or two weapon fighting type build. I think he would dig the nature skills and animal companion, plus the gentle toeing into the spell casting pool.

Of course fighters are perhaps the easiest starting point, but I just wanted to help him come up something he will truly enjoy and remember well years from now that feels original and unique to him. I get the simplicity and versatility of the fighter class, especially with combat/martial feats and weaponry but in the lore side of things I didn't want it to be too basic.

I was curious in all the different experiences you have had personally or have had through friends, what types of characters were fun to play alongside a raging barbarian hunk of murdermeat?

Thanks for any input!

[RNightstalker]

A Rogue could be a good match for a Barbarian, finesse and skills to match the brute force. There won't be extra stuff for the animal companion and spellcasting of a Ranger to slow things down.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by RNightstalker
A Rogue could be a good match for a Barbarian, finesse and skills to match the brute force.

Seconding this. A barbarian and rogue together would have a Fafhrd and Gray Mouser feel, which is classic fantasy.

[Saintheart]

Seconding this. A barbarian and rogue together would have a Fafhrd and Gray Mouser feel, which is classic fantasy.

I wonder if Leiber's stories were the inspiration for the Conan and Subotai combination in the Schwarzenegger movie? Subotai doesn't exist in the Robert E. Howard stories. Either way, yep, it's a good combination.

[Maat Mons]

What level range are you playing at? It influences how complex various classes can become. What source books are you willing to draw from?

Personally, I feel that, for non-casters, feats are a significant complexity. There are a lot of them, some of them modify each other, and you have to plan out prerequisites. Fighters are all about feats, so that kind of exacerbate the issue.

If feel that Monks spend the early levels behind other melee classes trying to catch up. At higher levels, grappling becomes less reliable because larger enemies become possibilities. And you need somewhat obscure sources to give a Monk the benefits of magic weapon special abilities with his unarmed strikes.

I've never liked Ranger. Two-Weapon Fighting just doesn't work well for them. They're better off using a two-handed weapon. That means archery is their only good choice for Combat Style, but I've always thought archery was kind of meh.

If you're willing to use Unearthed Arcana, Paladin of Freedom is a Chaotic Good variant that should mesh well enough with a Barbarian.

I guess you could do a two-Barbarian team. I suggest the characters be named Hans and Franz.

[Analytica]

Agreed re: rogue. It's a classic combination, and having those skills basically means a general "can I do <X>?" becomes "yes, roll <Y>".

[El Dorado]

Rogue. Lots of skills. Plus sneak attack will encourage him to flank with you. Hurray teamwork!

[Balthanon]

Obviously I talked to my friend and explained the races and classes and such to him, but he had a hard time choosing. Obvious choice may be fighter but I also thought monk might be a good choice for him since he loves pro wrestling and is something an athletic type guy. He loves old 70s thru 90s marvel comics and classic TMNT. I thought monk may be a nice choice as he could be a great grappler and use cool exotic weapons from the monk wpn Profs. that might fit his interests in the pop culture stuff I mentioned. Are monks maybe too hard to figure out for a real beginner? He's never played tabletop anything, but he's played some video game rpgs.

Ranger might also suit him I thought, but I don't know how interested he would be in an archer or two weapon fighting type build. I think he would dig the nature skills and animal companion, plus the gentle toeing into the spell casting pool.


So-- honestly, if you're primarily the one that is developing the character, I think the easiest way to make things simple while still giving the character options is to just outline all those options explicitly on the character sheet. Have an attack line for tripping, grappling, etc... so that it's all right there. At that point, you don't really need to worry too much about complexity from a rules standpoint and can just focus on building a character that the individual will enjoy playing.

That said... you might want something with some healing options if you're playing a barbarian with a new DM. Miscalculating CR is very easy to do and it lessens the chance of you dropping dead after a rage from negative hit points. :)

Depending on what resources you have, I also feel like a Tome of Battle Crusader could be a fun introduction to the game for a new player. You always have something fun to do because of their recovery mechanic, have good options at pretty much all levels due to your maneuvers, have good durability, and it will keep both you and him alive most likely.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Balthanon
Depending on what resources you have, I also feel like a Tome of Battle Crusader could be a fun introduction to the game for a new player.

Based on hard personal experience, I wouldn’t ask someone completely new to RPGs to play a crusader.

Even with years of 3.5 experience under my belt, I still found it incredibly frustrating and confusing. I would avoid this in favor of much simpler options.


Originally Posted by Painted Cheetah
I think he would dig the nature skills and animal companion, plus the gentle toeing into the spell casting pool.

One approach that gives the best of both worlds is the wilderness rogue variant, which would give him some nature skills, as well as the Wild Cohort feat which gives an animal companion. That would give him the sneak attack and broad skills of a rogue, combined with the outdoorsy feel of a ranger.

[Balthanon]

Based on hard personal experience, I wouldn’t ask someone completely new to RPGs to play a crusader.

Even with years of 3.5 experience under my belt, I still found it incredibly frustrating and confusing. I would avoid this in favor of much simpler options.

Hmm... what caused the confusion and frustration during gameplay? I usually just took maneuvers and placed them on a card, then put that to the side after it was used, then when I didn't have any cards I got them all back again. Since I printed out the entire ability description on the card, I didn't even need to look it up in the book. During the build/level up process Tome of Battle can absolutely be more challenging given the need to track requirements and such (basically an extended version of feats/prestige classes), but I always thought it was pretty straight forward to actually play. And the new player will have the OP to help them with the build process.

For me though, it basically just meant you have more options that don't involve "get to the enemy, stop and full attack" and that you don't need to ration across multiple combat scenarios like spells, which is largely what a lot of combat comes down to without maneuvers, spells, etc.... (There are other options like bull rushing, tripping, grappling, etc... but without a lot of focus, those are kind of a trap a lot of time.)



One approach that gives the best of both worlds is the wilderness rogue variant, which would give him some nature skills, as well as the Wild Cohort feat which gives an animal companion. That would give him the sneak attack and broad skills of a rogue, combined with the outdoorsy feel of a ranger.

I mean... sneak attack is nice, but skills-wise, if they're playing in a natural setting, the Ranger's skills should be more than sufficient. The main thing they're missing over a Rogue is the disable device/open lock/etc... type skills; if they're doing wilderness adventures (which seems potentially likely), then those aren't going to come into play much.

[Maat Mons]

I once helped a new-ish player build a Warblade. He was completely uninterested in the strengths of the class. All he cared about were maneuvers that gave tiny damage boosts. He wound up hating his character because the party's big dumb brute had larger raw numbers than he did.

The big dumb brute wasn't even very well built. Mostly he just had a scythe and bragged about how much damage he would deal if we ever rolled the maximum on a critical hit. He was planning to enter the 3.0 Weapon Master prestige class. He felt the ability to boost his critical multiplier was amazing.

I was DMing that game. When the big dumb brute was building his character, I suggested an ubercharger setup. He declined, saying it was "too situational." He wanted to invest in critical hits because that would "work all the time."

The lesson I learned is that some people don't want to play good characters. They want to play one-trick ponies with big numbers. And they don't care about making tactical decisions. They're happy to basically throw their characters into fights on autopilot.

[Balthanon]

The lesson I learned is that some people don't want to play good characters. They want to play one-trick ponies with big numbers. And they don't care about making tactical decisions. They're happy to basically throw their characters into fights on autopilot.

True enough-- I suppose that is probably a lesson for bringing someone into the game actually. You probably want to solicit some of those preferences with some preliminary questioning before recommending a class one way or another.

[Painted Cheetah]

Thank you to everyone for their input, it was great getting outside insight!

Lots of ideas to roll with, looking forward to what we come up with!

Cheers

[Max Caysey]

Hi there,

my wife is learning to DM and to keep it simple I am playing a human barbarian in the western heartlands of Faerun and a close friend of mine from childhood recently got in touch. He said he would like to learn to play alongside me and we figured it would be great for them to play with my barbarian character. My friend isn't much of a bookish type person and we wanted to keep it simple for him but not dumb it down too much that it is insulting. I was trying to come up great companion ideas for his character. What classes mesh the best with barbarian or fit well in a setting like this?

Obviously I talked to my friend and explained the races and classes and such to him, but he had a hard time choosing. Obvious choice may be fighter but I also thought monk might be a good choice for him since he loves pro wrestling and is something an athletic type guy. He loves old 70s thru 90s marvel comics and classic TMNT. I thought monk may be a nice choice as he could be a great grappler and use cool exotic weapons from the monk wpn Profs. that might fit his interests in the pop culture stuff I mentioned. Are monks maybe too hard to figure out for a real beginner? He's never played tabletop anything, but he's played some video game rpgs.

Ranger might also suit him I thought, but I don't know how interested he would be in an archer or two weapon fighting type build. I think he would dig the nature skills and animal companion, plus the gentle toeing into the spell casting pool.

Of course fighters are perhaps the easiest starting point, but I just wanted to help him come up something he will truly enjoy and remember well years from now that feels original and unique to him. I get the simplicity and versatility of the fighter class, especially with combat/martial feats and weaponry but in the lore side of things I didn't want it to be too basic.

I was curious in all the different experiences you have had personally or have had through friends, what types of characters were fun to play alongside a raging barbarian hunk of murdermeat?

Thanks for any input!

You can build a fairly ok wrestler from monk. Go human, Jotunbrud, take scorpion grasp, take improved trip, knockdown, take great throw. Buy sandles of the tiger leap. Charge, deal damage, start grapple, deal damage, knowckdown, procs Great Throw, deal damage.