PDA

View Full Version : Thaneborn Barbarian



Mauril Everleaf
2008-10-14, 11:53 PM
What are you expecting? Are you expecting powers with lots of damage and incidental (and minor) buffing abilities, or do you expect lots of Warlord like buffs with relatively small damage outputs? Do you expect any CHA based attacks at all? What do you think their build-specific class feature will be?

As soon as I read that the other barbarian build type was called "thaneborn" I thought of Beowulf. A badass who nevertheless could handle himself with royalty and could convince his fellow warriors to fight harder, better and longer.

CarpeGuitarrem
2008-10-15, 12:12 AM
Beowulf...that would be sweet. I never thought of that.

Oracle_Hunter
2008-10-15, 12:15 AM
Definitely Beowulfian. I'm thinking Striker/Leader too - has some Inspiring Warlord-esque powers, probably mostly damage buffs.

Magnor Criol
2008-10-15, 12:16 AM
I don't know 4E fluff much, so I don't really know their style, but seeing that name I'd expect a dwarven-oriented barb build.

Kurald Galain
2008-10-15, 02:51 AM
Thane is a district in India as well as a city in Alaska. It is also an aircraft carrier. Finally, it is an old name for servant or retainer, which later became a title of low nobility.


So a "thaneborn" would be
(1) an Indian
(2) an Alaskan
(3) the result of mixed-sex soldiers in the navy
(4) a servant
(5) a lowly noble

Does that help?

Caewil
2008-10-15, 03:26 AM
In the context of D&D which has been heavily influenced by the genre of Heroic Fantasy, in turn influenced by Tolkien and Irish, Finnish and Norse myth? Thane probably refers to some sort of warrior/noble or warrior/poet. Rather like Beowulf but more likely to be similar to Fionn mac Cumhaill, a wandering hunter-warrior-philosopher. I'd expect an emphasis on Charisma and Wisdom as well as Strength and Con. Let's face it, Beowulf was a bit of an idiot whereas Fionn was vastly more inspiring as a leader and had high knowledge skills (granted by sucking his thumb!).

ShaggyMarco
2008-10-15, 09:05 AM
I expect it will be a Str/Cha Striker with some minor leader/control abilities such as enemy de-buffs and ally boosts.

Tha attack powers will all be Strength-based, but will have Cha-based rider effects that improve them.

Dragonborn will, of course, make some of best Thaneborn Barbarians--In fact, if the dragonborn show up as a secret civilization on Argonessen in Eberron, as I suspect they will, Thaneborn Barbarians might be THE definitive Iconic Eberron Dragonborn.

hewhosaysfish
2008-10-15, 12:43 PM
I'm not sure what the limitations should be to keep it balanced but I can't help but feel it would be cool if a thaneborn barbarian could share the effects of his rages with one or more allies.