Role playing an intelligent barbarian?(Also, first time playing a barbarian)

[MonkeySage]

In a recent game I'm playing a barbarian. I had rolled fairly high for all abilities, and my lowest score is my charisma, a 12. I'd rolled a 14 for his intelligence, and while I'm used to playing brainy wizards(most recently a sun elf with 20 intelligence at level 1), I'm quite used to the dumb muscle when it comes to barbarians.

So I'm wondering how I might role play this guy... Right off the bat he's the first barbarian I've ever played, almost the first melee character.
He is literate.

Edit: He's human... sort of. It's complicated.

[Amidus Drexel]

Hrm... I'd say either directly play up the "strong, intelligent leader" type, or maybe subvert the fact that he's a barbarian (say, by making him act sort of like a philosopher until he takes damage, then have him flip out and attack), off the top of my head. There are certainly other things you could do with it. Maybe he's a cunning ex-gladiator, or a violent merchant's son (or daughter) that ran away from home (or was kicked out).

More importantly, though, what sort of character are you looking to roleplay? What things are important to the character? Depending on what skills you've given him (and it'll be quite a few, with an intelligence of 14), he could be an expert (or at least fairly skilled) athlete, tracker, or scout.

Depending on what sort of "it's complicated" his humanness is, try to play that up as part of who he is.

[Geigan]

Clearly you should be a wizard instead.

But more seriously there's always a decent example in

[Berenger]

First of all, there is no conceivable reason for a barbarian to be dumb. Dumb people tend to die on battlefields and in the wilderness.


My suggestion: make him a seafarer / trader. When not playing Pillage The Village with their buddies, many vikings did engage in maritime trade with distant countries. To do so, you need to calculate, navigate, appraise goods and speak some languages. The ability to read/write and ranks in Knowledge (geography) won't hurt, either. That's enough Intelligence related stuff, I think, to put that stat to use.

[MonkeySage]

To elaborate on the it's complicated bit...
I rolled a human; our dm instructed us to role a humanoid character, can be any race within reason. Our dm told us this humanoid character would infact be one side of a coin. If any of you has ever seen or read bleach, it's kind of like that. Instead of shinigami, it's true dragons.

Our characters each have 2 souls sharing the same mind. Depending on which soul is in control at the time, that's the form we assume... so we can switch between dragon form and our humanoid form at will. But it's not the same as our alternate self dragon abilities. Our humanoid forms also level completely seperate from our dragon forms.

Each of us was raised in an all dragon community, and we're just about to make first contact with a non dragon settlement as young adults. Given our unique circumstances, our personalities are more that of humanoids raised by dragons than that of normal dragons.

The dm homebrewed all this, inspired by an old playstation rpg, legend of dragoon.
Phew...

So far, I've been role playing a semi bookish, but proud barbarian who in his human form has a napoleon complex(human form is 4'9"). I've invested in a couple knowledge skills in addition to literacy.
Given the extra details I've included above, that might change, especially now that he's a young adult.

As for what he mainly cares about, he's pretty much in it for the action. He takes only a passing interest in anything not directly related to combat, and even his book learning is related to fighting in some way.

I'd hoped to keep the complicated bit out but I think it might have a big impact on his personality...

[Scow2]

Playing an intelligent barbarian is easier than a dumb one. Be extra genre-savvy, though.

[BWR]

You can always go the Berserker Axinhead route.

Or you can go the Leela route.

[Flickerdart]

Ragnar Lothbrok sailed east thanks to his intelligence - he used a sunstone and a sundial to gauge the position of the sun relative to his ship. Or that's what happened in Vikings the TV show, anyway. Point is, a barbarian doesn't need to be stupid.

[MonkeySage]

On an unrelated note, I'm assuming dragons have fine motor skills(writing)... what I'm wondering is if you guys think i might be able to use my great sword in that form...

Yes at this point this character is massively op... but then this whole world it seems is op.

[BWR]

Ragnar Lothbrok sailed east thanks to his intelligence - he used a sunstone and a sundial to gauge the position of the sun relative to his ship. Or that's what happened in Vikings the TV show, anyway. Point is, a barbarian doesn't need to be stupid.

I'm sure a tv show like that is entirely based on fact, and ignores that people navigated like that for centuries before him.

[Another_Poet]

I'd play him cautious and methodical. He's the guy who stares quietly at the tracks before announcing what creature made them; the guy who sizes up the giant alligator without a word before drawing his sword (or turning and leaving).

He's the sort you could trust to run a safari, sabotage an enemy camp, or of course) lead a tribe - if his hadn't been annihilated years ago.

Let his intelligence manifest as endless knowledge about the wilderness, about human(oid) nature and about wartime strategy.

[MonkeySage]

I like that, Poet. I've already established that while he loves the thrill of battle, he's cautious and has excellent self control when not in rage. He likes to observe the situation before judging whether it's time to fight... This just doesn't stop him from getting into friendly sparring/wrestling matches with larger opponents, to prove who's better. ^_^

[Flickerdart]

I'm sure a tv show like that is entirely based on fact, and ignores that people navigated like that for centuries before him.

Even in the show they admit that he got the devices from another land, so that's neither here nor there. The point is that a viking's life requires more than shouting and swinging a sword, which is where Intelligence comes in handy.

[Rhynn]

Read some of Robert E. Howard's Conan novels. Conan is the barbarian, and he's definitely intelligent: in the first story (The Phoenix on the Sword), he's a great king and a poet. He learns a dozen languages through exposure, and while he's not civilized or educated, he's obviously naturally clever, cunning, and smart.

For your enjoyment, Project Gutenberg has a lot of Howard's texts, including Conan short stories and novels.

[Sutremaine]

Play his intelligence and other stats first and his class second, unless the character himself dwells on it. What's his attitude towards combat and Rage?

[Dethklok]

Read some of Robert E. Howard's Conan novels. Conan is the barbarian, and he's definitely intelligent: in the first story (The Phoenix on the Sword), he's a great king and a poet. He learns a dozen languages through exposure, and while he's not civilized or educated, he's obviously naturally clever, cunning, and smart.

For your enjoyment, Project Gutenberg has a lot of Howard's texts, including Conan short stories and novels.

That was my exact thought. You could also note that Roy is a smart fighter from OOTS, but Conan is a better mold to consider for a barbarian. He wasn't bookish at all - he was cunning.

[Makiru]

Play him like the final boss of Metal Gear Rising. In my mind, he is the current image of a smart barbarian.

[MonkeySage]

Combat is thrilling to him, and as far as rage goes, he goes to great lengths to control his emotions, saving his energy for when he really needs it. He generally doesn't like raging, because while he loves fighting, he treats it as a sport... Put short, he bottles it in until he's ready to pop.

[SethoMarkus]

Read some of Robert E. Howard's Conan novels. Conan is the barbarian, and he's definitely intelligent: in the first story (The Phoenix on the Sword), he's a great king and a poet. He learns a dozen languages through exposure, and while he's not civilized or educated, he's obviously naturally clever, cunning, and smart.

For your enjoyment, Project Gutenberg has a lot of Howard's texts, including Conan short stories and novels.

That was my exact thought. You could also note that Roy is a smart fighter from OOTS, but Conan is a better mold to consider for a barbarian. He wasn't bookish at all - he was cunning.

All of this. Definitely this. A barbarian, by definition, is a warrior of the wild; a professional hunter and fighter for a tribal society. From lack of exposure to "civilized" society, a barbarian shouldn't be book smart (unless you're going for a gladiator-turned-noble's-"pet" idea), but that doesn't mean a barbarian is dumb. Knowledge (Nature) and Knowledge (Geography) come to mind, both of which are Int skills; Perform (Poetry/Epics/Oratory), also Int; as stated in the Conan example, spoken (and written, to a lesser extent) languages. For roleplaying, play up his tactics and planning in battles; take a measured, reactive approach to fights, waiting until the enemy is at a disadvantage before going all out on them in a raging fury.

Personally, I definitely would not roleplay a barbarian as "bookish", but then again I never thought about playing a barbarian whose alter-ego was a true dragon, so there's that.

[Flickerdart]

Perform (Poetry/Epics/Oratory), also Int;

Perform is keyed off Charisma, which makes sense as it represents a range of acting, animation, and general appeal of watching the person do their thing. Intelligence has nothing to do with performing.

[Rhynn]

Yeah, Conan definitely rages (a red mist comes over him, etc.), but that's once he's in a fight and retreat isn't an option: when it's kill first or be killed. The combat with the slithering thing in Xuthal of the Dusk comes to mind, specifically. But he's also a clever fighter and tactician when he's not in a kill-or-die situation, and becomes a successful general (a career never really detailed in Howard's stories; we see Conan leading an army once or twice, and smaller forces, but not his career as a mercenary captain to Aquilonia).

[Ozreth]

Wulfgar.

Just read the Icewind Dale Trilogy :p

[SethoMarkus]

Perform is keyed off Charisma, which makes sense as it represents a range of acting, animation, and general appeal of watching the person do their thing. Intelligence has nothing to do with performing.

Whoops! So it is! Thank you for the correction! I must have meant to add that as a "not Int" skill but in my haste muddled myself up. Still, even Perform aside, plenty of ways to play intelligent-but-not-book-smart characters.

[Jay R]

An intelligent barbarian would still not have city ways. He's be extremely knowledgeable about combat. weapons, nature, survival, etc.

He might look at a sword and say, "This was made in the X region. The tang is nice and broad, but a lot of people don't like the balance. It's not a problem, though; you just to to grip it differently."

Approaching a battlefield: "There's no ambush waiting. If there were, it would be in those trees. But the birds are flying around as if nothings wrong."

"Ignore the archers on the left. They're an illusion. No commander of an archery unit would set up with the sun in their eyes."

"That's a well-used game trail. Anyone for venison tonight?"

[Spiryt]

I honestly can't see a problem... Roleyplay intelligent guy, and that's it.

There's sadly not much support from Intelligence as a stat for most melee classes, but it fortunately doesn't really affect roleplay.

[Flickerdart]

"Ignore the archers on the left. They're an illusion. No commander of an archery unit would set up with the sun in their eyes."

Ah, but what if the sun was an illusion?

[Yora]

Read some of Robert E. Howard's Conan novels. Conan is the barbarian, and he's definitely intelligent: in the first story (The Phoenix on the Sword), he's a great king and a poet. He learns a dozen languages through exposure, and while he's not civilized or educated, he's obviously naturally clever, cunning, and smart.

I would certainy put Conan at Int 13-14. He's not a scholar or a great planner, but he is not easily fooled and quite clever, making it easily in the top quarter of the population.
Exceptional ability scores really start at only at 15 (the top 10% of the population).

There's sadly not much support from Intelligence as a stat for most melee classes, but it fortunately doesn't really affect roleplay.

Except of a lot of rolling of eyes and shouting "you fools!".

[navar100]

You could play into the stereotype. Roleplay being dumb so that your enemies will underestimate you. Know languages like elvish and celestial. When people converse in those languages to insult you, thinking their safe from rudeness because you won't understand you dumb barbarian, respond in kind in that language. Pretend you can't read so that an NPC wouldn't care you're in the room when reading an important and secret document. Look over his shoulder from a small distance.

[The Fury]

Like what has been said already, maybe he's not educated he is clever and resourceful.
Also, how are barbarians typically seen in the setting? If dumb muscle is what people usually expect to see, maybe he'd play up that image depending on the scenario.

[MonkeySage]

Sadly, he was a member of a party that TPK'd. I made a new barbarian and my dm gave me permission to use the same stats, just without the dragon part and he was pit against a lolth touched half way through....

SO I made a new character... completely new.
Half Celestial Paladin, gunning for Fist of Raziel. :)