Hi there! My name is Kevin, I am a Dungeon Master, co-owner of Board N' Byte and avid fan of Dungeons & Dragons. I have dedicated my time to helping teach Dungeons & Dragons to anyone who wants to learn. I hope you find this article helpful on your adventures.
Getting Started Making Your Barbarian
Okay, so we are going to keep this very simple. I am going to over-explain quite a bit, so if you think you have a portion of this guide down, feel free to skip to the next section if you think I am rambling.
Disclaimer: I don't write these guides to always be the "best" way to make a Barbarian. I build them to show players two things. First, how to build a character and confidently know what the character does. Second, to show the fun and variety of character creation and how it can directly impact both your game experience and how you play your character.
You will need a free account with www.dndbeyond.com. We are not affiliated with them, and you will not need to spend any money to follow this guide. This guide uses only resources that are free and accessible to every person wanting to play Dungeons & Dragons. We will only be using resources from the Player's Handbook (PHB), which is free on www.dndbeyond.com to anyone who makes a FREE account.
So, with that said, let's get started.
Getting Started Making Your Barbarian
To get started, you need to log into your D&D Beyond account. Once you have done that, navigate to the "My Characters" section under Collections.
Once you have done that you will want to tap "Create A Character" on that screen, see image below for reference.
For the purposes of this guide, click on "Start Building" under the standard option and leave the "BEGINNER? SHOW HELP TEXT" box unchecked. We are going to help you get through this with flying colors!
At the top of your screen, you are going to see seven options. We are starting with Home. You will see the first two things from working top down is that you can choose a character profile image and your character name. D&D Beyond offers some basic profile images that can be used, or you can of course provide your own.
A Character name can seem overwhelming, but I am going to name
my Barbarian Bub for now. We may change it, but let's just call him Bub for now.
After that, we don't want to ignore the Character Preferences on the D&D Beyond Character Creator tool, but that is best discussed with your Dungeon Master for your campaign. We won't touch on this really, so let's go ahead and go to RACE options now.
What Are The Best Barbarian Class Races?
So, I mentioned earlier in this article, I don't always write these blogs to give you the strongest and most beastly combinations. However, I know some people want that. So, with that said, I have broken this down into two formats.
The first format is what are usually considered the best races for a Barbarian class in Dungeons and Dragons, and then what I think are some of the most fun roleplaying races for the Barbarian Class.
Strongest & Popular Races
Here are some of the strongest races for Barbarian Class characters in Dungeons & Dragons 5e.
Mountain Dwarf
The Mountain Dwarf race is a classic option when building a Barbarian. In terms of racial benefits, the Mountain Dwarf race gives Darkvision, Dwarven Resilience, Dwarven Combat Training, Tool Proficiency, Stonecunning, and Dwarven Armor Training.
What is all of that?
Darkvision lets you see in dim light easier, up to 60 feet.
Dwarven Resilience helps against poison. You gain resistance to it and advantage on saving throws against effects caused by poison.
Dwarven Combat Training allows you to be proficient with battleaxes, handaxes, light hammers, and warhammers, which means it is easier for you to use them and hit with these stronger weapons.
Stonecunning lets you essentially gain expertise (double your proficiency bonus) anytime you make a history check on any type of stonework.
Dwarven Armor Training gives you proficiency with light and medium armor. However, we may not want to benefit from this, and I will explain later why.
Half-Orc
While many jokes are made about dwarves being short, Half-Orcs are absolute units when it comes to the size they offer.
Their intimidation factor alone offers a lot of fun for roleplaying, but they also bring other great benefits. Things like Menacing, Relentless Endurance, and Savage Attacks.
What is all of that?
Darkvision lets you see in dim light easier, up to 60 feet.
Menacing is a trait of the half-orc race that lets them gain proficiency with the intimidation skill.
Relentless Endurance essentially makes it so if your character would go down to 0 hit points, you can choose to go to 1 and stay on your feet. You can only do this once per long rest.
Savage Attacks When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack, you can roll one of the weapon’s damage dice one additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit.
Building Our Barbarians
So, we are going to build Bub as the Mountain Dwarf. I am going to give you the build I would suggest for a first-time player that ensures you will have a good time. If you decide to go Half-Orc, or another race altogether, many of the below options will still be relevant, except anything directly related to Dwarf racial bonuses.
Bub - The Mountain Dwarf
Going back to our D&D Beyond character builder, Bub is a Mountain Dwarf now, and he needs to pick a Tool to be proficient with.
Race - Tool Proficiency
There are 3 options here, and this question is more for roleplaying than anything else. If you want your Barbarian to be able to make some ale, go for the Brewer's Supplies. If you want to help with structures and stones, the Mason's Tools would be a good option. Lastly, if you want to try your hand at crafting armor and weapons, Smith's tools would be good.
Bub is going to take Mason's Tools, only because as a Mountain Dwarf, he already has a natural affinity for understanding stonework.
Abilities - Level One
So, I do one thing out of order when I am making my characters. This is a personal choice and not how you have to do it. But I know I am making a Barbarian Class character for my Dungeons & Dragons campaign.
There are 3 types of Ability Score point systems. Each of them is different from the other, and your Dungeon Master will decide which one you are using. For Bub, we are going to use the Standard Array, as it is a common option for most DMs..
There are 3 types of Ability Score point systems. Each of them is different from the other and your Dungeon Master will decide which one you are using. For Bub, we are going to use Standard Array as it is a common option for most DMs.
Bub's Ability Scores
Strength (STR) and Constitution (CON) are the most important stats for a Barbarian. Therefore, we set those to 15 and 14, respectively.
STR directly affects how easily and how hard we hit someone. CON affects our hit points, which will be important for our next section when we go backwards to the class area.
Dexterity is what affects our Armor Class, which is how hard it is for someone to hit Bub with an attack. However, a Barbarian usually is one of the highest hit point characters in an adventuring party. So, it's okay to get hit, but we want to make sure we have the health to take the hits.
Intelligence (INT), Wisdom (WIS), and Charisma (CHA) are not as important for a Barbarian. Of the three, the most important is Charisma, mainly because if you want to be a "scary" Barbarian, Intimidation falls under Charisma.
ABILITY SCORE ORDER OF IMPORTANCE
STRENGTH
CONSTITUTION
DEXTERITY (Interchangeable with Charisma)
CHARISMA (Interchangeable with Dexterity)
INTELLIGENCE
WISDOM
Class - Level One
Now we advance to the CLASS option on D&D Beyond's Character Builder. Below is an image that we are going to use as a reference to explain everything you see.
The key things from the above image that you need to know are this. First HIT POINTS. Your Hit Points are a base of 12. Every level, your hit points go up 1D12 + Your CON Modifier. At Level one, since we have a +2 modifier to our CON, our base HP is 12 (Base Health) + 2 (CON Modifier) = 14 Total HP.
PROFICIENCIES
You get to pick to skills to be proficient in as a Barbarian. I suggest, as a new player, it makes sense to pick Athletics and Intimidation. That means you can add your proficiency bonus to your rolls, which is determined by character level.
Picking Our Barbarians Background
There are TONS of options when it comes to backgrounds. This is under the DESCRIPTION section in the DND Beyond character creator tool. This is the second to last step to get your character ready to be playable.
Here are 3 Backgrounds that work well with Barbarian.
Outlander
An Outlander grew up in the wilds away from civilization. An upbringing like this means you are more capable on your own. You can a proficiency with a musical instrument as well as a language. Consult with your DM during a session zero on any languages that may be helpful. You are also proficient in Athletics and Survival due to your background.
Sailor
A Sailor would be a great choice for a Barbarian for a more aquatic of naval oriented adventure. They gain proficiencies in Athletics and Perception right away as well as proficiency with navigator tools and water based vehicles.
Solider
If your adventure will have a military in it, the Solider background could be a great option! You can access important military locations more easily and can choose a gaming set that you own. You are automatically proficient in Athletics and Intimidation as well as with land based vehicles.
Backgrounds can be really helpful when it comes to roleplaying situations usually. This can also help your character be more well rounded in skills when you gain two proficiencies from your background and can pick up more through your race or class abilities.
Last Up, Our Equipment
I personally suggest the following. A greataxe has the ability to deal a LOT of damage as one of the strongest base martial weapons in the game. In addition, depending on how you play your Barbarian, two hand axes are great for engage with from up close or at a distance.
Everything beyond that is optional but I strongly suggest these starting items. Which now completes our Barbarian Bub!
SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE GREAT CONTENT
Total transparency here. It takes time to build an article like this and I want to do this more often. When you subscribe, and come back and read my content, it lets me do this more often. So please, if you found this helpful, please subscribe and come on back for the next time you need help learning Dungeons & Dragons.
Comments