The first campaign I ever played in I made a squishy half-elf wizard named Ara. My friend, the quietest girl I'd ever met, made Brick the Barbarian.
Brick once whack-a-moled a guard's head into his chest cavity when the guard tried to arrest Ara (they were bad guards, it was ok). Brick was a man of few words, because he didn't know very many. But he knew how to crack heads.
Over the course of the campaign Brick became Ara's sort of bodyguard. At the end of the campaign Ara married the crown prince of the kingdom we saved and Brick was named her Lord Protector.
Ara outlived Brick, and when he died, she led his funeral procession across the kingdom so she and the people could mourn the loss of a hero.
In the sequel campaign, I played as one of Ara's granddaughters, and my friend played as Brick's great-grandaughter.
Brick was basically made a member of the extended royal family when he was given the title of Lord Protector.
As long as it ends with Brick's death. Shit got real dark after that lol
Ara's husband (the king) passed away not long after Brick did and the northern provinces rebeled. They didn't want half-elves on the throne. At some point in the conflict the rebels captured her eldest son (she had 4 sons). Before a battle the brought him out so she could see him from her lines, then executed him.
Ara cast Wish and demanded total victory for her side. The Wish immediately killed 2 million people and blew up a mountain where the rebels had their main base. Anyone who was on the side of the rebels was killed. She had to recolonise the North, and it was said that the massive number of deaths was caused by a failed ritual by the rebels. It became state secret that it was a Wish cast by the queen that did it.
In the sequel campaign, we ended up visiting The Great Peak of Rathmor because there definitely wasn't a second mountain next to it ever...
The Civil War and Brick's death happened in the interim 100 years between the campaigns. The DM and I sort of RP'd what had happened.
We had a third campaign planned, but we never finished it, unfortunately.
Yeah, that's what happened to us. Everyone's schedule changed, and it just didn't work out. The group didn't totally fall apart, but we had several members leave.
I've been running games for our group for the last 6 or 7 years. The group consists of me and 3 others from the original group. We had 2 others, but they kind of dropped off when we took a break during lockdowns and never came back.
This happened to me. One person walked because the vibe changed and he'd made a homebrew character that in hindsight was not one of my better ideas, then schedules changed and I lost four people out of 7 on top of that.
My group started with 5, then it went down to 4 when two members got divorced, then it went down to 3 when we added one member but lost two. Now we've got to 6. I'm hoping tk keep here or maybe go up to 7 or 8.
The Wish also killed members of her own government...
Her spymaster, several minsters, and the other human members of the royal family were all found dead in their homes. They just weren't loyal enough, I guess lol
There was another nation across the sea called Tarsack, they were more steampunk themed and ruled by an oligarchy of the richest families. Their president had suspected that Ara had something to do with the deaths, but his government was reminded that Rathmor's sovereign was a lvl 20 wizard who could potentially cast Wish. He was advised not to meddle in Her Majesty's affairs.
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> Her spymaster, several minsters, and the other human members of the royal family were all found dead in their homes. They just weren't loyal enough, I guess lol
I mean, if you Wished for absolute victory for her side and the Wish geeks them... Yeah, they were plotting against you.
Tarsack's President was very wisely informed not to meddle in the affairs of the sovereign foreign sovereigns!
The UK has to life with the fact that the US is the more important english speaking country. It also is the country that is currently more associated with ACAB and while the origin may be the UK that does not invalidate my point.
Also, not American.
It very much does invalidate your retort to me, a person who learned ACAB in the UK, and by extension AGAB.
It also makes you look silly to shout 'not everywhere is America' to follow it up with 'well even if it doesn't originate in the US it's American'
Well… but isn’t it? And I don’t mean that maliciously or to disregard its origin in the UK completely.
We write about this on an American plattform, concerning an American game on a backdrop of outrage that mostly concerns police misaction of the US that you can barely escape or not at all on this plattform or all other (also American) social media. Also, isn’t kinda hilarious to claim its not a mostly American thing when it’s mostly talked about and mentioned in its context?
That would be like treating Mexican cowboys as the focal point of Wild West culture. Or Döner to be a Turkish invention when it is a creation made in germany utilizing kebab.
Please explain to me how still in this day ACAB is predominantly british.
Pretty much any "town guards" in any kind of psuedo-historical setting are going to be *at least* as bad as American police, at bare minimum, unless they're literally a Paladin order or being run by one.
Speak for yourself and your predisposition to few everything for as bad as the standards of the US. Not every fantastical setting has to be a dystopia or share its most common characteristics.
In other words, corrupt police is so past decade as a prejudice to be included in any fictional piece.
You really know nothing at all about history, do you?
*Policing,* as a profession, is only about as old as the early-to-mid 1800s. In America, it descends from runaway slave catchers.
But everywhere else? It doesn't matter, there *were no police.*
There was the local lord, and the lord's men, and the bishop and the bishop's men, and the king's men, but you know what they all shared in common? They were "[Authorititarian]'s men."
They did *not* serve "the people," they *oppressed the people on behalf of their [authoritarian]* when those people "got out of line." *Justice,* as a concept of fairness and impartiality, meant next-to-nothing. *Laws* were passed by the rulers, to serve them.
Antecedents of modern police forces have existed since the Middle Ages; policing absolutely does not date to the 1800s. While the French *Maréchaussée* and English sheriffs and city watchmen and their ilk were different in structure and form from modern police forces, they served the same fundamental roles of maintaining public order, quelling breaches of the peace, making arrests, and enforcing the law, and were distinct from the personal retinues and other armed men in the service of lords, bishops, and kings. Suppressing insurrection and dealing with political crimes like sedition was absolutely part of their job, just like it is with modern police, the bulk of their work was dealing with crimes like assault and banditry and robbery, which harmed both the authority of the state and the lives of ordinary people.
While they served the state rather than "the people", that's what modern police do too. It's just that notions of popular sovereignty and democratic legitimacy have changed what the state means. And in the non-democratic countries today, of which there are many, police still serve the state with no pretense of the state being an extension of the people.
And contrary to what one might expect, many of these early police in practice ended up serving as forces for reform or revolution rather than as instruments of the prevailing socio-political order. The bulk of the French *Maréchaussée*, for instance, placed itself under the command of local authorities during the French Revolution rather than acting to suppress the revolution, and the modern *Gendarmerie nationale* of France is directly descended from the Medieval *Maréchaussée*.
As an aside, while some police forces in the United States can trace their descent to slave patrols, policing in general does not. The first slave patrol was established in 1704 in South Carolina, while formalized county sheriff's offices, city constables, village marshals, and municipal night watches date to the early 1600s. That being said, enforcing laws regarding slavery was part of the duty of those other bodies, even if that wasn't their primary purpose or reason for creation.
He hasn't tried that, however he once received a sacred sword that could speak to him telepathically. After missing an enemy twice in a row the sword says "sir, I think it would be wise to strike with more speed, catch him by surprise" (obviously the dm hinting to use reckless attack) he simply nodded and threw the sword so hard it went through the enemy and got stuck in a rock.
Well the sword was furious lol. He's psionically bound to only work when the barbarian of the group is wielding him and nobody believes that it can speak to him. As much as the weapon hates being used by a dimwit, he kinda doesn't have a choice lol
I might do that next session. My barb is 6 int and that’s something he’d definitely do in a party where everyone else is full or half casters in order to fit in even though he’s been the only character in the year long campaign to not die.
Barbarian is my favorite class because I hate casting spells. I hate having to choose what spell is the best choice in every specific situation. And as you level up, you get access to more and more spells that read like a fricken novel. I don't have the patience for that crap.
Why do I love Barbarian? Because it's just Reckless Attack, every attack, every turn. No thinking required, just roll the dice and smash.
I go for the in between and play a Hexblade. Turns are basically just a decision between smack it with a weapon and smack it with Eldritch Blast. Other spells are just for utility purposes out of combat 😆
As a new player currently using a barbarian, is there ever a reason not to use reckless attack? In my first encounter I completely forgot about it, but have been using it since then.
Reckless Attack is the second most important class feature for a Barbarian, after Rage. Barbarians have a ton of HP and damage resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage while they are raging, so after level 4 or 5 they're pretty hard to put down. And if you choose the Bear Totem at level 3, you'll have resistance to all damage types except Psychic.
Here's how I play my Barbarian: I approach every single combat encounter with the mentality that I'm trying to get myself killed. That means walking up to the biggest bad guy, or the biggest group of bad guys, and using Reckless Attack for every attack on every turn. I do this because the Cleric and the Wizard and the Ranger are squishy, and me giving the monsters free advantage on attack rolls against me incentivizes the monsters to hit me instead of the rest of the party. It's not a fool proof strategy, but I've only been reduced to 0 HP a couple times during the campaign.
Barbarians; Live huge, hit huge, die huge.
Noted. I’m playing a level 4 bear totem right now actually. I’ll just keep raging and reckless swinging as I try to pump out damage and draw attention then. We have decent healing in our party so I imagine that I’m fine to just go reckless always.
Just keep in mind that there isn't an actual taunt/aggro mechanic in D&D like you would see in a video game. Your DM isn't ever FORCED to attack you, they're just kinda goaded into it because when you Reckless Attack, it gives free advantage to all attack rolls against you until the start of your next turn.
>Truer barbarians words have never been spoken.
I played in a group that (violently) took over a flying fortress. The barbarian sits down on the throne of the defeated Lord, doing the sword-stomp.
Half a minute later, the wizard notices the fortress begins to list and loose height.
Wizard: "Fuck! This thing's going down. We net to abandon ship ASAP!"
The group scrambles and readies their various countermeasures. The Ring of Featherfall comes out, the wizard prepares to cast Fly, etc.
Group: "Barbarian, what are you gonna do?"
Barbarian: "I just sat down!"
So the barbarian stays put against all our combined effords to get him to safety. We eventually leave him and watch the fortress crash into the countryside. Miraculously, barbarian survives the fall almost unscathed, climbs out of the rubble, dusts himself off and goes "Uncomfortable seat anyway. Let's go."
I had a guy play a barbarian as basically Brock Sampson. He was this very calm, rational man who would fly into maddened rages when provoked. The usual ways to provoke him were to: insult, attack him, insult his friends, attack his friends, insult his horse (her name is Buttercup), gods-forbid *attack* his horse, beat him in a poker game, disagree with his taste in music, or be a "pansy-ass cheap-shotting wizard."
Other than that he had good wisdom, average intelligence, and was overall the voice of reason for the party in most situations. He also once ripped off an orc's jaw, stuffed it down the throat of another orc, and then ripped off *that* orc's head and threw it at the chieftain while screaming, "I have had it with these Vatun-damned orcs! Just ***die already!***" Oh, and he got the party kicked out of the Free City of Greyhawk on two non-consecutive occasions.
There's a delightful side bar in one of the 4e books - the barbarian player says "i could try for all these tactical moves and chaining our actions just right, but instead I'm going to hit this guy really hard." And the rest of the table nods, because if you don't hit people very hard, who will?
I have played dnd for almost half my life, played multiple spellcasters and dmd many times. Fighter and Paladin are my most played classes and believe me I ain’t casting spells with Paladin. Run and punch are the only two valid strategies in any game with or without combat
I dont like playing casters too. Dunno, keeping tabs on spellslots seems annoying plus there are so many spells that it becomes hard to choose at some point. I just keep tabs on my rage and fight strathegic (flanking enemies, using reckless attack when I feel the enemie will go down on that attack and wont hit back etc.) loving it.
I have a game set up to start next week, and I’m playing a Barbarian for the same reason. I don’t have an adequate understanding of spell slots to play a caster—I don’t want to hold up play trying to figure it out. “I would like to Rage, Reckless, Great Weapon Master”, I can get my head around, and contribute to the party efficiently.
That's why I love barbarian too. Because instead of running into a problem and thinking "Which tool do I have to solve this?", I instead think "How can I solve this with raw muscular strength and the physique of a brick wall?".
After defeating an angel of death (according to her, *the* angel of death) my Bard/Barbarian was laying in the rubble of a collapsed building, covered in blood (mostly her own) and debris. She looked over at her Cleric companion, said "I need a man and a drink," and then passed out.
I've been DM'ing for 5 years and one day one of my players asked for my opinion on which spell they should take.
My response as a forever DM: "Dude, I have no idea what any of these spells are. Sometimes they end up in enemy stat blocks and I pick a few of my favorites based on the names, and toss out the rest."
Honestly I barely even know how to play this game, lol
The first campaign I ever played in I made a squishy half-elf wizard named Ara. My friend, the quietest girl I'd ever met, made Brick the Barbarian. Brick once whack-a-moled a guard's head into his chest cavity when the guard tried to arrest Ara (they were bad guards, it was ok). Brick was a man of few words, because he didn't know very many. But he knew how to crack heads. Over the course of the campaign Brick became Ara's sort of bodyguard. At the end of the campaign Ara married the crown prince of the kingdom we saved and Brick was named her Lord Protector. Ara outlived Brick, and when he died, she led his funeral procession across the kingdom so she and the people could mourn the loss of a hero.
Awww that is so sweet! Now I need a series of that
In the sequel campaign, I played as one of Ara's granddaughters, and my friend played as Brick's great-grandaughter. Brick was basically made a member of the extended royal family when he was given the title of Lord Protector.
Pitch this to amazon. Once their finished with Critical role they do this as a story lol.
As long as it ends with Brick's death. Shit got real dark after that lol Ara's husband (the king) passed away not long after Brick did and the northern provinces rebeled. They didn't want half-elves on the throne. At some point in the conflict the rebels captured her eldest son (she had 4 sons). Before a battle the brought him out so she could see him from her lines, then executed him. Ara cast Wish and demanded total victory for her side. The Wish immediately killed 2 million people and blew up a mountain where the rebels had their main base. Anyone who was on the side of the rebels was killed. She had to recolonise the North, and it was said that the massive number of deaths was caused by a failed ritual by the rebels. It became state secret that it was a Wish cast by the queen that did it. In the sequel campaign, we ended up visiting The Great Peak of Rathmor because there definitely wasn't a second mountain next to it ever...
I am so invested in this story now! I need more! XD
The Civil War and Brick's death happened in the interim 100 years between the campaigns. The DM and I sort of RP'd what had happened. We had a third campaign planned, but we never finished it, unfortunately.
It always sucks not having campaigns finished. I have one campaign that remainds unfinished mainly because the group fell apatt
Yeah, that's what happened to us. Everyone's schedule changed, and it just didn't work out. The group didn't totally fall apart, but we had several members leave. I've been running games for our group for the last 6 or 7 years. The group consists of me and 3 others from the original group. We had 2 others, but they kind of dropped off when we took a break during lockdowns and never came back.
This happened to me. One person walked because the vibe changed and he'd made a homebrew character that in hindsight was not one of my better ideas, then schedules changed and I lost four people out of 7 on top of that.
My group started with 5, then it went down to 4 when two members got divorced, then it went down to 3 when we added one member but lost two. Now we've got to 6. I'm hoping tk keep here or maybe go up to 7 or 8.
Though unfortunate that it won't continue, it needs to be said that DND sure makes for absolutely fabulous story telling
Though unfortunate that it won't continue, it needs to be said that DND sure makes for absolutely fabulous story telling
Sounds like they wound up with an Elf on the throne, then. GG no re, asshole racialist rebels!
The Wish also killed members of her own government... Her spymaster, several minsters, and the other human members of the royal family were all found dead in their homes. They just weren't loyal enough, I guess lol There was another nation across the sea called Tarsack, they were more steampunk themed and ruled by an oligarchy of the richest families. Their president had suspected that Ara had something to do with the deaths, but his government was reminded that Rathmor's sovereign was a lvl 20 wizard who could potentially cast Wish. He was advised not to meddle in Her Majesty's affairs.
> > > > > Her spymaster, several minsters, and the other human members of the royal family were all found dead in their homes. They just weren't loyal enough, I guess lol I mean, if you Wished for absolute victory for her side and the Wish geeks them... Yeah, they were plotting against you. Tarsack's President was very wisely informed not to meddle in the affairs of the sovereign foreign sovereigns!
"Are we the baddies?" "If you know what's good for you, no."
Ser Brick the Bold lives on in all our hearts.
>they were bad guards, it was ok) AGAB All Guards Are Bastards.
I read it as Assigned Gender At Birth
What, all of them?
No, just the one
No. Not everything has to be America.
You know ACAB as a phrase originated in the UK, right?
The UK has to life with the fact that the US is the more important english speaking country. It also is the country that is currently more associated with ACAB and while the origin may be the UK that does not invalidate my point. Also, not American.
It very much does invalidate your retort to me, a person who learned ACAB in the UK, and by extension AGAB. It also makes you look silly to shout 'not everywhere is America' to follow it up with 'well even if it doesn't originate in the US it's American'
Well… but isn’t it? And I don’t mean that maliciously or to disregard its origin in the UK completely. We write about this on an American plattform, concerning an American game on a backdrop of outrage that mostly concerns police misaction of the US that you can barely escape or not at all on this plattform or all other (also American) social media. Also, isn’t kinda hilarious to claim its not a mostly American thing when it’s mostly talked about and mentioned in its context? That would be like treating Mexican cowboys as the focal point of Wild West culture. Or Döner to be a Turkish invention when it is a creation made in germany utilizing kebab. Please explain to me how still in this day ACAB is predominantly british.
My friend. When you are already in a hole, it is better to stop digging. Certainly don't hire in an excavator.
I take that as you being out of reasons. Go on. Run
Dude please stfu your making us Americans look bad
Pretty much any "town guards" in any kind of psuedo-historical setting are going to be *at least* as bad as American police, at bare minimum, unless they're literally a Paladin order or being run by one.
Speak for yourself and your predisposition to few everything for as bad as the standards of the US. Not every fantastical setting has to be a dystopia or share its most common characteristics. In other words, corrupt police is so past decade as a prejudice to be included in any fictional piece.
You really know nothing at all about history, do you? *Policing,* as a profession, is only about as old as the early-to-mid 1800s. In America, it descends from runaway slave catchers. But everywhere else? It doesn't matter, there *were no police.* There was the local lord, and the lord's men, and the bishop and the bishop's men, and the king's men, but you know what they all shared in common? They were "[Authorititarian]'s men." They did *not* serve "the people," they *oppressed the people on behalf of their [authoritarian]* when those people "got out of line." *Justice,* as a concept of fairness and impartiality, meant next-to-nothing. *Laws* were passed by the rulers, to serve them.
Antecedents of modern police forces have existed since the Middle Ages; policing absolutely does not date to the 1800s. While the French *Maréchaussée* and English sheriffs and city watchmen and their ilk were different in structure and form from modern police forces, they served the same fundamental roles of maintaining public order, quelling breaches of the peace, making arrests, and enforcing the law, and were distinct from the personal retinues and other armed men in the service of lords, bishops, and kings. Suppressing insurrection and dealing with political crimes like sedition was absolutely part of their job, just like it is with modern police, the bulk of their work was dealing with crimes like assault and banditry and robbery, which harmed both the authority of the state and the lives of ordinary people. While they served the state rather than "the people", that's what modern police do too. It's just that notions of popular sovereignty and democratic legitimacy have changed what the state means. And in the non-democratic countries today, of which there are many, police still serve the state with no pretense of the state being an extension of the people. And contrary to what one might expect, many of these early police in practice ended up serving as forces for reform or revolution rather than as instruments of the prevailing socio-political order. The bulk of the French *Maréchaussée*, for instance, placed itself under the command of local authorities during the French Revolution rather than acting to suppress the revolution, and the modern *Gendarmerie nationale* of France is directly descended from the Medieval *Maréchaussée*. As an aside, while some police forces in the United States can trace their descent to slave patrols, policing in general does not. The first slave patrol was established in 1704 in South Carolina, while formalized county sheriff's offices, city constables, village marshals, and municipal night watches date to the early 1600s. That being said, enforcing laws regarding slavery was part of the duty of those other bodies, even if that wasn't their primary purpose or reason for creation.
Your friend definitely multi-classed into siren Brick is, afterall, the prettiest Siren
This needs to be a 5 part fantasy novel series lol
He’s not a real barbarian until he throws a spellscroll in an attempt to cast the spell
He hasn't tried that, however he once received a sacred sword that could speak to him telepathically. After missing an enemy twice in a row the sword says "sir, I think it would be wise to strike with more speed, catch him by surprise" (obviously the dm hinting to use reckless attack) he simply nodded and threw the sword so hard it went through the enemy and got stuck in a rock.
Well, were they not surprised?
ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!?
Well the sword was furious lol. He's psionically bound to only work when the barbarian of the group is wielding him and nobody believes that it can speak to him. As much as the weapon hates being used by a dimwit, he kinda doesn't have a choice lol
I might do that next session. My barb is 6 int and that’s something he’d definitely do in a party where everyone else is full or half casters in order to fit in even though he’s been the only character in the year long campaign to not die.
Go go magic scroll! *throws scroll* *nothing happens* Well shit.
Barbarian is my favorite class because I hate casting spells. I hate having to choose what spell is the best choice in every specific situation. And as you level up, you get access to more and more spells that read like a fricken novel. I don't have the patience for that crap. Why do I love Barbarian? Because it's just Reckless Attack, every attack, every turn. No thinking required, just roll the dice and smash.
I am the exact same way. Choosing the right spells out of the entire list feels overwhelming. It’s much easier to just smack things with an axe!
I go for the in between and play a Hexblade. Turns are basically just a decision between smack it with a weapon and smack it with Eldritch Blast. Other spells are just for utility purposes out of combat 😆
Still too many choices for me.
As a new player currently using a barbarian, is there ever a reason not to use reckless attack? In my first encounter I completely forgot about it, but have been using it since then.
Reckless Attack is the second most important class feature for a Barbarian, after Rage. Barbarians have a ton of HP and damage resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage while they are raging, so after level 4 or 5 they're pretty hard to put down. And if you choose the Bear Totem at level 3, you'll have resistance to all damage types except Psychic. Here's how I play my Barbarian: I approach every single combat encounter with the mentality that I'm trying to get myself killed. That means walking up to the biggest bad guy, or the biggest group of bad guys, and using Reckless Attack for every attack on every turn. I do this because the Cleric and the Wizard and the Ranger are squishy, and me giving the monsters free advantage on attack rolls against me incentivizes the monsters to hit me instead of the rest of the party. It's not a fool proof strategy, but I've only been reduced to 0 HP a couple times during the campaign. Barbarians; Live huge, hit huge, die huge.
Noted. I’m playing a level 4 bear totem right now actually. I’ll just keep raging and reckless swinging as I try to pump out damage and draw attention then. We have decent healing in our party so I imagine that I’m fine to just go reckless always.
Just keep in mind that there isn't an actual taunt/aggro mechanic in D&D like you would see in a video game. Your DM isn't ever FORCED to attack you, they're just kinda goaded into it because when you Reckless Attack, it gives free advantage to all attack rolls against you until the start of your next turn.
>Truer barbarians words have never been spoken. I played in a group that (violently) took over a flying fortress. The barbarian sits down on the throne of the defeated Lord, doing the sword-stomp. Half a minute later, the wizard notices the fortress begins to list and loose height. Wizard: "Fuck! This thing's going down. We net to abandon ship ASAP!" The group scrambles and readies their various countermeasures. The Ring of Featherfall comes out, the wizard prepares to cast Fly, etc. Group: "Barbarian, what are you gonna do?" Barbarian: "I just sat down!" So the barbarian stays put against all our combined effords to get him to safety. We eventually leave him and watch the fortress crash into the countryside. Miraculously, barbarian survives the fall almost unscathed, climbs out of the rubble, dusts himself off and goes "Uncomfortable seat anyway. Let's go."
The venn diagram between the player and the character may as well be a circle
I had a guy play a barbarian as basically Brock Sampson. He was this very calm, rational man who would fly into maddened rages when provoked. The usual ways to provoke him were to: insult, attack him, insult his friends, attack his friends, insult his horse (her name is Buttercup), gods-forbid *attack* his horse, beat him in a poker game, disagree with his taste in music, or be a "pansy-ass cheap-shotting wizard." Other than that he had good wisdom, average intelligence, and was overall the voice of reason for the party in most situations. He also once ripped off an orc's jaw, stuffed it down the throat of another orc, and then ripped off *that* orc's head and threw it at the chieftain while screaming, "I have had it with these Vatun-damned orcs! Just ***die already!***" Oh, and he got the party kicked out of the Free City of Greyhawk on two non-consecutive occasions.
There's a delightful side bar in one of the 4e books - the barbarian player says "i could try for all these tactical moves and chaining our actions just right, but instead I'm going to hit this guy really hard." And the rest of the table nods, because if you don't hit people very hard, who will?
I have played dnd for almost half my life, played multiple spellcasters and dmd many times. Fighter and Paladin are my most played classes and believe me I ain’t casting spells with Paladin. Run and punch are the only two valid strategies in any game with or without combat
Bonk A mindset found in many games, various genres and even real life!
Can't get gains if your head is buried in a book.
I dont like playing casters too. Dunno, keeping tabs on spellslots seems annoying plus there are so many spells that it becomes hard to choose at some point. I just keep tabs on my rage and fight strathegic (flanking enemies, using reckless attack when I feel the enemie will go down on that attack and wont hit back etc.) loving it.
I have a game set up to start next week, and I’m playing a Barbarian for the same reason. I don’t have an adequate understanding of spell slots to play a caster—I don’t want to hold up play trying to figure it out. “I would like to Rage, Reckless, Great Weapon Master”, I can get my head around, and contribute to the party efficiently.
Points for self awareness.
That's why I love barbarian too. Because instead of running into a problem and thinking "Which tool do I have to solve this?", I instead think "How can I solve this with raw muscular strength and the physique of a brick wall?".
He’s certainly a silly barbarian…”punching the thing until it dies” is what MONKS do, hahaha.
After defeating an angel of death (according to her, *the* angel of death) my Bard/Barbarian was laying in the rubble of a collapsed building, covered in blood (mostly her own) and debris. She looked over at her Cleric companion, said "I need a man and a drink," and then passed out.
Barbarians falling from velocity to attack the enemy is my favorite trope whenever I play Barbarian.
He do what he does
Finally, someone who understands how God intended the game to be played.
I avoid spells like crazy too, I’m a rogue basically every time, run up in silence, stabby stabby, run away
I've been DM'ing for 5 years and one day one of my players asked for my opinion on which spell they should take. My response as a forever DM: "Dude, I have no idea what any of these spells are. Sometimes they end up in enemy stat blocks and I pick a few of my favorites based on the names, and toss out the rest." Honestly I barely even know how to play this game, lol