Barbarian (Dungeons & Dragons)
| A Dungeons & Dragons character class | |
|---|---|
| Publication history | |
| First appearance | Dragon #63 (1st edition) |
| Editions | 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 3.5, 4th, 5th |
| (as a standard class) | 3rd, 3.5 |
| (as an alternate class) | 1st, 2nd, 4th |
| Source books | Player's Handbook (3rd, 3.5) |
| Based on | Barbarian |
| Image | Wizards.com image |
| Stats | OGL stats |
The barbarian is a playable character class in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. The class was introduced as early as 1985 and went through a number of evolutions in subsequent editions of the game.
The barbarian is based on Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian, Gardner Fox's Kothar and to a lesser extent Fritz Lieber's Fafhrd.
The first official barbarian character class was introduced by Gary Gygax in Dragon #63 (July 1982), as a sub-class of fighter. The barbarian later appears in the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons manual, Unearthed Arcana in 1985. The barbarian, along with the cavalier, received a revision in Dragon magazine #148 (August 1989), as the author David Howery felt that the class as described in Unearthed Arcana was "too powerful and too vaguely defined."
Another version of the barbarian appeared as a character class in the original Oriental Adventures in 1985. According to a reviewer for White Dwarf, the barbarian was "altered to fit into an Eastern pattern", and was "primarily a steppes warrior, or a forest and jungle dweller".
Barbarians appear in The Complete Fighter's Handbook as a character kit, and later receive full attention as a stand-alone class in The Complete Barbarian's Handbook.
Barbarian is one of the base character classes presented in the Player's Handbook. The barbarian is seen as the archetypal warrior who uses brute strength and raw fury to excel in combat, instead of the honed skills of the Fighter or measured strength of the Monk. Of all the classes, only the barbarian begins the game illiterate and is forced to expend extra skill points or multiclass in order to read and write. Half-Orcs have Barbarian as a favored class.
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