The Barbarian Class

Barbarian

Hit Dice: 1d6+2 (+3 hp per level after 9^th level.)

Armor: Light or Medium armor, shields.

Weapons: Any except crossbows.

Skills: Barbarians are skilled at feats of strength and endurance.  They are also skilled at survival, climbing, and swimming.

Restrictions

Superstitious: Barbarians mistrust overt displays of magic and sorcery.  When presented with displays of such magic they must succeed at a saving throw or be stunned for one round.  A barbarian character may overcome this restriction, but permanently loses 1d6 hit points.

Class Features

Dominate: Against creatures with one hit die or less, a barbarian makes one attack per level each round.

Powerful: Barbarians have advantage in feats of strength and endurance.

Rage: The barbarian can go berserk in combat, gaining a +2 bonus to hit and damage, but suffering a -2 penalty to his armor class.  This increases to +3/+3 at 5^th level and +4/+4 at 9^th level. For purposes of language and communication, the barbarian’s Intelligence score drops to 3. The barbarian’s rage lasts for a number of rounds equal to the barbarian’s level.  While in his rage, the barbarian focuses on his foes until they are dead.  He cannot use skills except for feats of strength, and no skills that take longer than a round. If his rage continues after his foes are gone, he will attack his nearest ally unless he makes a successful saving throw.

The barbarian’s rage can be reawakened or extended beyond its normal duration by making a successful saving throw each round.  Each successful save extends the rage by one round, incurs a cumulative -1 penalty on subsequent saves to continue, and lowers the barbarian’s Strength score by one point after the rage ends.  The Strength penalty disappears after 8 hours of rest.

Animal Reflexes: At 3^rd level, the barbarian gains advantage against surprise attacks and traps.

Cleave: When the barbarian drops an opponent to 0 or fewer hit points, he may make a second attack with the same weapon against a new foe that is within reach.

Tenacity:  At 7^th level the barbarian can continue to fight after losing all his hit points, so long as he is raging.  The barbarian ends when the rage does.

Youngblood: At 7^th level, a barbarian gains a 1^st-level barbarian henchman.  If the youngblood dies, another will replace him the next time the barbarian gains a level, depending on the circumstances surrounding the death of the previous youngblood(s).  Barbarians are not particularly put off by frequent deaths, but the death of a youngblood by sorcery or other foul means are viewed with distrust and may incur repercussions.

War band: At 9^th level the barbarian becomes a leader among his people, whether he likes it or not, and can summon a war band to accomplish a particular task or objective.  The exact number and makeup of the war band will depend on the goal to be accomplished.

Whirlwind: At 11^th level, while raging, the barbarian can make an attack at every creature he can reach without moving at his normal attack bonuses, but suffers a -4 penalty to armor class (instead of -2) while doing so.  The barbarian cannot chose to hit some creatures and not others. 

Steppe Nomad (Barbarian Variant)

Steppe nomads are members of migratory horse-riding cultures.  They are renowned for their skill in fighting from horseback.  Their traditional weapons are powerful short bows and curved sabres.

Skills: Steppe nomads have riding instead of swimming.

Saddleborn: Steppe nomads have advantage in riding instead of feats of strength.

Mounted Warrior: Steppe nomads lose the Rage class ability and gain the Mounted Warrior ability in its place.  The bonuses remain the same, but apply only when the steppe nomad is mounted.  There is no duration to this feature, and no penalty to Armor Class.

Cleave: This ability only functions when the character is mounted.

Whirlwind: This ability only functions when the character is mounted.  There is no penalty to Armor Class.

Zealot (Barbarian Variant)

Zealots are fanatical religious warriors.  They occupy the same place in cult hierarchies that paladins do in divine orders.

Skills: Zealots are skilled at religious lore and local lore instead of climbing and swimming.

Fervor: This ability is the same as rage.

Divine Aid: This ability replaces Animal Reflexes.  Once per day the zealot can cast cure light wounds upon himself.

(The terms advantage, knack, and skilled are defined on the Game Design page above.  The license for this entry is located in the Legal page above.)