Barbarian 5.3e by

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<div class='cover-header'>Barbarian 5.3e</div>

<div class='cover-footer'>By the Doctor of Warfare</div>

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# Another Try at Making It Balanced

##### Optional Rules to Dungeons and Dragons

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## Barbarian 5.3

From the frozen wastes of the north and the hellish jungles of the south come brave, even reckless, warriors. Civilized people call them barbarians or berserkers and suspect them of mayhem, impiety, and atrocities. These “barbarians,” however, have proven their mettle and their value to those who would be their allies. To enemies who underestimated them, they have proved their cunning, resourcefulness, persistence, and mercilessness.

### Adventures 
Adventuring is the best chance barbarians have of finding a place in a civilized society. They’re not well suited to the monotony of guard duty or other mundane tasks. Barbarians also have no trouble with the dangers, the uncertainties, and the wandering that adventuring involves. They may adventure to defeat hated enemies. They have a noted distaste for that which they consider unnatural, including undead, demons, and devils.

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### Characteristics 
The barbarian is an excellent warrior. Where the fighter’s skill in combat comes from training and discipline, however, the barbarian has a powerful rage. While in this berserk fury, he becomes stronger and tougher, better able to defeat his foes and withstand their attacks. These rages leave him winded, and he has the energy for only a few such spectacular displays per day, but those few rages are usually sufficient. He is at home in the wild, and he runs at great speed.

### Alignment
Barbarians are never lawful. They may be honorable, but at heart they are wild. This wildness is their strength, and it could not live in a lawful soul. At best, barbarians of chaotic alignment are free and expressive. At worst, they are thoughtlessly destructive. 
### Religion
Some barbarians distrust established religions and prefer an intuitive, natural relationship to the cosmos over formal worship. Others devote themselves to powerful deities, such as Kord (god of strength), Obad-Hai (god of nature), or Erythnul (god of slaughter). A barbarian is capable of fierce devotion to his god.

### Background 
Barbarians come from uncivilized lands or from barbaric tribes on the outskirts of civilization. A barbarian adventurer may have been lured to the settled lands by the promise of riches, may have escaped after being captured in his homeland and sold into “civilized” slavery, may have been recruited as a soldier, or may have been driven out of his homeland by invaders. Barbarians share no bond with each other unless they come from the same tribe or land. In fact, they think of themselves not as barbarians but as warriors. 
### Races
Human barbarians come from the distant wild lands on
the edge of civilization. Most half-orc barbarians lived among orcs
before abandoning them for human lands. Dwarf barbarians are rare,
usually hailing from dwarven kingdoms that have fallen into
barbarism as a result of recurrent war with goblinoids, orcs, and
giants. Barbarians of other races are very rare.
Among the brutal humanoids, barbarians are more common than
fighters. Orcs and ogres are especially likely to be barbarians.
### Role
A barbarian’s typical primary role in a group of adventurers
is as a front-line combat specialist. No other character can match his
sheer toughness. He can also serve as a good scout, thanks to his
speed, skill selection, and trap sense.

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##### Class Name
| Level | Proficiency Bonus | Features |
|:---:|:---:|:---|
| 1st | +2 | Fast movement, illiteracy, rage 1/day |
| 2nd | +2 | Uncanny Dodge | 
| 3rd | +2 | Trap Sense +1 |
| 4th | +2 | Rage 2/day | 
| 5th | +3 | Improved Uncanny Dodge | 
| 6th | +3 | Trap Sense +2 |
| 7th | +3 | Damage Reduction 1 | 
| 8th | +3 | Rage 3/day | 
| 9th | +4 | Trap Sense +3 | 
| 10th | +4 | Damage Reduction 2 | 
| 11th | +4 | Greater Rage | 
| 12th | +4 | Rage 4/day, Trap Sense +4 |
| 13th | +5 | Damage Reduction 3 | 
| 14th | +5 | Indomitable Will | 
| 15th | +5 | Trap sense +5 | 
| 16th | +5 | Damage reduction 4, rage 5/day |
| 17th | +6 | Tireless rage |
| 18th | +6 | Trap sense +6 |
| 19th | +6 | Damage reduction 5 |
| 20th | +6 | Mighty rage, rage 6/day |

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## Class Features
As a Barbarian 5.3, you gain the following class features
#### Hit Points
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- **Hit Dice:** 1d12 per Barbarian 5.3 level
- **Hit Points at 1st Level:** 12 + Constitution
- **Hit Points at Higher Levels:** 1d12 + Constitution

#### Proficiencies
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- **Armor:** Light and Medium Armor, Shields
- **Weapons:** Simple & Martial Weapons
- **Tools:** None

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- **Saving Throws:** Strength, Constitution
- **Skills:** Choose two from skills from  Animal Handling, Athletics, Intimidation, Nature, Perception, and Survival

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### Fast Movement
A barbarian’s land speed is faster than the norm for his race by +10 feet. This benefit applies only when he is wearing no armor, light armor, or medium armor and not carrying a heavy load. Apply this bonus before modifying the barbarian’s speed because of any load carried or armor worn. For example, a human barbarian has a speed of 40 feet, rather than 30 feet, when wearing light or no armor. When wearing medium armor or carrying a medium load, his speed drops to 30 feet. A halfling barbarian has a speed of 30 feet, rather than 20 feet, in light or no armor. When wearing medium armor or carrying a medium load, his speed drops to 20 feet.

### Illiteracy
Barbarians are the only characters who do not
automatically know how to read and write. A barbarian may spend 2 skill points to gain the ability to read and write all languages he is able to speak. A barbarian who gains a level in any other class automatically gains literacy. Any other character who gains a barbarian level does not lose the literacy he or she already had.

### Rage
A barbarian can fly into a screaming blood frenzy a certain number of times per day. In a rage, a barbarian gains phenomenal strength and durability but becomes reckless and less able to defend himself. He temporarily gains a +4 bonus to Strength, a +4 bonus to Constitution, and a +2 morale bonus on Will saves, but he takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class.

While raging, a barbarian cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills  the Concentration skill, or any abilities that require patience or concentration, nor can he cast spells or activate magic items that require a command word, a spell trigger (such as a wand) to function.

He can use any feat he has except Combat Expertise, item creation feats, and metamagic feats. A fit of rage lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3 + their Constitution modifier.

A barbarian may prematurely end his rage. At the end of the rage, the barbarian loses the rage modifiers and restrictions and becomes fatigued (–2 penalty to Strength, –2 penalty to Dexterity, can’t charge or run) for the duration of the current encounter (unless he is a 17th-level barbarian, at which point this limitation no longer applies; see below).

A barbarian can fly into a rage only once per encounter. At 1st level he can use his rage ability once per day. At 4th level and every four levels thereafter, he can use it one additional time per day (to a maximum of six times per day at 20th level). Entering a rage takes no time itself, but a barbarian can do it only during his action (see Initiative, page 136), not in response to someone else’s action. A barbarian can’t, for example, fly into a rage when struck down by an arrow in order to get the extra hit points from the increased Constitution, although the extra hit points would be of benefit if he had gone into a rage earlier in the round, before the arrow struck.

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### Uncanny Dodge
 At 2nd level, a barbarian gains the ability
to react to danger before his senses would normally allow him to do
so. He retains his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if he is caught
flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, he still loses
his Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized.
If a barbarian already has uncanny dodge from a different class (a
barbarian with at least four levels of rogue, for example), he
automatically gains improved uncanny dodge (see below) instead.

### Improved Uncanny Dodge 
At 5th level and higher, a barbarian can no longer be flanked; he can react to opponents on opposite sides of him as easily as he can react to a single attacker. This defense denies a rogue the ability to sneak attack the barbarian by flanking him, unless the attacker has at least four more rogue levels than the target has barbarian levels.

If a character already has uncanny dodge (see above) from a second class, the character automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead, and the levels from the classes that grant uncanny dodge stack to determine the minimum level a rogue must be to flank the character.

### Trap Sense
Starting at 3rd level, a barbarian has an intuitive sense that alerts him to danger from traps, giving him a +1 bonus on Reflex saves made to avoid traps and a +1 dodge bonus to AC against attacks made by traps. These bonuses rise by +1 every three barbarian levels thereafter (6th, 9th, 12th, 15th, and 18th level). Trap sense bonuses gained from multiple classes stack.

### Damage Reduction 
At 7th level, a barbarian gains the
ability to shrug off some amount of injury from each blow or attack.
Subtract 1 from the damage the barbarian takes each time he is dealt
damage from a weapon or a natural attack. At 10th level, and every
three barbarian levels thereafter (13th, 16th, and 19th level), this
damage reduction rises by 1 point. Damage reduction can reduce
damage to 0 but not below 0.

### Greater Rage 
At 11th level, a barbarian’s bonuses to
Strength and Constitution during his rage each increase to +6, and
his morale bonus on Will saves increases to +3. The penalty to AC
remains at –2.

### Indomitable Will
While in a rage, a barbarian of 14th level
or higher gains a +4 bonus on Will saves to resist enchantment
spells. This bonus stacks with all other modifiers, including the
morale bonus on Will saves he also receives during his rage.

### Tireless Rage
At 17th level and higher, a barbarian no
longer becomes fatigued at the end of his rage.

### Mighty Rage
At 20th level, a barbarian’s bonuses to
Strength and Constitution during his rage each increase to +8, and
his morale bonus on Will saves increases to +4. The penalty to AC
remains at –2.

## Ex-Barbarians
A barbarian who becomes lawful loses the ability to rage and cannot
gain more levels as a barbarian. He retains all the other benefits of
the class (damage reduction, fast movement, trap sense, and
uncanny dodge).

### ***Half-Orc Barbarian Starting Package***
**Armor:** Studded leather (+3 AC, armor check penalty –1, speed
40 ft., 20 lb.).

**Weapons:** Greataxe (1d12, crit ×3, 12 lb., two-handed, slashing).
Shortbow (1d6, crit ×3, range inc. 60 ft., 2 lb., Piercing).
Dagger (1d4, crit 19–20/×2, range inc. 10 ft., 1 lb., light, piercing).
 
**Equipment**

• *(a)* a greataxe or *(b)* any martial melee weapon

• *(a)* two handaxes or *(b)* any simple weapon

• An explorer’s pack and four javelins

**Feats:** Weapon Focus (greataxe)
**Gold:** 2d4 gp