From the frozen wastes to 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. Barbarians may adventure to defeat hated enemies. They have a noted distaste for that which they consider unnatural, including undead, demons, and devils.

Characteristics: The barbarian is an excellent warrior. Where the fighter has 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 only has the energy for a few such spectacular displays per day, but those few rages are usually sufficient. He is at home in the wilds, 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, chaotic barbarians 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 having been captured in his homeland and sold into "civilized" slavery, may have been recruited as a soldier, or may have been driven out of his home 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. 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.

Other Classes: As people of the wild, barbarians are most comfortable in the company of rangers, druids, and clerics of nature deities, such as Obad-Hai or Ehlonna. Many barbarians admire the talents and spontaneity of bards, and some are enthusiastic lovers of music. Barbarians don't trust that which they don't understand, and that includes wizardry, which they call "book magic." Barbarians find sorcerers more understandable than wizards, but maybe that's just because sorcerers tend to be more charismatic. Monks, with their studied, practiced, deliberate approach to combat, sometimes have a hard time seeing eye to eye with barbarians, but members of these classes aren't necessarily hostile to each other. Barbarians have no special attitudes toward fighters, paladins, clerics, or rogues.

GAME RULE INFORMATION

Barbarians have the following game statistics.

Abilities: Strength is important for barbarians because of its role in combat, and several barbarian skills are based on Strength. Dexterity is also useful to barbarians, especially those who wear light armor. Wisdom is important for several barbarian skills. A high Constitution score lets a barbarian rage longer (and live longer, because it gives him more hit points).

Alignment: Any nonlawful.
Hit Die: d12.

Class Skills

The barbarian's typical class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Intuit Direction (Wis), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Ride (Dex), Swim (Str), and Wilderness Lore (Wis).

Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) x4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the barbarian.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A barbarian can gain skills with all simple and martial weapons, light armor, medium armor, and shields. Note that armor check penalties for armor heavier than leather apply to the skills Balance, Climb, Escape Artist, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, Pick Pocket, and Tumble. Also, Swim checks suffer a -1 penalty for every 5 pounds of armor and equipment carried.

Barbarian Rage: When he needs to, a barbarian can fly into a screaming blood frenzy. In a rage, a barbarian gains phenomenal strength and durability but becomes reckless and less able to defend himself. He temporarily gains +4 to Strength, +4 to Constitution, and a +2 morale bonus on Will saves, but suffers a -2 penalty to AC.

The increase in Constitution increases the barbarian's hit points by 2 points per level, but these hit points go away at the end of the rage when the Constitution score drops back to normal. While raging, a barbarian cannot use skills or abilities that require patience and concentration, such as moving silently or casting spells. A fit of rage lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3 + the character's (newly improved) Constitution modifier. The barbarian may prematurely end the rage voluntarily. At the end of the rage, the barbarian is fatigued (-2 to Strength, -2 to Dexterity, can't charge or run) for the duration of that encounter (unless the barbarian is 20th level, when this limitation no longer applies). The barbarian can only fly into a rage once per encounter, and only a certain number of times per day (once at 1st level and once more for every 4 levels of experience, i.e. twice at 4th level, three times at 8th level etc.). Entering a rage takes no time itself, but the barbarian can only do it during his action, not in response to somebody 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.

Starting at 15th level, the barbarian's rage bonuses become +6 to Strength, +6 to Constitution. (The AC penalty remains at -2.)

Fast Movement: The barbarian has a speed faster than the norm for his race by +10 feet when wearing no armor, light armor, or medium armor (and not carrying a heavy load). For example, a human barbarian in studded leather armor has a standard speed of 40 feet. Normally, humans have a speed of 30 feet. His speed when taking the double move action is 80 feet (rather than 60), and his running speed is 160 feet (rather than 120).

Uncanny Dodge: Starting at 2nd level, the barbarian gains the extraordinary ability to react to danger before his senses would normally allow him to do so. At 2nd level and above, he retains his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) regardless of being caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. (He still loses his Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized.)

At 5th level, the 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 use a flank attack to sneak attack the barbarian. The exception to this defense is that a rogue at least four levels higher than the barbarian can flank him (and thus sneak attack him).

At 10th level, the barbarian gains an intuitive sense that alerts him to danger from traps, giving him a +1 bonus to Reflex saves made to avoid traps and a +1 dodge bonus to AC against attacks by traps. At 13th level, these bonuses rise to +2. At 16th, they rise to +3, and at 19th they rise to +4.

Damage Reduction: Starting at 11th level, the barbarian gains the extraordinary 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. At 14th level, this damage reduction rises to 2. At 17th, it rises to 3. At 20th, it rises to 4. Damage reduction can reduce damage to 0 but not below 0.

Illiteracy: Barbarians are the only characters that do not automatically know how to read and write. A barbarian must spend 2 skill points to gain the ability to read and write any language he is able to speak.

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 (fast movement, uncanny dodge, and damage reduction).