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Cool Superstitions for a Barbarian to have?

Barbarians vary widely in how they understand life. Some follow gods and look for guidance from those deities in the cycles of nature and the animals they encounter. These barbarians believe that spirits inhabit the plants and animals of the world, and the barbarians look to them for omens and power. Other barbarians trust only in the blood that runs in their veins and the steel they hold in their hands. They have no use for the invisible world, instead relying on their senses to hunt and survive like the wild beasts they emulate.

Both of these attitudes can give rise to superstitions. These beliefs are often passed down within a family or shared among the members of a clan or a hunting group. If your barbarian character has any superstitions, were they ingrained in you by your family, or are they the result of personal experience?

From Xanathar's Guide to Everything

Reading up on Barbarians and apparently they're often superstitious. The six examples of superstitions the book gives are "If you disturb the bones of the dead, you inherit all the troubles that plagued them in life.", "Never trust a wizard. They're all devils in disguise, especially the friendly ones", "Dwarves have lost their spirits, and are almost like the undead. That's why they live underground.", "Magical things bring trouble. Never sleep with a magic object within ten feet of you", "When you walk through a graveyard, be sure to wear silver, or a ghost might jump into your body.", "If an elf looks you in the eyes, she's trying to read your thoughts".

Sounds like a fun way to breath a bit of life into a character. Any ideas for cool superstitions to give a barbarian?

Comments

  • ElysianEchoesElysianEchoes Member Posts: 475
    Make love under a new moon to ensure a male child.
  • shabadooshabadoo Member Posts: 324
    Never eat anything you didn't kill yourself.
  • GusindaGusinda Member Posts: 1,917
    An ale prior to sleep will strengthen both mind and muscle. Many ales, much muscle!

    Taught to me by my pappy and my pappy's pappy.
    Gus
  • ZaxaresZaxares Member Posts: 1,330
    There's the classic "Written words are evil magic!" attitude of barbarians which might help explain their illiteracy. Bathing more than once a year (and the bath itself is considered a ritual cleansing of sins, perhaps) is also considered foolish because it weakens the warrior's inner strength. ("If there are insufficient sins to be drawn out, the Spirit of Water will take from your heart instead.") A barbarian might also believe in a strict diet in that certain foods must only be eaten by males/females or some particular foods can only be eaten by a shaman/warrior/chief. (Think "sacred herbs" and such.)
  • KamigoroshiKamigoroshi Member Posts: 5,870
    Icewind Dale Barbarian: "Never travel through a blizzard at night. For Auril will claim both your body warmth and soul for her own."

    Chult Barbarian: "Snakes are the harbingers of the Yuan-ti. Ever watchful, never asleep. Dreaming of them will bring ill omens for you and your family."
  • NimranNimran Member Posts: 4,875
    All hamsters are secretly miniature giant space hamsters, and they will guide you down the path of justice.
  • tbone1tbone1 Member Posts: 1,985
    A mole on your back means it wants a lift to the back yard.
  • Balrog99Balrog99 Member Posts: 7,371
    Always sleep under the stars. Inns are for rich people and dungeons are just downright claustrophobic!
  • tbone1tbone1 Member Posts: 1,985
    Throwing salt over your shoulder gets rid of evil spirits. Although it will annoy the mole.
  • KamigoroshiKamigoroshi Member Posts: 5,870
    Having a severed Halfling's foot along your journey brings luck.
    Gotta love their racial Lucky trait after all. Especially for non-Halflings. :p
  • StummvonBordwehrStummvonBordwehr Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 1,385
    I am thinking an innate fear for the sky breaking and falling down on earth - like the Gauls in Asterix.

    Lightning spells would be especially fear inducing, since Lightning would resemble the sky breaking.

    The Druid spell call lightning would be the worst and the barbarian most make a save vs death with a -4 penalty or run in panic for 1 turn.

    Other lightning spells require a save vs death (no penalty) or run in panic for 6 rounds.
  • SCARY_WIZARDSCARY_WIZARD Member Posts: 1,438
    I am thinking an innate fear for the sky breaking and falling down on earth - like the Gauls in Asterix.

    Lightning spells would be especially fear inducing, since Lightning would resemble the sky breaking.

    The Druid spell call lightning would be the worst and the barbarian most make a save vs death with a -4 penalty or run in panic for 1 turn.

    Other lightning spells require a save vs death (no penalty) or run in panic for 6 rounds.

    This just makes me want to pay a tribe of giants to chase barbarians around with thunder sheets and projectors.
  • _Connacht__Connacht_ Member Posts: 169
    If someone takes an image of yours, that will steal your soul!

    (in fact, the device Irenicus used to enact his plan in Spellhold was a bizarre gnomish invention which exploited light and mysterious materials with photochromatic properties)
  • gorgonzolagorgonzola Member Posts: 3,864
    edited September 2019
    some in game barbarians believe that they live inside a matrix, a computer generated virtual reality.
    obviously the other fr races laugh at that stupid superstition, they have so many clues about their multiverse being real, only barbarians can believe in such bullshit, that has more place in movies legends then in serious debate about the multiverse's real nature.
  • DreadKhanDreadKhan Member Posts: 3,857
    edited September 2019
    Gusinda wrote: »
    An ale prior to sleep will strengthen both mind and muscle. Many ales, much muscle!

    Taught to me by my pappy and my pappy's pappy.
    Gus

    This works better if you throw in singing, because happier people bulk up way better!

    You really will have to work your way up to soprano for best effects, or go down to bass, but soprano is way more fun when you're proper big.
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