The Barbarian, our long lost friend.
Djasko_Amsterdam
Member Posts: 47
Hey folks. Any of you play the original BG? I remember choosing a Paladin and a Barbarian cause of their rp appeal and having lots of fun. Then BG2 SoA came out and gave us the Berserker subclass, effectively turning the Barb into an inferior Berserker with Damage Resistance. This was still enough to warrant a playthrough, with Defender of Easthaven +3 synergizing nicely with Barbs... but with the Dwarven Defender, having a Barbarian became more of a nuissance.. I mean, why would you have a medium armor-wearing fighter with damage resistance when you can have a full on tank with full plate, a d12 hitpoint dice like a Barb, innate damage resistance like a Barb and an ability which gives a bonus to your already impressive dwarven savingthrows and 50% physical dmg resistance besides.....
In short, the Barbarian deserves more love. The class itself isn't half bad.. having faster movement is a boon when facing ranged opponents.. but you don't want your Barb to take damage, despite it's abilities being tuned towards it.. less ac when raging, medium armor... it would make much more sense if the Barb had a retaliation when hit in melee, since Barbs fit well with taking revenge, but that might be too much of a change for some.
What would definitely help is class-specific Barb gear for BG1, 2 and IWD. In fact, BGEE could even add a Barbarian companion with some cool weapon, cool enough to warrant taking him along like Haer'Dalis' his short sword which lowers dexterity on hit.. and a bunch of Barbarian specific gear in both the base games and more in a BGEE Barbarian expansion. I mean, the Paladin gets Carsomyr +5 in BG2 and Pale Justice in IWD.. these items alone make people want to roll a Paladin. The same type of incentives could be added to motivate players to roll a Barb... in BG2 it should have been the sword Soul Reaver +4.. (Despite the Warblade sold by Rybald having Barbarian lore).. if there was a sword intended for a Barbarian warrior, blessed/enchanted by Barbarian Shamans, it would have to be Soul Reaver +4. At any rate, I'm hoping you folks agree with me and we can motivate the devs to invest some time in making the desired changes.
In short, the Barbarian deserves more love. The class itself isn't half bad.. having faster movement is a boon when facing ranged opponents.. but you don't want your Barb to take damage, despite it's abilities being tuned towards it.. less ac when raging, medium armor... it would make much more sense if the Barb had a retaliation when hit in melee, since Barbs fit well with taking revenge, but that might be too much of a change for some.
What would definitely help is class-specific Barb gear for BG1, 2 and IWD. In fact, BGEE could even add a Barbarian companion with some cool weapon, cool enough to warrant taking him along like Haer'Dalis' his short sword which lowers dexterity on hit.. and a bunch of Barbarian specific gear in both the base games and more in a BGEE Barbarian expansion. I mean, the Paladin gets Carsomyr +5 in BG2 and Pale Justice in IWD.. these items alone make people want to roll a Paladin. The same type of incentives could be added to motivate players to roll a Barb... in BG2 it should have been the sword Soul Reaver +4.. (Despite the Warblade sold by Rybald having Barbarian lore).. if there was a sword intended for a Barbarian warrior, blessed/enchanted by Barbarian Shamans, it would have to be Soul Reaver +4. At any rate, I'm hoping you folks agree with me and we can motivate the devs to invest some time in making the desired changes.
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