Do you like playing them?  Do you like people playing them in your campaigns?

Yes, many or even most of my D&D PCs are Barbarian-class, especially when it's a well designed class as in 5e D&D (I didn't like the 4e or 3e Barbarians much, and in 1e I'd rather play a Fighter from a barbaric culture). The role-playing tropes as the outsider make it a particularly good class for players new to the setting.

GMing 5e I find the Barbarian tends to be overpowered using the rules as written, because the system as written does not lead to the expected 6-8 fights before a long rest, so Barbs get to Rage every fight. I went over to having long rest take a week, this went a long way towards class balance since a low level barbarian might now only Rage in a third of battles.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1009214Do you like playing them?  Do you like people playing them in your campaigns?

Define Barbarian, please.  Do you mean the D&D style tribal warrior with anger management issues?  Or someone from what the 'civilized' world considers uncivilized (In D&D 5e terms, anyone with the Outlander Background)?

The 5e barbarian is a beast that is nearly impossible to kill. Players really like it.

ACKS flavors barbarians as primitive warriors, but 5e doesn't really have that requirement - there's one in my currentish 5e campaign who started life off as a perfectly normal merchant's guard who is overly fond of wine, women, and getting so hyped up before combat that he starts chewing on his shield, loses control, breaks formation, charges into the foe - and is tough and ornery enough to survive doing so (thus far).

In Labyrinth Lord that character would have been just fine as a fighter with some RP flavor, but in 5e choosing barbarian + path of the berserker makes some mechanical sense and seems to work. It still encourages him to wear no armor, which is a bit of a mis-fit.

My most memorable D&D Barbarian is a AD&D 2e Fighter, with the Kit.  They guy played an amazing 'Conan'-esque hero.

In 5e, I've had three, none of them were the class.  They were all Outlander backgrounds.  One fighter, a ranger and wizard.

I had one for a AL game a few adventures back, who I never got to play.  He was a taller than average Mountain Dwarf with actual anger issues.  He hated being underground, and left his clan before he hurt his family and friends there.  Once topside, everything changed.  The sky calmed him in a way he never understood, although he still used his rage in a fight, he could actually control it now.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1009214Do you like playing them?  Do you like people playing them in your campaigns?

Tend to punish hard anytime I get Barb chars. You wanna Rage? Cool. Now everyone gon' aim for 'yo ass!

Why wouldn't they? You're the scary, out-of-control asshole who's rampaging across the battlefield just asking for bolt-based perforation.

As a result, they're not popular at my table unless the player specializes in them and is smart about their use. They're vikings and vikings were crap at fighting any enemy that was even remotely organised and/or in any proper using the classic combo of archers, spearmen, swords/macemen and maybe even cavalry. And most of my enemies do fight with some modicum of tactical insight (at least start positioned decent), even if I do roll generate with my custom app.

i love barbaric, tribal, raging type barbs, the movie/dnd kind, i guess.

Yea to the class either playing them or running a game with one being played by another player. Nay to the player bullshit of being able to only play one with a Chaotic Neutral and only that. If anything is a good indicator that a player should not be playing a Barbarian or CN as a alignment it's that imo.

I love playing as Barbarians. It's my favorite class in Pathfinder/3.5 and 5e as well.

Conan what is best?

Depends on the setting and the players. Sometimes a barbarian is just a fighter type really. Sometimes the player has some odd ideas what a barbarian should be. Other times a players is just trying to game the system. So its a case by case thing Yes, or No.

In 5e I initially didnt think much of the Barbarian. But Kefra has played one well and later I took a try at one and had alot of fun with it.

I like playing barbarians, but for some reason only in games that don't have 'barbarian' as a class or package, but simply provide a system where this is one of many kinds of characters you can sort out. TFT and Runequest are probably my fave's

Love it, the dungeon world barbarian even has a magic loincloth (equivalent). Mighty thews, mighty appeite for life. Hah!

For some reason I always get the urge crush the jeweled thrones of earth under my sandaled feet. Crushing my enemies, seeing them driven before me and the lamentations of the women are great too.

I don't tend to play them - I prefer Wizards - but they are popular. The recent D&D poll placed them ahead of Clerics in popularity, and just behind Fighters, Rogues and Wizards. Players like playing big bruisers, who can soak up damage and dish it out. It's also good that they don't have to wear armour which gives it a clear distinction to fighters, and helps provide an archetype for that type of warrior. There isn't any complication with spells, and the subclasses provide a decent variety. I like to contrast them to Monks in a way, as almost the Chaotic counterpoint to the self-discipline of Monks.

There is some issue with Barbarians being a culture, with a pejorative association, rather than a Class per se. If I were to play a more culturally sensitive game, it wouldn't refer to Class in any case, though.

In short, they have a role to play in D&D.