50 Barbarian Hooks
I received an advance copy of the Player’s Handbook 2 and checked out the shiny new barbarian class. Yowsa. Dungeon masters watch out, this guy is mean. As a skirmisher, he’s all about movement and doing massive damage periodically during combat. “Class Traits: Striker. You use powerful two-handed weapons to deal serious damage to your enemies.”
I say bring it on. Adding him to my group of PCs gives me an excuse to research higher level monsters. LOL.
I know at least one of my players is frothing for Player’s Handbook 2, and it’ll show up at the table next game session. My current Carnus campaign allows players to switch PCs, sometimes for interest sake, other times to bring a specialized role to an adventure or encounter. Oh, and there’s also been one TPK and one near TPK. In anticipation of having a barbarian enter the campaign one way or aonther, here are 50 barbarian character hooks and quests. If a new character is about to enter the game, we might as well take advantage of the opportunity and make the campaign more interesting because of it, eh?
50 Barbarian Hooks
- Seeks a way to control his temper
- To prove himself, he must cover his entire body with the scars of battle
- Seeks out the ultimate specimen of a certain monster type to defeat it in battle
- Aims to track down an ancient enemy and defeat it through guile, not might
- To purge the world of a specific monster type
- Seek out the ailing heart of the world and find a means to repair it
- An enemy clipped his ponytail off, and now he must recover it
- A foreign witch has stolen his soul and he seeks her out to reclaim it
- Must go out and become a leader of men, or another racial group
- Instructed to overthrow an evil empire
- Must defeat an arch enemy with honour
- Must tame a great beast, such as an ancient dragon
- Adopted by a tribe of halflings, he journeys to beseech an exiled halfling hero to return and lead his former clan
- Quests to gather the materials required to craft a powerful magic weapon
- Seeks to challenge a god who whisked away his lifelong love so he can marry her himself
- Slavers attacked his clan and he journeys the world to track down and liberate surviving clan members
- Exact revenge on his demon father who attacked his mother all those years ago
- His entire village was torn away into one of the planes of the abyss and he seeks its location and then to return the village to the real world
- His village is cursed and only a powerful villain knows the cure
- His god has tasked him with a holy war against a group of monstrous lords
- Break the magic bloodline of a long line of evil emperors
- His god has demanded he prove himself worthy of his markings by finding a unique creature and killing it
- His god has demanded he prove himself worthy of his markings by finding a unique creature and befriending it
- He aims to steal the heart of a princess away from her dashing prince
- His father roamed the world and ascended to stand beside his god – how can he carry on such a legacy?
- The tribal council has decreed he must bring supreme honour to the tribe
- His animal spirit his instructed him to find a powerful magic item made from the animal’s bones and destroy it
- He must guard and protect a natural wonder, such as a primeval forest or ancient elephant burial ground
- To collect the teeth from 500 different kinds of beasts
- To kill one dozen mighty creatures, each with a different weapon
- To bring a rival clan to heel by seeking out and killing their godling totem beast
- An ancient lie is made known to him through prophetic dreams, and he must venture forth to prove and reveal the truth to the world
- Search out and seek the treasure from 24 ancient powerful kings
- Coerce, steal, or loot 100 rich merchants from across the land and accumulate 1,000,000 gold coins, which should be sacrificed to his god when done
- Gain the strength of the gods and then rip the demon emperor’s head from his shoulders with his bare hands
- Seize the castle of an epic enemy and rule the region himself
- Achieve such glory, fame, and reputation that his tribe must choose him over his brother for leadership when his father passes on
- Find the cure for a debilitating disease that is killing the village’s most beautiful maiden
- To overturn history and clear an ancestor of the false conviction of genocide
- Stop a near immortal necromancer from piecing together a way to raise a dead god
- Stop an evil city from further poisoning the land
- Depose the Amazon Queen and enslave her evil hag followers
- Return to his tribe with a certain powerful relic that will stop a wedding and make him the most worthy groom
- Lead a band of mercenaries to the edge of the world…and beyond
- Cursed with the eternal possession of a relic that harms as much as it helps, he seeks a way to break yet another lifetime of tragedy
- Have a new world wonder built in his name
- Purify a mega-dungeon of evil so the mother earth might take the vast area back and make it hers again
- Make a pilgrimage to a holy site on another plane, bashing skulls the entire way
- Recently discovered ancient scrolls of wisdom must be delivered by hand to the tribe’s god
- To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women
Want to learn more about Player’s Handbook 2? Check out these articles on other blogs.
- Atomic Array: Episode 018: Player’s Handbook 2
- Game Cryer: Player’s Handbook 2 Review
- Gnome Stew: A Veteran GM’s Take on GMing and the PHB2
- Critical Hits: The Avenger
- Uncle Bear: The Bard
- Critical Ankle Bites: The Druid
- Kobold Quarterly: Review: Player’s Handbook 2
- The Core Mechanic: The Invoker
- Flames Rising: The Shaman
- Stupid Ranger: The Sorcerer
- Musings of the Chatty DM: The Warden
Drop by Wizards of the Coast today!
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- 63 Wizard Hooks
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- 25 Cleric Character Hooks
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March 13th, 2009 at 5:07 am
[…] Campaign Mastery: The Barbarian […]
March 13th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
I have always loved the barbarian, its probably because of the countless Conan comics I’ve read over the years. Judging by number 50 I’m guessing you’re a Conan fan as well.
Jack Crow’s last blog post..Out & About
March 13th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
Heh, yep. Books, comics, and movies. I have the d20 RPG but never played.
March 14th, 2009 at 3:18 am
Love this!
March 14th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
Great article. Will you be doing this for any of the other classes? I hope so.
Ameron’s last blog post..Necromancer: Epic Tier
March 15th, 2009 at 10:33 am
Thanks Ameron. I’m not sure about doing it for the other classes, but thanks for the vote. I’ll give it some thought. Anyone else want to see hooks for other D&D classes?
March 16th, 2009 at 5:49 am
Yeah! I’d love to see hooks for other classes! :D
BTW, great list
March 20th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
This is great! The whole community should make a 50 hooks for X meme, classes, races, etc.
love this post Johnn.
jonathan’s last blog post..Wanted: Contributors & Guest Bloggers
June 16th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
This is indeed a great post. First: for how it fleshes out the barbarian who so often is played as #50 and #50 alone. Second, for the sheer scale and variety of these goals. Any one of these could make a several-episode campaign. I would love to play one of these characters and I’d love to design for one. I copied this whole post into my character notes file. If you do more I will be very happy.
There are so many classes that are played like stereotypes — “i wanna be lawful holy/protect nature/hit stuff with my fists.” The idea of a ranger who isn’t just “kill goblinoids” but “lead a band of mercenaries to the end of the world” — an explorer, not a hunter — that makes me want to play one.
Maybe do two hooks for each class and see which one we want you to do next?
June 16th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Oh, by the way, I play 3.5, so I vote “not the warden” when you’re deciding which class to do next.
September 10th, 2009 at 8:01 am
Great article. Will you be doing this for any of the other classes? I hope so.
April 26th, 2010 at 1:10 am
This reminds me of Red Sonja (I know she’s not a barbarian, this article just reminded me of her). I watched it several times as a kid and loved it. Then I watched it again a few weeks ago, and, I don’t know. After Red Sonja gets together with Flavor Flav, I just lost all respect for her and the movie.
.-= Charisma´s last blog ..Stuffer Shack Progress =-.
June 16th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
i love lists like this