So, in real life, there are different ways people deal with anger. Some manage it by hiding it or covering it up so they do not appear to be angry. Some don't bother with that and just let it all hang out, and those people are not what I would consider having powers similar to Barbarians in D&D, since they have no control over how they deal with anger. They become worse at just about everything they do when they are angry, and say the wrong things, do the wrong things, bump into stuff, throw stuff, and are generally considered having "anger management issues."

I've met a few people that are able to channel their anger into energy that actually aids in whatever activity they are doing: knitting, cleaning a kitchen counter, building a house, or rock climbing. This is the kind of person I view as having the kinds of powers Barbarians have in D&D, except instead of knitting better, they kill people better.

I guess my point is this question: Do barbarians have to roleplay reckless on Amia? Or can they be that person that has so much control over their anger that they channel it into battle prowess?

It would be perfectly valid to RP your Barbarian Rage in that fashion. There's no requirement that Barbarians are necessarily uncontrollable during a Rage. There are mechanical penalties at earlier levels attributed to recklessness tied to their rage, but those go away later on and there is even a variant rage designed to make the Barbarian more defense-oriented, suggesting a level of control that wouldn't typically befit an uncontrollable berserker.

Ah, cool. thanks!

Also, it should be noted that the "uncontrollable berserker" stereotype is actually represented in a different class in PnP and NWN2: The Frenzied Berserker

The anger you muster in a fight is pretty different from the anger you would experience while for example hitting your toe or spilling out the last bit of your milk back home after a horrible day at work.

It pretty much blanks your thoughts out, pulling you into a very intense adrenalin filled sequence of actions were you mostly just react without thinking, and this is why you train the same attack or counter move over and over again so that your body knows what to do while skipping the thought process.

You pretty much lose all sense of pain as well when you are in that moment. Dunno how many times I've barely been able to stand on one foot and then minutes later suddenly seeing myself using it to throw kicks at a guy repeatedly without even thinking about it, as there was nothing wrong with it. (You will though in the evening or day after, ugh)

I'd guess the barbarians would have mastered a way to pull out that kind of adrenalin and fury at will.


This is my experience atleast after having competed actively for a very long time within martial arts, I'm usually the coolheaded guy though but I have friends who just goes feral when pushed hard enough. I have little experience of "street fights" though and I guess that's a whole different ball game when it comes to adrenalin when your life might be on the line in a whole other way.

Hope this helped!

Edit!: ps: the coolest implementation of "barbarian rage" I've seen in literature is probably in Joe Abercrombie's trilogy "The First Law" where one of the main character from the far up North sometimes when pushed enough just turns into a whole different persona, where he sees everything living around him as either dead or soon to be dead and he's the crazed laughing grim reaper. It so beautifully written that you get goosebumps, a must read if you like fantasy books!

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Main Characters: Rosalind Karpovsky

Well if we look at historical Berserkers or "Bear Shirts". They didn't just get mad and became over powered.

Berserkers ingested special concoctions that were made up of raw green coffee beans and mead. Then they worked themselves into a caffeinated and alcoholic rage that allowed them to be viewed as monsters in Europe. Although that's just a scientific theory that no one has tested themselves mainly because it's dangerous as hell and the bees that make the honey needed to make Mead are extinct today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berserker

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I play my barbarians fighting under the influence of psychoactive mushrooms or other drugs.

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Gagis Silvarna, the Robocop with wings who shoots lasers from his fingertips
Lily Havthorn, the Waukeenar
Silwe, the elf

I play frugdar as simply being gifted in rage from Uthgar and Garagos, and being a complete savage anyway; drugs are cool, but it might be impractical in a heat-of-the-moment situation, mechanically speaking.

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Osiris Masud

I have never played a barbarian but if I did I would want to play one that gets angry because of low self-image.

"Hey Yossarin! you're a big ugly hulkin warrior! you'd be great at joining our quest to slay dragons! and earn millions!" *friendly pat on the back and a laugh*

*yossarin the barbarian deflects the pat on the back and proceeds to cave in the face of one who called them ugly while a shedding a single tear of selfpity*

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The Bloody Nine!

LOVE those books...

Back when Beldor was a barbarian, I basically went with the old standby of "blind animalistic fury." This played into his anger issues and I RPed it as him letting go if all his sorrow/pain/angst in one go. As he grew, his "rage" eventually became a mix of a few different abilities (due to him being rebuilt and RP), and now I guess what he enters is something more like a meditation powerup or dissonant serenity. Instead of being fueled by his anger, it instead became fueled by something more akin to joy. Joy from being in the midst of battle, having a chance to prove himself for what he is and exercise all of his potential at once. I think back to an episode of Justice League where Superman talks about "living in a world of cardboad" and how fighting a truly powerful enemy allows him to cut loose, so to speak.

If I were to play a barbarian again, I would like to take that spin on rage from the beginning, just to do something slightly different. Yes, yes, entering the riastrad or running amok is cool, but I feel like some barbarians could "rage" from a place other than anger. Maybe some hysteric strength that comes from a genuine fear of death or being too elated by battle to focus on anything else.

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You could also go with the mythological aspect of berserkers, who were believed to be channeling the rage of angry spirits through their bodies.

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Sir Taelar Ardelyn of Wiltun
Winner of the Razor Tongued Award 2015!

Kira "Penny" Sigers
Better than Boulderdash!

Yeah! Like that!

Or a barbarian who was captured by a barbarian queen and made a eunuch and now rages because of his intense sexual frustration and constant feelings of emasculation.

Or a barbarian cave painter who after years of success in cataloging the ancient tales of many tribes has reached a point where his art no longer satisfies him and he can no longer find inspiration in the passivity of finger to clay to stone. And so a black and boiling rage transforms his creative instinct into a destructive one and now he paints the world red with the blood of his enemies, seeing his artistic legacy in the maimed and blackened limbs he hooks to his belt of chains and hearing it in the lamentations of the women.

Bahaha!

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MuseReader: Aiseth Nosdivan- Master Enchantress

Ah, the lamentations of the women.

One can never underestimate the motivational value of the lamentations of the women...

Yoss, you're now required to play a Barbarian. It's a new server rule. Make this happen.

Yessss.

For my barbarian/AA I played it like the focus they get in the movie Wanted. While the movie itself is cheese, I thought the anxiety/anger channeled into focus was a cool concept, especially for an AA. The same could easily be applied to any kind of barbarian.