THE FIGHTER OR THE BARBARIAN

Warning: this is about to completely engage in nerd mode.  My regular readers have most likely caught the variety of Dungeons and Dragons references I’ve sprinkled through my blog, and I’ve even had a few posts that came flat out and said it, but to once again restate: I am a full-fledged nerd, and this includes being well versed and regularly involved in Dungeons and Dragons.  It also most likely does not shock my regular readers to know that I try to live out a fantasy realm in the same way I do in real life; by being as physically strong as possible.  For those of you not well versed in DnD, for character classes, you are typically looking at being a warrior type character, a spellcaster type, or an agile theiflike character.  Among the warrior types, there are 2 distinct choices to make: the fighter, or the barbarian.  My hope today is to explain to you why you should pick the barbarian, both in the off chance you find yourself playing DnD, but more specifically in terms of how this ham-fisted metaphor plays out into reality.

If I can't convince you, maybe he can manage

On a very initial glance, the fighter and the barbarian seem like the same thing.  Both are characters that prize strength and are good at dealing physical damage to the enemy by using weapons.  However, once you start to dig in, you can observe the differences. 

What is a fighter?  As the name states, they are a class dedicated to fighting.  Specifically, they are a TRAINED fighter, relying on many hours of dedicated practice in the arts of swordplay and tactics to become incredibly skilled and proficient at the art of fighting.  When playing this character, you will have access to a variety of unique tricks and abilities.  A fighter can slice you, they can trip you so that you are prone and easier to hit, they can kick dirt in your eyes, they can wield a weapon in each hand, they can be highly specialized in 1 weapon and so uniquely know the ins and outs of it that they milk every last bit of damage possible from it, etc etc.  As a fighter levels up, they keep finding new and better ways to control the pace of battle and win on their terms.

Yeah, ok, that's pretty cool...

What does a barbarian do? A barbarian just hits you harder and harder until you die.  Whereas the fighter is a trained combatant, the barbarian is the exact opposite: a warrior with no training that exists off of natural talent, ferocity, strength and tenacity.  Barbarians gain no battlefield tricks as they level up and they learn no new tactics.  What they DO get though, is the ability to become physically stronger and tougher as they enter combat.  The barbarian will swing their warclub with the exact same amount of skill at level 1 as they will at level 20: they will just swing it a helluva lot harder once they get there.

Oh yeah, and they are also completely insane

So why pick the barbarian?  Surely the fighter is superior, as they have more abilities, greater tactics, better training, more variability, etc etc.  All the barbarian is good at is hitting harder than the fighter, right?  True, but here’s the thing: the fighter’s longsword, which he spent 7 levels specializing in, can get disarmed, he can fight in a room with no sand to kick, he can be backed into a corner and lose his ability to flank, etc etc, and then those skills become useless.  These same things can happen to a barbarian, and it will not matter, because all he is good at is hitting you harder and harder until you die.  If he loses a weapon, it’s of no loss, because he wasn’t really good at using that weapon anyway; he was just good at hitting you harder and harder until you die, and he’ll do it unarmed if he has to.  He can’t be disadvantaged or have his skills negated because the advantage never existed externally.  While the fighter was getting good at USING something, the barbarian was getting good at BEING something.

And thus my avocation for barbarism on a grander scale here.  You can have all the tricks in the world.  You can know the perfect cues, the best technique, have the greatest gear, etc etc, but if your plan goes out the window, are you ready to just tap into your barbarian rage and rely on YOU to get you out of the situation?  Do you have the ability to just keep hitting something harder and harder until it dies, or do you need gimmicks and hooks to survive the encounter?  Because sometimes, your tricks are going to fail to impress, your skills won’t land, your enemy will be immune, and the only thing that is going to get you through is your ability to just keep hammering away at something until it’s gone.

*Results may differ 

This goes in a few different directions in your training.  For one, you need to become that person that is strong irrespective of implement, time of day, meal timing, proximity to warm-ups, caffeine levels, etc.  Develop such a strong baseline of strength that being unskilled at the lift is of minor consequence.  Save the specialization for the fighters, because they’ll sure look cool with their +3 longsword that they spent 7 levels specializing in, but when the Tarrasque eats it for lunch and they’re stuck swinging a treebranch, they’re going to look pretty dumb.  You hold the advantage by just ALWAYS looking dumb, but hitting so hard it doesn’t matter.  But secondly, when you approach your training, approach it with the goal of just hitting it harder and harder until it dies.  Too many people want this process to feel good, and they want to be motivated and excited and have hashtag beastmode training days and etc etc.  In truth, you need to get in, get the training done, get out, and do it over and over again.  And when you feel sore, you still do it.  And when you feel like you’re going to break, you still do it.  And when you’re sick, you still do it.  Because you don’t have skills, you don’t have tricks, you don’t have gimmicks; the only thing you’re good at is hitting it harder and harder until it dies.


But hey; at least you’re not a wizard.

Because we can at least all agree on something