Malkien's Barbarian guide

Introduction

To shrug of magic like tickles, to make the blood of foes our mother's milk: such is the life of a Barbarian. Though lacking the flashy glamour of a magical career or the esteem of a Paladin's life of honor, victory in battle and warfare always falls to those most skilled in the art of killing.

Overview

Barbarians are Dragonrealms' prototypical warrior class. Durable and deadly, Barbarians have a variety of abilities that make them premier front-line or melee fighters. Being masters of all form of weapon combat, however, they are as deadly at a distance with ranged weapons as they are up close. Their hatred of magic runs deep in their lore and history, so they are also one of the premier anti-magical guilds in the game, with many powerful magical barriers as well as offensive abilities designed to disrupt spell-casting.

Abilities

Inner Fire

All living beings possess Inner Fire, the pool of indomitable inner strength from which Barbarians derive their power, but only Barbarians have learned to tap into this primal force to power their superhuman potential. Barbarians are granted the Flame meditation for free upon joining the guild, which will allow them to check their inner fire levels. The syntax is MEDITATE FLAME:

>meditate flame

Circle Requirements

A barbarian's life is a life of combat, through and through, and our circle requirements reflect such. Barbarians, being the only weapons primary guild in the game, will primarily be focused on the slaughter, though their education extends to all factors of combat, as well as some training in survival skills and the use of our supernatural abilities for the sake of being well-rounded.

Weapons

A minimum of four weapons are required for a barbarian's training. Two of them will be your primary weapons and two secondary if you consider only minimum circle requirements, but I would heavily suggest you train all four (or more) equally, as doing so will be easy with proper hunting routines (do not leave combat until all four of your weapons are mind locked).

Deciding which weapons to use is perhaps the most difficult, and fun, part of the Barbaric life. Every weapon class has merits, though you will most certainly want as your two "primary" weapons one melee weapon and one ranged weapon. Edged weapons like blades tend to have better damage spreads than blunt weapons, though blunts have a higher force of impact, which makes them more prone to stunning foes.

In general, I would recommend:

• A blade
• A blunt
• A thrusting weapon
• A pole-ranged weapon
• A ranged weapon that can be AIMed
• A thrown weapon
  

Note that you can easily find weapons that cover multiple categories. A pike, for example, is both pole-ranged and a thrusting weapon, whereas there are two-handed edged weapons available that reach pole range, so it could cover multiple categories. You do not need to cover every category, though the higher spread of diversity, the better. I would optimally recommend two melee and two ranged weapons, with one ranged weapon being a thrown weapon (light or heavy thrown) and another being an aimable weapon class (slings, crossbows, bows).

You will be required to learn one mastery skill of either melee or missile mastery at the same rate as your two primary weapons. Just as before, though, if you pick your weapon classes well, you will be able to train both melee and missile mastery equally well, and will have no trouble keeping both masteries as high as your four weapons.

Parry is the melee-focused defensive skill and is required, though the requirements are low compared to your weapon requirements. If you keep training it at all times while in combat, it should easily outstrip the circle requirements.

Survival

Barbarians, being warriors, are required to learn evasion. Much like parry, this requirements is much lower than your weapons, and will naturally out-strip the circle requirements if you keep it training at all times while in combat.

Barbarians are required to learn four other survival skills. One of them will most likely be skinning, as the high kill count you need in order to learn your weapons will naturally result in many opportunities to train this skill. Stealth is another recommended skill, as it can be trained in combat via hiding, stalking, ambushing with your weapons (or poaching with a bow/crossbow).

Locksmithing is a valuable skill to learn, though creatures that can be both skinned and drop boxes are few and far between, so you may wish to consider this for a lower requirement.

I would recommend you train first aid even if you do not use it enough for circle requirements. Being in combat constantly will often result in bleeding wounds, and the ability to tend them is a valuable skill.

Athletics is a valuable skill to learn, as it will let you traverse rivers and climb obstacles. Outdoorsmanship is valuable for finding herbs or mining, and is easy to train anywhere.
.

Recommended survivals: Evasion, skinning, stealth, first aid, athletics or locksmithing.

Armor

Barbarians are required to learn two armors. Much like your parry and evasion requirements, these will probably handle themselves naturally as you hunt for your weapon requirements.

Train shield, as it is a valuable defense, especially against long-ranged attacks. The only real point of discussion here is which armor class(es) to select. Training more than one type of armor is recommended and easily accomplished by mixing armor pieces.

If you plan on training stealth heavily, I would recommend you consider light armor as your primary armor class, as it will not hinder your stealth skills much. Chain armor is not too hindering either. If you plan on training brigandine or plate, I would recommend you keep them only on the extremities, such as a helm or greaves or gauntlets: wearing full heavy armor, especially plate armor, can be very hindering at low levels of skill, and it is quite possible for the evasion penalty to supersede any benefit you might receive from additional protection.

Plate mail is feasible, but Barbarians are not Paladins, so for a player new to Barbarians (or especially new to heavy combat guilds), I would recommend you stick with lighter varients.

Lore

Our lore requirements are very light. Tactics is knowledge of the siege warfare as well as the application of positioning in combat, so Barbarians are expected to have at least a rudimentary understanding of this. Train it by using non-damaging maneuvers like circle, bob, weave, and shove: these skills are useful anyways, so you should consider throwing them into your combat routines.

We must learn a token amount of one other lore skill. If you have any interest in pursuing a crafting career, barbarians get three free forging techniques, though I would not let this determine your career choice: pursue your passions. If you have no interest in crafting, you can easily train appraisal while in combat by appraising your foes every now and again.

Magic

Barbarian abilities are powered by ranks in the "magic" skillset even though they are not a mana-using guild. As such, I would heavily recommend you train every single skill available to you instead of going only by circle requirements.

Barbarians abilities fall into four magic skills: Inner Fire, Augmentation, Warding, and Debilitation. Inner Fire is the primary skill, and determines important factors such as how quickly your Inner Fire regenerates after using abilities. Any ability you use will train Inner Fire.

Most of our abilities and standard buffs, such as Famine/Avalanche berserk or forms like Dragon or Eagle or Buffalo, use the Augmentation skill. It is very easy to train through natural ability use: keeping a form active at all times should be sufficient to train augmentation to hundreds of ranks.

Debilitation powers our roars, which include some of the most powerful debuff abilities in the game. Two roars are available immediately from the outset of the game: choose one as early as possible and keep it trained whenever you are in combat. Remember that you can use use ROAR QUIET <roar name> to affect all enemies engaged to you at pole or melee range, which makes training very easy.

Warding powers defensive barriers such as Tenacity meditation as well as all our anti-magical barriers. It will be the last ability you gain access to, but it is an important ability nonetheless, especially if you ever find yourself in conflict with spell-casting critters (frequent during invasions) or have any interest in PvP. It powers the following skills: Swan Form, Badger Form, Toad Form, Turtle Form, Hurricane Berserk, Bastion Meditation, Tenacity Meditation, and Serenity Meditation.

I would recommend you prioritize working your way up the Flame tree to get Swan form, as that will allow you to easily train Warding skill at all times for a very low cost if you keep it active along with an augmentation form.

Recommended starting abilities (in any order): Flame meditation (free), Buffalo form, Dragon form, Eagle form, Swan form, Famine Berserk, Avalanche Berserk, Meditate Power, Anger the Earth, Everild's Rage.