Ye Olde Inn

Serious question: anyone ever tried letting their group of players all choose the barbarian as their characters?


How do you think it would play out with 4 barbarians running through the quests?

Obvious benefits aside, they'd be balanced by no healing spells, no natural trap disarming, and low, low Mind Points. Not that I'm necessarily interested in balance here, mostly the mad-cap fun of it, but these would be interesting challenges.

I'll probably play-test this soon, but interested to hear your thoughts!

I think if you threw in a few extra healing potions to be found, it could probably work
very well, until they ran into a point where magic were needed. I haven't looked at the
base questpack or KK or RotWL in quite a while, so I can't remember if there are any
situations that absolutely require some sort of magic.

You could also throw in a new magic item or two that simulate a magic spell that you
think might be especially useful/necessary. This could be anything from a thrown
potion to a rock or rune-stone...new magic throwing dagger or a magic cross bow that
enhances the bolts with the magic spell once or twice per quest.

Certainly, barbarians would stand up well against the tougher creatures, even
without extra healing. You get two or three barbarians grouped together, with
some minor armor and nice weaponry, I would think they'd cut through monsters
like nobody's business.

I guess you don't need any extra potion for this. With a standard team there is a total of 25 body points in game plus 2 healing spells for a total of 33 body points used in a quest.
With 4 Barbarians there will be a total of 32 body point (only 1 less than a standard Heroes party) plus all players will be able to attack with at least 3 dice from the beginning.
Mind points are almost useless... at least in the game-system

Spell Scrolls can be found for magic requiring things like Genie to open a sealed door for example.

j_dean80 wrote:Spell Scrolls can be found for magic requiring things like Genie to open a sealed door for example.

Or a lamp!

In the NA Quest book, the Witch Lord in Return to Break Tor will present a bit more of a challenging end fight with two Fear and one Command spell in his arsenal.

In KK, the burning embers can't be avoided in The Dwarven Forge. More importantly, Borrok's mind attack is even more dangerous in The East Gate, with a TPK being a real possibility. The East Gate itself will be a snorefest, as it's going to take a lot of rolling to pass.

In RotWL, a group that kills the last Mummy--oops--may find it impossible to get the magic keys in King Agrain’s secret laboratory without Pass Through Rock spell. In that event, the Quest would need to be changed and attempted again. In The Gate of Bellthor, the Barbarians are less likely to defeat that guardian. A cheating conniving Morcar/Zargon might want to have the poisonous Gargoyle return as a recurring boss. At The Last Gate, Kessandria's Fear, Sleep, and particularly Cloud of Chaos spell is more effective, threatening a TPK.

And then there's the other expansions, but I'm done.