Sometimes known as Marauders, Wildmen, and Nomad Raiders. the Barbarians of Otara can be found scattered around the globe and are represented by nearly every race. They are the people who fall through the cracks of conventional "civilization" or belong to those small groups to whom civilization never quite reaches. They are the savages, the throwbacks, the primitives, the salt of the earth. They are rough and tumble warriors, wanderers, explorers, hunters, gatherers, raiders and more.

They have been around since the dawn of time and even as civilizations rise and fall, the way of the barbarian has remained the same. It is one of the oldest and most unchanging walks of life on Otara. When one thinks "barbarian," Orcs, Ogres, Goblins, Trolls and Coyles are probably the races that immediately come to mind. Some might also put Wolfen who have only (and arguably) recently risen from barbarism in that group, as well as the Danzi, Kankoran, and Bearmen and just about any primitive people who gather in tribes and live off the land.

However, this is an unfair characterization as Goblins and the Unholy Three can learn to be quite civilized, humans and Elves can be barbarians, and just because a people are tribal and primitive by the standards of so-called "civilized" people, they are not necessarily "barbaric." True Barbarians, in the context of this game, are primitive people who are hyperaggressive, war and feud constantly and survive by raiding as much as any other means.

In the Northern lands, Visrelund is the land of human barbarians, although raiding bands, clans, and tribes of these nomads, as well as barbarian Orcs, Ogres, Goblins, Trolls and Coyles can be encountered anywhere, any time in the Northern lands, especially in the northern part of the forests of Easquilyae and Beordmarr's Grasslands. True Barbarians possess Iittle formal training, having learned how to fight and survive through the time-tested ways of their ancestors. These people are usually not interested in widening their scope of knowledge. Most of them live in their little comer of the world and develop just the skills they need to survive there. Once they have that figured out, they simply master what they need to know and live simple lives. Though their education is minimal, Barbarians know enough to be exceptional hunters, explorers, and trackers. Likewise, while they have no formal fighting schools among them, the wild, eclectic styles of these warriors make them formidable opponents on par with most Men at Arms. One on one, most professional warriors will have their hands full when up against a Barbarian, with their incredible strength, endurance, and ability to take punishment. And when Barbarians gather in force, watch out! Given the right circumstances, a Barbarian army can destroy a "civilized" force five or six times its size. So why then are Barbarians not a major power in the world? If they are so able, how come they don't step out of the shadows and take a bigger, better role for themselves on the world's stage? Simple question, complicated answer.

Barbarians generally do not gather in numbers. When they do, they usually gain the notice of whatever established civilizations are in the area, and within a few generations, the Barbarians get destroyed or absorbed by the larger culture. Against the huge civilizations of Otara, even communities of thousands of Barbarians are no match for the relentless progress of cultural assimilation. Successful assimilation is almost never military and almost always gradual, over the course of generations. Thus, the Barbarians that manage to keep their culture intact are those that live in small groups, isolated and far from any dominant civilization. As a result, most "successful" Barbarian tribes have no desire to spread out or conquer their world. For them, it is enough to live and let live, getting by and fighting off one's enemies. Periodically, however, there will be those rare Barbarians who get the notion to invade a neighboring nation, gathering into large hordes to do so. When hordes form, entire nations may tremble before their might, and indeed, Barbarian invasions have brought many an established culture to their knees. (The war-weakened Elven and Dwarven Empires at the end of the Elf-Dwarf War are two prime examples, falling to hordes of Orcs, Goblins and Ogres.) However, even the gathering hordes are not so much interested in conquering and holding on to an enemy's land as they are sacking it - stealing valuables, raping the females, looting communities, and destroying property. For the most part, Barbarians do not foster dreams of large-scale expansion and conquest, and when they do, it is a cultural aberration.

These people might be raiders, but they are not empire-builders, so even when they are at their most warlike and have entire kingdoms under their thumb, triumphant hordes are just as likely to pull back suddenly, leaving hardly a trace of their occupation in the lands of which they momentarily usurped control. Additionally, most Barbarian hordes are made of scores of smaller clans, tribes, and hangers-on, that are united only in their gluttony of pillaging. Once the heaviest warring has ended, they splinter back into their usual lines of division and rivalry and head back for wherever they consider their homelands. Barbarians who take up the adventuring life often wander the world as warriors, explorers, traders, thieves, bandits, and whatever other walk of life they fall into. Most find a group of adventurers and travel with them, getting into scrapes and quests and generally having a great time of it, for most Barbarians love challenges. Eventually though, most return home, either as a great and powerful warrior, a rich traveler, or simply an older, wiser individual ready to live out the rest of his life at home with the people he knows best.

Barbarian Stigmas

Barbarians are by nature simple folk. Even those who decide to become wandering adventurers have little knowledge of the larger world, and many who visit a great city for the first time find themselves in a state of deep culture shock. For these people, realizing just how vast, diverse, mysterious, and ancient the world really is can be a mind blowing experience, and some never quite recover from it. Most, under any circumstance, never fully trust or adopt the ways of the outer world, clinging ever tighter to the ways and beliefs they grew up with, no matter how alien or absurd they might seem to other people, One aspect of this that causes Barbarians lots of trouble are the superstitions and fears Barbarians carry with them. It is a popular myth that Barbarians fear magic and will not use it. This is untrue; many Barbarians find magic fascinating and desire to obtain magic items and weapons. A few even return to their tribes as new Wizards, eager to teach the arcane arts to their tribesmen, but Barbarians are fearful and superstitious to a degree that most outsiders find laughable. Most have respect, for nature and all gods, and are loath to insult them. Although they hate, fear, and destroy demons and other evil supernatural beings, they try to avoid them and would rather not invite their wrath. Likewise, they are firm believers in omens, signs of portent, luck, and fate. Each individual Barbarian has a stigma, a particular thing on which they place an intense and often irrational importance. There are both positive and negative stigmas. A positive stigma means the Barbarian has an irrationally intense like, attraction or attachment to something, whereas a negative stigma means the Barbarian has an unusually strong revulsion to or fear of something; often such a negative stigma represents death, sorrow, or ruination. Barbarians with positive stigmas will try to make sure they are in regular contact with the subject of their stigma, and to find it or a representation of it when not expected is seen as a sign of "good luck." Likewise, those with a negative stigma will try their hardest to make sure they are not confronted with the subject of their stigma at any time and seeing it at any time is a sign of "bad luck" or impending trouble. (Game Masters should take full advantage of stigmas to add suspense and tension to their games.)

Stigmatic Distraction:

When a Barbarian either loses contact with a positive stigma (this might include breaking, losing or misplacing a lucky charm), or comes into contact with a negative stigma, he automatically suffers from a stigmatic distraction. Penalties: While distracted, the Barbarian's combat bonuses are all reduced by half, and all skills are performed at -15%. Until the Barbarian resolves the distraction (escapes it, kills it, can push it out of his mind; the latter taking ID4 days!), he will be too preoccupied with his distraction to function at full capacity. Note: As debilitating as a stigmatic distraction can be, this is not as powerful as a true insanity. Positive stigmas are not obsessions and negative stigmas are not phobias. Players and G.M.s are encouraged to come up with an original stigma for their characters. It can be bizarre, but it should not be so exotic that it never comes into play. G.M.s, try to look at a Barbarian character's stigma as a great springboard for adventures or throwing a Iittle spice into an otherwise ordinary role-playing session. Players, try to view Barbarian stigmas as a great role-playing challenge and something to foster inventive play. If you have a Barbarian whose stigma is the color red, don't just have him smash every red thing he sees, try to develop clever ways for the character to get around his stigma and still try to go about his business as normally as possible. If nothing else, think of role-playing your Barbarian stigma as a great chance for some bonus experience points. For example, the Barbarian might never trust anybody who is wearing red when they first meet, because in that first meeting "red" served as an omen. On the other hand, characters the Barbarian has already known and met can wear red without it meaning anything negative, the Barbarian just finds the red item to be ugly, cheap, or disconcerting, nothing serious.

Likewise, when looking for a bad guy or information about evil goings on, the Barbarian with the red stigma may believe the place to find the answers is the "Red" Dragon saloon or "Redman" General Store, and so on. Likewise, if a Cardinal or other “red bird” was perched on or near the door to some establishment, it will serve as an omen to the Barbarian that trouble, betrayal, danger, or death awaits inside or will soon make itself known - if anticipating trouble or looking for some villain, the Barbarian may assume that if he waits there, he will either be inside, or he will arrive soon, or perhaps that a lead to his location can be had inside. Meanwhile, if a red colored poisonous snake crosses his path, the Barbarian may see it as a sign that he or the group should go no further or that death awaits inside or down that path. Likewise, if “red" is a good stigma, such things will be a good omen and the Barbarian will favor these places and expect good luck from them. The funny thing about Barbarian stigmas is that they actually get stronger over time, not weaker. Old Barbarians treat their stigmata with the utmost seriousness, something not to be trifled with. In addition, Barbarian warriors and adventurers (that means your Player Characters) will pick up additional stigmas over the course of their exploits.

Getting Stigmas.

All Barbarians start with one stigma at level one, and they gain an additional stigma at levels 3, 6, 9, and 12. At the Game Masler's or player's discretion. a truly traumatic or important/earth shattering event may trigger another positive or negative stigma (i.e., "I would have been killed if not: for ..." fill in the blank, etc.). Each of these stigmas is a serious matter, and no matter how disparate they seem, to the Barbarian, they all tie in somehow. Even if a Barbarian has stigmas for the number thirteen, the color red, bones, and livestock, in his mind, there will be some crazy explanation for how they are all connected, and why they all mean something good or bad. While we noted before that stigmas are not phobias. when a Barbarian is negatively impacted with three: or more stigmas at once, their cumulative effect is equivalent to that of a genuine phobia, and if the Barbarian can not avoid what is plaguing him, he might very well go into a hysterical frenzy, lashing out at everything around him until the multiple stigmas bother him no more. For those who do not wish to create a stigma from scratch, feel free to roll percentile dice and consult the following random table:

Special O.C.C. abilities of the Barbarian Warrior

The Barbarian character may select three of the following special abilities:

1. Berserker Fury. During combat, the Barbarian may enter a state of rage that turns him or her into a walking killing machine. When berserk. the Barbarian receives the following bonuses: +1 attack per melee round, +3 to strike, +8 to damage, +6 to save vs Horror Factor, +5 to save vs possession and mind control, and the character becomes immune to the effects of fatigue and pain. While berserk, the Barbarian also is -3 to parry and absolutely refuses to dodge incoming attacks. Berserk Barbarians favor simultaneous attacks with their opponents, doling out blow for blow. The berserker fury lasts until no obvious threats remain in view. When berserk, Barbarians can distinguish between friend and foe. After this rage has subsided, the Barbarian is emotionally and physically drained and functions at half speed and combat ability for 20 minutes, during which time the character can not enter into another berserker fury. In fact, the fury is such that it can only be done 3 times in a single day (24 hour period).
2. Physical Strength Attribute Bonus. Add 1D6+2 to the Barbarian's P.S.
3. Physical Attribute Bonus. Add 1D4+1 to the Barbarian's P.P., or his P.E.
4. Toughness. Add 6D6+ 12 to S.D.C.
5. Temperature Endurance. The Barbarian is highly tolerant to extreme temperatures. As a result, he takes only half damage from ordinary heat or cold. Plus, he can last twice as long as other people can when exposed to prolonged, severe heat or cold.
6. Equestrian Skill. The Barbarian is a natural born horseman and has the skills of Horsemanship: Knight at +10%
7. Master of Paired Weapons: This brute has W.P. Paired Weapons, and can wield weapons that normally require two hands, one-handed (like a Claymore. Hercules Club, or giant weapon in each hand), plus he is +3 to disarm
8. Battle Cry. In the first round of combat, the Barbarian can emit" a blood curdling war cry that inflicts a horror factor of 8+ 1 per level of experience upon all enemies within a radius of 50 feet (15.2 m) +10 feet (3 m) per level of experience. Any first or second level characters who hear the war cry and fail to save vs Horror Factor will run away as fast as their little feet will cany them. Higher level characters who fail to save are just momentarily frozen, losing one melee attack and initiative for that round.

The Barbarian O.C.C.s

The Barbarian Warrior O.C.C.

Attribute Requirements: None, Most Barbarians have high P.S., P.P., and P.E. scores thanks to their intense physical training, but that is not a requirement.
Alignment: Any, but tend toward Anarchist and Miscreant; typically, very aggressive and violent.
Gender: 95% Male, 5% female
Race: Any, but typically Northern Humans, Orcs. Ogres, Trolls, Gigantes, Coyles and Wolfen.
O.C.C. Skills:

• Body Building & Weightlifting
• Climbing (+10%)
• Running
• Swimming (+10%)
• Boxing
• Wrestling
• Land Navigation (+15%)
• Wilderness Survival (+10%)
• Two W.P.s of choice.
• Hand to Hand: Expert (Assassin if evil and so inclined). May be changed to Hand to Hand: Martial Arts for the cost of one O.C.C. Related skill.

O.C.C. Related Skills: Select six other skills of choice at level one, plus 1 per level starting at level 2. All new skills start at Lvl. one proficiency.

• Communications: Sign Language only (+5%).
• Domestic: Any (+10%)
• Espionage: Any, except Forgery.
• Horsemanship: General or Exotic Only.
• Labour: Any
• Medical: First Aid or Holistic Medicine only (+5%).
• Military: Any (+5%). except Military Etiquette.
• Naval Skills: Any
• Performing Arts: Any
• Physical: Any, except Acrobatics.
• Rogue: Any
• Science: Mathematics and Astronomy only.
• Scholar/Noble/Technical: Breed Dogs, General Repair, any Lore, Rope Works, Language, and Sculpting/Whitling only (+5% to those listed and +10% to any language skills).
• Weapon Proficiencies: Any, except Siege.
• Wilderness: Any (+5%)

Secondary Skills: Choose 6 at level 1, plus 1 per level starting at level 2. All new skills start at Lvl. one proficiency. These are additional areas of knowledge that don't get the O.C.C. bonus.

Starting Equipment: The character also gets to select four secondary skills from the previous list at level one. These are additional areas of knowledge that do not get the advantage of the bonus listed in the parentheses. All secondary skills start at the base skill level. Available skills are limited as previously noted.

Armour: Starts with studded leather (A.R. 13, S.D.C. 38) or chain mail (A.R. 14, S.D.C. 44).

Weapons: Character starts with two weapons of choice (usually matching the character's W.P.) and a knife and war club.

Money: The character starts with 2D4x 10 in gold, which can be used immediately to purchase more equipment, or it can be saved for later. Additional money will come from payment for jobs and/or booty. Barbarians tend to be spendthrifts, spending their money as fast as they receive it on food, wine, women, and song

The Barbarian Keepers O.C.C.

Note: Fundamentally the same as the Warriors except as noted. Both use the same experience table. Females tend to be the storytellers and lawmakers and decide on punishments.

Attribute Requirements: None, Most Barbarians have high P.S., P.P., and P.E. scores thanks to their intense physical training, but that is not a requirement.
Alignment: Any, but tend to lean toward Unprincipled, Miscreant and Aberrant; fiercely loyal and protective of their immediate family and clan. Nearly as aggressive as the males and assume outsiders are dangerous.
Gender: 5% Male, 95% female
Race: Any, but typically Northern Humans, Orcs. Ogres, Trolls, Gigantes, Coyles and Wolfen.
O.C.C. Skills:

• Body Building & Weightlifting
• Climbing (+10%)
• Running
• Swimming (+10%)
• Sew (+10%)
• Cook (+15%)
• Preserve Food (+20%)
• Identify Plants & Fruits (+10%)
• Holistic Medicine (+ 15%)
• Wilderness Survival (+10%)
• W.P. Spear
• W.P. Blunt
• Hand to Hand: Basic . May be changed to Hand to Hand: Expert for the cost of one O.C.C. Related skill.

O.C.C. Related Skills: Select six other skills of choice at level one, plus 1 per level starting at level 2. All new skills start at Lvl. one proficiency.

• Communications: Sign Language and Mime only (+5%).
• Domestic: Any (+10%)
• Espionage: None
• Horsemanship: General Only.
• Labour: Any
• Medical: Any (+5%).
• Military: Camouflage only
• Naval Skills: Any
• Performing Arts: Any
• Physical: Any, except Boxing, Gymnastics and Acrobatics.
• Rogue: Any
• Science: Mathematics and Astronomy only.
• Scholar/Noble/Technical: Breed Dogs, General Repair, any Lore, Rope Works, Language, and Sculpting/Whitling only (+5% to those listed and +10% to any language skills).
• Weapon Proficiencies: Knife, Sword, Staff and Shield only.
• Wilderness: Any (+5%)

Secondary Skills: Choose 6 at level 1, plus 1 per level starting at level 2. All new skills start at Lvl. one proficiency. These are additional areas of knowledge that don't get the O.C.C. bonus.

Starting Equipment: Two sets of clothing, a cape/cloak (with or without a hood) or poncho, boots, gauntlets or arm bands, bedroll, two blankets, backpack, one large sack. two small sacks, a water skin, bandages. small bag of herbs, small pot. and a tinder box.

Armour: Starts with soft leather (A.R. 10, S.D.C. 20) or studded leather (A.R. 13. S.D.C. 38).

Weapons: Character starts with a club (2d4 damage) or mace (2d6), a spear (1D10), a knife (1d6) and a frying pan (1d6 damage).

Money: The character starts with 1D6x 10 in gold