Barbarian Expanded
suggested by various authors

Class: Warrior

Introduction

This section contains some additional things pertaining to the Barbarian variant by Lok. Note that these are merely suggestions - fun, extra tasks - and are not official additions to Lok's Barbarian.

Venerable Barbarians and Cooperative Quests
suggested by Charis

After much thought and testing, I'm ready to present some extensions to the current BAR rules, which I'll call "Venerable Barbarians." They're essentially alternatives to retirement or banishment to Normal difficulty for higher level Barbarians.

New BAR Cooperative Quests and Titles
Available to BAR Lords/Kings

Multi-BAR quests - to be done with other BARs. BNW, ABO-BAR or other low powered Warriors who have passed their highest test may also join in, as long as no +to hit is used.

The cooperative quests yield adjectives pre-pended to the BAR's regular title (e.g. Mighty Barbarian Lord)

- Valiant: Single dot cooperative with other BARs
- Glorious: Cooperative in Normal/Hell, entering naked and living off the dungeon until Diablo is dead. No restart in town, although medicinal reviving herbs may be used (Resurrect).
- Mighty: Total clear on dlvl 13 in Nightmare/Hell. (BARs only)
- Commander: Nightmare/Hell kill of Lazarus, BAR Cooperative
- Awesome: Nightmare/Hell kill of Diablo, BAR Cooperative
- General: Hell/Hell kill of Lazarus, BAR Cooperative
- Legendary: Hell/Hell kill of Diablo, BAR Cooperative

New SOLO Quests

- Barbarian Knight: Solo first dot with town allowed. Fills the gap between the "Ravager" and "Lord" title.
- Barbarian Hero: Simple, yet not simple. Go to Nightmare/Hell and come back with the head of a Blood Knight you killed by yourself. Game can be solo or cooperative, but the Blood Knight must be killed by you.
- Barbarian Champion: A Barbarian king investigates rumors of a Barbarian 'Relic' sword sharper and tougher than any known or any magical blade. The King comes in possession of a sword said to be named the "Tergomaven," a legendary sword of olden Barbarian days. To see if it is true, he wields the blade in a Hellish realm dungeon, and seeks to slay Diablo (BAR King, minimum clvl 30, shops at Wirt and buys the first Champion, Weird, or Strange sword he is offered - no suffix). If he succeeds, he gains the title Barbarian Champion and may keep the weapon. However, it is so special it is never used in any situation less perilous than Hell/Caves. Obviously, it is never used on another BAR quest. (Champion quest is basically a "one shot" use of a nice sword to allow an otherwise impossible 3@30 attempt. Even with the weapon you're still a monster chew toy, and recover of the sword when you die may not be at all easy.)
- Venerable Barbarian: When the regular BAR obtains the highest title he plans to go for, he may opt to follow the VBAR rules, which allow special bonuses which must be earned. The key point is that he keeps the title he has when he becomes Venerable and is not eligible for any more 'traditional BAR titles.' Hence it's just a different high level option for Lords and Kings, as a VBAR, not an unfair advantage in going for the same titles traditional BARs go for. (Why? Many have asked about the optional rules mentioned on the Asylum, but they're basically too easy with Awesome and King's allowed. These start out allowing things like 'Steel' and 'Valiant' for the Venerable BAR, and he can earn bonuses up to Mithril and Bashing.) The irony is... a character who goes far enough to become BAR King may very well not to ever take up new easier paths. King Cohen and other high level BARs have in a previous post almost a year ago comment this type of extension for Kings is quite reasonable, although they would not take that path themselves.

Barbarian Thoughts
suggested by LemmingofGlory

Few variants that have a special place in the rules for items "of Corruption" allow for the variant to accept items of Corruption for quest purposes. For example, BNMs must find their own and practically nobody else wants these things. But is "of Corruption?" truly the unwanted curse? Not anymore!

I think that items "of Corruption" should be held in high regard by Barbarians. I think that they should be seen as neither juju nor corrupt, but rather as a glorious item crafted by ancient BAR-Smiths and Witch Doctor Shamans to ward off juju. Think about it. One touch from one of these and your mana is gone. *POOF!* What BAR enjoys having a full blue orb anyway? :)

It's also funny to notice that Corruption only occurs on Armor, Helms, Shields, and Weapons. These are the only item types that Barbarians use! You don't see Corruption on Jewelry or Staves or Bows. This is proof that Barbarian Blacksmiths made these items. They wasted no time crafting trinkets that only get in your way during battle, but they paid attention to the Shaman's need for Voodoo and never crafted staves with such power. Because the ancient Barbarians were not archers, they did not create bows at all. (Though some BARs use twigs and string to poach jujumen and witches occasionally. ;)

A final point, Griswold is unable to repair these relics. He does not possess the knowledge that the ancient Barbarian Blacksmiths once did and is thus unable to restore their magnificent work to full glory. In addition to this, I suspect that he is unable to manipulate these relics because his repair skill is juju-based. The mere touch of a Barbarian relic zaps his repair ability and he is unable work. (Yet another reason why Barbarians should not trust him to touch their equipment!)

JUJU-B-GONE Quest
A Barbarian feels proud when he has collected and saved items that his ancestors used. These items are quite powerful when compared to today's items and can even completely ward off juju.

These relics can be easily identified because, in today's world, they are called items "of Corruption." This unfortunate happening has come to pass because the Barbarian tribes of old left no written records and thus the Horadrim never truly understood what kind of fighter would craft items that depleted mana. And so came the name, "Corrupt" suggesting that these items are cursed! They insult the ancient Barbarians by calling these items corrupt. But the BARs will show the true archaeological history of these relics to the world and that foolish Cain.

To do this, a Barbarian will accept any relics given to him/her by others as well as keep the ones that he/she finds for him/herself. The ultimate payoff for this is to construct an ancient outfit from relics and purge the juju from all of Hell. The ancient outfit is called Ancient Battlegear and must consist of a Helm, Armor, and Weapon. A shield may count as and be used as a weapon, but shields are not mandatory. If a shield is used in an Ancient Battlegear setup, however, it too must be "of Corruption."

Whenever an ancient gift is accepted, the Barbarian searches the artifact and discovers its other secrets, if any. Sometimes these artifacts have a positive juju-prefix. These are true corrupt items, and they are not kept and may not be used as a part of Ancient Battlegear. Other times these artifacts have a negative prefix. These are exceptionally powerful and the wearer has to pay a price for being purged of juju, but these are still Barbarian relics and are regarded above plain relics. These may be used as part of a suit of Ancient Battlegear.

Summary of Corruption items

1. Positively prefixed items of Corruption are true corrupt items. They might've been BAR relics at one time, but passing through the ages has made it into juju. These may never be used as parts of a suit of Ancient Battlegear.
2. Negatively prefixed items of Corruption are made strangely, make the wearer pay a price for using them, are highly regarded forms of Barbarian relics. These are always used in place of non-prefixed items of Corruption if they are available.
3. Non-prefixed items of Corruption are always Barbarian relics and make up a basic suit of Ancient Battlegear
4. All corruption items may be repaired by Barbarians as if they were normal basic items OR if the Barbarian wishes am Ancestral Shrine (Religious Shrine) can be sought out to repair the ancient artifacts. The use of the shrine would be used to speak with their ancestors and have the ancient item fully repaired.

After assembling an Ancient Battlegear suit, the Barbarian embarks on a quest of juju-purging. He enters hell and kills every monster there, finishing with Diablo. (This may only be done after first dot and must be done solo. It may be done FOR first dot if the Barbarian found the entire Ancient Battlegear suit for himself.) If at any time during this quest one of his ancient items breaks, he fails. Backup ancient items may be kept and used in case one his primary items falls into durability too low to risk using.

Titles gained

1. Normal: Ancient Barbarian
2. Nightmare: Apprentice to an Ancient Barbarian Blacksmith. Cooperative BAR game is allowed for this.
3. Hell: Ancient Barbarian Blacksmith. Cooperative BAR game is allowed for this.

The Purity Quest

No real Barbarian has mana! Barbarians hate juju. Your goal is to purge yourself of vile juju! Go to Hell and drink every cauldron you find. Do not use cauldrons while other people are on the level as that is very rude. Sometimes a Barbarian burp surprises them and they lose a point on some of their statistics. (i.e. prevent unfortunate Tainted Shrine effects) This must be done using cauldrons and only cauldrons. A cauldron is a pot of stale water, not a shrine.

Purity is a difficult thing to achieve as it is random. The stale water in cauldrons may not subtract magic but rather either empower or weaken the Barbarian. These are scars of the quest. (Meaning, if you get +2 to a stat or maybe -1 to all and +5 to one, that's ok. It's a scar of the quest.)

Every clvl a Barbarian with gains brings him 1 mana point! So a Barbarian at 0 base mana will need to do this quest every time he levels up. Once a Barbarian has 0 mana he may not use any more cauldrons until he has mana again.

On the path of reaching Purity of Juju, a Barbarian will learn some strange things (HB, CB, FBolt). These are stories of battle. A very strong Barbarian will have great tales of battle (high slvls). Each Barbarian would treasure having many long tales of battle.

There are 3 different types of tales. One is the tale of undead hordes (HBolt), one is the tale of thunderous monsters (CBolt), the final is the tale of Diablo and flaming demons (FBolt). The length of a tale is determined by the slvl of the spell. The maximum length of any tale is 15 hours (slvl 15). Having 3 sets 15 hour stories is the sign of a very powerful Barbarian. (You may never cast these spells, of course.)

Titles Gained

- Title for reaching 0 Mana: the Free
- Title for slvl 15 Holy Bolt: Master of Undead Crushing
- Title for slvl 15 Charged Bolt: Master of Thunder Monster Cracking
- Title for slvl 15 Fire Bolt: Master of Fire Monster Extinguishing
- Title for slvl 15 HBolt, CBolt, & FBolt: King of Uglies-Smashing. (Must be BAR King before this title applies. If not King, BAR is simply a Mater of Storytelling.)