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Player's Handbook Rules Supplement #PHBR14
The Complete Barbarian's Handbook
I graded this book acceptable for two reasons.
1) The binding shows next to page 4 leaving a gap between pages 4 & 5 ,the pages are still attached.
2) on the back few pages there is a stain. This stain shows on the page edges and part of the margins. It doesn't effect the text or the pictures.
1) The binding shows next to page 4 leaving a gap between pages 4 & 5 ,the pages are still attached.
2) on the back few pages there is a stain. This stain shows on the page edges and part of the margins. It doesn't effect the text or the pictures.
128 pages, Paperback
First published December 12, 1991
42 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 9, 2010
Always handy these supplements can give you ideas for the game even if you don't have a player character who's a Barbarian. They work just as well for NPCs (Non-player Characters for the uninitiated.
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December 22, 2025Why? The last two of the Players Handbook supplement books, the ones that don't cover established classes: Barbarians and Ninja.
What? The series started with a pretty simple premise: let's dig into some of the existing types. And they do that by looking at roleplaying (what's it like to be a fighter) or defining the character (what if your cleric was from an Amazon background) or looking at the position of the character in the world (what's a thieves guild actually do) or by expanding the idea (what if your bard was an acrobat or your paladin was a diplomat or your dwarf was from a lost colony).
There's a few books that are a bit outside that remit, like the psionics book and the humanoids book -- and these two books are more like that. Like: everyone probably had a moment where they wanted to play a troll or an aarakocra, and psionics have been in D&D since the beginning; just so, the Barbarian class was in AD&D (from Unearthed Arcana) and the ninja have been there since Oriental Adventures.
The problem in both these cases is that the understanding here is both pretty broad and pretty shallow. Take the Barbarian book: it introduces the barbarian fighter and cleric (shaman) classes, and rather than define the barbarian as a fighter that goes into a frenzy, it digs into the idea of a "savage" background, which is mostly: low technology and fear of magic. They do talk about some varieties of savage/barbaric cultures based on their homeland types, but that's about it. (And does the art feature a lot of people based on real-world non-European cultures? Yeah, it does.)
The funny thing, to me, is that Barbarian was a kit in the fighter book, but they've decided it really needs its own book, and really, the main reason I can think of for that is that the barbarian existed in AD&D 1st edition.
As for the Ninja book, woof, this was a book I skipped as a child because it seemed too patently Orientalist in a bad sense (and I was aging out of RPGs the first time). And you know what? It is! Wait, no, that's too simple a dismissal. Rather, this is meant to introduce a ninja class, but what is that? Well, it's a thief, mostly, but it also has some fighter skills, and of course it has the most amazing equipment and a bunch of spells and tricks that enable it to do things. Oh, and martial arts. Oh, and: the ninja is part of a clan, and it has to be secretive, so there's a whole bit on how to have the ninja player pretend to be something else to the other characters and even the other players. (Also not everyone in the ninja clan is a ninja, so here's kits for people who belong to the clan but who are other classes.) And while a lot of this is based on Japan (or certain Japanese media), there's no setting here, so you're supposed to, what, just drop a ninja into your regular Greyhawk campaign?
And again, there's no real reason for this book to exist outside of re-using some of the stuff from Oriental Adventures -- and presumably cashing in on America's love of Ninjas.
Yeah, so? I've already let you know these books are both books I would pass on; but really, looking through the whole line, I am curious about the things that I like (all the roleplaying, all the social role stuff, all the ideas about campaigns and adventures) and all the things I don't love (the endless character options and equipment lists).
In 3rd edition, they kept some of this tradition going (and maybe 4th? not really 5th yet), with books focused on warriors and spellcasters, and it's kind of curious to me that they did that then, but seem to have dropped it now (for more general rules supplement books, like Tasha's and Xanathar's, which contains a bunch of new subclass stuff, but for all the classes). (Although they did just put out a book for Artificers, but that's focused on the Eberron world too.)
(Just remembered, they had these Martial, Divine, etc. Power books in 4e.)
What? The series started with a pretty simple premise: let's dig into some of the existing types. And they do that by looking at roleplaying (what's it like to be a fighter) or defining the character (what if your cleric was from an Amazon background) or looking at the position of the character in the world (what's a thieves guild actually do) or by expanding the idea (what if your bard was an acrobat or your paladin was a diplomat or your dwarf was from a lost colony).
There's a few books that are a bit outside that remit, like the psionics book and the humanoids book -- and these two books are more like that. Like: everyone probably had a moment where they wanted to play a troll or an aarakocra, and psionics have been in D&D since the beginning; just so, the Barbarian class was in AD&D (from Unearthed Arcana) and the ninja have been there since Oriental Adventures.
The problem in both these cases is that the understanding here is both pretty broad and pretty shallow. Take the Barbarian book: it introduces the barbarian fighter and cleric (shaman) classes, and rather than define the barbarian as a fighter that goes into a frenzy, it digs into the idea of a "savage" background, which is mostly: low technology and fear of magic. They do talk about some varieties of savage/barbaric cultures based on their homeland types, but that's about it. (And does the art feature a lot of people based on real-world non-European cultures? Yeah, it does.)
The funny thing, to me, is that Barbarian was a kit in the fighter book, but they've decided it really needs its own book, and really, the main reason I can think of for that is that the barbarian existed in AD&D 1st edition.
As for the Ninja book, woof, this was a book I skipped as a child because it seemed too patently Orientalist in a bad sense (and I was aging out of RPGs the first time). And you know what? It is! Wait, no, that's too simple a dismissal. Rather, this is meant to introduce a ninja class, but what is that? Well, it's a thief, mostly, but it also has some fighter skills, and of course it has the most amazing equipment and a bunch of spells and tricks that enable it to do things. Oh, and martial arts. Oh, and: the ninja is part of a clan, and it has to be secretive, so there's a whole bit on how to have the ninja player pretend to be something else to the other characters and even the other players. (Also not everyone in the ninja clan is a ninja, so here's kits for people who belong to the clan but who are other classes.) And while a lot of this is based on Japan (or certain Japanese media), there's no setting here, so you're supposed to, what, just drop a ninja into your regular Greyhawk campaign?
And again, there's no real reason for this book to exist outside of re-using some of the stuff from Oriental Adventures -- and presumably cashing in on America's love of Ninjas.
Yeah, so? I've already let you know these books are both books I would pass on; but really, looking through the whole line, I am curious about the things that I like (all the roleplaying, all the social role stuff, all the ideas about campaigns and adventures) and all the things I don't love (the endless character options and equipment lists).
In 3rd edition, they kept some of this tradition going (and maybe 4th? not really 5th yet), with books focused on warriors and spellcasters, and it's kind of curious to me that they did that then, but seem to have dropped it now (for more general rules supplement books, like Tasha's and Xanathar's, which contains a bunch of new subclass stuff, but for all the classes). (Although they did just put out a book for Artificers, but that's focused on the Eberron world too.)
(Just remembered, they had these Martial, Divine, etc. Power books in 4e.)
May 15, 2024
It's an interesting read, and different from modern (3E+) conceptions of barbarian. It's less about the class powers and raging, and much more strongly opinionated about the character's personality and history. A Barbarian is from a primitive culture, distrustful of magic and any technology like blacksmithing, and this is all built-in to the kits. This isn't really the book you're looking for if you just want a Conan or Berzerker style fighter to drop into your campaign.
Content-wise, the book was a little heavy on what Barbarian cultures are like (I feel this should be more specific to worlds) but there's definitely some handy bits. The price charts for animal parts are universally useful.
Content-wise, the book was a little heavy on what Barbarian cultures are like (I feel this should be more specific to worlds) but there's definitely some handy bits. The price charts for animal parts are universally useful.
May 15, 2019
Gives a more Native American/aborigine flavour to the barbarian class, which - back in the day when they all tended to be Conan pastiches - I found novel. The classes work well in context and the new rules are non-intrusive and occasionally useful.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews