Product– Keeping It Classy: The Barbarian
System-Dungeons and Dragons 5e
Producer–Kim Frandsen
Price– $5 here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/275287/Keeping-It-Classy-The-Barbarian?affiliate_id=658618
TL; DR– Fantastic Third Party Content! 99%
Basics-BARBARIAN! Can you solve the riddle of steel? Keeping it Classy: The Barbarian is exactly what it puts out to be-a barbarian splat book, but it’s even got a more for the rest of the table. Tons of new content for your barbarian characters and a bit of extra stuff for the non-barbarians out there with a new race, backgrounds, and some new toys. Let’s take a look at this book.
Mechanics or Crunch– This is a great book with lots of amazing content! The new paths are great. The new race is fun, and the new toys and backgrounds will fit anybody. Heck this one book has more barbarian content than almost all the current official DnD books out there! It’s not perfect as a few small issues crop up in wording on abilities, but you can easily look past that to see a phenomenal product. 4.9/5
Theme or Fluff-Your barb is not just a dumb meat shield. This book gives your hunk of muscle story from fun backgrounds to each path getting a full story treatment. Each path entry is short enough to not keep it in one world or setting, but long enough for it to be something to latch onto and build more of. This is the same for everything else here. Backgrounds? Not too long to wear out the welcome, but long enough to really get you hooked. Lizardperson race? Fun and full of enough story to make it something you want to read, but won’t lose interest in like an encyclopedia. Weapons? Pictures and descriptions for you to see in your minds eye. All told, this is a great product for the story based groups out there. 5/5
Execution– PDF? Check! Hyperlinked? CHECK! Great layout and ease of readability? CHECK! This is a product you can fly through, see the flow and major beats of in five minutes, and then dive back into for each section you want to really learn about. It’s a fun read that flies by. I also like the liberal use of pictures. Most of the pictures are free to use art, and that’s not bad! The pictures are related to the text, and the pictures break up the text while reinforcing the ease of readability. There is new art, and that is well done too! There are a few things I do think are a bit different such as weapons getting two sections instead of one describing the weapon and any special properties. Not wrong by any stretch, but it’s different. Also of note the book is five bucks for 40 pages. The core DnD book (which isn’t hyperlinked or a PDF!) is 293 pages for about 40 bucks originally, so this is below price for the content your are getting! All of this adds together to a well crafted, fun to read book. 5/5
Summary– I really like this book. It’s a quick read that’s a fun read while still being a satisfying read. It’s a barbarian splat book that doesn’t just have barbarian stuff in it. It’s got enough fun pieces that any players may want to pick this up. Have an hour and want to see a well produced book? Check this one out! 99%
Throat Punch Games 