Tearlach

Template:Tearlach nav First off, let me say the Barbarian is not my favorite character. He is powerful, I know -- but while others think that's a good thing, I don't have much fun with it. My first Barbarian, way back in the days of 1.00, was a polearm whirlwinder. He was powerful, VERY powerful... so powerful I wasn't having any fun. The game turned into endless repetitions of "click around, everything dies, pick up the treasure, move on"; it was just too easy. I quit out of boredom and never made another until after the expansion came out. Trying to give the Barb another shot, I made a thrower. He was powerful, VERY powerful... until I met a physical immune. Then he was helpless (at the time, I did not know Berserk did magical damage.) Barbarians seemed either overwhelming or impotent, neither of which is fun to play.

So... let's give the Barbarian another chance. Surely, I can come up with something crippled enough for the game to be a challenge. The most popular combat skills seem to be Whirlwind and Frenzy -- avoid them. This leaves the Bash - Stun - Concentrate - Berserk tree. Ah, an idea comes to me. The first item set I managed to complete was the Berserker's Arsenal. To celebrate this awesome achievement, our Barbarian will be an axe berserker.

Now, what is a Berserker? In dark ages Nordic societies, a berserker was a mad fighter, tough enough to forego armor completely, but not much good for anything besides war and fighting. The name was applied to any warrior outside the mainstream of society -- bandits, pirates, duelists, professional warriors, etc. Even among the Nordic peoples, most made a living by farming and trade, and only occasionally went raiding, or "viking." When war came, or during a feud, the berserker had a place like no other. They were frightening men, and you always wanted them on your side. But no one wanted to be led by a Berserker, or have one as a neighbor during peacetime. Old Scandinavian cultures admired honesty, hospitality, courage, and loyalty -- a berserker might get one out of four.

The Barbarians of Diablo II are more like the popular conception of Celts and Vikings than anything else in the real world, with some important differences. Even during peace, I doubt they farm; they're supposed to be nomads, who are usually hunter-gatherers. Their mandate from Heaven, coupled with being physically different from everyone around them, would make them very proud indeed. Most or all males are warriors, so having a berserker as a neighbor wouldn't be uncommon. As in real life, there do not seem to be female warriors, so there are probably strongly traditional gender-based roles in Barbarian culture, even more so than in the rest of the world. Because they are supposed to stay in the mountains, going on raids among the lowlanders wouldn't be as popular, and they sure don't trade much. A Barbarian would likely be arrogant, xenophobic, and sexist by anyone else's standards.

So, what will our Barbarian have? The Berserker's Set, obviously. That's splint mail, a helm, and a one-handed axe. In his off hand, a shield. The Vikings described berserkers as "mad shield biters" for their way of biting the edges of their shields as the fit came over them; while they might eschew armor, a shield was permissible. A "Rhyme" tower shield will do nicely. You can't leech with Berserk, but there's plenty of potions. Switch to Concentrate for leeching if needed. Choose armor for its properties, not defense. Even Greyform would be decent. He'll need high shield blocking and resistances, or a lot of hit points, preferably both. Finally, a name: "Tearlach", a Celtic name meaning "strong and manly."

Enough planning! As the Vikings say, "A man should be wise in moderation, but never too wise. His mind is freer of care if he doesn't know his fate in advance." What good does long contemplation do for anyone? Into the fray!

Chapters

Act 1	Act 2	Act 3	Act 4	Act 5
1-7	8-14	15-21	22-26	27-34

Epilogue

• Stony, Patriarch Tearlach (Diablo: IncGamers)

Source

Stony's Grand Tour was originally posted in Diablo: IncGamers (formerly Diabloii.net) Single Player Forum. While almost all original posts are long gone, Vesper, one of our Community Members, contacted him and was given the original documents, and permission to reproduce them at the Amazon Basin. Onderduiker 05:04, 30 August 2012 (PDT)