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This came up in my last session where I made a halfling barbarian. Everyone was saying that I had to spend points to become literate. I'm glad that I couldn't find that rule in pathfinder, because I personally always thought it was a dumb mechanic.
Thank you Paizo for doing away with barbarian illiteracy
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This came up in my last session where I made a halfling barbarian. Everyone was saying that I had to spend points to become literate. I'm glad that I couldn't find that rule in pathfinder, because I personally always thought it was a dumb mechanic.
Thank you Paizo for doing away with barbarian illiteracy
You say dumb mechanic, I say character flavour. Galnorag may not be able to read you puny man squiggles, but the detailed history of his kin and the Gray Wolf Clan are well known to him and all his people, and any who choose to listen as he sings their tales.
From a historical point of view, about 150 years ago literacy in the United States was about 80% of the population, but if you were non-white there was a 20% chance you were literate. Given that barbarians tend to be outside of the norm. Going back Medieval days (although I know realism isn't entirely relevant in a fantasy RPG with fireballs and dragons) literacy was restricted to the nobility, and the priesthood. I was going to add scribes and clerks, but typically they were the priesthood, as were most institutes of science. Partially this was due to the scarcity of written material, but it also factored into relevance. You just didn't need to read much when all the well lit hours of the day were spent in labour.
So for me, my barbarian remains illiterate, even though he is a charismatic orator, with a broad and worldly vocabulary, and a skill at composing and memorizing poetry (oft of a bloody and grim nature) he just doesn't read, and doesn't really see why he should bother learning.
Galnorag, as a fellow barbarian enthusiast, I salute you!
Though I'm not saying Tamec is wrong, by no means. Just expressing my views that literacy doesn't mean the barbarian is stupid, just that they have had to learn different things in different ways.
Lack of education does not equal stupidity. Conan, the archetypal barbarian, was not stupid, not by any stretch of the imagination. He did sometimes have poor impulse control.
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Lack of education does not equal stupidity. Conan, the archetypal barbarian, was not stupid, not by any stretch of the imagination. He did sometimes have poor impulse control.
As a barbarian, I'd like to say that we do not suffer from poor impulse control, but that others have impulse control in excess. An excess that could blemishes what may otherwise be perfectly fine character.