
The Pale King |

Okay, so perhaps the title sounds like a bit of an oxymoron, but I have the imagine in my mind of a well educated person who goes into a rage when their life or the lives of those they care about are threatened. Something like Prince Jalan from the Red Queen's War series by Mark Lawrence, who is a complete coward and as well educated as a Prince who only cares about money and women can be, but blacks out and goes full Barbarian rage when his life is threatened.

Sir Jerden |
I simply say don't dump intelligence and charisma, and maybe take some traits (or even the cosmopolitan feat) to give you more skill options.
Really, rage allows you to get away with lower strength and con scores and still be effective, so I can see this working. It's mostly just about roleplay, and it'll certainly be more interesting than a barbarian that just speaks in all caps.

UnArcaneElection |

Bloodrager can also work as a dip to get Rage (actually Bloodrage) onto spellcasters -- get the Mad Magic feat. (Technically you can also do this with Barbarian or even VMC Barbarian, but the Rage Power tax is hurtful for the former and a killer for the latter. I would mention the Rage Prophet prestige class, but it is rather bad, among other things requiring the same Rage Power tax.)

SmiloDan RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 |

I played an elven barbarian in a PbP once. He was a proper "British" gentleman, he just wielded an elven curveblade and raged in combat. It was a weird campaign where we all randomly played "British" elves.
He has a 12 Int, I think, and was a weird version of elf that got Stealth as a class skill, and played pretty much like a wilderness scout-type, but fought like a barbarian. But he easily could have dropped a few skill ranks in Knowledges. But I really like highly mobile combatants, so I put ranks in Acrobatics, Climb, Perception, Stealth, and Survival, I think. I took the rage powers Raging Leaper and Greater Raging Leaper, and the feat Vital Strike, and the alternate racial Favored Class Bonus to speed, so I could "Spring Attack" and Vital Strike for 2d10+6 or more...

Qaianna |

As mentioned, between how you play the character and the skills to back things up, your barbarian can be the brains of the party. Even wilderness skills can be fluffed as mostly book learning.
Speaking of which, one nice way to flavour it is to go book-heavy. Be the party scribe! Profession skills aren't really considered max, but why not?

AM DIFFERENT BARBARIAN |

AM NOT "AM BARBARIAN," BUT AM DIFFERENT BARBARIAN, AND BARBARIAN AM ALREADY "EH-JOO-KAY-TEHD" ON ONE THING: HOW TO SMASH.
IF BARBARIAN AM KNOW HOW TO SMASH, THEN BARBARIAN AM ALREADY "EH-JOO-KAY-TEHD" ENOUGH. OTHER THINGS AM JUST ICING ON BARBARIAN PANCAKES THAT BARBARIAN AM MAKE HIMSELF FROM ART OF SMASHING.

Qaianna |

AM NOT "AM BARBARIAN," BUT AM DIFFERENT BARBARIAN, AND BARBARIAN AM ALREADY "EH-JOO-KAY-TEHD" ON ONE THING: HOW TO SMASH.
IF BARBARIAN AM KNOW HOW TO SMASH, THEN BARBARIAN AM ALREADY "EH-JOO-KAY-TEHD" ENOUGH. OTHER THINGS AM JUST ICING ON BARBARIAN PANCAKES THAT BARBARIAN AM MAKE HIMSELF FROM ART OF SMASHING.
Yep, that's Profession (cook) there. Barbarian pastry chef, anyone?

SmiloDan RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32 |

AM DIFFERENT BARBARIAN wrote:Yep, that's Profession (cook) there. Barbarian pastry chef, anyone?AM NOT "AM BARBARIAN," BUT AM DIFFERENT BARBARIAN, AND BARBARIAN AM ALREADY "EH-JOO-KAY-TEHD" ON ONE THING: HOW TO SMASH.
IF BARBARIAN AM KNOW HOW TO SMASH, THEN BARBARIAN AM ALREADY "EH-JOO-KAY-TEHD" ENOUGH. OTHER THINGS AM JUST ICING ON BARBARIAN PANCAKES THAT BARBARIAN AM MAKE HIMSELF FROM ART OF SMASHING.
In 2nd Edition, I DMed for a ranger with 3 Non-Weapon Proficiency Slots spent on Cooking.
That's equivalent to having 4 or 5 Stacking Skill Focuses!!!!