LEGO D&D designer secrets: Barbarian Dwarf and Dragonborn Paladin
From parts designed with Castle fans in mind to a shrewd wardrobe makeover, learn all the secrets behind two of the best LEGO Dungeons & Dragons army builders direct from the designers.
The penultimate entry in our walkthrough of the Dungeons & Dragons characters tackles the remaining two customisable heroes, the Barbarian Dwarf and Dragonborn Paladin, which should both be high on the radar of Classic Castle fans for their incredibly useful new elements. Find out more about how LEGO Minifigures Creative Lead Esa Petteri Nousiainen and LEGO graphic designer Tore Magelund Harmark-Alexandersen brought these minifigures to life below.
If you’re currently hunting for your own LEGO D&D minifigures, don’t forget to download Brick Search so you can scan the boxes and pick out your favourite characters. You’ll also find a full list of all our 71047 Dungeons & Dragons designer walkthroughs at the bottom of this page.
Barbarian Dwarf
The Barbarian Dwarf might not look like the most exciting minifigure in 71047 Dungeons & Dragons at first glance, but there’s a lot to enjoy in this customisable character – not least the new weapon it brings to the wider medieval arsenal.
“Obviously we did quite a lot of new elements for this line-up,” Esa says. “The dwarf has this huge battle axe. The idea was that we would do something more utilitarian, very heavy, which would fit the dwarf and the barbarian archetypes. We have other axe elements available, but they’re a bit finer. Something really heavy felt appropriate for this character.”
“As soon as we had all the characters, we looked into the known D&D icons for each one,” Tore continues. “With the barbarian, it’s the double-bladed axe – so not only as an element, but also as a little necklace.”
That printed axe is just one of the many details emblazoned across the Barbarian Dwarf’s torso, a piece that presented a unique challenge for Tore given this class’s typical battle-ready uniform.
“We’ve seen other barbarians in comics where they’re only wearing a loin cloth, but that would limit the customisation of these characters, and would also be maybe a bit challenging for the lower age mark,” Tore explains. “So we went for a bit more dressed up, but still in this more primitive style.” The outfit is topped off with a fur collar, which Tore says is appropriate for barbarians who typically come from colder northern regions.
Swivel the minifigure around, and the major detail that stands out on the back of the torso is the dwarf’s horn. It’s a piece we’ve yet to see in physical LEGO form nearly half a century since the first LEGO Castle sets arrived on shelves, but there seemingly wasn’t room in the budget for a new element here. Instead, the team looked into ways to bring it to life using existing pieces.
“We were trying, but we couldn’t really figure out an awesome way to build it,” Esa remembers. “And as we already had the torch and the axe, there would have been too many accessories, so we decided to include that iconic element as a decoration.”
Dragonborn Paladin
Have you had trouble finding the Dragonborn Paladin on shelves? You’re not alone: countless D&D fans have reported coming up short when trying to buy what’s easily this series’ most popular army builder. LEGO Facebook groups are dominated by scores of posts either showing off paladin armies or complaining about their scarcity. And it’s all thanks to the design of what’s basically a love letter to LEGO Castle fans.
“I definitely think you can take this guy, give him a yellow minifigure head and a Classic Castle helmet, and he’s good to go,” Tore says. “But classic history can be boring to those who are not fanatic old men like myself. It needs to be more colourful – you often see it in fantasy, even in the Lord of the Rings. And I think we managed to merge those two perfectly with this guy.”
The paladin might have a dragon’s head, but the rest of this minifigure is in no way locked to that specific species – and it serves up something brand new for LEGO Castle with its big, bulky armour.
“We looked at the past elements we’ve done, and what’s available for castle and fantasy fans,” Esa recalls. “We have that very old classic plate armour with tiny shoulder pieces, and then we have some shoulder piece elements with no armour, so we thought that those would be pretty cool to combine.”
“Being a huge Castle fan, having full plate armour was of course necessary, but also for D&D,” Tore adds. “We have some characters simply in rope, then we have some in full leather armour, and of course we also needed the full plate armour. And I think it’s another one that stands out and adds diversity in the visual silhouettes – he’s a massive character with that big dragon head, those huge shoulder pads, the massive shield and a huge mace.”
It’s not just the armour that will have caught the eyes of Castle fans, though. Underneath his outer layer is a printed cloth tabard with a huge belt, which Tore says again emphasises the character’s ‘massive strength’, while the amulet around his neck leans into the paladin’s magical characteristics (much like the mace, which is cast in pearlescent white to ‘make it magical’, explains Esa).
“As a paladin, you’re this shining beacon of light that brings morale to your team,” Tore explains. “[The Dragonborn] also checks off the classic ‘knight in shining armour’. Whenever we develop a world in pop culture, it’s inspired by tropes from our past. So he ticks that box as well.”
Download Brick Search on Android or iOS to scan 71047 Dungeons & Dragons boxes and pick up your own paladins and dwarves in stores now, and check out all our D&D walkthroughs so far below.
- Elf Bard and Aarakocra Ranger
- Gith Warlock and Tiefling Sorcerer
- Tasha the Witch Queen and the Lady of Pain
- Strahd von Zarovich and Halfling Druid
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