I'm not so resolutely against barrels from a realism perspective. Most of the time I use them in preparation for a (tough) fight rather than during it, for which you have unlimited time, so you can conceptualise the "able to carry a few barrels" as a shortcut for "took whole party to camp and back a few times" - ie, just a time-saving device.
In real life, when I jump across a gap, my friends don't automatically jump over it after me, so that particular element of the game is unrealistic, but I'm sure glad Larian implemented it!
