Barbarian

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Overview & Creation

  A tall human tribesman strides through a blizzard, draped in fur and hefting his axe. He laughs as he charges toward the frost giant who dared poach his people’s elk herd. A half-orc snarls at the latest challenger to her authority over their savage tribe, ready to break his neck with her bare hands as she did to the last six rivals.   Frothing at the mouth, a dwarf slams his helmet into the face of his drow foe, then turns to drive his armored elbow into the gut of another.   These barbarians, different as they might be, are defined by their rage: unbridled, unquenchable, and unthinking fury. More than a mere emotion, their anger is the ferocity of a cornered predator, the unrelenting assault of a storm, the churning turmoil of the sea.   For some, their rage springs from a communion with fierce animal spirits. Others draw from a roiling reservoir of anger at a world full of pain. For every barbarian, rage is a power that fuels not just a battle frenzy but also uncanny reflexes, resilience, and feats of strength.  

Primal Instinct

People of towns and cities take pride in how their civilized ways set them apart from animals, as if denying one’s own nature was a mark of superiority. To a barbarian, though, civilization is no virtue, but a sign of weakness. The strong embrace their animal nature—keen instincts, primal physicality, and ferocious rage. Barbarians are uncomfortable when hedged in by walls and crowds. They thrive in the wilds of their homelands: the tundra, jungle, or grasslands where their tribes live and hunt.   Barbarians come alive in the chaos of combat. They can enter a berserk state where rage takes over, giving them superhuman strength and resilience. A barbarian can draw on this reservoir of fury only a few times without resting, but those few rages are usually sufficient to defeat whatever threats arise.  

A Life of Danger

Not every member of the tribes deemed “barbarians” by scions of civilized society has the barbarian class. A true barbarian among these people is as uncommon as a skilled fighter in a town, and he or she plays a similar role as a protector of the people and a leader in times of war. Life in the wild places of the world is fraught with peril: rival tribes, deadly weather, and terrifying monsters. Barbarians charge headlong into that danger so that their people don’t have to.   Their courage in the face of danger makes barbarians perfectly suited for adventuring. Wandering is often a way of life for their native tribes, and the rootless life of the adventurer is little hardship for a barbarian. Some barbarians miss the close-knit family structures of the tribe, but eventually find them replaced by the bonds formed among the members of their adventuring parties.  

Creating a Barbarian

When creating a barbarian character, think about where your character comes from and his or her place in the world. Talk with your DM about an appropriate origin for your barbarian. Did you come from a distant land, making you a stranger in the area of the campaign? Or is the campaign set in a rough-and-tumble frontier where barbarians are common?   What led you to take up the adventuring life? Were you lured to settled lands by the promise of riches? Did you join forces with soldiers of those lands to face a shared threat? Did monsters or an invading horde drive you out of your homeland, making you a rootless refugee? Perhaps you were a prisoner of war, brought in chains to “civilized” lands and only now able to win your freedom. Or you might have been cast out from your people because of a crime you committed, a taboo you violated, or a coup that removed you from a position of authority.  

Level	Proficiency Bonus	Features	Rages	Rage Damage
1st	2	Rage, Unarmored Defense	2	2
2nd	2	Reckless Attack, Danger Sense	2	2
3rd	2	Primal Path	3	2
4th	2	Ability Score Improvement	3	2
5th	3	Extra Attack, Fast Movement	3	2
6th	3	Path Feature	4	2
7th	3	Feral Instinct	4	2
8th	3	Ability Score Improvement	4	2
9th	4	Brutal Critical (1 die)	4	3
10th	4	Path Feature	4	3
11th	4	Relentless Rage	4	3
12th	4	Ability Score Improvement	5	3
13th	5	Brutal Critical (2 dice)	5	3
14th	5	Path Feature	5	3
15th	5	Persistent Rage	5	3
16th	5	Ability Score Improvement	5	4
17th	6	Brutal Critical (3 dice)	6	4
18th	6	Indomitable Might	6	4
19th	6	Ability Score Improvement	6	4
20th	6	Primal Champion	Unlimited	4

 

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Class Features

Rage

In battle, you fight with primal ferocity. On your turn, you can enter a rage as a bonus action.   While raging, you gain the following benefits if you aren’t wearing heavy armor:

• You have advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws.
• When you make a melee weapon attack using Strength, you gain a bonus to the damage roll that increases as you gain levels as a barbarian, as shown in the Rage Damage column of the Barbarian table.
• You have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.
• If you are able to cast spells, you can’t cast them or concentrate on them while raging.

  Your rage lasts for 1 minute. It ends early if you are knocked unconscious or if your turn ends and you haven’t attacked a hostile creature since your last turn or taken damage since then. You can also end your rage on your turn as a bonus action.   Once you have raged the number of times shown for your barbarian level in the Rages column of the Barbarian table, you must finish a long rest before you can rage again.  

Unarmored Defense

While you are not wearing any armor, your Armor Class equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Constitution modifier. You can use a shield and still gain this benefit.  

Reckless Attack

Starting at 2nd level, you can throw aside all concern for defense to attack with fierce desperation. When you make your first attack on your turn, you can decide to attack recklessly. Doing so gives you advantage on melee weapon attack rolls using Strength during this turn, but attack rolls against you have advantage until your next turn.  

Danger Sense

At 2nd level, you gain an uncanny sense of when things nearby aren’t as they should be, giving you an edge when you dodge away from danger.   You have advantage on Dexterity saving throws against effects that you can see, such as traps and spells. To gain this benefit, you can’t be blinded, deafened, or incapacitated.  

Primal Path

At 3rd level, you choose a path that shapes the nature of your rage. The Path of the Berserker is detailed at the end of the class description, and additional primal paths are available in other sources. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 6th, 10th, and 14th levels.  

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.   Using the optional feats rule, you can forgo taking this feature to take a feat of your choice instead.  

Extra Attack

Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.  

Fast Movement

Starting at 5th level, your speed increases by 10 feet while you aren’t wearing heavy armor.  

Feral Instinct

By 7th level, your instincts are so honed that you have advantage on initiative rolls.   Additionally, if you are surprised at the beginning of combat and aren’t incapacitated, you can act normally on your first turn, but only if you enter your rage before doing anything else on that turn.  

Brutal Critical

Beginning at 9th level, you can roll one additional weapon damage die when determining the extra damage for a critical hit with a melee attack.   This increases to two additional dice at 13th level and three additional dice at 17th level.  

Relentless Rage

Starting at 11th level, your rage can keep you fighting despite grievous wounds. If you drop to 0 hit points while you’re raging and don’t die outright, you can make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. If you succeed, you drop to 1 hit point instead.   Each time you use this feature after the first, the DC increases by 5. When you finish a short or long rest, the DC resets to 10.  

Brutal Critical

At 13th level, you can roll two additional weapon damage dice when determining the extra damage for a critical hit with a melee attack.   This increases to three additional dice at 17th level.  

Persistent Rage

Beginning at 15th level, your rage is so fierce that it ends early only if you fall unconscious or if you choose to end it.  

Brutal Critical

At 17th level, you can roll three additional weapon damage dice when determining the extra damage for a critical hit with a melee attack.  

Indomitable Might

Beginning at 18th level, if your total for a Strength check is less than your Strength score, you can use that score in place of the total.  

Primal Champion

At 20th level, you embody the power of the wilds. Your Strength and Constitution scores increase by 4. Your maximum for those scores is now 24.

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Starting Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• (a) a greataxe or (b) any martial melee weapon
• (a) two handaxes or (b) any simple weapon
• An explorer’s pack and four javelins

 

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Spellcasting

None

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Subclass Options

Primal Paths     Rage burns in every barbarian’s heart, a furnace that drives him or her toward greatness. Different barbarians attribute their rage to different sources, however. For some, it is an internal reservoir where pain, grief, and anger are forged into a fury hard as steel. Others see it as a spiritual blessing, a gift of a totem animal.  

Path of the Beast (UA)

THIS IS PLAYTEST CONTENT   The material in this article is presented for playtesting and to spark your imagination. These game mechanics are in draft form, usable in your campaign but not refined by final game design and editing. They aren’t officially part of the game and aren’t permitted in D&D Adventurers League events.   If we decide to make this material official, it will be refined based on your feedback, and then it will appear in a D&D book.   Barbarians who walk the Path of Beast draw their rage from a bestial spark burning within their souls. That beast howls to be released and bursts forth in the throes of rage.   Those who tread this path might be inhabited by a primal spirit or descended from shapeshifters. You can choose the origin of your feral might or determine it randomly by rolling on the Origin of the Beast table.  

Origin of the Beast

d4	Origin
1	One of your parents is a lycanthrope, and you’ve inherited some of the curse.
2	You are descended from a legendary druid, a fact manifested by your ability to partially change shape.
3	A fey spirit gifted you with the ability to adopt different bestial aspects.
4	An ancient animal spirit dwells within you, allowing you to walk this path.

Form of the Beast

3rd-level Path of the Beast feature   When you enter your rage, you can transform, revealing the bestial power within you. Until your rage ends, you manifest a natural melee weapon, choosing one of the following options each time you rage:   Bite. Your mouth transforms into a bestial snout or great mandibles (your choice). Your bite deals 1d8 piercing damage on a hit. Once on each of your turns when you damage a creature with your bite, you regain a number of hit points equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1 hit point).   Claws. Your hands transform into claws, which deal 1d6 slashing damage on a hit. When you take the Attack action on your turn and make an attack with your claws, you can make one additional attack using your claws as part of the same action.   Tail. You grow a lashing, spiny tail, which deals 1d12 piercing damage on a hit and has the reach property.  

Bestial Soul

6th-level Path of the Beast feature   The feral spirit within you grows in power, causing the natural weapons of your Form of the Beast to count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.   You can also call on the feral spirit to help you adapt to your surroundings. When you finish a short or long rest, choose one of the following benefits, which lasts until you finish a short or long rest:  

Climbing

You gain a climbing speed equal to your walking speed, and you can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.  

Jumping

When you jump, you can make a Strength (Athletics) check and extend your jump by a number of feet equal to the check’s total. You can make this special check only once per turn.   Rule Tip: Jumping Costs Movement   When you jump, every foot you clear on the jump costs a foot of your movement on the current turn. When a class feature, a spell, or another effect extends your jump, the bonus feet also cost movement. For more about jumping, see chapter 8 in the Player’s Handbook.  

Swimming

You gain a swimming speed equal to your walking speed, and you can breathe underwater.  

Infectious Fury

10th-level Path of the Beast feature   When you hit a creature with your natural weapons while you are raging, the spirit within you can curse your target with rabid fury. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC equal to 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus) or suffer one of the following effects (your choice):   The target must use its reaction to make a melee attack against another creature of your choice that you can see. Target takes 2d12 psychic damage. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier (a minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.  

Call the Hunt

14th-level Path of the Beast feature   The beast within grows so powerful that you can spread its ferocity to your allies. When you enter your rage, you can choose a number of willing creatures you can see within 30 feet of you equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of one creature). Until your rage ends, the chosen creatures gain the Reckless Attack feature and you have advantage on saving throws against being frightened. You also gain 5 temporary hit points for each creature that accepts the benefit.   You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier (a minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.   Rule Tip: Temporary Hit Points Don’t Stack   If you have temporary hit points and receive more of them, you don’t add them together, unless a rule says you can. Instead, you decide which temporary hit points to keep. For more information on temporary hit points, see chapter 9 of the Player’s Handbook.  

Path of the Berserker

For some barbarians, rage is a means to an end—that end being violence. The Path of the Berserker is a path of untrammeled fury, slick with blood. As you enter the berserker’s rage, you thrill in the chaos of battle, heedless of your own health or well-being.  

Frenzy

Starting when you choose this path at 3rd level, you can go into a frenzy when you rage. If you do so, for the duration of your rage you can make a single melee weapon attack as a bonus action on each of your turns after this one. When your rage ends, you suffer one level of exhaustion.  

Mindless Rage

Beginning at 6th level, you can’t be charmed or frightened while raging. If you are charmed or frightened when you enter your rage, the effect is suspended for the duration of the rage.  

Intimidating Presence

Beginning at 10th level, you can use your action to frighten someone with your menacing presence. When you do so, choose one creature that you can see within 30 feet of you. If the creature can see or hear you, it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier) or be frightened of you until the end of your next turn. On subsequent turns, you can use your action to extend the duration of this effect on the frightened creature until the end of your next turn. This effect ends if the creature ends its turn out of line of sight or more than 60 feet away from you.   If the creature succeeds on its saving throw, you can’t use this feature on that creature again for 24 hours.  

Retaliation

Starting at 14th level, when you take damage from a creature that is within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against that creature.  

Path of the Totem Warrior

The Path of the Totem Warrior is a spiritual journey, as the barbarian accepts a spirit animal as guide, protector, and inspiration. In battle, your totem spirit fills you with supernatural might, adding magical fuel to your barbarian rage.   Most barbarian tribes consider a totem animal to be kin to a particular clan. In such cases, it is unusual for an individual to have more than one totem animal spirit, though exceptions exist.  

Spirit Seeker

Yours is a path that seeks attunement with the natural world, giving you a kinship with beasts. At 3rd level when you adopt this path, you gain the ability to cast the beast sense and speak with animals spells, but only as rituals, as described in the Spellcasting section.  

Totem Spirit

At 3rd level, when you adopt this path, you choose a totem spirit and gain its feature. You must make or acquire a physical totem object — an amulet or similar adornment — that incorporates fur or feathers, claws, teeth, or bones of the totem animal. At your option, you also gain minor physical attributes that are reminiscent of your totem spirit. For example, if you have a bear totem spirit, you might be unusually hairy and thick-skinned, or if your totem is the eagle, your eyes turn bright yellow.   Your totem animal might be an animal related to those listed here but more appropriate to your homeland. For example, you could choose a hawk or vulture in place of an eagle.  

Bear

While raging, you have resistance to all damage except psychic damage. The spirit of the bear makes you tough enough to stand up to any punishment.  

Eagle

While you’re raging, other creatures have disadvantage on opportunity attack rolls against you, and you can use the Dash action as a bonus action on your turn. The spirit of the eagle makes you into a predator who can weave through the fray with ease.  

Elk

While you are raging and aren't wearing heavy armor, your walking speed increases by 15 feet. The spirit of the elk makes you extraordinarily swift.  

Tiger

While raging, you can add 10 feet to your long jump distance and 3 feet to your high jump distance. The spirit of the tiger empowers your leaps.  

Wolf

While you’re raging, your friends have advantage on melee attack rolls against any creature within 5 feet of you that is hostile to you. The spirit of the wolf makes you a leader of hunters.  

Aspect of the Beast

At 6th level, you gain a magical benefit based on the totem animal of your choice. You can choose the same animal you selected at 3rd level or a different one.  

Bear

You gain the might of a bear. Your carrying capacity (including maximum load and maximum lift) is doubled, and you have advantage on Strength checks made to push, pull, lift, or break objects.  

Eagle

You gain the eyesight of an eagle. You can see up to 1 mile away with no difficulty, able to discern even fine details as though looking at something no more than 100 feet away from you. Additionally, dim light doesn’t impose disadvantage on your Wisdom (Perception) checks.  

Elk

Whether mounted or on foot, your travel pace is doubled, as is the travel pace of up to ten companions while they’re within 60 feet of you and you’re not incapacitated (see “Adventuring,” for rules on travel pace). The elk spirit helps you roam far and fast.  

Tiger

You gain proficiency in two skills from the following list: Athletics, Acrobatics, Stealth, and Survival. The cat spirit hones your survival instincts.  

Wolf

You gain the hunting sensibilities of a wolf. You can track other creatures while traveling at a fast pace, and you can move stealthily while traveling at a normal pace (see “Adventuring,” for rules on travel pace).  

Spirit Walker

At 10th level, you can cast the commune with nature spell, but only as a ritual. When you do so, a spiritual version of one of the animals you chose for Totem Spirit or Aspect of the Beast appears to you to convey the information you seek.  

Totemic Attunement

At 14th level, you gain a magical benefit based on a totem animal of your choice. You can choose the same animal you selected previously or a different one.  

Bear

While you’re raging, any creature within 5 feet of you that’s hostile to you has disadvantage on attack rolls against targets other than you or another character with this feature. An enemy is immune to this effect if it can’t see or hear you or if it can’t be frightened.  

Eagle

While raging, you have a flying speed equal to your current walking speed. This benefit works only in short bursts; you fall if you end your turn in the air and nothing else is holding you aloft.  

Elk

While raging, you can use a bonus action during your move to pass through the space of a Large or smaller creature. That creature must succeed on a Strength saving throw (DC 8 + your Strength bonus + your proficiency bonus) or be knocked prone and take bludgeoning damage equal to 1d12 + your Strength modifier.  

Tiger

While you’re raging, if you move at least 20 feet in a straight line toward a Large or smaller target right before making a melee weapon attack against it, you can use a bonus action to make an additional melee weapon attack against it.  

Wolf

While you’re raging, you can use a bonus action on your turn to knock a Large or smaller creature prone when you hit it with melee weapon attack.  

Path of the Wild Soul (UA)

THIS IS PLAYTEST CONTENT   The material in this article is presented for playtesting and to spark your imagination. These game mechanics are in draft form, usable in your campaign but not refined by final game design and editing. They aren’t officially part of the game and aren’t permitted in D&D Adventurers League events.   If we decide to make this material official, it will be refined based on your feedback, and then it will appear in a D&D book.   The realm of the Feywild abounds with beauty, unpredictable emotion, and rampant magic. A barbarian exposed to this realm feels emotions powerfully and magic saturates their body.   When a barbarian who follows this path rages, it is a bellowing roar for freedom, an explosion of expression, manifesting in unpredictable ways.  

Path of the Wild Soul Features

Barbarian Level	Features
3rd	Lingering Magic, Wild Surge
6th	Magic Reserves 1d4
10th	Arcane Rebuke
14th	Chaotic Fury, Magic Reserves 1d6

Lingering Magic

At 3rd level, your body reacts to the presence of magic. You can cast the detect magic spell without using a spell slot or components. Constitution is your spellcasting ability for this spell. You faintly glow a color corresponding to the school of magic you detect (you choose the colors).   You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.  

Wild Surge

Starting at 3rd level, magic erupts from you as you rage. When you enter your rage, roll on the Wild Surge table to determine the magical effect produced.   If the wild surge requires a saving throw, the DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier.  

Wild Surge

d8	Effect
1	Necrotic energy bursts from you. Each creature within 30 feet of you takes 1d10 necrotic damage, and you gain temporary hit points equal to the sum of the necrotic damage dealt to the creatures.
2	You teleport up to 20 feet to an unoccupied space you can see. Until your rage ends, you can activate this effect again on each of your turns as a bonus action.
3	You conjure 1d4 intangible spirits that look like flumphs in unoccupied spaces within 30 feet of you. Each spirit immediately flies 30 feet in a random direction. At the end of your turn, all spirits explode and each creature within 5 feet of one or more of them must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take 2d8 force damage.
4	Arcane energy enshrouds you. Until your rage ends, you gain a +2 bonus to AC, and whenever a creature within 10 feet of you hits you with an attack, that creature takes force damage equal to your Constitution modifier.
5	Plant life temporarily grows around you: until your rage ends, the ground within 10 feet of you is difficult terrain.
6	Arcane energy taps into the minds of those around you. Each creature within 30 feet of you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or you see a glimpse of the creature’s thoughts, learning how it plans to attack you. As a result, the creature has disadvantage on attack rolls against you until the start of your next turn.
7	Shadows weave around a weapon of your choice you are holding. Until your rage ends, your weapon deals psychic damage instead of its bludgeoning, slashing, or piercing damage, and it gains the light and thrown properties with a normal range of 20 feet and a long range of 60 feet. If you drop the weapon or throw it, the weapon dissipates and reappears in your hand at the end of your turn.
8	A beam of brilliant light lances from your chest in a 5-foot-wide, 60-foot-long line. Each creature in the line must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or take 2d8 radiant damage and be blinded until the start of your next turn.

Magic Reserves At 6th level, you can channel the magic surging inside you into other creatures. As an action, you can touch a creature and roll a d4. The creature recovers an expended spell slot of a level equal to the number rolled. If the creature you touch can’t recover a spell slot of that level, the creature instead gains temporary hit points equal to five times the number rolled.   You take force damage equal to five times the number rolled.   When you reach 14th level in this class, you increase the die to a d6.   Arcane Rebuke At 10th level, the magic crackling within your soul lashes out. When a creature forces you to make a saving throw while you are raging, you can use your reaction to deal 3d6 force damage to that creature.  

Chaotic Fury

At 14th level, you become a wellspring of wild magic while you are raging. As a bonus action, you can reroll on the Wild Surge table, replacing your current effect with the new one.