Barbarian
People of towns and cities take pride in their settled ways, as if denying one’s connection to nature were a mark of superiority. To a barbarian, though, a settled life is no virtue, but a sign of weakness. The strong embrace nature—valuing 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.
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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.
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Their courage in the face of danger is often unparalleled, making 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.
Subclasses
Basics
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Base Hit Points: 72
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Hit Points per Advancement: 14
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Actions: 2 Attack, 1 Bonus, 1 Reaction
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Class Resources
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​Level 8: +4​
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Casting Attribute: Wisdom
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Starting Kit:​
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Battleaxe (x2)
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Proficiencies
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Armor: Light armor, medium armor, shields
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Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons
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Saving Throws: Strength, Constitution
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Skills: Athletics, Intimidation
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Attack Bonus:
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Level 8: +2
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Level 10: +1 (3)
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Level 12: +1 (4)
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Rage
In battle, you fight with primal ferocity. On your turn, you can consume both a class resource and a bonus action to go into a rage. For the remainder of combat, you gain +2 Strength and physical resistance (-2 damage to all physical damage sources). It ends early if you are stunned/incapacitated in anyway, or if your turn ends and you haven't attacked a hostile creature since your last turn or taken damage since then.
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Unarmored Defense
While you are not wearing any armor, your Armor Class equals 10 + Dexterity + Constitution. You can use a shield and still gain this benefit.
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Reckless Attack
You throw aside all concern for defense to attack with fierce desperation, granting you +2 Attack Bonus at the cost of -2 Armor Class until the start of your next turn.
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Danger Sense
You gain an uncanny sense of when things nearby aren’t as they should be, giving you an edge away from danger. You have a passive +2 to Dexterity saving throws.
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Relentless Attack
Requires Level 12
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Your rage can keep you fighting despite grievous wounds. If you drop to 0 hit points while raging, you can make a 1d20 + Constitution saving throw (DC 10). On a successful roll, you can continue to fight with one hit point. This can only be used once per combat.
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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. Choose your primal path (subclass) from the four listed below. These will be unlocked at Level 10 and reach their full potential at Level 12.
Some barbarians hail from cultures that revere their ancestors. These tribes teach that the warriors of the past linger in the world as mighty spirits, who can guide and protect the living. When a barbarian who follows this path rages, the barbarian contacts the spirit world and calls on these guardian spirits for aid.
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Barbarians who draw on their ancestral guardians can better fight to protect their tribes and their allies. In order to cement ties to their ancestral guardians, barbarians who follow this path cover themselves in elaborate tattoos that celebrate their ancestors’ deeds. These tattoos tell sagas of victories against terrible monsters and other fearsome rivals.
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Bonus Proficiencies
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Skills: History
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Spirit Shield
The guardian spirits that aid you can provide supernatural protection to those you defend. If you are raging and another creature you can see within 4 tiles takes damage, you can use your reaction to reduce that damage by 2d6.
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Vengeful Ancestors
Requires Level 12
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Your ancestral spirits have grown strong enough to retaliate. When you use your Spirit Shield to reduce the damage of an attack, the attacker takes 2d6 force damage.
Barbarians who walk the Path of the Beast draw their rage from a bestial spark burning within their souls. That beast bursts forth in the throes of rage, physically transforming the barbarian.
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Such a barbarian might be inhabited by a primal spirit or be descended from shape-shifters. You must choose the origin of your feral might when creating this kind of barbarian.
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Bonus Proficiencies​
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Skills: Animal Handling
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Beastial Form
When you enter your rage, you can transform into a bestial state as a free action alongside it. Bestial Form has the following effects:​
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You may climb with no penalty.
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You cannot use weapons or shields in this form.
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You gain access to magical 1d6 main and offhand claw attacks, aswell as a 1d8 bite attack that can be performed once per turn.
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Potent Fury
When landing your beast bite attack, you may deal 2d10 additional damage. Cannot be used if you have already used Infectious Fury this turn.
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Infectious Fury
Requires Level 12
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When landing your beast bite attack, you may force that creature to make a Wisdom saving throw (DC 8 + CON + AB). On a failed save, that creature must take it's reaction (if it has one) to make a single melee attack against a target of your choice within' their range. If there are no targets in range, they must make that attack against you instead. This takes priority before all other reactions.
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Cannot be used if you have already used Potent Fury this turn.
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Call the Hunt
Requires Level 12
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The first time you enter a rage during combat, you can impart your ferocity to up to 4 allies (not yourself) within 3 tiles of you for the remainder of combat. Grants +1 Attack Bonus.
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.
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Bonus Proficiencies​
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Skills: Survival
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Frenzy
You may choose to enter into a frenzy when you rage. For the duration of your rage, you can make a single melee attack as a bonus action on each of your turns. Each time you attack in such a way, you gain -1 To Hit until you exit your rage. Each time you enter Frenzy, take 1 exhaustion stack.
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Mindless Rage
While raging, you cannot be charmed nor frightened.
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Retaliation
Requires Level 12
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When you take damage from a creature that is within 1 tile of you, you can use your reaction to make a melee attack against that creature.
All barbarians harbor a fury within. Their rage grants them superior strength, durability, and speed. Barbarians who follow the Path of the Storm Herald learn to transform that rage into a mantle of primal magic, which swirls around them. When in a fury, a barbarian of this path taps into the forces of nature to create powerful magical effects.
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Storm heralds are typically elite champions who train alongside druids, rangers, and others sworn to protect nature. Other storm heralds hone their craft in lodges in regions wracked by storms, in the frozen reaches at the world’s end, or deep in the hottest deserts.
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Bonus Proficiencies​
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Skills: Nature
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Storm
You may choose the Desert, the Sea, or the Tundra as the source of your primal magics for a given rage.
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Storm Aura
Desert
You may, as a bonus action, exude a fiery aura, dealing 4 points of fire damage to everyone within 2 tiles of you. Grants Fire Resistance while active.
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Sea
You may, as a bonus action, select one target within 2 tiles of you. They must pass a Dexterity saving throw (DC 11 + CON) or take 2d6 lightning damage. Grants Lightning Resistance while active.
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Tundra
Exude icy spirits to endure the suffering of those around you. You may, as a bonus action, select any number of creatures within 2 tiles of you, healing them for 4 hit points. Grants Cold Resistance while active.
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Raging Storm
Requires Level 12
Desert
When a creature within 2 tiles of you makes an attack, you may, as a reaction, lash out at them with fire. The target must succeed a Dexterity saving throw (DC 11 + CON) or take 5 fire damage.
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Sea
As a reaction, select one target within 2 tiles of you that you landed an attack against. That creature must succeed a Strength saving throw (DC 11 + CON) or be knocked prone.
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Tundra
As a bonus action, select one target within 2 tiles of you. They must succeed a Strength saving throw (DC 11 + CON) or be restrained until the end of their next turn.