Barbarian

Barbarian

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 armoured 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 creatures. 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 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 creatures 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.

The Barbarian Table

Level	Proficiency Bonus	Features	Rages	Rage Damage
1st	+2	Rage, Unarmoured 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

Class Features

As a barbarian, you gain the following 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 armour:
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.

Unarmoured Defense

While you are not wearing any armour, your Armour Class (AC) 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 defence 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 are not 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 cannot be blinded, deafened, or incapacitated.

Primal Path

At 3rd level, you choose a Path that shapes the nature of your rage. Choose from The Path of The Berserker, The Path of The Totem Warrior, or any of the other Paths which are linked below. 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 cannot increase an Ability Score above 20 using this feature.

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 are not wearing heavy armour.

Instinctive Pounce

7th Level Barbarian Feature
As part of the Bonus Action you take to enter your Rage, you can move up to half your speed.

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 are raging and don’t die outright, you can make a DC10 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.

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.

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.

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.

Gaming by etsy

Quick Build

You can make a barbarian quickly by following these suggestions. First, put your highest ability score in Strength, followed by Constitution. Second, choose the Outlander background.

Hit Points

Hit Dice

1D12 per barbarian level

Hit Points at 1st level

12+ your Constitution modifier

Hit Points at Higher levels

1D12 (or 7) + your Constitution modifier per barbarian level after 1st.

Proficiencies

Armour

Light armour, medium armour & shields

Weapons

Simple weapons & martial weapons

Tools

none

Saving Throws

Strength & Constitution

Skills

Choose two from Animal Handling, Athletics, Intimidation, Nature, Perception, and Survival.

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

Personal Totems

Barbarians tend to travel light, carrying little in the way of personal effects or other unnecessary gear. The few possessions they do carry often include small items that have special significance. A personal totem is significant because it has a mystical origin or is tied to an important moment in the character's life-perhaps a remembrance from the barbarian's past or a harbinger of what lies ahead.
A personal totem of this sort might be associated with a barbarian's spirit animal, or might actually be the totem object for the animal, but such a connection is not essential. One who has a bear totem spirit, for instance, could still carry an eagle's feather as a personal totem.
Consider creating one or more personal totems for your character-objects that hold a special link to your character's past or future. Think about how a totem might affect your character's actions.

Personal Totems

Roll 1D6 or choose your personal totem:

1. A tuft of fur from a solitary wolf that you befriended during a hunt.
2. Three eagle feathers given to you by a wise shaman, who told you they would play a role in determining your fate.
3. A necklace made from the claws of a young cave bear that you slew singlehandedly as a child.
4. A small leather pouch holding three stones that represent your ancestors.
5. A few small bones from the first beast you killed, tied together with coloured wool.
6. An egg-sized stone in the shape of your spirit animal that appeared one day in your belt pouch.

Tattoos

The members of many barbarian clans decorate their bodies with tattoos, each of which represents a significant moment in the life of the bearer or the bearer's ancestors, or which symbolizes a feeling or an attitude. As with personal totems, a barbarian's tattoos might or might not be related to an animal spirit.
Each tattoo a barbarian displays contributes to that individual's identity. If your character wears tattoos, what do they look like, and what do they represent?

Tattoos

Roll 1D6 or choose your tattoo:

1. The wings of an eagle are spread wide across your upper back.
2. Etched on the backs of your hands are the paws of a cave bear.
3. The symbols of your clan are displayed in vine patterns along your arms.
4. The antlers of an elk are inked across your back.
5. Images of your spirit animal are tattooed along your weapon arm and hand.
6. The eyes of a wolf are marked on your back to help you see and ward off evil spirits.

Some tattoos can be magical in nature if applied by a gifted magic user (Shaman) using magical inks. See the article Tattoos for more information.

Superstitions

Barbarians vary widely in how they understand life. Some follow gods and look for guidance from those deities in the cycles of nature and the animals they encounter. These barbarians believe that spirits inhabit the plants and animals of the world, and the barbarians look to them for omens and power.
Other barbarians trust only in the blood that runs in their veins and the steel they hold in their hands. They have no use for the invisible world, instead relying on their senses to hunt and survive like the wild beasts they emulate.
Both of these attitudes can give to superstitions. These beliefs are often passed down within a family or shared among the members of a clan or a hunting group.
If your barbarian character has any superstitions, were they ingrained in you by your family, your clan, or are they the result of personal experience?

Superstitions

Roll 1D6 or choose your superstition:

1. If you disturb the bones of the dead, you inherit all the troubles that plagued them in life.
2. Never trust a wizard. They're all devils in disguise, especially the friendly ones.
3. Dwarves have lost their spirits, and are almost like the undead. That's why they live underground.
4. Magical things bring trouble. Never sleep with a magic object within ten feet of you.
5. When you walk through a graveyard, be sure to wear silver, or a ghost might jump into your body.
6. If an Elf looks you in the eyes, she's trying to read your thoughts.