Path of the Battlerager (Revised)

Clad in spiked armor they craft by hand, these barbarians hurl their bodies through the battlefield like living weapons, crashing into enemies with savage momentum and punishing any who dare draw close. Whether sprinting headlong into a line of spears or dragging an enemy into a flesh-rending grapple, the battlerager gives themselves over to the fury of battle.

Battlerager Armor

When you choose this path at 3rd level, you learn to craft the perfect suit of armor, a weaponized shell of pain that will become your lifelong companion, regardless of how short that life may be. You gain proficiency with smith's tools and spiked armor, and you suffer no penalties for sleeping in armor.

     Over the course of a long rest, you can alter a set of armor you possess and turn it into spiked armor, provided you have smith's tools. Your spiked armor’s AC is the same as the armor you chose to alter. While you are wearing your spiked armor:

• You count it as a martial melee weapon, and you use your Strength modifier for the attack and damage rolls.
• If a creature hits you with a melee attack or successfully grapples you, the creature takes piercing damage equal to your Rage Damage bonus.

If you alter a set of magic armor, it counts as a magic weapon and you gain its AC bonus as a bonus to attack and damage rolls instead.

     While wearing spiked armor, you also gain certain benefits depending on its type:

Light Armor

• Attacks using your spiked armor deal 1d6 piercing damage. After you take the Attack action using your armor, you can make another spiked armor attack as a bonus action on the same turn. The damage die of this bonus attack is 1d4, instead of 1d6. You can’t make this bonus attack if you are wielding a shield.
• Your spiked armor gains the finesse property, and your spiked armor attack rolls made with Dexterity can add your Rage Damage bonus and benefit from Reckless Attack. 
• You can take the Dash action as a bonus action.

Medium Armor

• Attacks using your spiked armor deal 1d8 piercing damage. If your spiked armor gives disadvantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks, it instead deals 1d10 piercing damage.
• Your spiked armor gains the heavy property, and you gain the armor's maximum possible AC instead of adding your Dexterity modifier.
• When you successfully grapple a target or when a target starts its turn while grappled by you, the target takes piercing damage equal to your Strength modifier (minimum of 1). At 11th level, this damage increases to one roll of your spiked armor damage die + your Strength modifier (minimum of +1).

Hardened Defense

At 6th level, the countless scars beneath your armor have taught you the best ways to push yourself without breaking. You gain the Defense fighting style.

     Additionally, while wearing spiked armor, you gain new benefits depending on its type:

Light Armor

When you use Reckless Attack to make an attack against a creature, that creature can't take opportunity attacks until the start of your next turn.

Medium Armor

When you use Reckless Attack, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1). While you are raging, this amount of temporary hit points also adds your proficiency bonus.

Battlerager Charge

At 10th level, you’ve honed the art of turning speed into devastation, crashing through enemy lines like a living siege weapon. While raging, when you move at least 10 feet in a straight line toward a target and make an attack using your spiked armor, you can make a charging attack in place of that attack.

     If the charging attack hits, you deal extra damage in addition to your spiked armor damage. This extra damage equals one spiked armor damage die per 10 feet you charged. The number of dice rolled for this extra damage cannot exceed half your barbarian level (rounded down).

     You also gain additional benefits depending on your spiked armor's type:

Light Armor

After you hit with a charging attack, you gain an extra 10 feet of movement until the end of that turn.

Additionally, when you hit a target with a charging attack, you can force it to make a Strength saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Dexterity modifier). On a failure, the target is knocked prone and pushed 5 feet per additional damage die rolled in the direction you charged. If the target is pushed into an object or hostile creature, both take bludgeoning damage equal to your Dexterity modifier (minimum of 1) and the forced movement ends.

Medium Armor

When you hit a creature with a charging attack, you can immediately try to grapple it as a bonus action, provided it is no more than one size larger than you. If you succeed, both you and the creature are knocked prone as you enter a death roll. The death roll ends if you stand up from prone, if the creature escapes, or if you release the creature (no action required).

While locked in a death roll, the creature is restrained. It can use its action to attempt an escape by making a Strength saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier). Additionally, when a creature other than a creature you are grappling hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to roll a d6; on a roll of 4 or higher, the attack instead targets the restrained creature, using the same attack roll.

Living Bulwark

At 14th level, you’ve perfected the brutal balance between defense and aggression. You gain proficiency with heavy armor, and heavy armor counts as medium armor for the purposes of your barbarian and battlerager features.

     Additionally, while wearing spiked armor, you gain new benefits depending on its type:

Light Armor

• Your spiked armor damage increases from 1d6 to 1d8, and your bonus attack increases from 1d4 to 1d6. You can now use this bonus attack even while wielding a shield.
• You can use Unarmored Defense instead of your armor to determine your AC.
  • While benefiting from Unarmored Defense, you gain an additional 10 feet of movement, and you gain the benefits of the Dash action whenever you hit a creature with your bonus action spiked armor attack.
• When a creature hits you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to move up to half your movement and make a charging attack against a target.

Medium Armor

• Your spiked armor damage increases from 1d8 to 1d10. If your armor gives disadvantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks, it instead increases from 1d10 to 1d12.
• While you are raging, when you reduce a hostile creature of your size or smaller to 0 hit points using your spiked armor, you can make a Strength check (DC = that creature’s AC). On a success, you lodge the creature’s corpse on your armor and gain a +1 bonus to your AC. You can carry a number of corpses at a time equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1). All corpses fall off your armor at the end of your rage, ending this benefit.
• When you make a charging attack, you can move through the space of any target creature or object your size or smaller. When you move through a target's space in this way, it must make a Strength saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier). On a failure, a target takes piercing damage equal to two rolls of your spiked armor damage die + your Strength modifier and falls prone. If a target succeeds this saving throw, you cannot move through its space, and it becomes the new target of your charging attack, regardless of your original target. You can calculate your charging attack's extra damage based on the distance moved up to that point.