Path of the Exalted

Blood. It binds us, shows us our past and future. It can give you strength and power, or it could curse and weaken you. We all are products of those who came before. You just happen to have a little bit of a boon in your lineage. Whether through your progenitors carefully crafting you into a product of generations, a lone child who found their new abilities through personal experience, or perhaps some creature of power who gave you a sliver of their essence and taught, or abandoned, you to fate: you have discovered the potential in your bloodline. It does not matter whether you are the first in this lineage, or a long forgotten descendant, you have new potential in this exalted blood of yours.

Followers of this Path are those who have acknowledged the power that exists within them. You are now one of the Exalted. Fierce warriors who use their own blood to fuel their rage in combat. Slowly becoming less than what they started out as. But in exchange: becoming something so much more.

Exalted Bloodline

 When you choose this Path at 3rd level, when you enter a Rage, you may choose to damage yourself and bless your attacks with your Exalted Blood. 

When you Rage, and choose to activate your Exalted Blood, you choose one of the available damage types that you have selected from your Bloodline. The damage type you chose from your available choices of damage in your Bloodline cannot be changed until your Rage ends and you Rage again with Exalted Blood. If you choose to activate your Exalted Blood, you take an amount of damage equal to twice your Barbarian level which cannot be reduced in any way. This damage also reduces your maximum health by an amount equal to the damage taken. This reduction lasts until you take a Short or Long Rest. You do not gain the health that was sacrificed back when the reduction ends. 

In addition, you also choose your Bloodline. This choice is permanent and cannot be changed. You have two choices of Bloodlines to choose from: the Bloodlines of Savagery and the Bloodline of Affliction. Starting when you choose this Path you only have access to one type of damage. Whenever you gain a feature from this Path, a new damage type becomes available to you as well. When you use Exalted Blood, you can choose any damage type from the ones you have available, but you can only use one type per Rage with Exalted Blood.

Bloodline of Savagery:

3rd - Fire

6th - Cold

10th - Lightning

14th - Thunder

Bloodline of Affliction:

3rd - Poison

6th - Acid

10th - Necrotic

14th - Psychic

For the duration of your Rage, if you choose to activate your Exalted Blood, you add a Blood Die to each of you attacks. Your Blood Die is 1d4 of whichever damage you choose to use from your Bloodline that is applies to each of your attacks. Your Blood Die increases in damage with your Barbarian level. At 6th level your Blood Die increases to 1d6 and at 10th level your Blood Die increases to 1d10.

Also, your Rage Bonus Damage changes when you Rage with Exalted Blood. When you activate Exalted Blood it now deals the same type of damage you chose for this Rage. If you Rage without activating Exalted Blood the damage does not change.

 

Affliction

When this effect is activated, your attacks deal an extra 1d4 fire damage each. The damage increases when you reach certain levels in this class, increasing to 1d6 at 6th level and 1d10 at 10th level. 

You can choose for the attacks (as well as your rage damage) to deal a different kind of damage when you rage, depending on your level:

6th - Acid

10th - Necrotic

14th - Psychic

Savagery

When this effect is activated, your attacks deal an extra 1d4 fire damage each. The damage increases when you reach certain levels in this class, increasing to 1d6 at 6th level and 1d10 at 10th level. 

You can choose for the attacks (as well as your rage damage) to deal a different kind of damage when you rage, depending on your level:

6th - Cold

10th - Lightning

14th - Thunder

Price of Power

When you choose this Path you understand that you have to pay a price for your power. The Price of Power causes all healing to be half as effective on you, excluding restoring health from your subclass features and using your own Hit Die at a Short or Long Rest. You also cease aging and do not age naturally once you engage in a Feeding Rite for the first time.

To gain a short reprieve from paying the price: you must feed on blood. This is called a Feeding Rite. You spend 1 Action biting a creature and feeding off its blood. This feature can only be used on a recently deceased (no longer than 12 hours dead,) unconscious, or willing creature of Small size, or larger that is not an undead or construct. When you finish feeding you roll one Blood Die and, if the creature is still alive, it takes the amount rolled as Necrotic damage.

Note, you can use your Feeding Rite while in combat if the creature is grappled by you, is already dead, or unconscious. You make an unarmed strike, that you are proficient in, as an action, and it deals one Blood Die worth of damage (which increases to double the die at 10th level and triple the die at 14th level.)

If you complete a Feeding Rite you suspend the effects of the Price for Power for 1 hour and receive full healing from all sources. Completing a Feeding Rite counts as eating normally for one day.

You may use your Feeding Rite a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier per Long Rest.

Note, you cannot use Feeding Rite more than once per hour. Whenever you gain a feature from this subclass: your power increases, and so does the price that accompanies it.

Sanguine Alterations

Starting at 6th level whenever you critically strike a creature or reduce a creature to 0 HP you roll your Blood Die and gain the amount rolled as temporary HP. If you are raging and have activated your Exalted Blood the amount of temporary HP you gain from this feature is doubled. Once your Rage with Exalted Blood has ended, any remaining Temporary HP is converted into normal HP.

In addition, any Wisdom (Perception or Survival) checks you make to track or find a creature are made with advantage and you add one Blood Die to the roll: if it has been damaged by you or your allies in the last 24 hours. You can only track one creature at a time with this feature. This benefit against a creature lasts until you take a Short or Long Rest, or you start tracking another creature.

Note, that you do not gain any temporary HP or advantage and bonuses on checks against creatures from this feature if the creature is a construct or undead.

Noble Transmutations

Starting at 10th level your base movement speed increases by 10 feet and if you are raging, with or without Exalted Blood active, your movement speed increases by 20 feet and your jumping distance is tripled.

In addition, whenever you are raging with Exalted Blood active and you land a critical hit or reduce a creature to 0 Hit Points: you gain HP equal to your Rage Damage Bonus and increase your reduced maximum HP, from using Exalted Blood, by the same amount up to your total maximum HP. You can only gain this HP once per turn.

Note, that you do not gain any HP from this feature if the creature is an undead or construct.

Birthright of Blood

Starting at 14th level you gain a new type of Rage that you can activate when you Rage with Exalted Blood. This special Rage is called Blood Fury.

Blood Fury lasts for 1 minute and you gain the following benefits:

• Whenever you would roll a Blood Die to determine damage or temporary HP you instead roll 2 Blood Die.
• You also gain resistance to whatever damage type you chose to use for Blood Fury from your Exalted Blood until you take a Long Rest.
• You cannot be knocked prone by any means during Blood Fury.
• You gain advantage on saving throws your are proficient in and a bonus to them equal to your Rage Damage Bonus for the duration of your Blood Fury.

Note, that if your Rage would end, your Blood Fury also ends and if your Rage would last longer than one minute, Blood Fury does not and you continue your Rage as normal once Blood Fury ends.

When your Blood Fury ends, you immediately take a point of exhaustion.

You can use Blood Fury once between each Long Rest.