Barbarian Legacy This doesn't reflect the latest rules and lore. Learn More Class Details
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 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 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.
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
A barbarian plays an important role as a protector of their 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 closeknit 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 another land 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.
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.
The Barbarian Table
Level |
Proficiency |
Features |
Rages |
Rage |
---|---|---|---|---|
1st |
+2 |
2 |
+2 |
|
2nd |
+2 |
2 |
+2 |
|
3rd |
+2 |
3 |
+2 |
|
4th |
+2 |
3 |
+2 |
|
5th |
+3 |
3 |
+2 |
|
6th |
+3 |
4 |
+2 |
|
7th |
+3 |
4 |
+2 |
|
8th |
+3 |
4 |
+2 |
|
9th |
+4 |
Brutal Critical (1 die) |
4 |
+3 |
10th |
+4 |
4 |
+3 |
|
11th |
+4 |
4 |
+3 |
|
12th |
+4 |
5 |
+3 |
|
13th |
+5 |
Brutal Critical (2 dice) |
5 |
+3 |
14th |
+5 |
5 |
+3 |
|
15th |
+5 |
5 |
+3 |
|
16th |
+5 |
5 |
+4 |
|
17th |
+6 |
Brutal Critical (3 dice) |
6 |
+4 |
18th |
+6 |
6 |
+4 |
|
19th |
+6 |
6 |
+4 |
|
20th |
+6 |
Unlimited |
+4 |
Class Features
As a barbarian, you gain the following class features.
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
Armor: Light armor, medium armor, 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
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. 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.
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 Berserker Legacy This doesn't reflect the latest rules and lore. Learn More
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.
When you get the extra attack feature at level 5 it allows you to attack twice as ONE action, it is not two separate attack actions. Path of the Beast's claws let you attack 1 extra time when you take the attack action with them, so you are capped at 3 attacks (barring something like Haste being cast on you). This wording of Extra Attack is very intentional, it's why a level 11 fighter can attack 3 times then action surge and attack 3 more times. If it was worded the way you are interpreting it action surge would only grant a fighter 1 more attack, no matter what level they are.
the way i understand the path of the beast is you get two attacks before level 5 because you can only take one attack action after level five you get to do it twice so in total is 4 claw attacks. as it states use the claw as part of the same action you have 2 actions at level 5 so 2 attacks as action 1 and then 2 attacks as action number 2. at least that's how i read it.
What? 3 attacks with claws at level 5, assuming 18 strength at lvl 5 and hitting with all attacks, is 3.5 + 4 + 2 three times for a total of 28.5 on average. 2 attacks with great axe, making the same assumptions, comes out to 6.5 + 4 + 2 two times for a total of 25 (greatsword or maul only improves this to 26). At level 8, when the game assumes you're getting 20 strength, it becomes 31.5 for claws versus 27 for great axe, and claws continue to get better as the flat damage bonus from rage goes up. Dual wielding without the feat or fighting style at level 5, with the same assumptions, offers an average of 26.5.
On top of that claws only require one empty hand to make those 3 attacks, leaving your other hand open to wield a shield or grapple an enemy.
I was thinking about making a dude that ate a sus magical shroom and suddenly got these powers.
I will be making a draconic blood path of the beast XD
Dragons have all of them claws, bite, and a tail. The unarmored defense comes from draconic scales. Dragons are known for their rage and their strong as shit so there is that.
I have never heard a better description of a barbarian 🤣
No one can just decide to be a barbarian, he did learn it.
But, civilized barbarians do exist. The original word barbarian just meant a non-greek speaking person.
Not all barbarians are mouth breathing dullards. Even in D&D lore there are smart, well spoken barbarians that simply lose their goddamned minds when they see blood.
Replying to my own comment shheeesh.
also, where is the rule on literacy that existed in previous versions of the game? Barbarians were always the only class with no literacy, they had to learn it if they wanted it.
I have a player who wants to play a character who is a "civilized" barbarian. I can't wrap my head around the concept. If youy look up "civilized" barbarous is literally an antonym. It doesn't make any sense.
Hi back story is" he decided to become a barbarian after a fight". How do I explain the concept of Barbarian vs Fighter? You don't apprentice to become a barbarian, you learn from your mom and dad.
Yes so you can attack with a claw if it’s empty (note the singular “it’s” - both hands don’t need to be empty.
A barbarian holds a weapon in his left claw and his right claw is empty. He attacks with the empty right claw using the attack action. He can now make one additional claw attack with the same action, but the rule doesn’t specify that it has to be a different claw making the additional attack.
Therefore presumably he can attack again with the right claw which is still empty.
Possibly not what was intended but that’s how it is written.
Claws. Each of your hands transforms into a claw, which you can use as a weapon if it’s empty. It deals 1d6 slashing damage on a hit. Once on each of your turns when you attack with a claw using the Attack action, you can make one additional claw attack as part of the same action.
At lower levels Barbarians do not have the highest max theoretical damage per turn for a martial class if that is what you are trying to work out. A lvl2 Paladin can do up to 65 damage in one round. Dual wielding short swords, and using smite on both attacks.
Am I missing something or can you attack twice with the same claw in one action?
There's nothing about attacking with your other claw, so presumably you can hold a weapon in one claw and attack twice with the other for a single attack action?
AAAAND they changed the claws from 4 to 3 attack now making it LESS powerfull then Using a weapon...great design for a class who is build on NATURAL ABILITIES
Honestly thought
Change it back, we don't need yet another useless natural weapon. Like if you are gonna Punish them for Using a feature why the hell give them the feature
I just realised this:
15th level path of the zealot barbarians can literally never stop raging if they want to.
hadn’t considered Zealot as it. Thanks for the idea.
You could simply go with Berserker, a lot that they do is what you seek.
You could go with the Beast Barbarian and flavour it the way you need.
You could even go with Zealot, not because their radiant/necrotic bonus damage, but because they cannot be killed and even if they are killed, they are easily brought back to life. You would need to flavour this one a lot
Trying to figure out which someclass would work best with flavoring the rage as ríastrad, the Cu Chullain style “warp spasms” that’s basically battle rage plus the body going all weird and deforming itself in the midst of the rage...
I just created a barbarian (6th level) that can theoretically do 50 damage in one turn
help
why are barbarians so op?
someone pls answer
i am loenly