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.
What is the out lander background
tbh this sound a bit holier than thou but i get what your trying to get across. Don't make fun or disregard a class or sub class that may seem simple or underpowered at the end of the day its a role play game not a wargame
Yes (it fails), since the max level spell slot which can be recharged is 3rd, and a 7th Level Warlock has no 3rd level spell slots.
So if a Barbarian is going down the Path of Wild Magic and tries to use Bolstering Magic on a Warlock who is 7th level or higher does it auto fail or can the Warlock only use spells that are the same spell slot level as the die rolled?
Path of Wild Magic is such a cool subclass! Barbarians can't cast or concentrate on spells while raging, meaning that a one-third caster subclass along the lines of the Eldritch Knight Fighter or the Arcane Trickster Rogue wouldn't work without removing that restriction, which would somewhat contrive the point of playing a Barbarian in the first place. To counter this, Path of Wild Magic Barbarians instead augment other spellcasters by acting as a magical battery of sorts.
DnD 5e, especially via DnDBeyond tries to make you think that your fun and game-wise fulfillment lies in the cool class abilities this or that subclass has (especially with the UA ones or those that came after PHB). The community (for short-sighted and constructed reasons) thinks especially the standard Ranger, the Champion Fighter and of course the Berserker pretty weak.
I would fight this notion, because as to that classes, or especially subclasses should not hold such a sway over the way you experience the game.
Cool Items gained under always changing or different circumstances that can ONLY happen to YOU whenever you gain them, are way more interesting than class features.
Items you gain, or Items you use after a long time after having them stuck into your inevitable bag of holding until you finally understand their worth, tell stories of themselves and they elevate your game a Subclass never could.
A class like the Berserker, which not only empowers your character (very much so btw, giving you the equivalent of a Fighting Style: Two-Weapon-Fighting with a Greatsword/Greataxe/Maul) , but actually imposes unique challenges to the player is very much misunderstood if the only thing you seek is validation as a player without effort.
Same thing with the Paladin and its Oaths. The Tenets of the Oaths that are newest lack a lot of impact over how to play the particular Paladin, differently to as how for example the Devotion or Vengeance Paladin is to be played.
Think of two Barbarians. One is the Berserker, one is the Beast. Grant both of them a cursed Greatsword (Sword of Vengeance).
Not only will the Beast Barbarian soon enough wish to lose this curse and try to meta-knowledge out of playing with such a brilliantly simple cursed magic weapon, but also be a lot more boring just due to this.
The Berserker, with being already forced with choosing its battles and actually tactically think when to use frenzy, surely will be happy to have a +1 magic weapon early on which they also can use pretty neatly with their frenzy ability.
Therefore I surely would try out the Berserker before I would play any other Barbarian. Because what you fear or detest (the exhaustion, be honest) will be something that will make playing this subclass so very much interesting and exciting.
Depends on what kind of campaign. Being able to shake off charm or frighten is great in campains with lots of mind affecting creatures.
In addition, adding more attacks at 3rd lvl is pretty good, depending on how often combat is a thing in your campaign. But you dont have to frenzy every time you rage so it's really a balancing act with that 3rd attack
I
People who think that Path of the Beserker is a viable option, what makes you think that?
But this let's you pick up other feats. Also, you get to use a shield. So I am able to take Sentinel and have a shield for +2ac to make me an incredible Defender Barbarian
You can't apply GWM to claws though since it's not a 2h weapon which is a loss of a flat 20 dmg
if u have any question u can ask ı answer your questions as much as ı can
I’m creating a lizardfolk barbarian path of the beast and was thinking what feats would give him great mobility while making the most of the level 6 ability, with some other useful abilities. So far the feats I think would work best are Skilled Expert with expertise in athletics, Athlete, Mobile, and Charger in that order. Thoughts?
That's between you and your DM
Path of the beast, it says you transform, but doesn't describe how. Do you only grow the extra parts, or do you get a partial full body transform with it?
I AM NEW IN BEYOND COMMUINTY .ANYBODY CAN HELP ME
here is my half orc berserker https://ddb.ac/characters/41261076/pkzyuZ
As long as a feature isn't labeled as a spell or requires any kind of concentration, you can use it while raging. You'd need to rp why your oath would allow this reckless rage in the first place and a downside to pala-barb is they can't use heavy armor which you'll feel early on before you get more rages.
There is nothing preventing you from smiting while raging as it isn't casting a spell, it's just a feature that consumes a spell slot.
Hey there, I'm currently playing a paladin thinking about multiclassing in Barbarian. I know you can't concentrate or cast spells while raging, but is there any problem with applying divine smites on rolls, given that it isn't casting a spell?