OK, so I really love the style of Path of Wild Magic. I will be choosing it when our group finally gets going again.
However, I feel like it's missing something in a few ways. There's an element of risk which I feel is missing, and I also feel that a caster-control ability would fit very well, too. On top of this, I feel like it isn't quite "good enough" at higher levels.
I've been thinking about his, on and off, since I read it in Tasha's. Here's where my thinking lies at the moment. I think it's relatively balanced and would make it even more fun to play, but I'd welcome comments, suggestions... even criticisms.
Wild Surge Table
Roll a d10 instead of a d8. Shift each of the current entries up by 1 and add the following:
1 - The magic slips though your grasp, temporarily evading you. Nothing happens on this roll. You may reroll on this table at the start of your next turn (no action or bonus action needed, but you may not use a bonus action to trigger the effect a second time on that turn).
10 - The air around you is suffused with chaotic eddies of magic, making it difficult to control. Any enemy caster within 10ft of you must make a saving throw using their spellcasting ability. On failure, they loose concentration on any spell they are concentrating on and cannot cast any spell until the start of your next turn. Until your rage ends, you can use this effect again on each of your turns as a bonus action.
Controlled Surge
Once per long rest, instead of choosing which effect to take you may choose to take both effects. If you do so, take 1d6 force damage as you draw more magic than you can handle, and take 1d6 force damage at the start of each of your turns, or any time you roll on this table, while this is in effect. If you reroll on the table due to Unstable Backlash, you replace one of the effects with the new roll. You may end one of the effects as a bonus action.
I like the idea of adding more options, but I don't think any of them should be punishing to the Barbarian or its party. Many people dislike "wild magic" subclasses already and this seems to be due to the fact that its difficult to strategize around since you cannot predict which feature you will get. What's nice about the change of the wild magic barbarian from UA to Tasha's is that all of the effects are beneficial to the barbarian and can be controlled so as not to harm the party.
If your group enjoys playing with high risk, high reward type characters, then your modifications could definitely add something fun without going too far in one direction. I would say in general, though, adding wild magic options that are less beneficial or potentially shut down friendly casters would probably turn more people off from playing this subclass, which I think is really fun as it is.
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The issue I see here is that alot of wild magic features require your bonus action on each turn after you enter your rage, so having two active wild magic options at once is only going to give you the choice between two options for what you want to do with your bonus action as opposed to feeling like two abilities acting at the same time
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I assume you were talking about option 10 for the "shouldn't disadvantage your party" bit. I wasn't sure whether to make it casters of your choice/enemy casters or the like. I didn't really want "casters of your choice who you can see", because I thought it would be good for it to interfere with things like invisibility. Making it like the vines option so it only affected enemies would work well, as long as it didn't make it too powerful.
I did quite like the the idea of having a "nothing yet" option, it seems to fit the chaotic nature of the subclass. I toyed with the idea of having the barb take damage on a 1, but thought it too much of a penalty. Similarly, having to use a bonus action to reroll seemed a bit tough (although, thinking about it, it may need something to stop it from being used with the bonus action on that second turn). It's definitely a downside to the class, but I don't think a 10% chance of "miss a turn, but free reroll next turn" is too bad.
For your notes on the second idea, I thought it struck a good balance. It gave a bit more flexibility, allowing you to choose which effect to activate with you bonus action. However, if the dice rolled in your favour, it would also allow one of the non-BA effects (vines/spell disruption/magic thrown weapon) to be used alongside a bonus action one. It's a choice, so you can see what you've rolled and say "I want both of those, and it's worth taking the damage", or "those don't work together, I'll just choose one of them".
Wild Magic should absolutely have some risk. Otherwise, it isn't wild, it's just random positive magic. I have a player about to choose this. I think I'm going to add a couple of minor, but harmless, negatives along the lines of Wild Magic Sorceror. Maybe one does nothing, the other has the player roll on another table I make of 6 alternatives.
I agree with @6thLyranGuard. I am currently playing a Path of Wild Magic barbarian in our game (5th level), and to be honest, the wild magic effects have been rather underwhelming so far. I cannot recall when a single effect has made any noticeable impact in a battle. If you are going to add some negatives, buff some of the others to compensate.
I'm a bit unsure of the need to make the Wild Magic Barbarian more unstable, since it's not as "wild" as a full Wild Magic. But if you want a chance for some chaos, I'd have the result for 1 be "roll on the Sorcerer Wild Magic Surge table" and the 10 result be "roll on the Sorcerer Wild Magic Surge table ignoring results that change your physical form or cast a spell centred upon yourself".
This might sound extreme, but unlike the Wild Magic Sorcerer who has potentially a 5% chance to surge every turn they cast a 1st level or higher spell, the Barbarian only rolls when they start to rage, and while that still leaves you with a 20% chance to surge, 10% of the time it's a harmless surge, so it might be an acceptable level of risk to you?
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Our DM added some dope options for my Wild Magic Barbarian. They do bring risk to the party, but it has been fun to have the extra options, and it helped him make it harder for us, because we were defeating even high level foes in a few rounds because we are clever badasses. I also think they fit well into this class, because it seems like the barbarian has some old fey genes that pop out magic when he rages, so he shouldn't be able to really control it very well. There should be ooops moments. Here were the additions:
9 - Until your rage ends, you temporarily grow a massive extra arm. If any creature moves within 5 feet of you or you move within 5 feet of another creature, this arm immediately attacks them of its own volition. Make a melee attack roll, a successful hit causes 1d6 (plus strength modifier) bludgeoning damage. This arm is able to attack multiple times during a turn.
10 - You involuntarily belch out a massive cloud of toxic fumes. All creatures within 30 feet (including allies) must make a constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 minute. The cloud immediately dissipates afterwards, and you are immune to the poison’s effects. ...... (This one is my favorite, because I imaging my character munching on corn nuts as they travel, and when he rages, he burps a nasty smelly corn nut burp)
11 - A brilliant blue electrical ball appears in your hand, which you may throw at any creature within 30 feet. They take 1d4 lightning damage and must make a dexterity saving throw. If they succeed, the ball jumps to a random creature within 30 feet (other than you) and this process repeats. If they fail, or there is no other creature to jump to, the ball explodes causing an additional 2d6 lightning damage.
12 - A illusionary mass of horrific wraiths appear to burst from your body and fly out in all directions. All creatures within 30 feet (including allies) must make a wisdom saving throw or become frightened for 1 round. They must use their next turn to move away from you as fast as they are able.
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OK, so I really love the style of Path of Wild Magic. I will be choosing it when our group finally gets going again.
However, I feel like it's missing something in a few ways. There's an element of risk which I feel is missing, and I also feel that a caster-control ability would fit very well, too. On top of this, I feel like it isn't quite "good enough" at higher levels.
I've been thinking about his, on and off, since I read it in Tasha's. Here's where my thinking lies at the moment. I think it's relatively balanced and would make it even more fun to play, but I'd welcome comments, suggestions... even criticisms.
Wild Surge Table
Roll a d10 instead of a d8. Shift each of the current entries up by 1 and add the following:
1 - The magic slips though your grasp, temporarily evading you. Nothing happens on this roll. You may reroll on this table at the start of your next turn (no action or bonus action needed, but you may not use a bonus action to trigger the effect a second time on that turn).
10 - The air around you is suffused with chaotic eddies of magic, making it difficult to control. Any enemy caster within 10ft of you must make a saving throw using their spellcasting ability. On failure, they loose concentration on any spell they are concentrating on and cannot cast any spell until the start of your next turn. Until your rage ends, you can use this effect again on each of your turns as a bonus action.
Controlled Surge
Once per long rest, instead of choosing which effect to take you may choose to take both effects. If you do so, take 1d6 force damage as you draw more magic than you can handle, and take 1d6 force damage at the start of each of your turns, or any time you roll on this table, while this is in effect. If you reroll on the table due to Unstable Backlash, you replace one of the effects with the new roll. You may end one of the effects as a bonus action.
Edits from feedback shown in blue
For your first idea,
I like the idea of adding more options, but I don't think any of them should be punishing to the Barbarian or its party. Many people dislike "wild magic" subclasses already and this seems to be due to the fact that its difficult to strategize around since you cannot predict which feature you will get. What's nice about the change of the wild magic barbarian from UA to Tasha's is that all of the effects are beneficial to the barbarian and can be controlled so as not to harm the party.
If your group enjoys playing with high risk, high reward type characters, then your modifications could definitely add something fun without going too far in one direction. I would say in general, though, adding wild magic options that are less beneficial or potentially shut down friendly casters would probably turn more people off from playing this subclass, which I think is really fun as it is.
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For your second idea,
The issue I see here is that alot of wild magic features require your bonus action on each turn after you enter your rage, so having two active wild magic options at once is only going to give you the choice between two options for what you want to do with your bonus action as opposed to feeling like two abilities acting at the same time
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
Thanks Kaboom. Really appreciate the feedback.
I assume you were talking about option 10 for the "shouldn't disadvantage your party" bit. I wasn't sure whether to make it casters of your choice/enemy casters or the like. I didn't really want "casters of your choice who you can see", because I thought it would be good for it to interfere with things like invisibility. Making it like the vines option so it only affected enemies would work well, as long as it didn't make it too powerful.
I did quite like the the idea of having a "nothing yet" option, it seems to fit the chaotic nature of the subclass. I toyed with the idea of having the barb take damage on a 1, but thought it too much of a penalty. Similarly, having to use a bonus action to reroll seemed a bit tough (although, thinking about it, it may need something to stop it from being used with the bonus action on that second turn). It's definitely a downside to the class, but I don't think a 10% chance of "miss a turn, but free reroll next turn" is too bad.
For your notes on the second idea, I thought it struck a good balance. It gave a bit more flexibility, allowing you to choose which effect to activate with you bonus action. However, if the dice rolled in your favour, it would also allow one of the non-BA effects (vines/spell disruption/magic thrown weapon) to be used alongside a bonus action one. It's a choice, so you can see what you've rolled and say "I want both of those, and it's worth taking the damage", or "those don't work together, I'll just choose one of them".
Wild Magic should absolutely have some risk. Otherwise, it isn't wild, it's just random positive magic. I have a player about to choose this. I think I'm going to add a couple of minor, but harmless, negatives along the lines of Wild Magic Sorceror. Maybe one does nothing, the other has the player roll on another table I make of 6 alternatives.
If you're going to add some negative consequences, I recommend buffing the power of the surges as well since most of them are not all that impressive.
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I agree with @6thLyranGuard. I am currently playing a Path of Wild Magic barbarian in our game (5th level), and to be honest, the wild magic effects have been rather underwhelming so far. I cannot recall when a single effect has made any noticeable impact in a battle. If you are going to add some negatives, buff some of the others to compensate.
I'm a bit unsure of the need to make the Wild Magic Barbarian more unstable, since it's not as "wild" as a full Wild Magic. But if you want a chance for some chaos, I'd have the result for 1 be "roll on the Sorcerer Wild Magic Surge table" and the 10 result be "roll on the Sorcerer Wild Magic Surge table ignoring results that change your physical form or cast a spell centred upon yourself".
This might sound extreme, but unlike the Wild Magic Sorcerer who has potentially a 5% chance to surge every turn they cast a 1st level or higher spell, the Barbarian only rolls when they start to rage, and while that still leaves you with a 20% chance to surge, 10% of the time it's a harmless surge, so it might be an acceptable level of risk to you?
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
Our DM added some dope options for my Wild Magic Barbarian. They do bring risk to the party, but it has been fun to have the extra options, and it helped him make it harder for us, because we were defeating even high level foes in a few rounds because we are clever badasses. I also think they fit well into this class, because it seems like the barbarian has some old fey genes that pop out magic when he rages, so he shouldn't be able to really control it very well. There should be ooops moments. Here were the additions:
9 - Until your rage ends, you temporarily grow a massive extra arm. If any creature moves within 5 feet of you or you move within 5 feet of another creature, this arm immediately attacks them of its own volition. Make a melee attack roll, a successful hit causes 1d6 (plus strength modifier) bludgeoning damage. This arm is able to attack multiple times during a turn.
10 - You involuntarily belch out a massive cloud of toxic fumes. All creatures within 30 feet (including allies) must make a constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 minute. The cloud immediately dissipates afterwards, and you are immune to the poison’s effects. ...... (This one is my favorite, because I imaging my character munching on corn nuts as they travel, and when he rages, he burps a nasty smelly corn nut burp)
11 - A brilliant blue electrical ball appears in your hand, which you may throw at any creature within 30 feet. They take 1d4 lightning damage and must make a dexterity saving throw. If they succeed, the ball jumps to a random creature within 30 feet (other than you) and this process repeats. If they fail, or there is no other creature to jump to, the ball explodes causing an additional 2d6 lightning damage.
12 - A illusionary mass of horrific wraiths appear to burst from your body and fly out in all directions. All creatures within 30 feet (including allies) must make a wisdom saving throw or become frightened for 1 round. They must use their next turn to move away from you as fast as they are able.