What would a take on the Rune Knight be like for the Barbarian in some hypothetical Bigby's Codex of Curiosities?
It just breaks my heart there there could be stories out there of Rune Knights Wrestling Tarrasques, but Barbarians will never reach Godzilla wrestling sizes.
But the whole studious craftsman angle on Rune Knight feels more like a sort of artificer fighter subclass. Can't imagine it quite working out for Barbarians.
So maybe something like a Barbarian scarification artist, who carves runes into their flesh? Or some sort of war paint themed barbarian that is a little less knowledge based and more intuitive in their craft?
In Warhammer Age of Sigmar the reimagined Dwarf "slayers" (basically berserkers) now called "Fyre Slayers" carve runes into their bodies and pour molten gold into them because… why not I guess? I've played a totem barbarian along the lines of war paint, rather than dragging a totem around; I think making it runes on the body is definitely the way to go, but I'd maybe just leave the specifics up to the player and let them choose how extreme to get with it?
If I were to do a "runezerker" I'd maybe give them access to different runes such as "Fury", "Ruin" and so-on, so more emotional/instinctive themes rather than being tied to the giant tribes and the effects that Rune Knights get. But otherwise a similar idea with a passive effect and some way to activate it for a special attack, reaction or such.
One other question mark is whether to give them Giant's Might exactly as Rune Knight gets; I like the idea of having something slightly different that you could potentially combine with Giant's Might if you multiclass, as one of the interesting things with Giant's Might is while it increases you specifically to Large, it doesn't prevent something else (like Enlarge/Reduce) enlarging you further, so I think the Barbarian equivalent should be stackable somehow, since you'd need to invest a minimum of six levels into getting them both. Maybe something tied to Rage?
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Im thinking along the lines of giving some kind of option for a Giant's Might version of rage for half the barbarian's rages, with it being an option for all their rages as a subclass capstone. I also don't think it should get the strength advantages (redundant). The bonus damage might still make sense though, but maybe that could be another static increase to strength damage per hit like the rage bonus.
Different runes sound cool though, especially since some of the existing runes overlap with Barbarian abilities
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What would a take on the Rune Knight be like for the Barbarian in some hypothetical Bigby's Codex of Curiosities?
It just breaks my heart there there could be stories out there of Rune Knights Wrestling Tarrasques, but Barbarians will never reach Godzilla wrestling sizes.
But the whole studious craftsman angle on Rune Knight feels more like a sort of artificer fighter subclass. Can't imagine it quite working out for Barbarians.
So maybe something like a Barbarian scarification artist, who carves runes into their flesh? Or some sort of war paint themed barbarian that is a little less knowledge based and more intuitive in their craft?
What do you think?
In Warhammer Age of Sigmar the reimagined Dwarf "slayers" (basically berserkers) now called "Fyre Slayers" carve runes into their bodies and pour molten gold into them because… why not I guess? I've played a totem barbarian along the lines of war paint, rather than dragging a totem around; I think making it runes on the body is definitely the way to go, but I'd maybe just leave the specifics up to the player and let them choose how extreme to get with it?
If I were to do a "runezerker" I'd maybe give them access to different runes such as "Fury", "Ruin" and so-on, so more emotional/instinctive themes rather than being tied to the giant tribes and the effects that Rune Knights get. But otherwise a similar idea with a passive effect and some way to activate it for a special attack, reaction or such.
One other question mark is whether to give them Giant's Might exactly as Rune Knight gets; I like the idea of having something slightly different that you could potentially combine with Giant's Might if you multiclass, as one of the interesting things with Giant's Might is while it increases you specifically to Large, it doesn't prevent something else (like Enlarge/Reduce) enlarging you further, so I think the Barbarian equivalent should be stackable somehow, since you'd need to invest a minimum of six levels into getting them both. Maybe something tied to Rage?
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.
You can just reflavour the Rune Knight to be a barbarian or reflavour the Totem Barb to gain their powers from rune tattoos. Or do a multiclass.
Im thinking along the lines of giving some kind of option for a Giant's Might version of rage for half the barbarian's rages, with it being an option for all their rages as a subclass capstone. I also don't think it should get the strength advantages (redundant). The bonus damage might still make sense though, but maybe that could be another static increase to strength damage per hit like the rage bonus.
Different runes sound cool though, especially since some of the existing runes overlap with Barbarian abilities