I'm creating one for a campaign next weekend. There's only three of us so the DM gave us a buff by letting us re-roll all 1s, so the stats ended up pretty high (please no "OMG it's OP" comments, that's not constructive).
My stats ended up: 17, 15, 14, 15, 14, 10 (in whichever order I want to put them.
I'm going to be using claws, so I'm thinking a race that gives a +2, for 19 STR, then at level 4 pick the Slasher Feat for 20 STR.
Race Choices:
Magic Resistence? I can go Satyr or Yuan-ti, and when Raging having resistance to physical attacks and magic would be pretty hilarious. I actually really liked Satyr thematically (I made a backstory I loved), but they don't have dark vision. It just feels wrong to play a Werewolf-ish character that can't see in the dark. Yuan-ti is something I'm considering, but I already have high stats, and magic resistance on top (+Rage) might be a bit much.... even for me. Still, I have not ruled it out completely.
Odd-ASI Stats: Lots and lots of 2 - 1 ASI races. These are going to leave me with at least 2 odd stats. Half elf can give me 19 (with half-feat planned), 16 Dex and 16 Con. I'm considering it for pragmatic reasons, but it doesn't scream werewolf. Are there any other 2 -1 - 1 races?
Flavor: The race with the flavor I like most is the Lionin. Many of its abilities are redundant, but its Daunting Roar ability is very useful, thematic, and flavorful. I'd be looking at 19 Str, 15 Dex, 16 Con, 10 Int, 14 Wis, 14 Cha.
Claw-Weapon Combo?: This is another one I've been tackling. Level's 1-4 I'm pretty sure I'm going shield and double-claw attacks. Level's 5+ I can go shield + triple-claw, or maybe lower my AC by going greatsword + double-claw for more damage,
ORRR.... I've been trying to rules-lawyer a way to have 3 claw attacks plus 1 claw bonus action attack (with ASI, Rage bonus damage). Unless I'm reading the rules incorrectly, it seems like it can be done with two feats. You'll need the Two-Weapon Fightinig Style (to add your ASI bonus), and you'll need the Dual Wielder Feat (removing light melee weapon requuirement). That's two whole feats, and it doesn't seem worth it. And I would be looking at Level 12 before it comes online.
Any other claw-weapon combo ideas? And any other suggestions or ideas you may have is appreciated.
Two-weapon fighting doesn't work with natural weapons. The problem is that they do not have a hand designation. The beast barb makes them count as simple weapons, but they are neither one-handed or light. Dual Wielder doesn't register them as relevant weapons.
I spent a lot of time looking for decent bonus actions to give a beast barb when Tasha's first dropped. I had completely missed Longtooth shifter before you mentioned it in the other thread. It's a great find and I'd say go for that over the mild cheese of magic resistance. I know it feels awesome, but longtooth shifter is perfect for your flavor AND gives you access to a nice bonus action bite 1/short rest.
Here's what I got on Beast Barb bonus actions:
Shield Master: You already want a shield and you have advantage on strength checks. Also increases your defenses against most blast effects. I like this option a lot.
Crossbow Expert: You can technically go claw, claw, xbow, xbow for 4 attacks. But you need str and dex and are a weird hand crossbow wielding, claw growing beast man. Can't jive with the flavor.
Longtooth Shifter: Great flavor fit and the bite doesn't conflict with your claws. Only downside is the bite is only 1/short rest, but it also costs nothing more than your race choice.
Monk 1: A monk dip will let you use martial arts. Martial arts does not say you need to make each attack in the action with your unarmed strike or monk weapon. So you can have the following routine: 2-handed quarterstaff, claw, claw, unarmed strike.
Rogue 2: A rogue dip can fill your bonus action with cunning action. This is cool because it also provides expertise for athletics which has a lot of natural synergy with the grapple friendly beast barb.
Cleric 1: War domain. Finally the claws counting as weapons is good for something. Requires a high wisdom to get the most out of. It's a dip for a finite number of bonus action attacks and some intriguing buff options. Probably best on a longtooth to stack multiple finite bonus action attacks sources.
I like Shield Master a lot too. If you have some wiggle room you could also ask if Tavern Brawler could apply to your claws to trigger a bonus grapple.
I like the shifter flavor a lot, but your BA 1st round is Rage and BA second round is going to be shift, so its usefulness depends on how long your fights are. The temp hp is nice. Wildhunt shifter is also pretty nice for negating the downside to Reckless Strikes.
Two-weapon fighting doesn't work with natural weapons. The problem is that they do not have a hand designation. The beast barb makes them count as simple weapons, but they are neither one-handed or light. Dual Wielder doesn't register them as relevant weapons.
I spent a lot of time looking for decent bonus actions to give a beast barb when Tasha's first dropped. I had completely missed Longtooth shifter before you mentioned it in the other thread. It's a great find and I'd say go for that over the mild cheese of magic resistance. I know it feels awesome, but longtooth shifter is perfect for your flavor AND gives you access to a nice bonus action bite 1/short rest.
Here's what I got on Beast Barb bonus actions:
Shield Master: You already want a shield and you have advantage on strength checks. Also increases your defenses against most blast effects. I like this option a lot.
Crossbow Expert: You can technically go claw, claw, xbow, xbow for 4 attacks. But you need str and dex and are a weird hand crossbow wielding, claw growing beast man. Can't jive with the flavor.
Longtooth Shifter: Great flavor fit and the bite doesn't conflict with your claws. Only downside is the bite is only 1/short rest, but it also costs nothing more than your race choice.
Monk 1: A monk dip will let you use martial arts. Martial arts does not say you need to make each attack in the action with your unarmed strike or monk weapon. So you can have the following routine: 2-handed quarterstaff, claw, claw, unarmed strike.
Rogue 2: A rogue dip can fill your bonus action with cunning action. This is cool because it also provides expertise for athletics which has a lot of natural synergy with the grapple friendly beast barb.
Cleric 1: War domain. Finally the claws counting as weapons is good for something. Requires a high wisdom to get the most out of. It's a dip for a finite number of bonus action attacks and some intriguing buff options. Probably best on a longtooth to stack multiple finite bonus action attacks sources.
Telling the truth will never make someone my enemy :)
Yeah, I wrote this prior to finding the Shifter option. In another thread, some of the folks were talking about this:
Downsides: DM dependent, limits you to Elf or Half-elf (not a problem for me), and then doubly DM dependent if you want a magic version to overcome resistances.
Upsides: Gives you a bonus attack without requiring a feat. Full-time, all the time the bonus attack is available.
Now for the Shifter Longtooth:
Upsides: Great flavor, you don't have to ask your DM for something super special, ALSO grants a temporary hit points.
Downsides: Once per short rest, uses your bonus action - negating 1-2 rounds of use. Round 1 - bonus action rage, Round 2 bonus action shift, Round 3 bite. Or at least: Round 1 bonus action shift, Round 2 bite.
For added flavor, your PC has 4 different states! Normal, Shifted, Rage, and Shifted + Rage.
AAAAAHHHHHHH. I can't believe I forgot about the double-bladed scimitar. I sketched out a whole sea elf (polar)bear totem barbarian from an arctic tribe when that thing came out. I was so pumped about that weapon.
Yeah that is an awesome fit. Literally perfect as the double-bladed scimitar was also waiting for a two-handed build that did not want PAM and/or GWM. I believe we will see a lot of elf or half-elf beast barbs in the future.
How do you feel about barbarian spellcasters? Cause I think the war cleric has a lot of synergy on a longtooth shifter build, and the first 6 levels of Beast Barb are way stronger than the next 6. Piecing together two different bonus action attacks will help you cover most of the adventuring day. Cleric has some really nice non-concentration buffs. It's certainly an odd pairing but Barb spellcasters can get a surprising amount out of their slots.
I had not considered the bonus action to activate the shift means that you won't bite until turn 3. Makes me much less enthused by the shifter and much more attracted to the double-bladed scimitar. What's your read on the DM and campaign, do you think you could get a magical DBS? Unless that's a real sticking point I'd go for a DBS build. That is the mechanically cleanest way to be 4 attacks guy and I'd go for it if you want damage. You don't even need feats for this. That's kind of blowing my mind a little.
Shield Master still gets a nod from me because shoving prone is awesome. But I don't know, I look at that no feat 4 attacks and cry a little. Don't think longtooth can shake a stick at it either. If you're dedicated to the claws and not trying to use the tail/bite much I would go deep and really specialize. This isn't a tank build, it's a shredder build.
Yeah, the bonus action is a downer, as is the limited use (of shifting). It’s offset a bit by giving you temp hit points. Obviously the double-bladed scimitar is mechanically far superior, but then on the flipside if you go to the shifter route, you do get to carry a shield and have +2 AC.
Flavor wise the Shifter just wins IMO, and I do like that you have so many different forms you can take. Aside from choosing between bite, claws, or tail, you can choose to shift or not to shift.
Also, since Rage is a limited resource, shifting can be a nice option for between Rages. At lower levels you only have 2 rages per day. With two short rests, you now have 2 rages and 2 shifts. Or, for a big battle, you can use both together.
As for multi classing into a spellcaster, doesn’t rage interfere with casting spells? it also gives you yet another Ability Score to worry about.
Also, with the barbarian your number of Rages continue to climb, as does your rage damage, and the Beast subclass features you get at higher levels are pretty good.
A barbarian can cast spells while out of rage. If the spell lacks concentration and has a decent duration you can cast it out of combat and still benefit from it once you start raging. You need a 13 wisdom, which could be a pain, but you don't need a big investment. The more you can put into it the better though since it will give you more bonus action attacks. You only need one level so you can go right back to barbarian afterwards. The spells you take will be buff spells that don't care about your casting stat. I think it's a nice idea for specifically the longtooth shifter. Otherwise I wouldn't bother.
A barbarian can cast spells while out of rage. If the spell lacks concentration and has a decent duration you can cast it out of combat and still benefit from it once you start raging. You need a 13 wisdom, which could be a pain, but you don't need a big investment. The more you can put into it the better though since it will give you more bonus action attacks. You only need one level so you can go right back to barbarian afterwards. The spells you take will be buff spells that don't care about your casting stat. I think it's a nice idea for specifically the longtooth shifter. Otherwise I wouldn't bother.
It can be done, I just think it’s suboptimal. But if it fits your theme and it will be more enjoyable for you, then there’s no reason not to.
Barb with Psi Warrior is a pretty good combo to have some casty stuff that Rage doesn't block. Plus Fighter is just really hard not to take after 6 anyway. By Barb6/Fighter7 you are a flying tornado of claws. 4 more levels of Fighter and you're attacking 4 times before your BA and you can stack Psionic Strike on it. With the high INT and ceiling crawling it has a real Beast from X-men vibe to it.
I'm saving 2BS for other builds. Feels dirty showing up with it on every character.
Barb with Psi Warrior is a pretty good combo to have some casty stuff that Rage doesn't block. Plus Fighter is just really hard not to take after 6 anyway. By Barb6/Fighter7 you are a flying tornado of claws. 4 more levels of Fighter and you're attacking 4 times before your BA and you can stack Psionic Strike on it. With the high INT and ceiling crawling it has a real Beast from X-men vibe to it.
I'm saving 2BS for other builds. Feels dirty showing up with it on every character.
I would need to deep dive into both classes and compare what you're giving up compared to what you're gaining. Also consider how high your campaign will go, and how much time you're going to spend in each level. Climbing the latter on Beast Barb will continue to give you more rages and more damage per rage, on top of basic Barb features and Beast features. I think the higher level Path of the Beast features are really good.
Campaign-specific for sure, but Barb scales so slowly that I lose patience with it. You only gain 2 more rages/day and 2 additional rage damage between 6 and 20, and claw attacks don't gain that much from the Brutal Critical features. I'm ok with trading that and the other stuff for Second Wind, Action Surge, some excellent Fighter subclass features to choose from, and ultimately that additional attack. But you're right it comes online pretty late.
Hunter Ranger has a quicker payoff for a low level game with and extra attack through Hordebreaker.
Campaign-specific for sure, but Barb scales so slowly that I lose patience with it. You only gain 2 more rages/day and 2 additional rage damage between 6 and 20, and claw attacks don't gain that much from the Brutal Critical features. I'm ok with trading that and the other stuff for Second Wind, Action Surge, some excellent Fighter subclass features to choose from, and ultimately that additional attack. But you're right it comes online pretty late.
Hunter Ranger has a quicker payoff for a low level game with and extra attack through Hordebreaker.
Brutal Critical adds the same extra damage with claws as it does a greatsword (just the way the mechanics work). It only adds one additional damage die. But not as much as, say, a Halbert.
Something I haven't seen any beast barbs address is running out of rages. More than any other barb your fighting style is your rage. Even a 5 rage barb isn't guaranteed, and that takes forever to get to. What's your fallback when you can't rage?
That question makes me value the double-bladed scimitar even more. You can always fall back on a 3 attack routine using it.
After I was looking at battle masters for a completely different build, I saw that the natural weapons' classification as simple melee weapons would allow them to be used for maneuvers. Specifically the brace maneuver has me really excited for a beast barb/battle master MC. I'm excited to put it on my tail focused beast barb, but it's just as exciting on someone trying to make as many attacks as possible. A fifth attack a turn with bonus damage is nothing to sneeze at. Plus, this is a multiclass with a known pedigree. Fighter 1-4 gives you way more than barb 7-10.
More than any other barb your fighting style is your rage.
Oooh, I hadn't thought of that. I guess you fall back to using standard weapons, but that would suck for a character concept designed around the bestial natural weapons, and would suck more than most.
Yeah I can't imagine it feels good. I could imagine never rolling a beast barb for fear of not doing my thing often enough. I'm already not a huge fan of how they chose to balance rage scaling. Double Bladed Scimitar looks like the way to go the more I think about it. Investing in weapon feats just to be better when you can't rage is not a good option, so having something so efficiently self-contained as a damage booster is fantastic.
Something I haven't seen any beast barbs address is running out of rages. More than any other barb your fighting style is your rage. Even a 5 rage barb isn't guaranteed, and that takes forever to get to. What's your fallback when you can't rage?
That question makes me value the double-bladed scimitar even more. You can always fall back on a 3 attack routine using it.
After I was looking at battle masters for a completely different build, I saw that the natural weapons' classification as simple melee weapons would allow them to be used for maneuvers. Specifically the brace maneuver has me really excited for a beast barb/battle master MC. I'm excited to put it on my tail focused beast barb, but it's just as exciting on someone trying to make as many attacks as possible. A fifth attack a turn with bonus damage is nothing to sneeze at. Plus, this is a multiclass with a known pedigree. Fighter 1-4 gives you way more than barb 7-10.
I did address this with my suggestion of playing the Shifter Longtooth race. Shifting is once per short rest, and it can be used in-between rages, as a supplement.
but beyond that, al Barbarians have to contend with the limited use issue.
but beyond that, al Barbarians have to contend with the limited use issue
True, but few loose their main weaponry (which likely forms a decent part of the player's vision of his character) in doing so. I can see it feeling much more painful for a Beast barb.
Oops. Missed that. Sorry, my b. Yeah that's probably better than trying to use shifting during a rage because of the bonus action tension.
No other barbarian gets its weapons from its rage though. It's a different dynamic and I can imagine it being quite unfun to regularly not be the beast boy that one is looking to be when they play this class.
Oops. Missed that. Sorry, my b. Yeah that's probably better than trying to use shifting during a rage because of the bonus action tension.
No other barbarian gets its weapons from its rage though. It's a different dynamic and I can imagine it being quite unfun to regularly not be the beast boy that one is looking to be when they play this class.
The way I see it, all Barbarians must fight with normal weapons when not in rage. There's nothing about growing fangs, claws, or a tail that prevent you from equipping yourself however you please. I think it's kind of cool that the Beast's rage is more dramatic. It makes it more like a Bruce Banner to Hulk effect.
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I'm creating one for a campaign next weekend. There's only three of us so the DM gave us a buff by letting us re-roll all 1s, so the stats ended up pretty high (please no "OMG it's OP" comments, that's not constructive).
My stats ended up: 17, 15, 14, 15, 14, 10 (in whichever order I want to put them.
I'm going to be using claws, so I'm thinking a race that gives a +2, for 19 STR, then at level 4 pick the Slasher Feat for 20 STR.
Race Choices:
Magic Resistence? I can go Satyr or Yuan-ti, and when Raging having resistance to physical attacks and magic would be pretty hilarious. I actually really liked Satyr thematically (I made a backstory I loved), but they don't have dark vision. It just feels wrong to play a Werewolf-ish character that can't see in the dark. Yuan-ti is something I'm considering, but I already have high stats, and magic resistance on top (+Rage) might be a bit much.... even for me. Still, I have not ruled it out completely.
Odd-ASI Stats: Lots and lots of 2 - 1 ASI races. These are going to leave me with at least 2 odd stats. Half elf can give me 19 (with half-feat planned), 16 Dex and 16 Con. I'm considering it for pragmatic reasons, but it doesn't scream werewolf. Are there any other 2 -1 - 1 races?
Flavor: The race with the flavor I like most is the Lionin. Many of its abilities are redundant, but its Daunting Roar ability is very useful, thematic, and flavorful. I'd be looking at 19 Str, 15 Dex, 16 Con, 10 Int, 14 Wis, 14 Cha.
Claw-Weapon Combo?: This is another one I've been tackling. Level's 1-4 I'm pretty sure I'm going shield and double-claw attacks. Level's 5+ I can go shield + triple-claw, or maybe lower my AC by going greatsword + double-claw for more damage,
ORRR.... I've been trying to rules-lawyer a way to have 3 claw attacks plus 1 claw bonus action attack (with ASI, Rage bonus damage). Unless I'm reading the rules incorrectly, it seems like it can be done with two feats. You'll need the Two-Weapon Fightinig Style (to add your ASI bonus), and you'll need the Dual Wielder Feat (removing light melee weapon requuirement). That's two whole feats, and it doesn't seem worth it. And I would be looking at Level 12 before it comes online.
Any other claw-weapon combo ideas? And any other suggestions or ideas you may have is appreciated.
I'm afraid I'm going to make you my enemy :(
Two-weapon fighting doesn't work with natural weapons. The problem is that they do not have a hand designation. The beast barb makes them count as simple weapons, but they are neither one-handed or light. Dual Wielder doesn't register them as relevant weapons.
I spent a lot of time looking for decent bonus actions to give a beast barb when Tasha's first dropped. I had completely missed Longtooth shifter before you mentioned it in the other thread. It's a great find and I'd say go for that over the mild cheese of magic resistance. I know it feels awesome, but longtooth shifter is perfect for your flavor AND gives you access to a nice bonus action bite 1/short rest.
Here's what I got on Beast Barb bonus actions:
Shield Master: You already want a shield and you have advantage on strength checks. Also increases your defenses against most blast effects. I like this option a lot.
Crossbow Expert: You can technically go claw, claw, xbow, xbow for 4 attacks. But you need str and dex and are a weird hand crossbow wielding, claw growing beast man. Can't jive with the flavor.
Longtooth Shifter: Great flavor fit and the bite doesn't conflict with your claws. Only downside is the bite is only 1/short rest, but it also costs nothing more than your race choice.
Monk 1: A monk dip will let you use martial arts. Martial arts does not say you need to make each attack in the action with your unarmed strike or monk weapon. So you can have the following routine: 2-handed quarterstaff, claw, claw, unarmed strike.
Rogue 2: A rogue dip can fill your bonus action with cunning action. This is cool because it also provides expertise for athletics which has a lot of natural synergy with the grapple friendly beast barb.
Cleric 1: War domain. Finally the claws counting as weapons is good for something. Requires a high wisdom to get the most out of. It's a dip for a finite number of bonus action attacks and some intriguing buff options. Probably best on a longtooth to stack multiple finite bonus action attacks sources.
I like Shield Master a lot too. If you have some wiggle room you could also ask if Tavern Brawler could apply to your claws to trigger a bonus grapple.
I like the shifter flavor a lot, but your BA 1st round is Rage and BA second round is going to be shift, so its usefulness depends on how long your fights are. The temp hp is nice. Wildhunt shifter is also pretty nice for negating the downside to Reckless Strikes.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Telling the truth will never make someone my enemy :)
Yeah, I wrote this prior to finding the Shifter option. In another thread, some of the folks were talking about this:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/equipment/double-bladed-scimitar
Double-Bladed Scimitar
It's a GREAT option, but not without downsides.
Downsides: DM dependent, limits you to Elf or Half-elf (not a problem for me), and then doubly DM dependent if you want a magic version to overcome resistances.
Upsides: Gives you a bonus attack without requiring a feat. Full-time, all the time the bonus attack is available.
Now for the Shifter Longtooth:
Upsides: Great flavor, you don't have to ask your DM for something super special, ALSO grants a temporary hit points.
Downsides: Once per short rest, uses your bonus action - negating 1-2 rounds of use. Round 1 - bonus action rage, Round 2 bonus action shift, Round 3 bite. Or at least: Round 1 bonus action shift, Round 2 bite.
For added flavor, your PC has 4 different states! Normal, Shifted, Rage, and Shifted + Rage.
:)
AAAAAHHHHHHH. I can't believe I forgot about the double-bladed scimitar. I sketched out a whole sea elf (polar)bear totem barbarian from an arctic tribe when that thing came out. I was so pumped about that weapon.
Yeah that is an awesome fit. Literally perfect as the double-bladed scimitar was also waiting for a two-handed build that did not want PAM and/or GWM. I believe we will see a lot of elf or half-elf beast barbs in the future.
How do you feel about barbarian spellcasters? Cause I think the war cleric has a lot of synergy on a longtooth shifter build, and the first 6 levels of Beast Barb are way stronger than the next 6. Piecing together two different bonus action attacks will help you cover most of the adventuring day. Cleric has some really nice non-concentration buffs. It's certainly an odd pairing but Barb spellcasters can get a surprising amount out of their slots.
I had not considered the bonus action to activate the shift means that you won't bite until turn 3. Makes me much less enthused by the shifter and much more attracted to the double-bladed scimitar. What's your read on the DM and campaign, do you think you could get a magical DBS? Unless that's a real sticking point I'd go for a DBS build. That is the mechanically cleanest way to be 4 attacks guy and I'd go for it if you want damage. You don't even need feats for this. That's kind of blowing my mind a little.
Shield Master still gets a nod from me because shoving prone is awesome. But I don't know, I look at that no feat 4 attacks and cry a little. Don't think longtooth can shake a stick at it either. If you're dedicated to the claws and not trying to use the tail/bite much I would go deep and really specialize. This isn't a tank build, it's a shredder build.
Yeah, the bonus action is a downer, as is the limited use (of shifting). It’s offset a bit by giving you temp hit points. Obviously the double-bladed scimitar is mechanically far superior, but then on the flipside if you go to the shifter route, you do get to carry a shield and have +2 AC.
Flavor wise the Shifter just wins IMO, and I do like that you have so many different forms you can take. Aside from choosing between bite, claws, or tail, you can choose to shift or not to shift.
Also, since Rage is a limited resource, shifting can be a nice option for between Rages. At lower levels you only have 2 rages per day. With two short rests, you now have 2 rages and 2 shifts. Or, for a big battle, you can use both together.
As for multi classing into a spellcaster, doesn’t rage interfere with casting spells? it also gives you yet another Ability Score to worry about.
Also, with the barbarian your number of Rages continue to climb, as does your rage damage, and the Beast subclass features you get at higher levels are pretty good.
A barbarian can cast spells while out of rage. If the spell lacks concentration and has a decent duration you can cast it out of combat and still benefit from it once you start raging. You need a 13 wisdom, which could be a pain, but you don't need a big investment. The more you can put into it the better though since it will give you more bonus action attacks. You only need one level so you can go right back to barbarian afterwards. The spells you take will be buff spells that don't care about your casting stat. I think it's a nice idea for specifically the longtooth shifter. Otherwise I wouldn't bother.
It can be done, I just think it’s suboptimal. But if it fits your theme and it will be more enjoyable for you, then there’s no reason not to.
Barb with Psi Warrior is a pretty good combo to have some casty stuff that Rage doesn't block. Plus Fighter is just really hard not to take after 6 anyway. By Barb6/Fighter7 you are a flying tornado of claws. 4 more levels of Fighter and you're attacking 4 times before your BA and you can stack Psionic Strike on it. With the high INT and ceiling crawling it has a real Beast from X-men vibe to it.
I'm saving 2BS for other builds. Feels dirty showing up with it on every character.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
I would need to deep dive into both classes and compare what you're giving up compared to what you're gaining. Also consider how high your campaign will go, and how much time you're going to spend in each level. Climbing the latter on Beast Barb will continue to give you more rages and more damage per rage, on top of basic Barb features and Beast features. I think the higher level Path of the Beast features are really good.
Campaign-specific for sure, but Barb scales so slowly that I lose patience with it. You only gain 2 more rages/day and 2 additional rage damage between 6 and 20, and claw attacks don't gain that much from the Brutal Critical features. I'm ok with trading that and the other stuff for Second Wind, Action Surge, some excellent Fighter subclass features to choose from, and ultimately that additional attack. But you're right it comes online pretty late.
Hunter Ranger has a quicker payoff for a low level game with and extra attack through Hordebreaker.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Brutal Critical adds the same extra damage with claws as it does a greatsword (just the way the mechanics work). It only adds one additional damage die. But not as much as, say, a Halbert.
I know you specified +2 racial bonus to strength, but have you considered a leonin?
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Something I haven't seen any beast barbs address is running out of rages. More than any other barb your fighting style is your rage. Even a 5 rage barb isn't guaranteed, and that takes forever to get to. What's your fallback when you can't rage?
That question makes me value the double-bladed scimitar even more. You can always fall back on a 3 attack routine using it.
After I was looking at battle masters for a completely different build, I saw that the natural weapons' classification as simple melee weapons would allow them to be used for maneuvers. Specifically the brace maneuver has me really excited for a beast barb/battle master MC. I'm excited to put it on my tail focused beast barb, but it's just as exciting on someone trying to make as many attacks as possible. A fifth attack a turn with bonus damage is nothing to sneeze at. Plus, this is a multiclass with a known pedigree. Fighter 1-4 gives you way more than barb 7-10.
Oooh, I hadn't thought of that. I guess you fall back to using standard weapons, but that would suck for a character concept designed around the bestial natural weapons, and would suck more than most.
Yeah I can't imagine it feels good. I could imagine never rolling a beast barb for fear of not doing my thing often enough. I'm already not a huge fan of how they chose to balance rage scaling. Double Bladed Scimitar looks like the way to go the more I think about it. Investing in weapon feats just to be better when you can't rage is not a good option, so having something so efficiently self-contained as a damage booster is fantastic.
I did address this with my suggestion of playing the Shifter Longtooth race. Shifting is once per short rest, and it can be used in-between rages, as a supplement.
but beyond that, al Barbarians have to contend with the limited use issue.
True, but few loose their main weaponry (which likely forms a decent part of the player's vision of his character) in doing so. I can see it feeling much more painful for a Beast barb.
Oops. Missed that. Sorry, my b. Yeah that's probably better than trying to use shifting during a rage because of the bonus action tension.
No other barbarian gets its weapons from its rage though. It's a different dynamic and I can imagine it being quite unfun to regularly not be the beast boy that one is looking to be when they play this class.
The way I see it, all Barbarians must fight with normal weapons when not in rage. There's nothing about growing fangs, claws, or a tail that prevent you from equipping yourself however you please. I think it's kind of cool that the Beast's rage is more dramatic. It makes it more like a Bruce Banner to Hulk effect.