Depends on the barbarian investment and subclass (and race, if applicable). Many ideas are already stated, but here's from my experience.
No multiclass: 24 Str/Con is hard to pass up. Absurd hit/damage bonus, highest possible base health with tough feat and hill dwarf, and unlimited rages. Highest possible base stat total in the game.
Bear totem 3+/moon druid X: stronk spell potential, very good at sponging damage. Also doubles as a trusty mount.
Berserker 3+/moon druid X: frenzy w/ elemental form = no exhaustion.
Barbarian X/assassin 3: almost-guaranteed brutal critical at the start of a fight (best with a half-orc).
Barbarian X/champion 3: similar to the above, but trades a single almost-guaranteed crit for double the normal chance (again, half-orc build). Spam reckless attack for best results.
Barbarian 3+/battlemaster 3+: short rest resources means less over-reliance on rage. Be aware of extra attack redundancy.
Barbarian 2+/paladin X: a little MAD. Spam reckless attack, splatter enemies with divine smite. Pick up downed allies with lay on hands. Channel divinity shenanigans. If dipping barbarian 3+, go zealot for the holy warrior theme or berserker to maximize damage potential.
Barbarian 2+/monk X: very MAD, but not as squishy as a pure monk. Less reliant on wisdom. Rage damage w/ FoB adds up quickly (best with a tortle).
Bear totem X/war cleric 3: a little MAD, but warding bond isn't concentration. Score extra hits and protect someone else. Pick up others with cure wounds then raging or healing word and attacking to prove you're the biggest threat.
Paladin is the best route to go if you want to be a spellcaster. You can choose some spells to be cast before combat when not raging, and you can Smite during combat with the rest of your spell slots.
Fighter is also good if you don't want to be a spellcaster, battlemaster or Champion are what I'd choose from.
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Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
When I played a Barb, I went Storm Herald/Battle Master to play a more support orientated tank. I really can't stand pure martial classes either so Battlemaster was meant to assuage my frustration at lacking in things to actually do during a turn outside of attack.
It did what I wanted it to do. How scary it was is up to others.
rouge would work well if you could convince your DM to let you do sneak attack with non-finesse weapons. if you can, take 3 levels into assassin. that way, you can have a reliable source of critical hits.also, take 2 level into druid to turn into a bunny. if you sneak up behind someone, you can get an automatic critical hit with assassinate, and then get a big critical hit from brutal critical hit. that way, you can both humiliate the enemy, and deal big damage.
rouge would work well if you could convince your DM to let you do sneak attack with non-finesse weapons. if you can, take 3 levels into assassin. that way, you can have a reliable source of critical hits.also, take 2 level into druid to turn into a bunny. if you sneak up behind someone, you can get an automatic critical hit with assassinate, and then get a big critical hit from brutal critical hit. that way, you can both humiliate the enemy, and deal big damage.
The animal should match the environment and behavior. A cat may brush up to someone in a city, while rats tend to be ubiquitous. However, this would also need 3 druid levels for moon druid to be worthwhile due to the action economy. A fun idea, but you're giving up a lot for a MAD setup.
The problem with multiclassing into a Spell Caster is you can't cast spells while you are Raging and you can't even Concentrate on spells while Raging. You're not focusing on one thing to be good at, spreading yourself to thin.
That said, in my personal opinion. 1-2 lvls of Barbarian and the rest of it Moon Druid is an amazing combination. Moon Druids care almost nothing for their spell slots and the Rage will add to Wild Shape's sustainability.
That said this is all very subjective, because every defines "scariness" differently. For my The Above character I made was very more effective incombat then I ever expected. I was worried I might outshine the party too much, but it balanced out after lvl 3 pretty quickly.
It says that you
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'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
Druid Barbarian is as others have said near unstoppable in one on one.
Monk Barbarian is pretty good as well. Throw in fighter for action surge and your hitting people so many times you might start feeling bad. Most monsters wouldn't even get to hit you back.
Barbarian spellcaster isn't optimal due to not being able to concentrate or cast spells.
Druid Barbarian is as others have said near unstoppable in one on one.
Monk Barbarian is pretty good as well. Throw in fighter for action surge and your hitting people so many times you might start feeling bad. Most monsters wouldn't even get to hit you back.
Barbarian spellcaster isn't optimal due to not being able to concentrate or cast spells.
The rules on raging say 'If you can normally cast spells, you can not concentrate on them while raging.' It is possible to cast spells as a raging barb, just not concentration ones. One of the reasons why people hate beast master is because of this: people read/misinterpret the rules, making them seem bad
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'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
rouge would work well if you could convince your DM to let you do sneak attack with non-finesse weapons. if you can, take 3 levels into assassin. that way, you can have a reliable source of critical hits.also, take 2 level into druid to turn into a bunny. if you sneak up behind someone, you can get an automatic critical hit with assassinate, and then get a big critical hit from brutal critical hit. that way, you can both humiliate the enemy, and deal big damage.
You can reckless and add rage damage with finesse weapons if you use STR instead of DEX which the finesse property allows. STR Rogues benefit from a minimum 2 level barbarian dip for sneak attack on demand through reckless attack and maximum 5 level dip for extra attack and archetype on top of reckless. Bear totem makes you extra tanky and with uncanny dodge/evasion you can further reduce big damage. For example meteor swarm does 140 damage average and if you are raging its 70 damage and evasion will allow you to take either none of the damage or 35 if you fail the save which is huge. Expertise in athletics also makes you the best grappler/shover in the game. Its a fun character if planned correctly.
the druid version have been said alot about. The rogue goes as following:
wield a short sword (you need a free hand), take expertise in athletics. Rage, grapple enemy (with expertise and advantage), and attack recklessly for auto-sneak attack. this goes online at barbarian 2/rogue1.
To make it really hillarious go bear barbarian 6/scout rogue X to toss enemies all over the place while dealing serious sneak attack damage.
honestly? none really, because at 5th level you get second attack, which is huge, multi classing for the most part is viable after 5th level, not to discurage you but usualy whatever combination you have with multiclassing in 5th level will probably be weaker than any one level 5 class, youd be giving up 2 chances to crit and do damage, 2 attacks at advantage and delaying your features till you level up again, which can be a long while, 5 levels in a single class can usualy pull you through untill the thing you want from your secondary class comes online
What's the Best multiclass with Barbarian at character level 5 in 2020?
If you absolutely must multiclass, I'd say fighter is your best bet; Second Wind pairs nicely with Rage, and Dueling/GWF/TWF styles add to your damage output. If Ebberon equipment is available, a double scimitar is great, as it helps with the lack of Extra Attack.
Most classes get significantly stronger at level 5, and delaying your EA hurts any martial build.
So Multiclassing isn't recommend for a 5th level character as barbarian
At that specific level, mechanically, no. However, there may be a story-related reason to do it. If your barbarian likes the precise attacks of a fighter, (s)he may choose to take a level in fighter by studying under that ally. I happen to like stacking modifiers together, and going TWF with rage adds a lot of modifier damage at level 2 (8.5*2 ((1d6+5)*2 w/ TWF hand axes) vs 11.5 (1d12+5 w/ greataxe)).
Depends on the barbarian investment and subclass (and race, if applicable). Many ideas are already stated, but here's from my experience.
No multiclass: 24 Str/Con is hard to pass up. Absurd hit/damage bonus, highest possible base health with tough feat and hill dwarf, and unlimited rages. Highest possible base stat total in the game.
Bear totem 3+/moon druid X: stronk spell potential, very good at sponging damage. Also doubles as a trusty mount.
Berserker 3+/moon druid X: frenzy w/ elemental form = no exhaustion.
Barbarian X/assassin 3: almost-guaranteed brutal critical at the start of a fight (best with a half-orc).
Barbarian X/champion 3: similar to the above, but trades a single almost-guaranteed crit for double the normal chance (again, half-orc build). Spam reckless attack for best results.
Barbarian 3+/battlemaster 3+: short rest resources means less over-reliance on rage. Be aware of extra attack redundancy.
Barbarian 2+/paladin X: a little MAD. Spam reckless attack, splatter enemies with divine smite. Pick up downed allies with lay on hands. Channel divinity shenanigans. If dipping barbarian 3+, go zealot for the holy warrior theme or berserker to maximize damage potential.
Barbarian 2+/monk X: very MAD, but not as squishy as a pure monk. Less reliant on wisdom. Rage damage w/ FoB adds up quickly (best with a tortle).
Bear totem X/war cleric 3: a little MAD, but warding bond isn't concentration. Score extra hits and protect someone else. Pick up others with cure wounds then raging or healing word and attacking to prove you're the biggest threat.
Paladin is the best route to go if you want to be a spellcaster. You can choose some spells to be cast before combat when not raging, and you can Smite during combat with the rest of your spell slots.
Fighter is also good if you don't want to be a spellcaster, battlemaster or Champion are what I'd choose from.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
It does not give you a bonus action. It only gives you an additional attack action. So he is right only 5 attacks.
When I played a Barb, I went Storm Herald/Battle Master to play a more support orientated tank. I really can't stand pure martial classes either so Battlemaster was meant to assuage my frustration at lacking in things to actually do during a turn outside of attack.
It did what I wanted it to do. How scary it was is up to others.
rouge would work well if you could convince your DM to let you do sneak attack with non-finesse weapons. if you can, take 3 levels into assassin. that way, you can have a reliable source of critical hits.also, take 2 level into druid to turn into a bunny. if you sneak up behind someone, you can get an automatic critical hit with assassinate, and then get a big critical hit from brutal critical hit. that way, you can both humiliate the enemy, and deal big damage.
The animal should match the environment and behavior. A cat may brush up to someone in a city, while rats tend to be ubiquitous. However, this would also need 3 druid levels for moon druid to be worthwhile due to the action economy. A fun idea, but you're giving up a lot for a MAD setup.
Lizardfolk Barbarian and Rogue is a weird mesh but I've been thinking about it.
It says that you
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
Druid Barbarian is as others have said near unstoppable in one on one.
Monk Barbarian is pretty good as well. Throw in fighter for action surge and your hitting people so many times you might start feeling bad. Most monsters wouldn't even get to hit you back.
Barbarian spellcaster isn't optimal due to not being able to concentrate or cast spells.
The rules on raging say 'If you can normally cast spells, you can not concentrate on them while raging.' It is possible to cast spells as a raging barb, just not concentration ones. One of the reasons why people hate beast master is because of this: people read/misinterpret the rules, making them seem bad
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
"If you are able to cast spells, you can’t cast them or concentrate on them while raging"
So reading and misinterpreting the rules ae
But the main draw of druid barbarian isnt the spells
Its raging in wildshape
AMEN with that, bro !!
My Ready-to-rock&roll chars:
Dertinus Tristany // Amilcar Barca // Vicenç Sacrarius // Oriol Deulofeu // Grovtuk
You can reckless and add rage damage with finesse weapons if you use STR instead of DEX which the finesse property allows. STR Rogues benefit from a minimum 2 level barbarian dip for sneak attack on demand through reckless attack and maximum 5 level dip for extra attack and archetype on top of reckless. Bear totem makes you extra tanky and with uncanny dodge/evasion you can further reduce big damage. For example meteor swarm does 140 damage average and if you are raging its 70 damage and evasion will allow you to take either none of the damage or 35 if you fail the save which is huge. Expertise in athletics also makes you the best grappler/shover in the game. Its a fun character if planned correctly.
Your secret is safe with my indifference - Percy
Moon druid and strength rogue
the druid version have been said alot about. The rogue goes as following:
wield a short sword (you need a free hand), take expertise in athletics. Rage, grapple enemy (with expertise and advantage), and attack recklessly for auto-sneak attack. this goes online at barbarian 2/rogue1.
To make it really hillarious go bear barbarian 6/scout rogue X to toss enemies all over the place while dealing serious sneak attack damage.
build doesnt have any mad either.
What's the Best multiclass with Barbarian at character level 5 in 2020?
honestly? none really, because at 5th level you get second attack, which is huge, multi classing for the most part is viable after 5th level, not to discurage you but usualy whatever combination you have with multiclassing in 5th level will probably be weaker than any one level 5 class, youd be giving up 2 chances to crit and do damage, 2 attacks at advantage and delaying your features till you level up again, which can be a long while, 5 levels in a single class can usualy pull you through untill the thing you want from your secondary class comes online
If you absolutely must multiclass, I'd say fighter is your best bet; Second Wind pairs nicely with Rage, and Dueling/GWF/TWF styles add to your damage output. If Ebberon equipment is available, a double scimitar is great, as it helps with the lack of Extra Attack.
Most classes get significantly stronger at level 5, and delaying your EA hurts any martial build.
So Multiclassing isn't recommend for a 5th level character as barbarian
At that specific level, mechanically, no. However, there may be a story-related reason to do it. If your barbarian likes the precise attacks of a fighter, (s)he may choose to take a level in fighter by studying under that ally. I happen to like stacking modifiers together, and going TWF with rage adds a lot of modifier damage at level 2 (8.5*2 ((1d6+5)*2 w/ TWF hand axes) vs 11.5 (1d12+5 w/ greataxe)).