Zug Zug and Hooah fellow Barbarians. Tired of those squishy spellcasters mocking you because you can't use magic? Well get yourself some Magical Tattoos and prove them wrong.
This is my take on a Barbarian Subclass that can use spells. The goal was to provide lots of Build flexibility and utility that Barbarians normally don't have, but not make them have spellcasting capabilities that rivalled Full or Half Casters.
The features should fully implemented and work with a D&D Beyond digital character sheet without much effort. Please give it a try and let me know what you think and if something needs to be fixed or what could be changed for a Version 2.
I cannot give input on an impact on the game balance. If it is weak, strong or overpowered.
The spell level progession is alonside the 1/3-casters so that is okay. The number of dice for tattoos is CON+1 which means that you can cast more spells in tier 1 than a half caster. You could think of (i) PROF instead or (ii) let number the of dice equal the rage damage bonus like the Berserker has or (iii) make the number of dice depend on the Barbarian level divided by three etc. This would ensure progression and make it less front loaded.
You might ensure compatibility with multiclassing to spellcasters somehow.
When you choose from either(!) Cleric, Druid, or Wizard, I would come up with a spellcasting attribute for saving throws, spell attacks etc. Note the use of STR in DnD 2024 during rage.
I would make the wording explicit that innate magic feature qualifies as a Spellcasting or PactMagic feature. Builds might need this if they plan to take feats etc. that require this as a prerequisite.
Thank you for the feedback, but I hope you give it a shot in a real game and come back with some more. :)
About the number of spells: Yes, if you start with 16 CON as many Barbarians like to, you can cast a spell 4 times before needing to rest at Level 3. However, unlike a Half Caster the rate at which your spells grow in power and number of casts is quickly out scaled by Half Casters, not to mention the cost of loosing out on the benefits of other Barbarian Subclasses just to get 2 level 1 spells.
Paladins at Level 3 have 4 level 1 spells, and 3 level 1 spell slots + 1 free use of a level 1 divine smite. So that's 2 more spells (+ divine smite ) than the Spellwrought and just 1 less cast whilst not giving anything up. Seems somewhat balanced. But then you look at Level 6.
Paladins at Level 6 have 6 spells (at level 1 or 2), 1 free level 1 Divine Smite, 1 free cast of level 2 Find Steed, 4 level 1 spell slots, and 2 level 2 spell slots. That's a total of 8 casts everyday compared to the 4 that a Barbarian focused on Strength would have. To have just 1 more cast the Barbarian would need to sacrifice their damage potential. Now it's clear that the Paladin has the advantage in terms of spellcasting and they haven't had to use their Subclass to be that way. Plus they have more versatility due to the higher number of spells known. Let's look at Level 10.
Paladins at Level 10 have 9 spells (at levels 1-3), 1 free level 1 Divine Smite, 1 free cast of level 2 Find Steed, 4 level 1 spell slots, 3 level 2 spell slots, and 2 level 3 spell slots. That's a total of 11 casts everyday compared to the 4 that a Barbarian focused on Strength would have. The Barbarian could have up to 2 more casts if they invested entirely into CON instead of STR, but their damage output would suffer as a result. Not to mention the Paladin now has 11 known spells (including Divine Smite and Find Steed) compared to the 6 the Barbarian has, which allows for more versatility.
All this to say, I don't think that the amount of casts the Spellwrought gets throughout the game is a huge issue, especially considering they are unable to use Concentration spells until Level 10. They also don't get access to good single target damage spells for the early game like Paladin's Smites or Ranger's Hunter's Mark, not until Level 11 at the earliest. So the spells that they have are mostly for utility or defense, which means they're not getting a Damage boost from their Subclass unlike Berserker or Zealot. Getting AoE spells helps make it more even though.
Now as for the Compatibility with other classes, the lack of easy compatibility was intentional. Not only is there the Ability Score requirement to multiclass, which would take away from your number of Innate Magic Dice, but the feature itself not being Spellcasting or Pact Magic is meant to limit synergy for the sake of reining in the power of a Barbarian with 3rd level spells.
(This is also why I didn't make Innate Magic Scale with Proficiency Bonus. That would have been OP lol)
But the Subclass does have a "spellcasting attribute". Every spell you cast with Innate Magic Die uses CON for saving throws, spell attacks, and anything else. The same is true for the uses of Counterspell you get at Level 14.
(FEEDBACK WANTED)
Zug Zug and Hooah fellow Barbarians. Tired of those squishy spellcasters mocking you because you can't use magic? Well get yourself some Magical Tattoos and prove them wrong.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subclasses/2509385-path-of-the-spellwrought
This is my take on a Barbarian Subclass that can use spells. The goal was to provide lots of Build flexibility and utility that Barbarians normally don't have, but not make them have spellcasting capabilities that rivalled Full or Half Casters.
The features should fully implemented and work with a D&D Beyond digital character sheet without much effort. Please give it a try and let me know what you think and if something needs to be fixed or what could be changed for a Version 2.
Hi Jaymezz,
I cannot give input on an impact on the game balance. If it is weak, strong or overpowered.
The spell level progession is alonside the 1/3-casters so that is okay. The number of dice for tattoos is CON+1 which means that you can cast more spells in tier 1 than a half caster. You could think of (i) PROF instead or (ii) let number the of dice equal the rage damage bonus like the Berserker has or (iii) make the number of dice depend on the Barbarian level divided by three etc. This would ensure progression and make it less front loaded.
You might ensure compatibility with multiclassing to spellcasters somehow.
When you choose from either(!) Cleric, Druid, or Wizard, I would come up with a spellcasting attribute for saving throws, spell attacks etc. Note the use of STR in DnD 2024 during rage.
I would make the wording explicit that innate magic feature qualifies as a Spellcasting or PactMagic feature. Builds might need this if they plan to take feats etc. that require this as a prerequisite.
Cheers
Hi Analragorn,
Thank you for the feedback, but I hope you give it a shot in a real game and come back with some more. :)
About the number of spells: Yes, if you start with 16 CON as many Barbarians like to, you can cast a spell 4 times before needing to rest at Level 3. However, unlike a Half Caster the rate at which your spells grow in power and number of casts is quickly out scaled by Half Casters, not to mention the cost of loosing out on the benefits of other Barbarian Subclasses just to get 2 level 1 spells.
All this to say, I don't think that the amount of casts the Spellwrought gets throughout the game is a huge issue, especially considering they are unable to use Concentration spells until Level 10. They also don't get access to good single target damage spells for the early game like Paladin's Smites or Ranger's Hunter's Mark, not until Level 11 at the earliest. So the spells that they have are mostly for utility or defense, which means they're not getting a Damage boost from their Subclass unlike Berserker or Zealot. Getting AoE spells helps make it more even though.
Now as for the Compatibility with other classes, the lack of easy compatibility was intentional. Not only is there the Ability Score requirement to multiclass, which would take away from your number of Innate Magic Dice, but the feature itself not being Spellcasting or Pact Magic is meant to limit synergy for the sake of reining in the power of a Barbarian with 3rd level spells.
(This is also why I didn't make Innate Magic Scale with Proficiency Bonus. That would have been OP lol)
But the Subclass does have a "spellcasting attribute". Every spell you cast with Innate Magic Die uses CON for saving throws, spell attacks, and anything else. The same is true for the uses of Counterspell you get at Level 14.