I'm currently playing a lvl 8 zealot barbarian but since my character has kind of turned against the gods in our setting I'm changing it. Now I'm stuck between the totem warrior and the ancestral spirit.
The ancestral spirit is cool because there was this girl in my campaign my character couldn't save and she would be the spirit guardian. It also helps tanking a bit more. The divination stuff is also pretty neat later on.
The totem warrior is also very cool because of its bear totem which gives resistance to all damage except psychic. Or I could take the wolf because our druid has a wolf companion and she's given me the OK to bind with it more.
I would go for wolf or guardian spirit. 87% of the Barbarians seem to go bear and that's just to bad. You have nice RP motivators to go the other 2, so they tie your character more into his backstory or into his party (which arguably provides even better RP). You seem to have no character related reason to got bear.
A note on Totem Barbarians- you dont have to choose the same spirit animal at each step. If you have a narritive reason to bond with nature (like a mentor who was a Druid, in my case) it makes perfect sense to take a different totem at each step in the path.
I would go for wolf or guardian spirit. 87% of the Barbarians seem to go bear and that's just to bad. You have nice RP motivators to go the other 2, so they tie your character more into his backstory or into his party (which arguably provides even better RP). You seem to have no character related reason to got bear.
I do agree that RP motivation is very important, so I would like to hear a little bit more about the character his background and especially how and why he betrayed the gods.
Another important question (to me at least is) what is the role you want to fill in your party. So mechanically you want to choose a sub-class which fits the role your character want to fill.
My experience is with an Ancestral Guardian half-orc (which I re-skinned to a metal bender because it fits the background of my character) so I can tank more effectively: taunting one dangerous foe and reflecting damage off of the support characters in our party.
I don't know about Totem but it seems more about either boosting the barbarian himself (3rd lvl Totem Spirit: Bear, Eagle or Elk) or supporting melee by Wolf. So it would be handy to know your party composition because if only the Druid his wolf is going to benefit from Wolf Totem Spirit, than it might be better to opt for Ancestral Guardian and be a better tank without needing the Sentinel feature.
BTW, what are the weapons of choice and what are your stats/features/race?
PS: I wouldn't use the soul of one girl you couldn't save, it seems like she would rather haunt you. I rather use fallen comrades or innocent characters.
Thanks all for your advice! I've asked my DM about my dilemma and he stated that he still has plans for the dead girl so I can't use her, which was the only reason I chose Ancestral guardian, so that one is out, unfortunately.
Totem warrior is still an option but I'm not allowing myself to get bear at the first one because that would just stratch the min-max itch I have and will probably go with the wolf because we have one in the party (plus I'm the only one in the party who commands respect from her because I peed on her to show dominance xD) and my Rogue buddy will be very happy with me.
My DM also offered to reflavour the Zealot path but I'm not sure how he wants to do that. I mean don't get me wrong, I love the Zealot path as it is a power house. My character just thinks the gods in our world are huge ass ***** right now (very convoluted story) and doesn't want to be asociated with them anymore.
A note on Totem Barbarians- you dont have to choose the same spirit animal at each step. If you have a narritive reason to bond with nature (like a mentor who was a Druid, in my case) it makes perfect sense to take a different totem at each step in the path.
I was planning on taking wolf at 1st lvl and then tiger at 6th lvl for stealth and survival
I do agree that RP motivation is very important, so I would like to hear a little bit more about the character his background and especially how and why he betrayed the gods
It's very convoluted, but basically: the gods are not actually gods, we need to kill them in a specific order to get the world we are on now back into it's original dimension/timeline and they are just evil *****.
Another important question (to me at least is) what is the role you want to fill in your party. So mechanically you want to choose a sub-class which fits the role your character want to fill.
I'm currently the tank/dps, but I could go any way. I took 2 levels of Blood hunter for the cool factor of blood curses and great weapon fighting. The party consists of a Bard, a Rogue, a Druid and a sorcerer.
BTW, what are the weapons of choice and what are your stats/features/race?
I use a special Maul which deals a lot of damage atm. I am a Fire Genasi Barbarian with the athlete feat and my stats are 16/14/18/9/10/10
PS: I wouldn't use the soul of one girl you couldn't save, it seems like she would rather haunt you. I rather use fallen comrades or innocent characters.
I actually think it would give him closure if he were to talk to her, ask for forgiveness and then her helping my barbarian in his dangerous quest. Especially if they can take out the b*tch who was responsible together.
Rogue, doesn't need actual advantage on it's attack role to gain Sneak Attack, as long as an enemy of it's enemy is within 5ft of it and not incapacitated, they gain the bonus damage.
Gaining advantage by Totem Spirit Wolf is of course a great way to make that Sneak Attack hit!
It looks like the Path of the Totem Warrior is what will match your play-style the best. As you already have some extra mobility with the Athlete feature, and Totem Warrior let's you pick a different animal to meet your needs. Stealth and Survival sound interesting and useful skills to gain proficiency with.
For the role you want to fill in the party, DPR is going to go down, so you might consider picking up Great Weapon Master because it offers that damage boost if needed and you already have access to advantage on demand. The only part which might be a challenge for your party is effectively 'taunting' an enemy. Of course the Bard, Druid or Sorcerer might have this covered with crowd control.
And together the Rogue and Barbarian are a pair that dishes out a lot of damage. Yet, you might consider Sentinel instead, as it allows you to pin that one crucial enemy in place next to you, so it can't reach the next line and doing so you keep the advantage and Sneak Attack up for the rogue to dish out the damage. And if they decide to ignore you and attack the rogue, you can retaliate with your reaction.
I don't know much about Blood Hunter, apart from that it looks cool and Fire Genasi has some cool Fire spells it offers and in fact has some overlap with Fire Resistance with Bear Spirit Totem. Which is in fact a rather boring Path Feature, as it doesn't really open up new options to the barbarian, other than even better survivability. Which isn't the best when dealing with sentient foes: the will realize that trying to kill the barbarian is too hard and they might prefer to ignore you instead, in favor of a more killable target.
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Hi!
I'm currently playing a lvl 8 zealot barbarian but since my character has kind of turned against the gods in our setting I'm changing it. Now I'm stuck between the totem warrior and the ancestral spirit.
The ancestral spirit is cool because there was this girl in my campaign my character couldn't save and she would be the spirit guardian. It also helps tanking a bit more. The divination stuff is also pretty neat later on.
The totem warrior is also very cool because of its bear totem which gives resistance to all damage except psychic. Or I could take the wolf because our druid has a wolf companion and she's given me the OK to bind with it more.
What should I do?!
I would go for wolf or guardian spirit. 87% of the Barbarians seem to go bear and that's just to bad. You have nice RP motivators to go the other 2, so they tie your character more into his backstory or into his party (which arguably provides even better RP). You seem to have no character related reason to got bear.
A note on Totem Barbarians- you dont have to choose the same spirit animal at each step. If you have a narritive reason to bond with nature (like a mentor who was a Druid, in my case) it makes perfect sense to take a different totem at each step in the path.
I do agree that RP motivation is very important, so I would like to hear a little bit more about the character his background and especially how and why he betrayed the gods.
Another important question (to me at least is) what is the role you want to fill in your party. So mechanically you want to choose a sub-class which fits the role your character want to fill.
My experience is with an Ancestral Guardian half-orc (which I re-skinned to a metal bender because it fits the background of my character) so I can tank more effectively: taunting one dangerous foe and reflecting damage off of the support characters in our party.
I don't know about Totem but it seems more about either boosting the barbarian himself (3rd lvl Totem Spirit: Bear, Eagle or Elk) or supporting melee by Wolf. So it would be handy to know your party composition because if only the Druid his wolf is going to benefit from Wolf Totem Spirit, than it might be better to opt for Ancestral Guardian and be a better tank without needing the Sentinel feature.
BTW, what are the weapons of choice and what are your stats/features/race?
PS: I wouldn't use the soul of one girl you couldn't save, it seems like she would rather haunt you. I rather use fallen comrades or innocent characters.
Thanks all for your advice! I've asked my DM about my dilemma and he stated that he still has plans for the dead girl so I can't use her, which was the only reason I chose Ancestral guardian, so that one is out, unfortunately.
Totem warrior is still an option but I'm not allowing myself to get bear at the first one because that would just stratch the min-max itch I have and will probably go with the wolf because we have one in the party (plus I'm the only one in the party who commands respect from her because I peed on her to show dominance xD) and my Rogue buddy will be very happy with me.
My DM also offered to reflavour the Zealot path but I'm not sure how he wants to do that. I mean don't get me wrong, I love the Zealot path as it is a power house. My character just thinks the gods in our world are huge ass ***** right now (very convoluted story) and doesn't want to be asociated with them anymore.
I was planning on taking wolf at 1st lvl and then tiger at 6th lvl for stealth and survival
It's very convoluted, but basically: the gods are not actually gods, we need to kill them in a specific order to get the world we are on now back into it's original dimension/timeline and they are just evil *****.
I'm currently the tank/dps, but I could go any way. I took 2 levels of Blood hunter for the cool factor of blood curses and great weapon fighting. The party consists of a Bard, a Rogue, a Druid and a sorcerer.
I use a special Maul which deals a lot of damage atm. I am a Fire Genasi Barbarian with the athlete feat and my stats are 16/14/18/9/10/10
I actually think it would give him closure if he were to talk to her, ask for forgiveness and then her helping my barbarian in his dangerous quest. Especially if they can take out the b*tch who was responsible together.
Some quick feedback.
Rogue, doesn't need actual advantage on it's attack role to gain Sneak Attack, as long as an enemy of it's enemy is within 5ft of it and not incapacitated, they gain the bonus damage.
Gaining advantage by Totem Spirit Wolf is of course a great way to make that Sneak Attack hit!
It looks like the Path of the Totem Warrior is what will match your play-style the best. As you already have some extra mobility with the Athlete feature, and Totem Warrior let's you pick a different animal to meet your needs.
Stealth and Survival sound interesting and useful skills to gain proficiency with.
For the role you want to fill in the party, DPR is going to go down, so you might consider picking up Great Weapon Master because it offers that damage boost if needed and you already have access to advantage on demand.
The only part which might be a challenge for your party is effectively 'taunting' an enemy. Of course the Bard, Druid or Sorcerer might have this covered with crowd control.
And together the Rogue and Barbarian are a pair that dishes out a lot of damage. Yet, you might consider Sentinel instead, as it allows you to pin that one crucial enemy in place next to you, so it can't reach the next line and doing so you keep the advantage and Sneak Attack up for the rogue to dish out the damage. And if they decide to ignore you and attack the rogue, you can retaliate with your reaction.
I don't know much about Blood Hunter, apart from that it looks cool and Fire Genasi has some cool Fire spells it offers and in fact has some overlap with Fire Resistance with Bear Spirit Totem. Which is in fact a rather boring Path Feature, as it doesn't really open up new options to the barbarian, other than even better survivability. Which isn't the best when dealing with sentient foes: the will realize that trying to kill the barbarian is too hard and they might prefer to ignore you instead, in favor of a more killable target.