Shifter. hands down. every subrace is great. swiftstride makes you faster, wildhunt gives you risk free advantage, longtooth gives you a bonus action attack, and beasthide makes you tougher.
Fascinating. Even the ones with stats that aren't ideal for barbarian aren't putting those stats in terrible places. The +1 to charisma for Swiftstride is the worst, the +2 to Wisdom for Wildhunt isn't ideal but that's probably the 3rd or fourth stat for most barbs anyway and opens up more extreme point buy options. Both of those sub races will be limited to 15 in strength and constitution to start but both have a + to dexterity. Wildhunt doesn't actually give advantage, it makes it so that your Reckless Attacks don't give your enemies advantage on attacks against you if they are within 30 ft of you (and its not limited to Reckless Attacks, it's any source of advantage that a creature might have on you including Pack Tactics). It's a minor difference, particularly since Reckless Attacks come online at 2. It only happens while you are shifted which only happens once per rest and lasts a minute. Essentially, this is a quasi rage that resets on a short rest.
The two subraces that I didn't mention get a + to strength and either dex or con. Each subrace gives you a 1d6+con mod temporary HP on shifting and beasthide gives 2d6+con mod.
I have to agree that these are all great options for barbarians, depending on what type of barbarian you want to be and the shifting is very thematic.
Shifter. hands down. every subrace is great. swiftstride makes you faster, wildhunt gives you risk free advantage, longtooth gives you a bonus action attack, and beasthide makes you tougher.
Fascinating. Even the ones with stats that aren't ideal for barbarian aren't putting those stats in terrible places. The +1 to charisma for Swiftstride is the worst, the +2 to Wisdom for Wildhunt isn't ideal but that's probably the 3rd or fourth stat for most barbs anyway and opens up more extreme point buy options. Both of those sub races will be limited to 15 in strength and constitution to start but both have a + to dexterity. Wildhunt doesn't actually give advantage, it makes it so that your Reckless Attacks don't give your enemies advantage on attacks against you if they are within 30 ft of you.
The two subraces that I didn't mention get a + to strength and either dex or con. Each subrace gives you a 1d6+con mod temporary HP on shifting and beasthide gives 2d6+con mod.
That last bit is not correct. All shifters get your level+con thp not 1d6+con. Beasthide gives you an additional 1d6 and +1 to AC. Longtooth gives you a BA attack. The temp HP is huge on a barbarian. Especially if you take beasthide for the extra temp HP then go bear totem.
Shifter. hands down. every subrace is great. swiftstride makes you faster, wildhunt gives you risk free advantage, longtooth gives you a bonus action attack, and beasthide makes you tougher.
Fascinating. Even the ones with stats that aren't ideal for barbarian aren't putting those stats in terrible places. The +1 to charisma for Swiftstride is the worst, the +2 to Wisdom for Wildhunt isn't ideal but that's probably the 3rd or fourth stat for most barbs anyway and opens up more extreme point buy options. Both of those sub races will be limited to 15 in strength and constitution to start but both have a + to dexterity. Wildhunt doesn't actually give advantage, it makes it so that your Reckless Attacks don't give your enemies advantage on attacks against you if they are within 30 ft of you.
The two subraces that I didn't mention get a + to strength and either dex or con. Each subrace gives you a 1d6+con mod temporary HP on shifting and beasthide gives 2d6+con mod.
That last bit is not correct. Each subrace gives you your level+con thp. Beasthide gives you an additional 1d6 and +1 to AC.
I stand corrected. I must have thought that it was the 1d6 from Beasthide. Still, level plus is quickly going to be superior to 1d6, which means anyone not catching the correction should be pleasantly surprised. Much the same as thinking they get risk free advantage (that's nice, but it overlaps a little with Reckless Attacks) to it makes Reckless Attacks (or other features, including Pack Tactics which barbarians can encounter frequently being in melee) not give advantage to your enemies attacking you within 30 ft. I think the actual ability is better than what I thought it was going to be from your description, since it synergizes with barbarian quite well but isn't contingent upon a character being a barbarian to matter. It would be better if it was always on, but looking at shifting like it's almost a short rest rage recharge with a different focus for each subrace gives you a feel for what it can do and it can stack with rage to make you extra nasty if you're close to the end of the adventuring day or on a particularly nasty boss fight.
Yep. Hands down best race. You can really mix it up too for you're main stats even if you're stuck with SA. Beasthide could give you a 16,13,16,. Longtooth 16,14,15. Wildhunt allows you to dump wis without having a minus. Swiftstride you can put your 12 in Dex and still have 15,14,14 in your main stats. Not great but good for someone whose going to be a hit and run type of barbarian as opposed to the beasthide tanking it up.
Certainly. Even the charisma isn't terrible if you want to lean into the intimidation factor more than "Hulk big, Hulk Mad, HULK SMASH". In this case, it's "I'm faster than you, I'm more agile, and eventually you're going to have a sword sticking out of your gullet. Would you care to give up now?" Swiftstride might be more ideally suited to a rogue, but they're barbarians that would fit that mold quite well particularly the 1 or 2 totem barbs that choose wolf or eagle.
I feel like there are too many ways around surprise. passive perc, regular perc, alert, weapon of warning, etc. There's no way around "no creature within 30 feet of you can make an attack roll with advantage against you". I've pissed off so many people with that. add on a dagger of blindsight so displacement and such have no effect...mmmmmmmmmm. tasty. go in and reckless on that blurred caster and watch his reaction when you see through the illusion. then when his henchmen try to hit your unarmored AC without the advantage they'd normally have, it's glory....us.
Bugbear. Attacking from 15 feet with a polearm and sneaking up on something an giving it a surprise greataxe to the face is amazing.
You do realize that a Greataxe isn't a polearm or have reach? This is fine as two separate statements since a Bugbear could attack with a glaive or even a whip from 15 feet on it's turn (just the normal 5 feet or 10 with a reach weapon on an OA or other attack on another character's turn). Of course, you can sneak in and give a surprise greataxe to the face, but it will only be a 10 ft on your turn since the greataxe doesn't have reach. I'm certain that both of those are very satisfying, too!
Bugbear. Attacking from 15 feet with a polearm and sneaking up on something an giving it a surprise greataxe to the face is amazing.
You do realize that a Greataxe isn't a polearm or have reach? This is fine as two separate statements since a Bugbear could attack with a glaive or even a whip from 15 feet on it's turn (just the normal 5 feet or 10 with a reach weapon on an OA or other attack on another character's turn). Of course, you can sneak in and give a surprise greataxe to the face, but it will only be a 10 ft on your turn since the greataxe doesn't have reach. I'm certain that both of those are very satisfying, too!
Yeah two separate statements. You can do either or of those options and its fun either way.
Less people think of the sneaky barb and its actually pretty fun way of playing. I did a 1 level dip into Rogue to get Expertise in Athletics and Sneak to make it work even better.
Shifter. hands down. every subrace is great. swiftstride makes you faster, wildhunt gives you risk free advantage, longtooth gives you a bonus action attack, and beasthide makes you tougher.
Currently playing a Path of the Beast Longtooth Shifter and he is an absolute monster. Between the Rage and the Shift eating up the first 2 rounds of bonus action, you wont see the Bite kick in until round 3, but between that and the claws I'm making 3 1d6 +strength + rage attacks per round at level 3 when things really start chugging. The Shift also sort of works as a low grade rage for situations where you want the extra oomph but don't want to burn a rage just yet since it will come back on a short rest.
Shifter. hands down. every subrace is great. swiftstride makes you faster, wildhunt gives you risk free advantage, longtooth gives you a bonus action attack, and beasthide makes you tougher.
Currently playing a Path of the Beast Longtooth Shifter and he is an absolute monster. Between the Rage and the Shift eating up the first 2 rounds of bonus action, you wont see the Bite kick in until round 3, but between that and the claws I'm making 3 1d6 +strength + rage attacks per round at level 3 when things really start chugging. The Shift also sort of works as a low grade rage for situations where you want the extra oomph but don't want to burn a rage just yet since it will come back on a short rest.
Shifter. hands down. every subrace is great. swiftstride makes you faster, wildhunt gives you risk free advantage, longtooth gives you a bonus action attack, and beasthide makes you tougher.
Currently playing a Path of the Beast Longtooth Shifter and he is an absolute monster. Between the Rage and the Shift eating up the first 2 rounds of bonus action, you wont see the Bite kick in until round 3, but between that and the claws I'm making 3 1d6 +strength + rage attacks per round at level 3 when things really start chugging. The Shift also sort of works as a low grade rage for situations where you want the extra oomph but don't want to burn a rage just yet since it will come back on a short rest.
Eric likes this.
The claws don't scale but the extra bite makes up for it.
Shifter. hands down. every subrace is great. swiftstride makes you faster, wildhunt gives you risk free advantage, longtooth gives you a bonus action attack, and beasthide makes you tougher.
Currently playing a Path of the Beast Longtooth Shifter and he is an absolute monster. Between the Rage and the Shift eating up the first 2 rounds of bonus action, you wont see the Bite kick in until round 3, but between that and the claws I'm making 3 1d6 +strength + rage attacks per round at level 3 when things really start chugging. The Shift also sort of works as a low grade rage for situations where you want the extra oomph but don't want to burn a rage just yet since it will come back on a short rest.
Eric likes this.
The claws don't scale but the extra bite makes up for it.
In damage die? no. They don't scale up. but what they do is they allow you to apply your rage damage and your strength which do scale up, an additional time per attack round, and THAT is the real addition.
I'll go a bit on a tangent, but I'll bring it back in a second.
I'll compare a Great Axe to the claws for a moment, at level 3 with +4 str and +2 rage damage the average great axe damage is 7+4+2 or 13 damage. The claws, due to their extra attack property, attack twice even at level 3. So the Claws do 4+4+2 or 10 damage, but do so twice for a total of 20. So the Rage and Strength application is worth more than the actual weapon damage. It's for this reason that Dual Wielding would be a GREAT option on a Barbarian if they had the Feat and Fighting Style available to really make it shine.
Now back to the Original Post, this is really where the Longtooth shifter ability shines brightest. The Bite attack Bonus action is a Strength based attack, which is done on a bonus action, for 1d6 damage. This means essentially you are dual wielding a Shortsword without using a hand and without needing to invest in the Fighting Style to add your strength to it. and since every chance to apply the extra damage from strength and rage is a good idea, you're going to get a lot of use out of that bite attack unless you're fighting something immune to non-magical damage or you have a DM that is willing to work with you to get some magical chompers.
The plus 2 to intelligence is not ideal, but surprisingly few of the other gnome traits are bad for a barbarian mechanically. The 25 speed isn't ideal but can be overcome just by leveling barb and Minor Illusion and tinker are great RP opportunities. Svirfneblin only has the default drawbacks. Everything else works well. Disadvantage on attacks with heavy weapons isn't ideal but 1d10 with the longsword and down to 1d8 when using a shield isn't that big of a drop off. Not getting strength to start will hamper you some at the beginning but won't matter much long term.
But the RP opportunities are ginormous. (Gignomeous?)
Shifter. hands down. every subrace is great. swiftstride makes you faster, wildhunt gives you risk free advantage, longtooth gives you a bonus action attack, and beasthide makes you tougher.
I'm planning a Beasthide Shifter Zealot Barb for my group's next game. The only thing I don't knownyet is if I want to pick up the new fighting initiate feat and take TWF and swing hand axes, or go axe and shield to maximize my AC. I will be tanking and I know barbs have resistances and such, but I like a high AC on a tank, even one that can take a hit.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Fascinating. Even the ones with stats that aren't ideal for barbarian aren't putting those stats in terrible places. The +1 to charisma for Swiftstride is the worst, the +2 to Wisdom for Wildhunt isn't ideal but that's probably the 3rd or fourth stat for most barbs anyway and opens up more extreme point buy options. Both of those sub races will be limited to 15 in strength and constitution to start but both have a + to dexterity. Wildhunt doesn't actually give advantage, it makes it so that your Reckless Attacks don't give your enemies advantage on attacks against you if they are within 30 ft of you (and its not limited to Reckless Attacks, it's any source of advantage that a creature might have on you including Pack Tactics). It's a minor difference, particularly since Reckless Attacks come online at 2. It only happens while you are shifted which only happens once per rest and lasts a minute. Essentially, this is a quasi rage that resets on a short rest.
The two subraces that I didn't mention get a + to strength and either dex or con. Each subrace gives you a 1d6+con mod temporary HP on shifting and beasthide gives 2d6+con mod.
I have to agree that these are all great options for barbarians, depending on what type of barbarian you want to be and the shifting is very thematic.
Yeah. What I meant by risk free advantage was reckless without the penalty.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137390-weretouched-beasthide
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137424-weretouched-longtooth
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137431-weretouched-razorclaw
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137461-weretouched-swiftstride
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137646-weretouched-wildhunt
That last bit is not correct. All shifters get your level+con thp not 1d6+con. Beasthide gives you an additional 1d6 and +1 to AC. Longtooth gives you a BA attack. The temp HP is huge on a barbarian. Especially if you take beasthide for the extra temp HP then go bear totem.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137390-weretouched-beasthide
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137424-weretouched-longtooth
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137431-weretouched-razorclaw
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137461-weretouched-swiftstride
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137646-weretouched-wildhunt
I stand corrected. I must have thought that it was the 1d6 from Beasthide. Still, level plus is quickly going to be superior to 1d6, which means anyone not catching the correction should be pleasantly surprised. Much the same as thinking they get risk free advantage (that's nice, but it overlaps a little with Reckless Attacks) to it makes Reckless Attacks (or other features, including Pack Tactics which barbarians can encounter frequently being in melee) not give advantage to your enemies attacking you within 30 ft. I think the actual ability is better than what I thought it was going to be from your description, since it synergizes with barbarian quite well but isn't contingent upon a character being a barbarian to matter. It would be better if it was always on, but looking at shifting like it's almost a short rest rage recharge with a different focus for each subrace gives you a feel for what it can do and it can stack with rage to make you extra nasty if you're close to the end of the adventuring day or on a particularly nasty boss fight.
Yep. Hands down best race. You can really mix it up too for you're main stats even if you're stuck with SA. Beasthide could give you a 16,13,16,. Longtooth 16,14,15. Wildhunt allows you to dump wis without having a minus. Swiftstride you can put your 12 in Dex and still have 15,14,14 in your main stats. Not great but good for someone whose going to be a hit and run type of barbarian as opposed to the beasthide tanking it up.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137390-weretouched-beasthide
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137424-weretouched-longtooth
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137431-weretouched-razorclaw
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137461-weretouched-swiftstride
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137646-weretouched-wildhunt
Certainly. Even the charisma isn't terrible if you want to lean into the intimidation factor more than "Hulk big, Hulk Mad, HULK SMASH". In this case, it's "I'm faster than you, I'm more agile, and eventually you're going to have a sword sticking out of your gullet. Would you care to give up now?" Swiftstride might be more ideally suited to a rogue, but they're barbarians that would fit that mold quite well particularly the 1 or 2 totem barbs that choose wolf or eagle.
Bugbear. Attacking from 15 feet with a polearm and sneaking up on something an giving it a surprise greataxe to the face is amazing.
I feel like there are too many ways around surprise. passive perc, regular perc, alert, weapon of warning, etc. There's no way around "no creature within 30 feet of you can make an attack roll with advantage against you". I've pissed off so many people with that. add on a dagger of blindsight so displacement and such have no effect...mmmmmmmmmm. tasty. go in and reckless on that blurred caster and watch his reaction when you see through the illusion. then when his henchmen try to hit your unarmored AC without the advantage they'd normally have, it's glory....us.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137390-weretouched-beasthide
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137424-weretouched-longtooth
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137431-weretouched-razorclaw
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137461-weretouched-swiftstride
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137646-weretouched-wildhunt
You do realize that a Greataxe isn't a polearm or have reach? This is fine as two separate statements since a Bugbear could attack with a glaive or even a whip from 15 feet on it's turn (just the normal 5 feet or 10 with a reach weapon on an OA or other attack on another character's turn). Of course, you can sneak in and give a surprise greataxe to the face, but it will only be a 10 ft on your turn since the greataxe doesn't have reach. I'm certain that both of those are very satisfying, too!
Yeah two separate statements. You can do either or of those options and its fun either way.
Less people think of the sneaky barb and its actually pretty fun way of playing. I did a 1 level dip into Rogue to get Expertise in Athletics and Sneak to make it work even better.
Currently playing a Path of the Beast Longtooth Shifter and he is an absolute monster. Between the Rage and the Shift eating up the first 2 rounds of bonus action, you wont see the Bite kick in until round 3, but between that and the claws I'm making 3 1d6 +strength + rage attacks per round at level 3 when things really start chugging. The Shift also sort of works as a low grade rage for situations where you want the extra oomph but don't want to burn a rage just yet since it will come back on a short rest.
Eric likes this.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137390-weretouched-beasthide
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137424-weretouched-longtooth
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137431-weretouched-razorclaw
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137461-weretouched-swiftstride
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137646-weretouched-wildhunt
The claws don't scale but the extra bite makes up for it.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137390-weretouched-beasthide
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137424-weretouched-longtooth
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137431-weretouched-razorclaw
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137461-weretouched-swiftstride
https://www.dndbeyond.com/subraces/137646-weretouched-wildhunt
In damage die? no. They don't scale up. but what they do is they allow you to apply your rage damage and your strength which do scale up, an additional time per attack round, and THAT is the real addition.
I'll go a bit on a tangent, but I'll bring it back in a second.
I'll compare a Great Axe to the claws for a moment, at level 3 with +4 str and +2 rage damage the average great axe damage is 7+4+2 or 13 damage. The claws, due to their extra attack property, attack twice even at level 3. So the Claws do 4+4+2 or 10 damage, but do so twice for a total of 20. So the Rage and Strength application is worth more than the actual weapon damage. It's for this reason that Dual Wielding would be a GREAT option on a Barbarian if they had the Feat and Fighting Style available to really make it shine.
Now back to the Original Post, this is really where the Longtooth shifter ability shines brightest. The Bite attack Bonus action is a Strength based attack, which is done on a bonus action, for 1d6 damage. This means essentially you are dual wielding a Shortsword without using a hand and without needing to invest in the Fighting Style to add your strength to it. and since every chance to apply the extra damage from strength and rage is a good idea, you're going to get a lot of use out of that bite attack unless you're fighting something immune to non-magical damage or you have a DM that is willing to work with you to get some magical chompers.
no contest. savage gnome.
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The plus 2 to intelligence is not ideal, but surprisingly few of the other gnome traits are bad for a barbarian mechanically. The 25 speed isn't ideal but can be overcome just by leveling barb and Minor Illusion and tinker are great RP opportunities. Svirfneblin only has the default drawbacks. Everything else works well. Disadvantage on attacks with heavy weapons isn't ideal but 1d10 with the longsword and down to 1d8 when using a shield isn't that big of a drop off. Not getting strength to start will hamper you some at the beginning but won't matter much long term.
But the RP opportunities are ginormous. (Gignomeous?)
Actually why noone see about :
Warforged is AMAZING as Barbarian:
+2 Con +++++
+1 in another stat (Str if wanna damage or Dex if wanna high AC ) +++++
+1 AC !!! this merged with unarmored defense is...just great +++++
Advantage agaisnt posion + posion resitance ++++
Immune to sleep ++++
Immune to disease +++
I mean....seem great for a nice Tank!!!
I'm planning a Beasthide Shifter Zealot Barb for my group's next game. The only thing I don't knownyet is if I want to pick up the new fighting initiate feat and take TWF and swing hand axes, or go axe and shield to maximize my AC. I will be tanking and I know barbs have resistances and such, but I like a high AC on a tank, even one that can take a hit.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Half Yuan-ti, half Aarakocra. Magic resistance, poison immunity, and a 50-foot flying speed.
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