Making a new homebrew barbarian subclass for my homebrew world, please leave any feedback on language and balance as its my first subclass homebrew. It reads as follows:
The Path of the Undying is not for the faint of heart, even among such a class as the Barbarian. Those who walk this path are no stranger to seeing the end, communing with it, and then returning to life stronger than they left it.
Barbarians who take this path may be affected by any number of factors. A prophecy may have predicted the event of the barbarian’s death, magically prohibiting them from dying before the predicted date. A blessing or curse could hold a barbarian in a space between life and death, allowing them to utilize that balance in battle. Or, very simply, something very alien could be residing within a barbarian, keeping the body alive even though the soul wishes for release.
Feign Weakness
Starting when you choose this path at 3rd level, when you rage, you edge yourself closer to death in order to draw strength from it, surprising your enemies in the process. When you enter your rage, you may choose to trade your rage resistances (bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing) for vulnerabilities of the same types. When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright whilst these vulnerabilities are applied in this way, you may use your reaction to immediately regain hit points equal to a roll of your max amount of Barbarian hit dice and may make an attack at advantage. This attack always does critical damage, regardless of the result of the role. You may then choose to sustain your vulnerabilities, or regain your resistances. Every time you use this ability to come back from 0 hit points after the first time this rage, the amount of hit dice you roll to regain hit points is reduced by half.
Resemblance of the Dead
At 3rd level, you take on some visible affectation of your deathless nature, whatever your circumstances may be. You gain double your proficiency bonus on Charisma (Deception) checks against effects trying to determine whether or not you are dead. Additionally, you are not required to breathe.
Rest in Peace
At 6th level, you gain a greater understanding of your own connection with death and how to utilize it. When you rest, you require half the necessary amount of sleep that you normally would to gain a benefit, allowing more time to spend doing light activity. You also no longer need to eat. In addition, damage dealt by your Feign Weakness attack is considered magical for the purposes of overcoming resistances to non-magical weapon damage.
A Swift Return
Beginning at 10th level, when you use a reaction as a part of your Feign Weakness feature, you may instead move your initiative to be the same as the current initiative, interrupting the current turn. If you do so, you regain hit points in the same way as Feign death as well as gaining the advantage and critical damage on any attack you would take on the resulting turn. You can use this feature twice per long rest. When you reach 15th level and again at 20th, you can use this feature an additional time per long rest.
Death’s Doorman
At 14th level, you draw a strength from death itself that is surprising to even the most prepared foe. When you make an attack in conjunction with Feign Weakness, you may deal an additional 2d12 weapon damage to a creature within 10 ft of you that is not the target of the triggering attack as your deathless nature lashes out from you, dragging others to their doom.
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Making a new homebrew barbarian subclass for my homebrew world, please leave any feedback on language and balance as its my first subclass homebrew. It reads as follows:
The Path of the Undying is not for the faint of heart, even among such a class as the Barbarian. Those who walk this path are no stranger to seeing the end, communing with it, and then returning to life stronger than they left it.
Barbarians who take this path may be affected by any number of factors. A prophecy may have predicted the event of the barbarian’s death, magically prohibiting them from dying before the predicted date. A blessing or curse could hold a barbarian in a space between life and death, allowing them to utilize that balance in battle. Or, very simply, something very alien could be residing within a barbarian, keeping the body alive even though the soul wishes for release.
Feign Weakness
Starting when you choose this path at 3rd level, when you rage, you edge yourself closer to death in order to draw strength from it, surprising your enemies in the process. When you enter your rage, you may choose to trade your rage resistances (bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing) for vulnerabilities of the same types. When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright whilst these vulnerabilities are applied in this way, you may use your reaction to immediately regain hit points equal to a roll of your max amount of Barbarian hit dice and may make an attack at advantage. This attack always does critical damage, regardless of the result of the role. You may then choose to sustain your vulnerabilities, or regain your resistances. Every time you use this ability to come back from 0 hit points after the first time this rage, the amount of hit dice you roll to regain hit points is reduced by half.
Resemblance of the Dead
At 3rd level, you take on some visible affectation of your deathless nature, whatever your circumstances may be. You gain double your proficiency bonus on Charisma (Deception) checks against effects trying to determine whether or not you are dead. Additionally, you are not required to breathe.
Rest in Peace
At 6th level, you gain a greater understanding of your own connection with death and how to utilize it. When you rest, you require half the necessary amount of sleep that you normally would to gain a benefit, allowing more time to spend doing light activity. You also no longer need to eat. In addition, damage dealt by your Feign Weakness attack is considered magical for the purposes of overcoming resistances to non-magical weapon damage.
A Swift Return
Beginning at 10th level, when you use a reaction as a part of your Feign Weakness feature, you may instead move your initiative to be the same as the current initiative, interrupting the current turn. If you do so, you regain hit points in the same way as Feign death as well as gaining the advantage and critical damage on any attack you would take on the resulting turn. You can use this feature twice per long rest. When you reach 15th level and again at 20th, you can use this feature an additional time per long rest.
Death’s Doorman
At 14th level, you draw a strength from death itself that is surprising to even the most prepared foe. When you make an attack in conjunction with Feign Weakness, you may deal an additional 2d12 weapon damage to a creature within 10 ft of you that is not the target of the triggering attack as your deathless nature lashes out from you, dragging others to their doom.