I'm not satisfied with with Synchronized Strike. Originally it was too strong, now I worry it is underwhelming. I'd appreciate your feedback.
Path of the Pack Hunter
Some Barbarians have learned how to coordinate with their companions in a fight to overcome obstacles. Some of these barbarians are hunters in the wildlands, some are in gangs that stalk prey on city streets and back alleys. Either way they use tactics to create openings for their allies.
Synchronized Strike: Starting when you chose this path at 3rd level, you can coordinate strikes with your pack during your rage. When you make a Reckless Attack while Raging, instead of gaining advantage on the attack you can choose to allow an ally to make one weapon attack using their reaction against your target. The Target must be in weapon range of your ally. Add your Extra Rage Damage modifier to the damage rolled.
Tactics of the Pack: You've learned how best to communicate and keep in step with your pack mates. At 3rd level you gain proficiency in Stealth and Thieves' Tools and can communicate using Thieves' Cant. Also, you gain the extra damage from the Rage Damage column on the Barbarian table when using Dexterity attacks while wielding a Finesse weapon.
Dirty Fighting: Beginning at 6th level you've learned how to give you and your pack an edge in a fight. Whenever you hit an enemy with a Reckless Attack, you can use a bonus action to make a Shove Attack or Grapple.
Pack Cooperation: Beginning at 10th level, when you use the help action to aid an ally with an ability check in which you are proficient, they may add your proficiency bonus as well as their own to the roll.
Debilitating Strike: At 14th level you've learned how to better find openings for your allies, whose strikes now leave debilitating injuries. When an Enemy takes damage from one of your allies as a result of your Synchronised Strike feature, that enemy must subtract 1d6 from attack rolls and saving throws until the end of its next turn.
I agree that synchronised strike might need changing; originally I thought it was too powerful since it grants advantage in addition to a "free" attack but it's actually quite hard to judge, as for a higher level Barbarian you might find it harder and harder to use against many enemies, as you'll be hitting most of the time.
I wonder if something slightly different might work better; how about if when you do a reckless attack against a target, you can use your reaction to allow an ally to use their reaction to attack? The idea being that you're purposefully distracting the enemy (at risk to yourself) to give your ally the opening, at the cost of two reactions. I'd also maybe clarify what you mean by "in range", is this only for melee attacks or are ranged attacks allowed? I'd drop advantage and bonus damage; giving an ally an extra attack whenever you want will be a big bonus in its own right (compare to a Fighter Battle Master's Commander’s Strike which trades on of their own attacks, a superiority dice, and their bonus action to let an ally attack).
Basically the idea is that you're trading two reactions (yours and theirs) and putting yourself at risk (enemies have advantage against you) to create the opening they need for the extra attack. It could also combine interestingly with Dirty Fighting, as by consuming your reaction you can still also use your bonus action to shove or grapple.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
1.Cleaned up the language based on Haravikk's suggestion.
2. Retooled Synchronized Strike to be more interactive for the player. Tried to balance it by giving it a cost. Every other Barbarian subclass gets a passive enhancement to their Rage, this seems different. Would like to make it more in keeping with other Subclass design philosophies for consistency.
3. Tried to make Debilitating Strike a little more interesting. May reduce the d6 to a d4, or keep the d6 and remove the affect on saving throws.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I really like the idea behind this sub-class.
I agree that synchronised strike might need changing; originally I thought it was too powerful since it grants advantage in addition to a "free" attack but it's actually quite hard to judge, as for a higher level Barbarian you might find it harder and harder to use against many enemies, as you'll be hitting most of the time.
I wonder if something slightly different might work better; how about if when you do a reckless attack against a target, you can use your reaction to allow an ally to use their reaction to attack? The idea being that you're purposefully distracting the enemy (at risk to yourself) to give your ally the opening, at the cost of two reactions. I'd also maybe clarify what you mean by "in range", is this only for melee attacks or are ranged attacks allowed? I'd drop advantage and bonus damage; giving an ally an extra attack whenever you want will be a big bonus in its own right (compare to a Fighter Battle Master's Commander’s Strike which trades on of their own attacks, a superiority dice, and their bonus action to let an ally attack).
Basically the idea is that you're trading two reactions (yours and theirs) and putting yourself at risk (enemies have advantage against you) to create the opening they need for the extra attack. It could also combine interestingly with Dirty Fighting, as by consuming your reaction you can still also use your bonus action to shove or grapple.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
Made a few changes
1.Cleaned up the language based on Haravikk's suggestion.
2. Retooled Synchronized Strike to be more interactive for the player. Tried to balance it by giving it a cost. Every other Barbarian subclass gets a passive enhancement to their Rage, this seems different. Would like to make it more in keeping with other Subclass design philosophies for consistency.
3. Tried to make Debilitating Strike a little more interesting. May reduce the d6 to a d4, or keep the d6 and remove the affect on saving throws.