Path of the Unburdened Fist

The path of the Unburdened Fist is not so much a choice, as it is the culmination of a life of fighting. The journey leading to that point filled with hardships, bruised knuckles, broken bones, and the taste of sand and blood in mouth. The barbarians that follow this path have no use for shield and weapons, because none of them can compare to the one they've been cultivating for years, their hard steel body.

In battle, the thrill of the fight propels you into the thick of it. No matter how many times you hit the dust, you will rise, unburdened, to challenge a stronger foe.

 

Unarmed but not Harmless

Starting when you choose this path at 3rd level, you are never truly without weapon. Years of training have made sure of that.

You gain the following benefits while you are unarmed and you aren't wearing heavy armor or wielding a shield:

• You can roll a d6 in place of the normal damage of your unarmed strike. When you reach certain levels in this class, your die changes. The die becomes a d8 at 6th level, and a d10 at 14th level. 
• When you use the Attack action with an unarmed strike on your turn, you can make one unarmed strike or grapple as a bonus action.

Rage Empowered Strikes

Starting at 6th level, while raging, your unarmed strikes count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage. 

Unbreakable Spirit

Beginning at 10th level, while you are below half of your maximum hit points it becomes increasingly difficult to keep you out of the fight. As part of a bonus action Unarmed Strike, you may expend one hit die to get temporary hit points equal to the die result + your constitution modifier. 

Bare-Handed Weapon Block

Starting at 14th level, you can use your reaction to deflect or catch the weapon when you are hit by a melee weapon attack. When you do so, the damage you take from the attack is reduced by 1d12 + your Strength modifier. 

If you reduce the damage to 0 and have at least one hand free, you can catch the weapon as part of the same reaction. The owner of a weapon caught this way has disadvantage on the next strike they make with it as they need to pry it away from your grasp.