Path of the Dragoon

Some barbarians retain their connection with the wilderness through an unbreakable bond to a wild mount. These barbarians travel the wilds on the backs of their feral steeds, galloping across varied landscapes with joy. In battle they slaughter from atop their mounts, as their mounts revel in the violence and fury as much as they do—steed and rider, fighting as one.

Primal Steed

Starting when you choose this path at 3rd level, you learn to form a primal bond with a wild mount, who shares your ferocity and retains their feral nature.

With 8 hours of work and the expenditure of 50 gp worth of rare herbs and fine food, you call forth a wild mount from the wilderness to serve as your faithful steed. You normally select your steed from among the following animals: a brown bear, a dire wolf, an elk, a giant boar, a giant goat, a giant lizard, a lion, a mastiff, a rhinoceros, a saber-toothed tiger, a warhorse, or a worg. However, your DM might pick one of these animals for you, based on the surrounding terrain and on what types of creatures would logically be present in the area.

At the end of the 8 hours, your primal steed appears and gains all the benefits of your Steed’s Ferocity ability. You can have only one primal steed at a time.

If your primal steed is ever slain, you immediately enter a rage, even if you have no uses of your rage left. This rage cannot be ended early by any means. If your primal steed is slain by a creature, you gain a bonus to all damage rolls against the killer equal to your barbarian level for the next 24 hours.

You cannot form a bond with a new primal steed for one week after your prior primal steed is slain, as you grieve their loss. You will likely feel compelled to perform a barbaric funeral honoring their sacrifice.

Steed’s Ferocity

Your primal steed gains a variety of benefits while it is bonded to you. See chapter 9 of the Player’s Handbook for the rules of Mounted Combat.

The steed obeys your commands as best it can. Your steed shares your initiative, but you determine its actions, decisions, attitudes, and so on. If you are incapacitated or absent, your steed acts on its own.

While you are raging, your steed gains all the same benefits of the rage that you do.

Your primal steed has abilities and game statistics determined in part by your level. Your steed uses your proficiency bonus rather than its own. In addition to the areas where it normally uses its proficiency bonus, your primal steed also adds your proficiency bonus to its AC and to its damage rolls. Additionally, if your steed has an Intelligence of 5 or less, its Intelligence becomes 6, and it gains the ability to understand one language of your choice that you speak.

Your primal steed gains proficiency in two skills of your choice. It also becomes proficient with all saving throws.

Your primal steed gains a bonus to its hit points equal to twice your barbarian level. For each barbarian level you gain after 3rd, your primal steed gains an additional hit die and increases its hit points accordingly. 

Whenever you gain the Ability Score Improvement class feature, your steed’s abilities also improve. Your steed can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or it can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, your steed can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature unless its description specifies otherwise.

Your steed serves you as a mount, both in combat and out, and you have an instinctive bond with it that allows you to fight as a seamless unit. While mounted on your steed, if your steed is hit with an attack, you can have the attack hit you instead.

Your steed shares your alignment, and has a personality trait and a flaw that you can roll for or select from the tables below. Your steed shares your ideal, and its bond is always, “The barbarian who travels with me is a beloved companion for whom I would gladly give my life.”

Your steed refuses to let anyone else ride it, bucking off or attacking anyone who attempts to, unless you explicitly tell your steed to allow a specific individual to ride it.

Your primal steed gains the benefits of your Fast Movement, Feral Instinct, Brutal Critical, Indomitable Might, and Primal Champion features when you gain them at 5th level, 7th level, 9th level, 18th level, and 20th level respectively.

d6	Trait
1	I am fully capable of finding my own food.
2	I’m dauntless in the face of adversity.
3	I stay alert so others can rest.
4	I protect those who cannot protect themselves.
5	I have a knack for showing up in the nick of time.
6	I show respect to other warriors.

 

d6	Flaw
1	I buck when anyone other than my rider approaches me.
2	If there’s food left unattended, I’ll eat it.
3	I relieve myself where I please.
4	I recklessly charge at anyone who provokes me.
5	I am a bull and the world is my china shop.
6	I find humor in frightening those smaller than me.

Born to the Saddle

Starting at 3rd level, your mastery as a rider becomes apparent. You have advantage on saving throws made to avoid falling off your mount. If you fall off your mount and descend no more than 10 feet, you can land on your feet if you’re not incapacitated.

Finally, mounting or dismounting a creature costs you only 5 feet of movement, rather than half your speed.

Charging Launch

Beginning at 6th level, you and your steed can coordinate to launch you off their back onto an enemy or an enemy mount. While mounted on your steed, if your steed moves at least 20 feet straight toward a target, as a bonus action you can throw yourself off your steed toward the target if the target is within 10 feet. Make a Strength (Athletics) check contested by the target’s Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check (the target chooses the ability to use). If you succeed, you deftly crash onto the target, dealing bludgeoning damage equal to your barbarian level and pinning the target, grappling it and restraining it and yourself until the grapple ends.  If you fail the contest, you take bludgeoning damage equal to your barbarian level.

Alternatively, you can attempt to land on and commandeer another mount within 10 feet that your steed is running alongside. You make the same contested Strength (Athletics) check, but instead on success you deftly land on the target mount. As an action, you can attempt to control this mount by succeeding on a Wisdom (Animal Handling) check contested by the mount’s Wisdom check.

Master of the Mount

At 10th level, while mounted on your steed, you can use a bonus action to have your steed make a melee attack.

Steed’s Resilience

At 14th level, your primal steed has advantage on all saving throws.