It has long been known among many feral warriors that no better path to power exists than consuming the flesh or blood of a conquered enemy. Some practice ancient rituals and solemnly consume their foe's heart, while others simply guzzle blood like ale in a crazed frenzy. The blood they constantly drink in their rages can even transform them into demonic killers that steal life and power from the blood on their blade, with demonic rage that only grows in intensity when their blood is spilled. They consume so much blood that their sense of smell heightens to detect even the slightest whiff of blood, and they might grow fiendish claws, fangs, or wings.

Blood drinkers often find that their consumption has not only granted them great power, but also altered their body in a minor way. If your DM allows, you can choose one of the following signs of your unholy blood drinking.

Signs of Blood

d6	Alteration	d6	Alteration
1	You have small horns sprouting from your head.	4	Small, flimsy spines protrude from your back.
2	Your teeth are all sharpened to eerie points.	5	Your skin is deep red instead of its normal hue.
3	You always smell like fresh blood.	6	Thin patches of demonic fur or scales can be found on your shins, forearms, and neck.

Some blood drinkers manifest strange changes while they are raging as a result of the strength in the blood that they've consumed. You can choose up to one of the following manifestations, or one of your own, when you first enter this barbarian path. If your DM allows, you might change your selection after you drink deeply from the blood of a powerful and noteworthy foe.

Rage Manifestations

d6	Manifestation While Raging	d6	Manifestation While Raging
1	Your skin is covered by demonic fur or scales, representing your rage's damage resistances.	4	Your heart begins to beat fiercely and loudly enough that it can be heard and felt for 30 feet.
2	Your eyes glow crimson. Even your veins and arteries glow bright red through your skin.	5	With each breath, you exhale eerie red fumes that vanish quickly and harmlessly into the air.
3	Blood pours from your eyes out of your mouth. When it touches the ground, it turns to mist.	6	Your body and weapons you wield are coated with fresh blood that can't be washed away.

Vampiric Barbarians

Some players might use this subclass to represent vampiric characters, flavoring the barbarian rage as a wild thirst for mortal blood finally unleashed. If the players and the DM agree, a DM can choose up to one of the benefits from the Demonic Aspect feature (Claws, Fangs, or Wings) and grant it to the character at an earlier barbarian level, making them into a vampire. They also gain darkvision extending out to 60 feet. When they reach 10th level, they can choose to gain one or both of the remaining benefits from the Demonic Aspect feature, and they gain resistance to necrotic damage.

However, as long as they are a vampire, the character counts as an undead instead of their normal types, and they have the following flaws:

Forbiddance. You can't enter a residence without an invitation from one of the occupants.

Harmed by Running Water. You take acid damage equal to 5 + your level when you end your turn in running water.

No Reflection. You do not appear in reflective surfaces, such as mirrors or tranquil water.

Stake to the Heart. If a piercing weapon made of wood is driven into your heart while you are incapacitated, you are paralyzed until the stake is removed.

Sunlight Hypersensitivity. You take radiant damage equal to 5 + your level when you start your turn in sunlight. While in sunlight, you have disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks.

Wounded Fury

Starting at 3rd level, if you make a melee weapon attack on your turn while you're raging and you have no more than half of your hit points left, you add 1d8 + half your barbarian level to the attack's damage roll on a hit.

You can only deal bonus damage in this way once per turn.

Brutal Harvest

At 3rd level, you gain the ability to harvest the life from the blood of enemies you slay. When you kill a creature with blood that is not Tiny using a melee weapon attack while you are raging, you can choose to regain a number of hit points equal to your Constitution modifier + your barbarian level (minimum 1 hit point). This feature cannot bring your current hit point total above half your maximum hit points.

You can use this feature the same number of times as you can rage based on your barbarian level. You regain all uses of this feature when you finish a long rest.

Scent of Blood

At 6th level, you learn how to identify a soul through the smell of blood. You have blindsight that extends out to a range of 30 feet, but this can only sense creatures with blood that are missing hit points. When a creature with blood in this range takes damage, you learn some things about it. You instantly learn its hit points, its maximum hit points, and its Constitution score. If its maximum hit points have been reduced, you learn that too.

When this happens, you can also choose to memorize the scent of its blood. If you do, for the next 30 days, you gain advantage on Wisdom (Insight) and (Perception) checks to discern something about the creature or to track that creature, and on Charisma (Intimidation) or (Persuasion) checks against that creature. You know if the creature is within 10 miles of you. If the creature is within 1 mile of you, you also know how far away it is.

You can only remember a number of blood scents equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum one). You can forget a blood scent at any time.

Demonic Aspect

At 10th level, as the power within your blood grows with each consumption, your body transforms and takes on a demonic aspect. Choose one of the following benefits to gain permanently. Any weapons gained from this feature count as magical for the purposes of overcoming resistance and immunity.

Draining Fangs

Your teeth lengthen into huge ghoulish fangs. You can survive on meals made of rotting meat, blood, or old bones and suffer no ill effects such as diseases or poisons. You have advantage on Charisma (Intimidation) ability checks made against creatures that have seen your teeth, and your bite is a natural weapon, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. You have proficiency with this bite, and it deals piercing damage equal to 1d10 + your Strength modifier.

When you are raging and you hit a creature that has blood using this bite, you can expend up to two hit dice to regain hit points as if you finished a short rest.

Hulking Wings

You grow a pair of gigantic, leathery, bat-like wings from your back. You have a natural flying speed of 30 feet. However, you have disadvantage on any ability checks made to blend into a crowd, and ability checks to disguise you are made with disadvantage.

While you are flying using these wings and you aren't raging, your carrying capacity is halved, and for every minute you keep flying without landing or raging, you must choose to either gain either 1 level of exhaustion or expend 1 hit die without regaining hit points.

Tearing Claws

You grow retractable knife-like talons on your hands and feet. You have a natural climbing speed equal to your walking speed that you must have at least one free hand to use, and you can use this speed to climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.

In addition, your unarmed strikes are a special melee weapon that you are proficient with. It deals slashing damage equal to 1d10 + your Strength modifier. Also, at the start of each of your turns while you are raging, you deal slashing damage equal to 1d8 + your proficiency bonus to one creature that you have grappled.

Heart Strike

At 14th level, the fell power in your blood grows stronger, and you learn to channel that power into your attacks. Whenever you finish a long rest, you regain a number of extra expended hit dice equal to your proficiency bonus.

In addition, when you hit with a melee weapon attack while you're raging, you can expend a hit die without regaining hit points. You take 1d12 necrotic damage that cannot be reduced by resistance or immunity, and then you roll the hit die. The attack deals bonus damage to one target equal to the amount rolled on the hit die + twice your Constitution modifier (minimum +2).

Whenever you roll this bonus damage more than once for an attack, you roll 1d12 for each additional roll of the bonus damage, taking damage each time. For example, whenever you use this feature to affect a critical hit, the bonus damage is rolled twice, and so you would take 2d12 damage instead of only 1d12. You still only expend one hit die, no matter how many times you roll it.