Path of the Shadow Spirit

Barbarians are filled with untamed fury, but sometimes when they rage, they create a void, and sometimes, something goes to fill it. Preeminent scholars have long questioned what causes this to happen, but most agree on what it is: forces from the Shadowfell. These “Shadow Spirits” enter the void some Barbarians create within themselves, but to what end or effect, no one knows.

Stoic Fury

Starting when you choose this Path at level 3, the Spirit within you allows you to conceal your rage to devastating results. When you enter a rage, you can attempt to remain unreadable. If you do so, the next melee attack you make, assuming this attack begins combat and is made within 1 round of beginning the rage, is counted as a surprise attack, and if you hit, is automatically a critical hit. If you fail to attack a target within 1 round, you lose this effect.

Lost Knowledge

At level 3, the Spirit occasionally whispers in your mind when you need information. You gain proficiency in both Arcana and History checks.

Drain of the Dark

At level 6, the Shadow Spirit lashes out at your enemies and taxes their bodies. While raging, the first time you hit a particular creature with a melee attack, you can force that creature to make a Constitution saving throw against a DC equal to 8 plus your Proficiency bonus plus your Constitution bonus or feel shadowy tendrils wrap around it. At the beginning of its turns, the creature takes 1d6 necrotic damage and may then attempt the save again. This effect lasts until the creature passes the saving throw, falls unconscious, or until you are more than 30 feet away. A number of creatures up to your Proficiency bonus may be under this effect at any one time.

Shadow Summon

At level 10, you have learned how to reach out to the Spirit to ask it questions. You learn how to cast the Contact Other Plane spell as a ritual, but only to contact your Shadow Spirit. If you fail the check, the ensuing insanity lasts either until Greater Restoration or Lesser Restoration is cast on you, or until after a long rest. Until then, the effect is as the spell describes.

Devoid Return

At level 14, when an ally you can see within 30 feet of you falls unconscious, you can use your reaction to temporarily drag their soul back to their body. The ally returns to consciousness but remains at 0 hit points. They remain conscious for a number of rounds equal to your Constitution modifier, after which they collapse once more. They may continue to fight as they had been, but every time they receive damage, it is an automatic failed death saving throw, and after they fail 3, they die. The ally does not need to roll death saving throws apart from being hit, however, until after they fall unconscious again. Once you use this ability, you cannot use it again until after a short or long rest.