Base Class: Barbarian
Path of the Spellwrought Barbarians have fought many battles against magic-wielding foes and have found themselves wanting. To level the playing field these Barbarians have learned to tap into the innate magic energy within themselves through sheer physical might and extract it to cast spells using magical tattoos.
Level 3: Innate Magic
You can tap into the innate magical energy within yourself. This energy is represented by a pool of Innate Magic Dice, which are d12s. You have a number of these dice equal to 1 + your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1). You expend these dice to cast your Path of the Spellwrought spells. When you expend a die, roll it and gain Temporary Hit Points equal to the result.
You regain one of your expended Innate Magic Dice when you finish a Short Rest, and you regain all of them when you finish a Long Rest.
Level 3: Spellwrought Ink
You have learned how to etch magical tattoos onto your skin using special ink. These tattoos allow you to use your innate magical energy to cast spells that mimic the spells used by other spellcasters.
You learn two level 1 spells from the Cleric, Druid, or Wizard spell list. You can replace these spells with different level 1 spells from an available spell list when you finish a Long Rest. Constitution is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
You can cast these spells even while your Rage is active by expending an Innate Magic Die.
Level 6: Enhanced Magic
You learn two level 2 or lower spells from the Cleric, Druid, or Wizard spell list. You can replace these spells with different level 2 or lower spells from an available spell list when you finish a Long Rest. Constitution is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
You can cast these spells even while your Rage is active by expending an Innate Magic Die.
Level 10: Powerful Magic
You learn two level 3 or lower spells from the Cleric, Druid, or Wizard spell list. You can replace these spells with different level 3 or lower spells from an available spell list when you finish a Long Rest. Constitution is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
You can cast these spells even while your Rage is active by expending an Innate Magic Die.
Level 10: Spell Focused Rage
You have learned to focus on maintaining and strengthening the magic of your spells using your rage. You can cast any spell you know while your Rage is active, even if it is not from this Subclass. If you expend an Innate Magic Die to cast a spell, you can maintain Concentration on that spell even while your Rage is active.
In addition, while your Rage is active, if you cast a spell by expending an Innate Magic Die you always cast it as a level 3 spell if it can be cast at a higher level.
Level 14: Spellwrought Might
You have gained mastery over the magical energy of your spells and you can use your magical tattoos and physical might to manipulate or break this energy at will.
You learn the spell Counterspell. Constitution is your spellcasting ability for this spell and you can cast it even while your Rage is active a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of once). A use is not expended if this spell fails to stop a spell. You regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.
In addition, when you cast a spell while your Rage is active you are empowered by its magical energy until the end of your next turn. Your next attack using Strength—with either a weapon or an Unarmed Strike—does an additional 2d12 Force damage.
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Posted Sep 18, 2025Point 1: Does this mean that spells are limited to their respective original levels before this point?
Yes. Spells in D&D scale with the level of spell slot you use to cast them, with Cantrips being the exception. Since the Subclass does not have spell slots as the fuel for casting spells they cannot use that mechanic. I also wanted to avoid allowing the Barbarian the ability to upcast their spells based on Innate Magic Die spent, as that would create balance issues. So the Subclass is hard capped at Level 3 spells, but the Level 10 feature allows them a way of upcasting lower level spells to help those spells stay relevant.
Point 2: There are no subclass-specific spells in your homebrew, and you list the 3 available schools of magic you could draw from, so is this intended for being able to use spell-storing items, scrolls, or 'wand of' / 'staff of' castings, etc?
This portion of the feature is intended to allow the Subclass to synergize with Feats and Multiclassing. The Subclass gives you access to a lot of spells sure, but the number of spells you can know at one time is still greatly limited and there's other class exclusive spells like Divine Smite that you might have access to through multiclassing but wouldn't be able to cast. This feature lets you group those spells in with your other spells for the "Can cast even during Rage" rule.
Point 3:
I should clarify though, that the feature does not allow you to use your Innate Magic Dice to cast spells NOT given by the subclass. So if you do take some levels in Paladin and get Divine Smite, sure you can cast it during Rage but you'd have to spend a spell slot to do so. This is why there's the distinction of "if you cast a spell by expending an Innate Magic Die" . Your Innate Magic Dice are only ever used to cast the spells you get from this Subclass, no other spells.
THANK YOU for reading. If I can refine the subclass to make it more appealing to others I will, though I think the reason it hasn't gotten any views is because of how this website works, rather than a complete lack of interest in this concept.
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Posted Sep 18, 2025Firstly - this looks fun. I like the idea of a frustrated mage scholar who cannot quite get their supposed 'natural talents' to shine through and instead becomes a frustrated sword-for-hire with a temper that unleashes the locked abilities, or maybe they trained to be a frontline warrior but have these occasional flashes of magic brilliance when they are in their element on the battlefield.
The Level 10 ability wording raises a couple of questions, could you clarify?
1. "In addition, while your Rage is active, if you cast a spell by expending an Innate Magic Die you always cast it as a level 3 spell if it can be cast at a higher level."
Does this mean that spells are limited to their respective original levels before this point? (eg. L1 spells can only ever be cast at L1, until level 10)
2. "You can cast any spell you know while your Rage is active, even if it is not from this Subclass."
There are no subclass-specific spells in your homebrew, and you list the 3 available schools of magic you could draw from, so is this intended for being able to use spell-storing items, scrolls, or 'wand of' / 'staff of' castings, etc?
(That doesn't seem to fit with the 'innate magic' aspect, but I could see it being argued as a logical 'getting-to-grips with magic in general' sort of character progression)
3. If using items to cast is the intended end goal of the above point, it would be good to clarify whether that still uses Innate Magic Dice / still triggers the tempHP and additional Force damage (as they seem tied to the innate magic only), since you use the phrase "if you cast a spell by expending an Innate Magic Die" rather than "when you...", throughout - implying it is possible to cast without using the Innate Magic Dice in certain instances.
Thanks for reading!
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Posted Jun 20, 2025I got tired of building Barbarians that had access to spells but couldn’t cast those spells in combat. So I made my own Barbarian that can cast spells, but without stepping on the toes of Full Casters. It’s not as powerful as Berserker for damage, or World Tree for control, but it should be fun to play. Because spells are fun, and Barbarians shouldn’t be left out.
You’ll notice that trying to Multiclass this with a Full Caster or Half Caster would be difficult if you wanted to maximize your Innate Magic Die. That’s intentional. Can’t let things get too crazy.
All of the features should be correctly implemented. Give it a try. Let me know what you think and if a feature is not working.