Path of Miseria

Call Forth the Power that Ended the World

It's not often one is exposed to Miseria and lives to see another day. It's rarer still to be exposed to Miseria and grow stronger from it- while maintaining one's sanity, that is. Barbarians who walk the path of Miseria are those lucky (or unlucky) few who have not only survived this permeating, corrupting force, but have absorbed some manner of it into their very being. These barbarians are, in essence, walking vessels for Miseria, be it through experimentation, happenstance, or any other number of reasons, and they are terrifyingly effective monsters.

Level 3: Contaminated Strength

You gain the following benefits while your Rage is active:

Resistance. You have Resistance to Necrotic damage.

Tolerance. You have Advantage on any D20 test made to avoid gaining Contamination levels.

Corrupting Burst. You create a burst of Miseria when you hit the first target on your turn with a Strength-based melee attack. The target and each creature of your choice within a 10-foot Emanation originating from the target takes Necrotic damage. To determine this damage, roll a number of d4s equal to your Rage damage bonus, and add them together.

Level 6: Let It Flow Into Me

While your Rage is active, you have Immunity to the Weakened and Dazed conditions, and you cannot undergo Monstrous Transformations.

At the start of each of your turns while your Rage is active, you can choose to give yourself one level of Contamination. If you do, don't roll to see if you gain a mutation; instead, choose one mutation you don't already have, and gain it.

When your Rage ends, any Contamination levels and mutations you gained as a result of this feature are removed, and you gain a number of levels of Exhaustion equal to the number of Contamination levels you removed. You can choose to make a DC 25 Constitution saving throw when this happens. If you succeed, then you gain one less level of Exhaustion than you normally would.

Level 10: Permeating Corruption

Necrotic damage you deal with a Strength-based attack or feature from this subclass ignores Resistance.

Additionally, the following effect is now among your Brutal Strike options.

Corrupting Blow. The target gains one level of Contamination. Then, the target takes extra Necrotic damage from the attack equal to 2 times the total amount of Contamination levels both you and the target have.

Level 14: Contaminated Paragon

The Miseria within is now part of your very being- you are it, and it is you. While your Rage is active, you have Immunity to Necrotic damage, and when your Rage is inactive, you have Immunity to Contamination.

Additionally, the size of the Emanation produced by your Corrupting Burst increases to 60 feet. Creatures you choose to take its damage, other than the target, take extra damage equal to 2 times the total amount of Contamination levels both you and the target have.