Totem of the Rat
An extension of the Path of the Totem Warrior for the Barbarian Class.
The typical barbarian that spiritually links themselves with an animal totem look to majestic animals of the wild for guidance. They may call upon the strong-willed bear, the powerful tiger, or the graceful eagle to name a few. But what if one never encountered creatures such as these in their lives? What if they were adventurers that started living on the streets of impoverished cities, or in the back alleys of shady establishments? What if their only company in these dire times were the rodents that infested the nooks and crannies of the walls and floors? Adventurers like this might have chosen to channel their rage via the rat, obviously.
If you follow the Path of the Totem Warrior from the Player’s Handbook (PHB), you have access to the options presented here. Spirit Seeker and Spirit Walker function exactly as they do within the PHB but have been reprinted here for your convenience.
Spirit Seeker
Yours is a path that seeks attunement with the natural world, giving you a kinship with beasts. At 3rd level when you adopt this path, you gain the ability to cast the beast sense and speak with animals spells, but only as rituals, as described in Chapter 10 of the PHB.
Totem Spirit
This option is available to you when you choose a totem animal at 3rd level.
As with the spirits in the Player’s Handbook, the option here requires a physical object incorporating some part of the totem beast, and you might acquire minor physical attributes associated with your totem spirit, such as overgrown buck-teeth or the inability to contain yourself from squeaking if you have a rat totem spirit.
Also, your totem spirit might be an animal similar to the one listed here but more suitable to your homeland, such as a mouse or a squirrel, rather than a rat.
Rat. While you're raging and not wearing heavy armor, you gain +1 to your AC and can use the Disengage action as a bonus action on your turn. The spirit of the rat makes you nimble enough to avoid oncoming blows
Aspect of the Beast
At 6th level, you gain a magical benefit based on the totem animal of your choice. You can choose a different animal provided in the Totem Warrior path (pg. 50 of the PHB).
Rat. You gain the immune system of a rat. You are immune to disease. Additionally, you gain resistance to poison damage and have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned.
Spirit Walker
At 10th level, you can cast the commune with nature spell, but only as a ritual. When you do so, a spiritual version of one of the animals you chose for Totem Spirit or Aspect of the Beast appears to you to convey the information you seek.
Totemic Attunement
At 14th level, you gain a magical benefit based on a totem animal of your choice. You can choose the same animal you selected previously or a different one.
Rat. The spirit of the rat encourages swarming the enemy. While raging, you may use a bonus action to make an additoinal melee weapon attack against a creature if there is at least one ally within 5-feet of it.
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All other original material in this work is copyright 2019 by Javier Lopez and published under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild.
