Barbarian Path
Path of the Tidebringer
The Path of the Tidebringer is for barbarians who wish to call upon the sea's fury. Perhaps they swore an oath to a vengeful god of the deeps, or were empowered during a watery brush with death. Some may seek to defend the ocean's glory, while others wish to see the waves rise up and wash away their enemies.
Tidebringers may come from any background, though almost all will have some connection to the sea. Their alignments vary widely, as well - noble and lawful defenders of the waves walk this path alongside destroyers who would see landborne life washed away.
Path of the Tidebringer Features
| Barbarian Level | Feature |
|---|---|
| 3rd | Ocean Dweller, Sea's Fury |
| 6th | Emissary of the Waves |
| 10th | Wavecaller |
| 14th | Ocean's Wrath |
Ocean Dweller
When you adopt this path at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in water vehicles, or another tool of your choice if you are already proficient. Additionally, you gain the ability to hold your breath for 1 hour, and a swimming speed equal to your walking speed. If you already have a swimming speed, your swimming speed increases by 15 feet.
Sea's Fury
Also at 3rd level, your rage enables you to channel the sea's might. When you begin raging, you may choose one of the following benefits, which lasts for the duration of your rage.
- Depths: Whenever you deal damage to a target with a melee weapon attack, they take an additional amount of cold damage equal to your Rage damage bonus.
- Waves: Once per turn when you hit a creature with an attack, you can force them to make a saving throw with a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier. On a failure, they are knocked prone.
Emissary of the Waves
At 6th level, you are able to summon greater reserves of oceanic power. You gain the ability to breathe water, and choose an additional benefit which you may change after any short or long rest.
- Depths: You gain resistance to fire and cold damage.
- Waves: As a reaction when an enemy misses you with a melee attack, you may move up to half your speed without provoking attacks of opportunity.
Wavecaller
At 10th level, you can summon the fury of the waves directly. You learn the spells crashing wave*, dancing wave*, and waterspout*, and can cast them with Strength as your spellcasting ability modifier. You can cast these spells and concentrate on them while you are raging, and dealing damage with them counts as dealing damage for purposes of maintaining your rage.
You can cast each of these spells one time without expending a spell slot, and are able to do so again after completing a long rest.
These spells are by KibblesTasty, and included with permission in an appendix at the end of this document.
Ocean's Wrath
At 14th level, your command over the ocean's power grows greater. When you begin raging, you can choose to fully embody the wrath of the ocean. If you do so, you gain both benefits of your Sea's Fury ability, and both effects apply to creatures of your choice within 5 feet of the creature you attack.
You can rage in this way once, regaining the ability to do so after a long rest.
Path of the Tidebringer quirks
The following are some optional quirks for a player of this archetype to choose from.
| d6 | Quirk |
|---|---|
| 1 | You refuse to eat ocean-dwelling creatures, claiming it "wouldn't feel right." |
| 2 | You begin each day with a morning swim when possible. |
| 3 | You immediately Rage anytime you see someone throw trash into the sea. |
| 4 | Your hair contains tangles of seaweed, and you have a constant scent of saltwater. |
| 5 | When you rage, your body takes on a silvery sheen like fish scales. |
| 6 | You end each day with an evening swim when possible. |
Appendix: Spells
Crashing Wave
1st-level conjuration
- Classes: Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: Self (15-foot cone)
- Components: V, S
- Duration: Instantaneous
A wave of water sweeps out from you. Each creature in a 20-foot cone must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 2d6 bludgeoning damage and is knocked 10 feet away from you. If a creature is knocked into a wall, another creature, or fails by 5 or more, it is additionally knocked prone. On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage and is not knocked back. If there is a source of water of at least 5 cubic feet within 5feet of you when you cast the spell, you can displace that water, increasing the range of the spell to a 25 foot cone.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the damage increases by 1d6 for each level above 1st.
Dancing Wave
2nd-level conjuration
- Classes: Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: 30 feet
- Components: V, S
- Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
You summon a surging mass of water into existence at a point on the ground within range. The mass of water remains cohesive, filling a 5 foot radius, though only rises 3 feet from the ground. The area is difficult terrain for any creature without a swimming speed.
For the duration of the spell, as a bonus action you can move the wave of water up to 30 feet along a surface in any direction. The first time the wave enters any creature's space during your turn, they must make a Strength saving throw or take 2d6 bludgeoning damage and be knocked prone. A creature automatically fails this saving throw if they are prone.
Waterspout
3rd-level conjuration
- Classes: Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: 60 feet
- Components: V, S
- Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
You conjure a large mass of water and form it into a whirling funnel around a point on the ground you can see. The whirling funnel fills a 10-foot-radius, 30-foot-high cylinder. Once per turn, when a creature's space becomes fully engulfed by the waterspout it must make a Strength saving throw. On a failure, it takes 2d8 bludgeoning damage, and becomes blinded, deafened, and cannot speak. At the start of its next turn, it is expelled from the water to the nearest empty space. On success, it takes half as much damage and suffers none of the spell’s other effects.
On your turn, you can move the waterspout up to 20 feet in any direction along the ground as a bonus action, engulfing any creatures in its path. Creatures who fail their save after being engulfed by the waterspout in this way are carried along with its movement until they are ejected at the start of their turn as normal.
If the center point of this spell is over a Huge or larger body of water, the size of the waterspout is doubled.
Change Log
v1.0.1
- Corrected Sea's Fury - Waves to a Str save
v1.0
- Added art and relicensed
v0.4
- Buffed Emissary of the Waves (Depths)
v0.3
- Reworked Emissary of the Waves (Waves).
v0.2
- Language cleanup on Sea's Fury
- Small buff to Emissary of the Waves
v0.1
- Rough Draft
Credits & References:
- Path of the Tidebringer created by somanyrobots | Discord | Patreon
Spells
- Crashing Wave, Dancing Wave, and Waterspout by KibblesTasty
Art:
- Path of the Tidebringer, by Olga Jaworska
Background Image Stains
License
- © 2023 somanyrobots, CC BY-NC 4.0
5E SRD Content
This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available here.
The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available here.