Barbarian Buffs & Changes v3

by TheTranMan

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Drict's Barbarian
Drict Improves the Barbarian Class
Taking Inspiration from SW5e's Berserker (see Sources on last page)

The Barbarian
Level Proficiency Bonus Features Rages Rage Damage
1st +2 Rage, Powerful Throw, Unarmored Defense 2 +2
2nd +2 Reckless Attack, Barbaric Instincts 2 +2
3rd +2 Primal Path, Danger Sense, Primal Knowledge 3 +2
4th +2 Ability Score Improvement 3 +2
5th +3 Extra Attack, Fast Movement 3 +3
6th +3 Resilient Rage, Path Feature 4 +3
7th +3 Battle Impulse, Instinctive Pounce 4 +3
8th +3 Ability Score Improvement 4 +3
9th +4 Brutal Critical (1 die) 4 +4
10th +4 Path Feature 5 +4
11th +4 Indomitable Might, Relentless Rage 5 +4
12th +4 Ability Score Improvement 6 +4
13th +5 Brutal Critical (2 dice) 6 +5
14th +5 Path Feature 7 +5
15th +5 Persistent Rage 7 +5
16th +5 Ability Score Improvement 8 +5
17th +6 Brutal Critical (3 dice) 8 +6
18th +6 Raging Regeneration 9 +6
19th +6 Ability Score Improvement 9 +6
20th +6 Primal Champion Unlimited +6

Barbarian Class Features

As a barbarian, you gain the following features.

Hit Points

  • Hit Dice: 1d12 per barbarian level
  • Hit Points at 1st Level: 12 + your Consitution modifier
  • Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d12 (or 7) + your Constitution modifier per fighter level after 1st

Proficiencies

  • Armor: Light armor, medium armor, shields
  • Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons
  • Tools: None
  • Saving Throws: Strength, Constitution
  • Skills: Choose two from Animal Handling, Athletics, Intimidation, Nature, Perception, and Survival

Equipment

You start with the following equipment.

  • (a) a greataxe or (b) any martial melee weapon
  • (a) two handaxes or (b) any simple weapon
  • An explorer's pack and four javelins

Rage

In battle, you fight with primal ferocity. On your turn, you can enter a rage as a bonus action. While raging, you gain the following benefits if you aren't wearing heavy armor:

  • You have advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws.
  • When you make a melee weapon attack using Strength, you gain a bonus to the damage roll that increases as you gain levels as a barbarian, as shwon in the Rage Damage column of the Barbarian table.
  • You have Resistance to Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing damage.

If you are able to cast spells, you can't cast them or concentrate on them while raging.

Your rage lasts until the end of your next turn. It ends early if you have the Incapacitated condition or don Heavy Armor. If your Rage is still active on your turn, you can extend the rage for another round by doing one or more of the following:

  • Make an attack roll against an enemy.
  • Force an enemy to make a saving throw.
  • Take a Bonus Action to extend your Rage.

Each time you extend your rage, it lasts until the end of your next turn. You can maintain a Rage for up to 10 minutes.

You can enter your rage a number of times shown for your Barbarian level in the Rages column of the Barbarian table, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.

Powerful Throw

While you're raging, when you make a successful ranged attack with a thrown weapon using Strength, you can add your Rage Damage bonus to the attack's damage roll.

Unarmored Defense

While you aren't wearing any armor, your base Armor Class equals 10 + your Dexterity and Constitution modifiers. You can use a Shield and still gain this benefit.

Reckless Attack

At 2nd Level, you can throw aside all concern for defense to attack with fierce desperation. When you make your first attack roll on your turn, you can decide to attack recklessly. Doing so gives you Advantage on attack rolls using Strength during this turn, but attack rolls against you have Advantage until the start of your next turn.

Barbaric Instincts

At 2nd Level, you've thrown yourself into the thick of battle enough that it has given you specific instincts that give you an edge.

You gain two Instincts, as detailed at the end of the class description. If an Instinct has prerequisites, you must have them to learn gain it. You can swap Instincts at the same time you meet its prerequisites (say you reach 3rd-Level and gain a Subclass, and meet the Subclass pre-requisite for said Instinct). If you gained Proficiencies from an Instinct, you lose them when you swap it out.

You learn an additional Instinct at 7th, 13th, and 17th level.

Danger Sense

At 3rd level, you gain an uncanny sense of when things nearby aren’t as they should be, giving you an edge when you dodge away from danger.

You have advantage on Dexterity saving throws against effects that you can see, such as traps and spells. To gain this benefit, you can’t be blinded, deafened, or incapacitated.

Primal Knowledge

When you reach 3rd level and again at 10th level, you gain proficiency in one skill of your choice from the list of skills available to barbarians at 1st level.

Primal Path

At 3rd level, you choose a path that shapes the nature of your rage. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 6th, 10th, and 14th levels.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Extra Attack

Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Fast Movement

Starting at 5th level, your speed increases by 10 feet while you aren't wearing heavy armor.

Resilient Rage

At 6th level, your rage allows you to overcome and tank all forms of harm that comes your way. Whenever you take damage while raging, you can use your Reaction to gain Resistance to that type of damage, and you remain resistant to that damage type until your Rage ends. You can only use this reaction an amount of times equal to your Constitution modifier. You regain all expended uses when you complete a Long Rest.

Instinctive Pounce

At 7th level, as part of the Bonus Action you take to enter your Rage, you can move up to half your speed.

Battle Impulse

By 7th level, your instincts are so honed that you have advantage on Initiative rolls. When you enter Combat from rolling Initiative, you can use your reaction to Rage. You can spend this reaction even if you are surprised at the beginning of combat, so long as you aren't incapacitated.

Brutal Critical

Beginning at 9th level, you can roll one additional weapon damage die when determining the extra damage for a critical hit with a melee attack.

This increases to two additional dice at 13th level, and three additional dice at 17th level.

In addition, your critical hit range with your attacks increases by 1, causing you to land a critical hit on a roll of a 19 or 20 when making attacks. It increases by 1 again at 13th level (18-20), and at 17th level (17-20).

Indomitable Might

Beginning at 11th level, if your total for a Strength check is less than your Strength score, you can use that score in place of the total.

Relentless Rage

Starting at 11th level, your rage can keep you fighting despite grievous wounds. If you drop to 0 hit points while you're raging and don't die outright, you can make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. If you succeed, your Hit Points instead change to a number equal to twice your Barbarian level.

Each time you use this feature after the first, the DC increases by 5. When you finish a Short or Long Rest, the DC resets to 10.

Persistent Rage

Beginning at 15th level, your rage is so fierce that it now lasts for 10 minutes without you needing to do anything to extend it from round to round. The rage still ends if you have the Incapacitated condition or don Heavy Armor.

Raging Regeneration

At 18th level, your rage causes your body to regenerate wounds that would be fatal to others. While raging, at the start of each of your turns, you regain Hit Points equal to 5 + your Constitution modifier if you have no more than half your Hit Points left.

Additionally, if you put a severed body part of yours back in place while raging, the part reattaches.

Primal Champion

At 20th level, you embody the power of the wilds. Your Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution scores increase by 4. Your maximum for those scores is now 24.

Barbaric Instincts

The Barbaric Instincts are presented in alphabetical order.

Beefy Instinct

Your Hit Point Maximum increases by an amount equal to your Barbarian Level. Whenever you gain a level, your Hit Point Maximum increases by 1 hit points.

Demolisher Instinct

Prerequisite: 7th level

You deal double damage to objects and structures.

Fighting Instinct

You adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the Fighting Style options.

Hauler's Instinct

Your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift doubles. If it would already double, it instead triples. Additionally, you have advantage on Strength checks made to push, pull, lift, or break objects.

Infallible Instinct

Prerequisite: 13th level

While raging, your attack rolls can't suffer from disadvantage.

Immense Rage Instinct

The maximum number of times you can rage increases by an amount equal to your Proficiency modifier (minimum of +2).

Leaping Smash Instinct

While raging, you can use your bonus action to jump up to half your movement speed to an empty space you can see. When you land you deal bludgeoning damage equal to your Strength modifier to each creature within 5 feet of where you land. You can use this feature an amount of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus. You regain all expended uses when you complete a Long Rest.

Magehunter Instinct

Prerequisite: 13th level

When you are forced to make a saving throw against a spell, you can immediately use your reaction to move up to half your speed towards the spell's caster. If you end this movement within your reach of the target, you can immediately make one melee weapon attack against the target as part of that reaction.

Nomadic Instinct

You gain a climbing and swimming speed equal to your movement speed.

Olympic Instinct

Prerequisite: 7th level

Your strength is so mighty, that when you Contest a Creature using Strength (Athletics) checks made to Shove, Grapple, or Push, the Creature you contest has Disadvantage on the opposed role, so long as they are equal to your Size or Smaller.

Predator's Instinct

While raging, your speed increases by 10 feet.

Reaver's Instinct

While raging, other creatures have disadvantage on opportunity attacks against you, and you can take the Dash action as a bonus action on your turn (taking this Dash action extends your Rage).

Vigorous Instinct

Prerequisite: 7th level

While raging, you have advantage on Constitution saving throws.

Subclass Specific Instincts

When you reach 3rd-Level, you gain access to Instincts you may swap out when you meet their Subclass prerequisite.

Ancestral Rebuke Instinct

Prerequisite: 13th-level, Path of the Ancestral Guardian

The strength of your ancestral warriors becomes so potent, they can counter-attack your foes. When you use your Spirit Shield to reduce another creature's damage, it deals damage back to the source of the damage equal to the amount it reduced, so long as both the creature and the source are within 30 feet.

Frenzy Strike Instinct

Prerequisite: Path of the Berserker

While Raging with Berserker's Frenzy, if you use Reckless Attack on your Bonus Action Frenzy Attack using a Strength-based attack, you deal extra damage to your target, which is a number of d8s equal to half your Rage Damage bonus (min 1d8), and add them together to the total damage of the attack.

Monstrous Adaptation Instinct

Prerequisite: Path of the Beast

When you enter your Rage and take the Form of the Beast, you can choose to select all of the natural weapon's forms available to you.

Horn Adaptation

Prerequisite: Path of the Beast

You gain the following natural weapon option when you enter your Rage and take the Form of the Beast.

Horn. A single horn or pair of horns sprout from your head. It deals 1d6 piercing damage on a hit. If you move at least 20 feet straight towards a target and hit it with your horns, the target takes an additional amount of damage, which is a number of d6s equal to your Rage Damage bonus.

Wing Adaptation

Prerequisite: 13th-level, Path of the Beast

You gain the following natural weapon option when you enter your Rage and take the Form of the Beast.

Wings. A pair of beastial leathery wings or furred feathers (your choice) sprout from your shoulders, granting you Flight equal to your Movement Speed, so long as you aren't wearing Heavy Armor. It deals 1d8 bludgeoning damage on a hit. Once on each of your turns when you attack with your wings using the Attack action, the target must succeed on a Strength saving throw (DC equal to 8 + your Constitution modifier + your Proficiency Bonus) or be knocked prone.

Storm Surge Instinct

Prerequisite: Path of the Storm Herald

When you choose your Storm Herald's Storm Aura, you choose two environments instead of only one.

Artist Credits

Contribution Credits

Mechanics and features lifted and/or inspired by the following:

  • SW5e's - The Berserker Class (Inspired by the Class's 'Instincts' Feature, which creates Class Feature similar to Warlock Invocations.)
  • Alcahest's - Revised Barbarian (Not many of this Document's Features were lifted, however it acted as a great font of inspiration towards revising the Barbarian.)
  • Tasha's Cauldron of Everything - D&D Beyond Link (A handful of variant features concretely added in this version.)
  • One D&D's - Playtest 5 (Many features and quality of life changes were lifted from this Document.)

Change Log

Date (YYYY/MM/DD) Change
2021/10/18 Initial Release v1.1
2023/5/2 Updated Release v2.1
2023/7/25 Official Release v3.1
2023/7/26 Current Release v3.2

Feedback or Outreach

Have questions? Comments? Playtest feedback? Requests? or just want to send Approval? I appreciate all or any forms of feedback.

Contact Drict at abtran6989@gmail.com, on Reddit with /u/tranborg. I also have a Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com/drict if you would like to support my work.

Get Mad and

Get Even

Version 2.2

Created and Clearly Made Overpowered by /u/tranborg

Most of this Homebrew is sourced from revisions of SW5e's Berserker, which is an excellent take on revising the Barbarian Class, from the main inspiration of the Instincts. Otherwise a lot of other features source from the OneD&D Playtest 5.

Artist Credits:

Additional Homebrew content by Drict can be found for free on GM Binder.

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