Barbarian - Path of the Risen

by somanyrobots

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Barbarian Path

Path of the Risen

Barbarians who walk the Path of the Risen are those who died, and then, somehow, didn't; their power comes from this anchor to the grave. At some point, somehow, they touched the eternal boundary between life and death, and instead of crossing, came back changed. They are rarely able to explain why, but they can reach back across that boundary to harness mysterious powers.

Path of the Risen barbarians come from all walks of life - the thing that unifies them is a lethal history. They often did not choose their path, but now find themselves with unnatural might and must make use of it. Their alignments may also vary, as some find their deathly powers to be a corrupting temptation, while others came away from their near-death experience determined to lead a purer life.

Path of the Risen Features

Barbarian Level Feature
3rd Strength of the Grave
6th Back from the Dead
10th Cross the Boundary, Spiritual Communion
14th Swarm of Spirits

Strength of the Grave

At 3rd level, your rage allows you to tap into an unhallowed energy from the other side. While you are raging, you can choose for your attacks to deal necrotic damage instead of their normal damage type.

Additionally, if a creature of CR 1/4 or greater dies within 15 feet while you are raging, you can use your reaction to tear its spirit asunder and blast its energy outward. One creature of your choice within 15 feet of the target must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier, taking necrotic damage equal to 1d8 + your barbarian level on a failure or half as much on a success.

Back from the Dead

At 6th level, your stubborn hold on life grows to a frightening strength. You gain the following abilities:

  • You have resistance to necrotic damage.
  • When you roll a death saving throw, you can treat a roll of 19 as if you rolled a 20 on the die.
  • When you fail a death saving throw, you can choose to instead treat the result as if it were a 20. You can do so once, regaining the ability after a long rest.

Cross the Boundary

At 10th level, you can summon the spirits of the slain back to obey your commands. You learn the unseen servant and speak with dead spells. You can cast each one once without expending a spell slot, regaining the ability to do so after a short rest.

Spiritual Communion

Also at 10th level, you can summon a spirit to impart its skills directly into your mind. As an action, you can choose to gain proficiency in one skill with which you are not proficient, or you may double your proficiency bonus for one skill with which you are proficient. This effect fades after 1 hour.

You can use this ability once, regaining its use after a long rest.

Swarm of Spirits

At 14th level, the spirits you call back from the other side are ravenous and tear into your foes. As a bonus action, or automatically after you roll a 19 or 20 on a death saving throw, you may summon a swarm of spirits, which swirl around you in a 15-foot radius and steal the life from your foes. Each creature of your choice within 15 feet suffers 1d6 necrotic damage at the start of each of your turns, and you regain 2 hit points for each creature affected. The spirits last for 1 minute, until you fall unconscious, or until you dismiss them as a bonus action.

You may use your Swarm of Spirits as a bonus action once, regaining the ability to do so after a long rest.

Path of the Risen quirks

The following are some optional quirks for a player of this path to choose from.

d6 Quirk
1 You saw exactly how and when you will die. You won't tell anybody.
2 You've never been sure if your soul's really the one that came back.
3 When you rage, your eyes turn coal-black.
4 Every night when you sleep, your allies hear you reliving your death in your dreams.
5 You know exactly how your companions will die.
6 Anyone who leans in close to you detects the scent of grave dirt.

Change Log

v1.0

  • Updated art and license

v0.2

  • Mild rework to Strength of the Grave
  • Buffed healing on Swarm of Spirits (1 to 2)

v0.1

  • Rough Draft
Credits & References:

Path of the Risen created by somanyrobots
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License

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.