Barbarian Subclasses - Tasha's

 We now come to the most recent subclasses for Barbarians. The class started out strong in the PHB and then got a couple of really good options in Xanathar's (Storm Herald is not nearly as weird and I think bad as Battlerager, but isn't quite up to par with the others.) In Tasha's we get two additional one.

Path of the Beast:

The premise here can be skinned in various ways, but I generally think this is the best way to play a straight-up werewolf (though granted the "tail" option is a little outside of your classic werewolf aesthetic.) When you rage, you take on beast-like qualities and get natural weapons. As with any martial class that has built-in weapons, you do suffer a bit from not being able to really upgrade them, but they're still quite good.

At 3rd level, you get Form of the Beast. When you Rage, you can transform, manifesting a natural weapon. These count as simple melee weapons for you, using your Strength modifier as normal. You can choose one of these options each time you rage.

Bite: Your mouth transforms into a bestial maw or set of mandibles. It deals 1d8 piercing damage on a hit (plus the usual bonuses) and once on your turn if you're below half your hit point maximum, you can regain HP equal to your proficiency bonus when this attack lands. Nice if you need the healing. Not much else to say.

Claws: Each of your hands transforms into a claw, which you can use as a weapon if the hand is empty. It deals 1d6 damage on a hit, and once on each of your turns when you attack with a claw using the Attack action, you can make one additional claw attack as part of the same action. This is actually the real powerhouse. Barbarians don't get fighting styles inherently, so dual-wielding is not quite as powerful (though given that you get to add your rage bonus, it's not terrible.) Here, however, you're effectively dual-wielding scimitars, but you A: get to add Strength (on top of just Rage) to the "off-hand" attack, and B: you still have a bonus action, so you can rage first and then get in these attacks. I'll also point out that once you hit level 5, you can make a single Greataxe attack and then two claw attacks, because you only need both hands on a two-handed weapon when you're attacking with it.

Tail: You grow a lashing, spiny tail, which deals 1d8 piercing damage and has reach. If a creature you can see within 10 feet of you hits you with an attack roll, you can use your reaction to swipe your tail, rolling a d8 and adding it to your AC against that attack, potentially causing it to miss. This is a nice defensive ability and also a great use of the feature if you have a super-awesome weapon that would be better than using your claws (using the tail primarily for defense.)

At level 6, you get Bestial Soul. Your natural weapons count as magical. Also, when you finish a short or long rest, you can choose one of the following benefits, which lasts until the end of your next rest:

You gain a swimming speed equal to your walking speed and can breathe underwater.

You gain a climbing speed equal to your walking speed and can climb on difficult surfaces including upside down on ceilings without needing to make an ability check.

Or, when you jump, you can make a Strength (Athletics) check and extend your jump by a number of feet equal to the check's total. You can do this once per turn.

These are pretty cool - I like getting spider-climb, and as always, getting a swimming speed is really great for any melee class, as it means you won't get disadvantage on your attacks.

At level 10, you get Infectious Fury. When you hit a creature with your natural weapons while you're raging, you can curse the target. They make a Wisdom saving throw against a DC determined by your Constitution and suffer one of the following:

They must use their reaction to make a melee attack against another creature of your choice you can see, or they take 2d12 psychic damage. Note that this isn't a charm effect, so this will work on an Iron Golem (though the psychic might not do much to them.)

You can use this a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest.

Finally, at 14, you get Call the Hunt: When you enter your Rage, you can choose a number of other willing creatures (not including you) you can see within 30 feet of you up to your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1.) You get 5 temporary hit points for each creature that accepts this. Until your rage ends, the affected creatures can add a d6 to the damage rolls of their attacks once on each of their turns. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest. This comes out to a pretty significant amount of damage if you have a lot of characters who make attacks, not to mention that you get a decent little cushion of temporary hit points from it.

Beast Barbarians definitely seem to be one of the more damage-oriented options. On top of them, I'm a big fan of werewolves, so I'd really like to play one of these (especially in a Ravenloft game!)

Path of Wild Magic:

You know, one doesn't often associate Barbarians with whimsy. But the chaotic nature of rage here also manifests as a burst of uncontrolled and unpredictable magic. It's built on a similar premise to the Wild Magic Sorcerer, but I think a little more refined (also, it's only a d8 table, not a d100 table.)

At 3rd level, you get Magic Awareness. As an action, you can open your awareness to magic until the end of your next turn. You know the location of any spell or magic item within 60 feet of you not behind total cover. When you sense a spell, you learn which school of magic it belongs to. You can do this a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest. So you effectively get a variation of detect magic as a Barbarian. This can be really good for sensing magical traps or illusions, or just finding the magic items in a pile of treasure.

Also at 3, you get Wild Surge. When you Rage, you roll on the Wild Magic table (not the Sorcerer one - a different one) to see what effect goes off. If these require a saving throw, the DC is based on your Constitution.

1: Shadowy tendrils lash around you. Creatures of your choice that you can see within 30 feet must succeed on a Con save or take 1d12 necrotic damage. You also gain 1d12 temporary hit points.

2: You teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see. You can do this again on each turn as a bonus action while you're raging.

3: An intangible spirit appears within 5 feet of a creature of your choice you can see within 30 feet of you. At the end of the current turn, the spirit explodes and each creature within 5 feet of it must succeed on a Dex save or take 1d6 force damage. While raging, you can use this effect again on each turn as a bonus action.

4: Until your rage ends, a weapon of your choice you are holding is magically transformed. Its damage type becomes force, and it gains the light and thrown properties, with a range of 20/60. If the weapon leaves your hand, it reappears there at the end of the current turn.

5: When a creature hits you with an attack roll before your rage ends, they take 1d6 force damage.

6: Until your rage ends, multicolored lights float around you, granting a +1 bonus to AC to you and any allies within 10 feet of you.

7: Flowers and vines grow around you. Until your rage ends, ground within 15 feet of you is difficult terrain for your enemies.

8: A bolt of light shoots out of your chest. A creature you choose that you can see within 30 feet makes a Con save or takes 1d6 radiant damage and is blinded until the start of your next turn. You can repeat this as a bonus action on subsequent turns until the rage ends.

This, of course, is better (at least in terms of player power) than the Sorcerer Wild Magic table, in that all of these are useful. In fact, each of these is great, though being unable to predict which one you get means you'll just need to roll with it.

At 6th level, you get Bolstering Magic. As an action, you can touch a creature (including potentially yourself) and give them one of the following benefits:

For the next 10 minutes, they can roll a d3 when they make an attack roll or ability check and add the amount rolled to it.

Or, roll a d3 and the creature regains one expended spell slot of a level equal to the amount rolled or lower. A creature can only get this benefit once per long rest.

And you can take this action a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest.

Actually, being a spell battery for your party is a pretty cool role to play, though of course it's at most going to be a third-level spell slot. D3s don't exist (at least in standard dice sets), but you could always either treat the 4, 5, and 6 as being a second 1, 2, and 3, or you could roll a d4 and ignore 4s.

At level 10, you get Unstable Backlash. After you take damage or fail a saving throw while raging, you can use a reaction to roll on the Wild Magic table and immediately produce the effect rolled, replacing your current Wild Magic effect. While this might not actually help with the current situation, it'll introduce a new big of chaos to the proceedings, which is fun. It does at least give you one more activation of what are generally beneficial effects.

At level 14, you get Controlled Surge. When you roll on the Wild Magic table, you can roll the die twice and choose which of the effects to unleash. If you roll the same on both dice, you can ignore the roll and choose any of these. Like the Wild Magic Sorcerer, this represents how you've learned to assert some limited control on your abilities, and will of course make it more likely you get something useful for your current situation.

It's funny, because in addition to comparing it with other Barbarian subclasses, this one invites comparison to the Sorcerer subclass of the same name. I think that on one hand, this is going to be more consistently useful (no dropping a fireball on yourself) but on the other hand, you won't get the total insanity of transforming into a flowerpot or other such weirdness. Still, if you want a bit of chaos, this is a good choice.

And thus we come to the end of the Barbarian review. Honestly, there aren't too many weak links here, with only the Battlerager being flat-out bad in my opinion. Clearly some of these focus more on defending the party while others focus on damage output or personal survivability. I still think the Zealot's Rage Beyond Death is off the walls bananas.