In our first look through the Barbarian subclasses, we saw two very solid entries from the PHB and then one utterly bizarre one from Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. In Xanathar's, though, we're going to see some of the subclasses that I think take things a bit farther.
Without further ado, let's get to them:
Path of the Ancestral Guardian:
There's a theme across multiple Barbarian subclasses of a more shamanic, spiritual side to the class. Ancestral Guardians draw on connection to the spirit world, channeling ancestral might through them.
At 3rd level, you get Ancestral Protectors. When you're raging, the first time you hit with an attack on your turn, the target is hindered by spectral warriors who fight alongside you. Until the start of your next turn, the target has disadvantage on attack rolls against creatures that aren't you, and if they do hit another creature with an attack, the creature has resistance to that damage. The effect on the target only ends early if your rage ends.
This is one of the first abilities truly lets the Ancestral Guardian tank - actively discouraging foes to attack the rest of the party (and reducing the damage if the foe ignores them.) It's a great feature.
At level 6, you get Spirit Shield. While raging, you can use your reaction to reduce the damage an ally takes by 2d6, if they're within 30 feet of you and you can see them. At level 10, this becomes 3d6, and at 14 it becomes 4d6. Again, the Ancestral Guardian helps to keep the party safe, reducing damage they take. You're going to be a very effective protector.
At 10, you get Consult the Spirits. You can cast Augury or Clairvoyance without the need for a spell slot or material components. If you use Clairvoyance, the invisible sensor takes the form of one your ancestral spirits (Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for this.) Once you cast either spell, you can't do it again until you finish a short or long rest. Obviously, this isn't going to be much of a combat ability, but it's a pretty versatile way to keep tabs on a location or get some guidance - I'm happy whenever a strongly combat-focused class gets things to do when you're not in initiative, and these can be some very useful spells.
At level 14, you get Vengeful Ancestors. When you use Spirit Shield to reduce the damage of an attack, the attacker takes force damage equal to the amount of damage you reduced. This is nice - punishing a foe while protecting an ally, and once again really funneling foes toward you instead of your squishy wizard.
Not only does the Ancestral Guardian have a really strong flavor to it, it's also a really effective tank for protecting allies. We're looking at a top-tier subclass.
Path of the Storm Herald:
Your inner rage matches the fury of the elements, allowing you to be one with the storm, with primordial magic emanating from you as you fight.
At 3rd level, you get Storm Aura. When you rage, you get an aura that extends from you for 10 feet (though not past total cover.) Each aura has an effect when you enter your rage and again on each turn if you use a bonus action. You can choose between desert, sea, or tundra environments, which will have different effects as you level up. You can change which type of storm you represent when you level up, but it seems you're meant to stick with one.
Also, aura effects have a DC based on your Constitution. The third level effects are:
Desert: When activated, all other creatures in your storm aura take 2 fire damage. This goes up to 3 at 5th level, 4 damage at 10th level, 5 damage at 15th level, and 6 at 20th. So, try not to use this when your friends are close. But that's pretty decent AoE damage for a melee class.
Sea: When activated, you can choose one other creature in your aura. They make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failure, they take 1d6 lightning damage, and on a success they take half. This goes up to 2d6 at 10th level, 3d6 at 15th level, and 4d6 at 20th level.
Tundra: When activated, each creature of your choice within the aura gets 2 temporary hit points. This goes up to 3 at 5th level, 4 at 10th level, 5 at 15th level, and 6 at 20th level. So kind of the opposite of the desert.
So, it's a choice between AoE damage, single-target damage, and a bit of damage reduction in the form of Temp HP. Really depends on what you need.
At 6th level, you get Storm Soul, getting different effects depending on your storm environment. These are in effect even if you're not raging.
Desert: You get resistance to fire damage, and you don't suffer the effects of extreme heat (which to be fair, I think is baked into having fire resistance.) Also, as an action, you can touch a flammable object that isn't being worn or carried by anyone else and set it on fire. Kinda badass.
Sea: You gain resistance to lightning damage and you can breath underwater. You also gain a swimming speed of 30 feet. This is actually pretty huge given that having a swim speed allows you to use any weapon without disadvantage down there. So you can swing a greataxe around beneath the waves.
Tundra: You gain resistance to cold damage, and you don't suffer the effects of extreme cold (again, I believe that always comes with cold resistance, though I guess it's a nice reminder here.) Also, as an action, you can touch water and turn a 5-foot cube of it into ice, which melts after 1 minute. This will fail if a creature is in the cube. The applications for this cube of ice could be pretty interesting with a lot of creativity, for example by creating things to climb on.
At level 10, you get Shielding Storm. Each creature of your choice within your Storm Aura (which exists while raging,) gains the damage resistance granted by your Storm Soul feature. This is nice, though of course situational depending on what kind of damage you're dealing with.
At 14, you get Raging Storm, enhancing your Storm Aura in different ways for each type.
Desert: Immediately after a creature in your aura hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to force that creature to make a Dexterity saving throw. If they fail, they take fire damage equal to half your Barbarian level. A nice bit of punishment, though it's also something they can fully save out of.
Sea: When you hit a creature in your aura with an attack, you can use your reaction to force that creature to make a Strength saving throw. On a failure, they get knocked prone (as if struck by a wave.) I find it interesting that this is a case of a reaction you're only really going to use on your turn. I kind of wish this was a knockback instead of a knock prone effect (or better yet, both.)
Tundra: Whenever the effect of your Storm Aura is activated, you can choose a creature you can see in the aura. They must succeed on a Strength save or their speed is reduced to 0 until the start of your next turn as they are covered in magical frost. This is actually very cool - giving you a way to literally freeze a foe in place to let allies escape it and for you to root them down to take them out.
Overall, I love the aesthetic of the Storm Herald, and I also like how it's almost three subclasses in one. But I suspect it's not really as powerful as other subclasses, and it'd be nice to be able to mix-and-match like the Totem Warrior.
Path of the Zealot:
While Paladins are the classic example of a class based on fervent zeal, they still tend more toward the lawful side of things. If a paladin starts with adherence to a code and an oath, a Zealot is less intellectual in their fervor, fueled by a righteous rage (though make no mistake, this isn't only about adherence to good deities. You could be terrifying champion of evil, eager to slaughter in your god's name.)
At 3rd level, you get Divine Fury. When you're raging, the first creature you hit on each of your turns with a weapon attack takes extra damage equal to 1d6 + half your Barbarian level. The damage is necrotic or radiant, which you choose when you gain this feature (I'd recommend radiant, as it'll work on more things and sometimes get bonus effects like shutting down a vampire's regeneration.)
Also at 3rd level, you get Warrior fo the Gods. Resurrection magic like Raise Dead does not require material components when used on you. All your Cleric needs is a 3rd level spell slot to pop you up if you go down. This is great, and it's just the beginning of a crazy theme in this subclass about how insanely hard it is to kill you in a way that lasts.
At level 6, you get Fanatical Focus. If you fail a saving throw while you're raging, you can reroll it, and must use the new roll. You can do this only once per rage. This is quite nice - failing a Wisdom save against some charm spell can be really nasty, so having a second chance when you need it could be clutch (though of course you might just fail again.)
At level 10, you get Zealous Presence. As a bonus action, you unleash a battle cry. Up to ten creatures of your choice (this can include you) get advantage on attack rolls and saving throws until the start of your next turn. You can do this once per long rest. Advantage on everything for the whole party is really powerful, even if it only lasts a round. Not much more to say. It's just really good.
At level 14, you get Rage Beyond Death. This is, to be frank, maybe the most insane feature of any subclass. While you are raging, having 0 hit points does not knock you unconscious. You still roll death saving throws, and taking damage gives you failed saves as normal. If you would die from failing death saves, though, you don't die until your rage ends, and then only if you still have 0 hit points.
Just think about that. You just cannot die (except maybe to something like Disintegrate or Finger of Death) until your rage ends. The image here is utterly badass - you've taken the full blast of an ancient red dragon's breath in the face, your flesh is hanging onto your skull by a thread, but you JUST. WON'T. DIE. Consider also that all you need is a quick little heal before your rage fades and you're going to walk away fine. Also, you've already got Relentless Rage at this level. If you're an aasimar, you can save your Healing Hands to tap yourself once the fight is over. And at the next level, your rage never ends early unless you go unconscious - which we already know you won't be doing. Just keep a healing potion on yourself and you can never die.
I mean, Zealot already has some nice things going for it (Divine Fury already adds a pretty hefty amount of damage) but I've got to say that that level 14 ability is just so insanely over the top that I really want to try one of these.
And that finishes off the Xanathar's subclasses. All we have left now is the pair out of Tasha's - the Path of Wild Magic (do you like Wild Magic Sorcerers? Here's a somewhat less complicated version for Barbarians) and the Beast (aka the closest it seems we're going to get to letting you be a werewolf outside of the weird rules in the Monster Manual.)
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