Playtest 8: Barbarians

 Ok, backing up and doing the rest of this UA in order, we have the Barbarian!

The Barbarian was probably not as desperate for improvements as the Monk, but it still had a few "pain points," and this version introduces some new ideas that I think will be very welcome.

Before we get into the level-to-level features, the big change here is that Brutal Critical has been replaced with Brutal Strikes. Taking some inspiration from Cunning Strikes, this now gives you alternative options when using Reckless Attack, allowing you to forgo Advantage in favor of various effects. We'll get into that later.

1st level:

One huge welcome thing here is that you now regain one use of Rage when you finish a short rest. There's nothing about having to have fully expended your normal uses or even that you be at any maximum threshold - you will simply get a Rage back if you have any expended.

    This is fantastic, both giving the Barbarian a reason to like short rests and also just letting them use their main feature a little more liberally. Combined with changes made in the previous playtest, such as maintaining it with a bonus action and having the maximum duration last 10 minutes means I think we can see Barbarians making more use of this core feature.

7th level:

I don't remember if this showed up in the last playtest, but Instinctive Pounce, which allows you to move up to have your movement speed as part of the bonus action to Rage, is very welcome - greater mobility is very nice for a class that is basically obligated to be in melee.

    Though, as a note (I realize I'm being sloppy with what gets indented here) as long as a weapon attack is Strength-based, you can add your Rage bonus to it, so Barbarians will be a little better at range than previously (naturally the Path of the Giant has a huge bonus there, but they already got this with their subclass).

9th level:

Ok, let's get into the headliner here:

Brutal Strikes becomes available when you use Reckless Attack. Reckless Attack triggers when you take your first attack on your turn, and persists until your next turn. With Brutal Strikes, you can forgo the advantage gained by Reckless Attack on the next attack you make to add 1d10 additional damage (of the weapon's type) along with one of the following options:

Forceful Blow pushes the target 15 feet away from you and then lets you move up to half your speed toward the target without provoking opportunity attacks.

Hamstring Blow reduces the target's movement speed by 15 feet until the start of your next turn.

    So, as Jeremy Crawford pointed out, these stack with Masteries. So if you have a Slow weapon and also do Hamstring Blow, you could really nearly lock them down. It does seem you only get to do this on one of your attacks, meaning a second attack or any bonus action or reaction attacks will simply use the Reckless Attack's advantage - but this is a great thing to use if you already have a source of advantage or if you're confident enough that the AC is low enough for you to reliably hit.

    Brutal Critical was fun when it went off, and as Crawford explained, was generally meant to encourage you to attack Recklessly, but it's still unreliable enough to threaten not having much of an impact. Here, the damage bonus is pretty good but the utility is even better, giving you more tactical options.

13th level:

The first of two Brutal Strike improvements adds new options when you use the aforementioned Brutal Strikes feature.

Staggering Blow gives the target Disadvantage on the next saving throw it makes, and it can't make Opportunity attacks until the start of your next turn.

Sundering Blow gives the next attack roll made by another creature against the target (before the start of your next turn) a bonus equal to your Rage Damage.

    So, these are both good "plays well with others" features. Depending on your initiative order, a Staggering Blow could set up your Wizard to Disintegrate a target, or otherwise just help some really clutch spell or effect go off. Sundering Blow, meanwhile, will of course make it more likely that an ally will hit them, which is nice. Interesting that it doesn't just grant advantage.

15th level:

Persistent Rage now allows you to, once per long rest, regain all expended uses of Rage when you roll initiative.

It also, as before, allows you to maintain Rage the full 10 minutes, but now this can only be interrupted by knocking you unconscious - you will still be Raging if incapacitated.

    Both great stuff. Again, Barbarians will still need to manage Rage as a resource, but this will ensure that they're only going to run out at high levels if they're really careless with them. And it makes it less likely the thing will be wasted if there's a stun effect or the like.

17th level:

Here we get the other improvement to Brutal Strikes. First, the damage bonus goes up to 2d10. Next, you can now choose two Brutal Strikes options when you hit - for example, you could knock a target back by 15 feet and then reduce their movement by 15 feet, which honestly starts getting nuts when you have a Push or Slow weapon mastery.

20th level:

Primal Champion of course now increases the maximum for the scores to 26, to make room for the fact that normal ASIs can put a score to 22 if you take it at level 19.

    So, I suspect that Brutal Strikes' damage bonus is going to account for a higher overall damage improvement than Brutal Critical ever did, because it will come up so much more frequently, and that should help the Barbarian keep up with other melee classes a bit (I don't think it's quite as much as a Fighter's third attack, but Barbarians already had other bonuses). Some good changes here overall.

We also got the second version of the Path of the World Tree, a brand-new subclass coming in the 2024 PHB. Here, we get a revision of it. This subclass was already pretty popular, so I think we can likely expect it to look similar. Because this is so new, I'm going to fully put down all the features here and also make note of what has changed and my thoughts on those changes.

3rd level:

Vitality of the Tree gives you two features:

Vitality Surge gives you Temporary Hit Points equal to your Barbarian level when you enter a Rage.

Life-Giving Force allows you, at the start of each of your turns when your Rage is active, to choose another creatuer within 10 feet of yourself to gain Temp HP, the amount determined by rolling a number of d6s equal to your Rage Damage. These Temp HP disappear when your Rage ends if there were any left.

    The previous version of this did not give you Temporary HP, so this change makes the subclass a little tankier. Overall, this is going to be a pretty powerful way for the World Tree Barbarian to act as a "shield tank," preventing damage to allies through Temp HP.

6th level:

Branches of the Tree: while Raging, whenever a creature starts its turn within 30 feet of you, you can use your Reaction to summon spectral branches of the World Tree around it. The target makes a Strength saving throw (DC based on your Strength modifier) and on a failure is teleported to an unoccupied space (that is on a surface or liquid that can support them) within 5 feet of you or in the nearest space you can see. Their speed is then reduced to 0 until the end of the current turn.

    So, the two main changes here are that this happens at the start of their turn. The speed reduction, I imagine, is because the previous version happening at the end of their turn meant they couldn't run away from you anyway. But this will overall just work a lot better at locking down foes. And if you position yourself right, you can prevent a foe from even reaching your squishier party members.

10th level:

Battering Roots increases the reach of weapons with the Heavy or Versatile property by 10 feet on your turn. If you hit with this weapon, you can activate the Push or Topple mastery in addition to any other Mastery the weapon is using.

    The nerf here is that only certain kinds of weapons get this bonus, and only on your turn. That said, unless you're planning on dual-wielding, you're probably using a Longsword/Maul/Battleaxe/War Pick (though I guess this rules out Morning Stars) if not a Heavy weapon anyway. But the reach increase being limited to your turn does also do a little to preserve the Giant Barbarian's reach supremacy (it occurred to me the other night that, because the Giant gets a size larger, their reach is effectively extended another 5 feet). However, what's pretty powerful here is that you can potentially Cleave and Push at the same time (I assume the Push will only work on the direct target.)

14th level:

Travel Along the Tree allows you to, when you activate your Rage and as a bonus action while its active, teleport up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space you can see. In addition, once per Rage, you can teleport up to six willing creatures within 10 feet of you along with you up to 500 feet, each teleporting to an unoccupied psace within 10 feet of your destination.

    So, sadly no more flavorful long-distance teleportation to other planes and the like, but this is likely to find far more use. You're going to be able to bamf around the battlefield more than an Archfey Warlock, and you'll also get a full-party Dimension Door (though you need to be able to see the destination). While the latter half of this feature could be absolutely clutch, saving you from some terrible situation, the first part is also going to be really great - the ultimate mobility Barbarian.

I think the Path of the World Tree was likely to be popular in its previous iteration, and while there is a nerf amongst these changes, I still think we're looking at a very good subclass that's extremely potent in protecting its allies and gaining mastery of the battlefield.

    So, overall the Playtest 8 Barbarian is, I think, looking pretty good. For whatever complaints I've made about this process, I do think that the 2024 versions of almost every class are going to be genuinely better than the 2014 ones, and I really like what I've seen with this version of the Barbarian.