Tasha's, Class by Class - Barbarians

 Ah, the Barbarian, the little-to-no-armor tank. Barbarians are the big beefy warriors of D&D, with their unmatched HP and their Rage fueling extra damage and greater survival. Let's look at what they get, starting with class features:

Primal Knowledge (3rd level):

When you reach 3rd level, and again at 10th, you can learn one additional skill proficiency from the Barbarian skill list.

Instinctive Pounce (7th level):

As part of the bonus action to enter your rage, you can move up to half your speed.

    I really like this feature, as it's always kind of frustrating for a Barbarian to feel like they can't Rage because they're too far from the foes at the beginning of the fight - only for the bad guys to then get some nasty attack on them before they have their resistances running. Making it a bit easier to get to the foe is great.

Subclasses:

Path of the Beast:

I've already written about how much I like this subclass, but let's break it down: you sort of take on a bestial aspect when you rage in this subclass, which can either be flavored as a sort of mystical connection to nature or maybe you've literally been affected by some kind of lycanthrope. If I get to play one of these, I'd just flavor it as being a full-on werewolf.

You get a selection of natural weapons while raging, and later you get bonuses you can swap out on rests that include stuff like swim speed and water breathing, being able to spider-climb, or just being able to jump much farther.

The feral ferocity of this class seems like it could be a ton of fun, and the damage potential (particularly with the claws) is quite high.

Path of Wild Magic:

You ever see a Wild Magic Sorcerer and think "what if that were a Barbarian subclass?" Well, this is more or less that. When you rage, you roll on a table, getting a random ability that goes off immediately and then generally can be used for the rest of your rage. The wild magic effects are fewer than the Sorcerer, but they're also pretty much all beneficial.

This is a high-chaos subclass, and brings a lot of whimsy to a class that tends to skew more metal.

    Again, these subclasses pass my big aesthetic test, as both feel very unique compared to the ones that came before, and very distinct from one another. While Beast feels like a great subclass for a Ravenloft campaign, Wild Magic could be in something with weird planar magic of the Feywild or Limbo.

    Ironically, while the Barbarian class itself is not my typical tastes, there are now several subclasses that I really want to try - Beast might be pushing out Storm Herald as the one I'm most into at this point.