Barbarian with a pet?

[Dominuce2112]

With the new suggested guidelines to modify classes https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/modifying-classes I was thinking if there was a way to give a barbarian a pet. I think the exhaustion is too much of a hit for path of the beserker, and the path of the totem is cool, but just isnt the theme I want to play. I know rangers get pets, but they seem kind of meh, almost unfinished.

Eventually being able to cause the pet to rage with him, maybe give a bonus if theyre attacking the same target. I am just not sure which abilties would be OP or if even the concept alone of having a pet would be game breaking.

If it is game breaking, maybe force the barbarian to have a free hand as a leash. No 2h weapons or shields. Reduce his dmg and his ac a bit for some extra utility.

Any thought, suggestions, ideas would be appreciated.

[Chronos]

If nothing else, you can always just buy a trained animal.

[PhantomRenegade]

This is a bit beyond my ability to speculate but i think it may be worth looking into the Find Steed spell to see how they integrated a animal companion into the Crusader, of course you'd have to integrate it differently but it should give you a good baseline for "power levels" if you will, i also wouldnt think too much about what the beastmaster is doing, its really bad.

[Sindeloke]

You could check out the homebrew in my sig. No promises that it's balanced, but it hasn't broken our game so far.

[Dominuce2112]

You could check out the homebrew in my sig. No promises that it's balanced, but it hasn't broken our game so far.

That was a strangely specific homebrew. thanks! lol

[ChubbyRain]

I feel like a barbarian druid is needed...

A bear, riding a bear, while summoning bears? Nah..

A raging bear, riding a raging bear, while summoning more raging bears....

[MustacheFart]

With the new suggested guidelines to modify classes https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/modifying-classes I was thinking if there was a way to give a barbarian a pet. I think the exhaustion is too much of a hit for path of the beserker, and the path of the totem is cool, but just isnt the theme I want to play. I know rangers get pets, but they seem kind of meh, almost unfinished.

Eventually being able to cause the pet to rage with him, maybe give a bonus if theyre attacking the same target. I am just not sure which abilties would be OP or if even the concept alone of having a pet would be game breaking.

If it is game breaking, maybe force the barbarian to have a free hand as a leash. No 2h weapons or shields. Reduce his dmg and his ac a bit for some extra utility.

Any thought, suggestions, ideas would be appreciated.

Honestly, the whole pet thing seems to fit better with Path of the Totem Warrior than berzerker. What with the totem's connection to animals and all.

The one path I've wanted to homebrew for the barbarian is that of a shaman. I think it would fit perfectly with the barbarian. It would round them out, give them something to do they've never done before (ie. Heal people), and fit the theme of the class very well. Sorry i know that's off topic.

[Dominuce2112]

Honestly, the whole pet thing seems to fit better with Path of the Totem Warrior than berzerker. What with the totem's connection to animals and all.

The one path I've wanted to homebrew for the barbarian is that of a shaman. I think it would fit perfectly with the barbarian. It would round them out, give them something to do they've never done before (ie. Heal people), and fit the theme of the class very well. Sorry i know that's off topic.

I was thinking of creating a whole new subclass.

The shaman idea is really awesome now that I think about it. Maybe take some abilities from the elemental monk while raging. Align yourself with a certain element. The heal would be nice. Any other abilities you were thinking of?

[Ralanr]

I feel like a barbarian druid is needed...

A bear, riding a bear, while summoning bears? Nah..

A raging bear, riding a raging bear, while summoning more raging bears....

Never underestimate the bear calvary.

[ChubbyRain]

Never underestimate the bear calvary.

I thought you said Beer calvary which means these Bearbarians Druids need to be Hill Dwarfs...

[Ralanr]

I thought you said Beer calvary which means these Bearbarians Druids need to be Hill Dwarfs...

I'm only liking the picture more.

[Joe the Rat]

I thought you said Beer calvary which means these Bearbarians Druids need to be Hill Dwarfs...

So we have bearded beer-bearing bareback bear-riding bear barbarians bringing bears bearing barrels of beer on biers?

[MustacheFart]

I was thinking of creating a whole new subclass.

The shaman idea is really awesome now that I think about it. Maybe take some abilities from the elemental monk while raging. Align yourself with a certain element. The heal would be nice. Any other abilities you were thinking of?

Yeah, I think it's a really solid idea. I don't know if I'd align it more with animals or elements. I can see justification for either. My concern would be to not step on the elemental monk's toes which would be very easy to do since it's kinda a weak path. Stepping on the Druids toes if you went the animal route is less of an issue because Druid is a very solid class.

I was thinking of almost giving them some abilities reminiscent of the 3.5 marshal class, what with their "auras" they could project. The paladin kinda gets this to a very limited degree.

I could see a barbaric shaman offering more animalistic/wild buffs to his comrades via war chants . Maybe something like:

Minor War Chant:

"The presence of a barbarian shaman can bolster the strength of those around him."

Endurance of the bear: For 1 minute those around the barb shaman within 30' receive: (barbarian shaman level) + (barbarian shaman's con mod) in temporary hit points. So with a 20 con that would start out at 8 temp hp (level 3) and scale up to 25.

There could be plenty of other "minor war chants" you could come up with.

Then at higher levels offer "Major War Chants" such as:

Fangs of the Wolf: For one minute those within 30 feet of the barbarian shaman enter a state of Rage not unlike the barbarians. During this time they can not concentrate on spells, other rage limits, blah blah. They deal extra rage damage on all melee attacks equal to the barbarian shaman's rage damage (ie. If the shaman is up to +3 they all deal +3). Additionally they become resistant to piercing, bludgeoning, and slashing damage. They receive advantage on athletics checks as well. Basically the shaman makes them rage like him for one minute.

If someone does not wish to give into the rage from the shaman's war chant they must succeed on a will save vs the shaman's save dc(8 + prof + con mod). If they're successful they are immune for the next 24 hours. Now the downside would be that this war chant heavily taxes the shaman. Upon completion the shaman receives one level of exhaustion.

That makes the above more like a trump card and forces the barbarian to think tactically. Just some ideas I've put together.

[Mandragola]

It might not break the game to take the beastmaster features and just apply them to a barbarian, instead of being a berzerker or totem dude.

You shouldn't expect a better pet than a normal ranger gets though, obviously.

[ChubbyRain]

It might not break the game to take the beastmaster features and just apply them to a barbarian, instead of being a berzerker or totem dude.

You shouldn't expect a better pet than a normal ranger gets though, obviously.

Yeah you should, hell the Ranger deserves a better pet then what they currently have.

🐄 is what you get when really you should be getting this 🐂.

[SliceandDiceKid]

So we have bearded beer-bearing bareback bear-riding bear barbarians bringing bears bearing barrels of beer on biers?

Wonderful humor in a thread heading down an ill-advised path. Thanks joe. And others.

[MustacheFart]

Wonderful humor in a thread heading down an ill-advised path. Thanks joe. And others.

Ill-advised path? How so?