New Barbarian Path: Tranquil Warrior

[Talyn]

((Because I want to be able to play River Tam without having to multiclass.))

:smallsmile:

There are some barbarians who embrace the rage and come out the other end, eerily calm. They will almost dance through the battlefield, eyes distant, face a neutral mask. Rather than brute strength, the Tranquil Warrior relies speed, precision, and grace.

Graceful Rage
You may use your Reckless attack ability while wielding light and finesse weapons, even if you are applying your DEX bonus to the attack. While raging, you gain the benefit of your extra Rage damage, even when applying the DEX bonus to the attack roll, and have advantage on Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks.

Dance of Death
When raging, if an enemy within 5 feet of you misses you with an attack, you may use your reaction to make a melee attack against the triggering enemy as a free action.

Perfect Serenity
Starting at level 6, when you are raging, you have resistance to Psychic damage and proficiency with Dexterity saving throws. If, while raging, you are subjected to a spell or effect which allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw for half damage, you take no damage on a successful save and only half damage on a failed save.

Bloody Handservant
Starting at level 10, you gain proficiency in the Medicine skill if you do not already have it, and have advantage on Medicine checks. You also can assist allies in recovering from their wounds. Any allies (including yourself) who spend hit dice to recover hit points after a short rest regain an additional 1d10 hit points.

Unstoppable
Starting at level 14, you ignore difficult terrain while in a rage, and you do not provoke opportunity attacks for leaving an opponent's reach. You also gain a climb speed equal to your movement speed.

Design notes:
This is designed to favor a DEX-based barbarian build, obviously. I want it to be comparatively defensive-minded, compared to the other barbarian paths, while still being an effective damage dealer.

The level 10 ability is fairly specific to my campaign, where this path represents devotees of the Bloody-Handed Goddess, who is the patron saint of killers, surgeons and midwives. I'm open to suggestions as to an alternate level 10 ability that is more barbarian-esque.

[ImSAMazing]

((Because I want to be able to play River Tam without having to multiclass.))

:smallsmile:

There are some barbarians who embrace the rage and come out the other end, eerily calm. They will almost dance through the battlefield, eyes distant, face a neutral mask. Rather than brute strength, the Tranquil Warrior relies speed, precision, and grace.

Graceful Rage
You may use your Reckless attack ability while wielding light and finesse weapons, even if you are applying your DEX bonus to the attack. While raging, you gain the benefit of your extra Rage damage, even when applying the DEX bonus to the attack roll, and have advantage on Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks.

Dance of Death
When raging, if an enemy within 5 feet of you misses you with an attack, you may use your reaction to make a melee attack against the triggering enemy as a free action.

Perfect Serenity
Starting at level 6, when you are raging, you have resistance to Psychic damage and proficiency with Dexterity saving throws. If, while raging, you are subjected to a spell or effect which allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw for half damage, you take no damage on a successful save and only half damage on a failed save.

Bloody Handservant
Starting at level 10, you gain proficiency in the Medicine skill if you do not already have it, and have advantage on Medicine checks. You also can assist allies in recovering from their wounds. Any allies (including yourself) who spend hit dice to recover hit points after a short rest regain an additional 1d10 hit points.

Unstoppable
Starting at level 14, you ignore difficult terrain while in a rage, and you do not provoke opportunity attacks for leaving an opponent's reach. You also gain a climb speed equal to your movement speed.

Design notes:
This is designed to favor a DEX-based barbarian build, obviously. I want it to be comparatively defensive-minded, compared to the other barbarian paths, while still being an effective damage dealer.

The level 10 ability is fairly specific to my campaign, where this path represents devotees of the Bloody-Handed Goddess, who is the patron saint of killers, surgeons and midwives. I'm open to suggestions as to an alternate level 10 ability that is more barbarian-esque.

The second level three feature is OP. It is like the last feature of Berserker...

[Silavor]

If Dance of Death uses your Reaction then it is not a Free Action. As SAM said, though, that ability is extremely similar to the level 14 ability of Berserker. Personally I don't think the Berserker's Retaliation is worth being a 14th level ability, and I find Berserker to be one of the weakest archetypes in the entire game, but your mileage may very on that.

[Talyn]

The big difference between Dance of Death and the level 14 Berserker ability is that Dance of Death requires that you be attacked in melee and missed, which means (a) it is not guaranteed every round, and (b) it encourages risk-taking behavior on the part of the barbarian, so as to become a valid target.

[CNagy]

Dance of Death should be moved to level 6.

Perfect Serenity is Evasion (awesome) + Dex save proficiency (awesome) + Psychic resistance (weak). It should be moved to level 10; the earliest any class gets Evasion is 7th level.

Bloody Handservant is a non-combat ability, and can safely be tucked away in level 3. Or any non-campaign-specific version of the ability.

Unstoppable seems a bit weak for the ultimate ability of the archetype. Some version of it might actually fit at level 3.

As I see it, you need a better level 14 archetype feature.

[PoeticDwarf]

This path has strong features, but is already the best one because it makes a dex barbarian so STRONG, 3AC more than a ordinary barbarian, 3 initiative more, still the damage of an ordinary barbarian or more with the level three feature.
Change the dance of death with unstopable and give disadvantage rather than 0% oppurtunity attacks.

[PoeticDwarf]

Dance of Death should be moved to level 6.

Perfect Serenity is Evasion (awesome) + Dex save proficiency (awesome) + Psychic resistance (weak). It should be moved to level 10; the earliest any class gets Evasion is 7th level.

Bloody Handservant is a non-combat ability, and can safely be tucked away in level 3. Or any non-campaign-specific version of the ability.

Unstoppable seems a bit weak for the ultimate ability of the archetype. Some version of it might actually fit at level 3.

As I see it, you need a better level 14 archetype feature.

Better level 14 and worse for the other levels, you mean?

[Strill]

The second level three feature is OP. It is like the last feature of Berserker...

It's not OP. Compare it to Wolf Totem's 3rd-level perk. It's perfectly on par for Barbarian.

[CNagy]

Better level 14 and worse for the other levels, you mean?

I don't really see that other levels need to be worse, so much as shuffled around a bit. The way I see it working out is like this:

Tranquil Warrior:

Lvl3: Graceful Rage, Bloody Handservant or Unstoppable
--Graceful Rage is the powerful ability at this level, so putting Bloody Handservant here fits as it is both not terribly powerful and it is far more useful at low levels. But because it is campaign specific and not otherwise very fitting with the archetype, it is possible to remove it entirely and put some form of Unstoppable here. If you put Unstoppable here, I would change the no OA attacks to instead be sort of a mini-Mobile as seen on the Swashbuckler; anyone you attack cannot take OAs against you on that turn.

Lvl6: Dance of Death
--I saw this compared to the 3rd level Wolf totem, but I don't think that comparison is accurate. Granting advantage on attacks becomes more powerful as characters gain more attacks and can deal more damage with individual attacks, so the totem starts good and gets awesome as martial companions gain additional attacks that will benefit from advantage and rogue companions pile on more and more sneak attack damage.
By contrast, an ability that grants a fairly reliable reaction attack is more powerful the earlier you get it. And because the abilities of the Tranquil Warrior do not restrict it's use to Dex weapons, what you are balancing is not necessarily a waif with a rapier making an extra attack, but the possibility of a Str-based greatsword barbarian making an extra attack. After level 5, when the barbarian gets Extra attack, the impact of a somewhat reliable reaction attack is lessened from awesome to still-quite-good, which is why I see level 6 as the place for this ability.

Lvl10: Perfect Serenity
--Evasion is a level 7 ability for Monks and Rogues, level 15 for Hunter Rangers, so level 10 seems like a good place for this. Add to that the fact that Dex save proficiency, plus Evasion, plus Danger Sense means that the Barbarian is pretty much never going to take damage from any Dex saves originating from effects he can see (which is pretty much all of them.)

Lvl14: Unstoppable/???
--In your campaign, where Bloody Handservant is thematically appropriate, this is pretty much the spot for Unstoppable. But in that case, it needs a power up. This could be something like Freedom of Movement while Raging.
Alternatively, in a design where Unstoppable of some form is sitting at level 3, this should either be Improved Unstoppable, or some other ability roughly on par with the other archetypes' level 14 abilities.


Anyway, that's just my take on it.

[Strill]

I don't really see that other levels need to be worse, so much as shuffled around a bit. The way I see it working out is like this:

Tranquil Warrior:

Lvl3: Graceful Rage, Bloody Handservant or Unstoppable
--Graceful Rage is the powerful ability at this level, so putting Bloody Handservant here fits as it is both not terribly powerful and it is far more useful at low levels. But because it is campaign specific and not otherwise very fitting with the archetype, it is possible to remove it entirely and put some form of Unstoppable here. If you put Unstoppable here, I would change the no OA attacks to instead be sort of a mini-Mobile as seen on the Swashbuckler; anyone you attack cannot take OAs against you on that turn.That's completely unreasonable. Compare that to the existing level 3 Barbarian perks. They're all combat based, and extremely powerful. Just look at Wolf Totem. Advantage against any enemy you're near for every ally. It's one of the most powerful perks in the game. You really think Bloody Handservant compares to that!?

[CNagy]

That's completely unreasonable. Compare that to the existing level 3 Barbarian perks. They're all combat based, and extremely powerful. Just look at Wolf Totem. Advantage against any enemy you're near for every ally. It's one of the most powerful perks in the game. You really think Bloody Handservant compares to that!?

No. Graceful Rage, on the other hand, does by turning the Barbarian into a SAD option. Rage damage, reckless attack, and advantage on Acrobatics checks? Yeah, that equals granting a couple of attacks with advantage at 3rd level.

Bloody Handservant is much closer to Spirit Seeker, aka the 3rd level Barbarian totem ability that no one ever remembers.

[Silavor]

That's completely unreasonable. Compare that to the existing level 3 Barbarian perks. They're all combat based, and extremely powerful. Just look at Wolf Totem. Advantage against any enemy you're near for every ally. It's one of the most powerful perks in the game. You really think Bloody Handservant compares to that!?

You're comparing apples to oranges there. Bloody Handservant is a Ribbon. The main combat ability is Graceful Rage. CNagy was saying that at level 3 you should get Graceful Rage AND (Bloody Handservant OR modified Unstoppable).

Note that Totem Barbarians also have a Ribbon ability at level 3: Spirit Seeker. Keep the apples in the apple bin and oranges in the orange bin. It's much more useful to compare Graceful Rage to the three Totem Spirit options, and Bloody Handservant to Spirit Seeker, rather than comparing combat features to Ribbons.


Edit: Shadow Monk'd

[Strill]

No. Graceful Rage, on the other hand, does by turning the Barbarian into a SAD option. Rage damage, reckless attack, and advantage on Acrobatics checks? Yeah, that equals granting a couple of attacks with advantage at 3rd level.Graceful Rage letting you use DEX instead of STR is not worth anything at all. It makes little to no mechanical difference. You lose damage and gain initiative. Just a tradeoff. No net gain. Apart from Advantage on Acrobatics checks, it's just inconsequential fluff.


Note that Totem Barbarians also have a Ribbon ability at level 3: Spirit Seeker. Keep the apples in the apple bin and oranges in the orange bin. It's much more useful to compare Graceful Rage to the three Totem Spirit options, and Bloody Handservant to Spirit Seeker, rather than comparing combat features to Ribbons.
Exactly. That's why Graceful Rage should stay in the ribbon pile where it belongs, but level 3 still needs a combat ability.

[JNAProductions]

Dex also applies to AC. It makes your Barbarian a heck of a lot SADer, which is a huge buff.

[Tenmujiin]

Graceful Rage letting you use DEX instead of STR is not worth anything at all. It makes little to no mechanical difference. You lose damage and gain initiative. Just a tradeoff. No net gain. Apart from Advantage on Acrobatics checks, it's just inconsequential fluff.


Exactly. That's why Graceful Rage should stay in the ribbon pile where it belongs, but level 3 still needs a combat ability.

The difference in damage between a strength barbarian and a dex one mostly comes from the rage damage bonus and the great weapon master feat. The difference in average damage between a rapier and a greataxe is 2 and a greatsword is 2.5.

Compare a strength barbarian to a dex barbarian in this path if they dual-weild or use a shield. The dex barbarian comes out ahead by 5 AC and +5 initiative (with the same stat investment). Assuming point buy the optimised strength barbarian sits at 15/15/15/8/8/8 while the optimised dex barbarian only needs 8/15/15/8/8/8 giving them a tonne of extra points to balance out their rp/saving throw stats.
On top of this the strength barbarian then wants to pump strength and con to twenty meaning he spends at least three ASIs (three and a half if not a mountain dwarf more if they don't get +2/+1 strength and con from race) before be can increase his dex while the dex barbarian spends three and a half ASIs pumping dex and con and then spends his last half an ASI on a half feat.

[Strill]

Dex also applies to AC. It makes your Barbarian a heck of a lot SADer, which is a huge buff.

Ok then, just make it so that Graceful Rage doesn't work while you're holding a shield and it'll be fine. Your AC with Graceful Rage will end up balancing out to about the same as that of a stock sword + shield + Medium Armor Barbarian.

Actually, if you consider magic armor, Graceful Rage is already pretty bad on its own. But whatever.


The difference in damage between a strength barbarian and a dex one mostly comes from the rage damage bonus and the great weapon master feat. The difference in average damage between a rapier and a greataxe is 2 and a greatsword is 2.5.I don't care whether or not a stock barbarian using DEX is bad. It's irrelevant. I care whether or not Graceful Rage gives any net benefit over the Barbarian's next-best option.

The comparison is STR stock barbarian vs Graceful Rage DEX barbarian.


On top of this the strength barbarian then wants to pump strength and con to twentyDid you forget that Barbarians get Medium armor? There's nothing forcing you to get your CON to 20.


Compare a strength barbarian to a dex barbarian in this path if they dual-weild or use a shield. The dex barbarian comes out ahead by 5 AC and +5 initiative (with the same stat investment).With what stats?