PDA

View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next New Barbarian Path: The Blood-Drunk



Revlid
2016-07-08, 04:46 AM
Path of the Blood-Drunk (Barbarian)
What civilization is not haunted by tales of mad cannibal cults and blood-drinking demons? What sane person does not shudder at the thought of gore run red and rampant? Ah, but the barbarian is not sane, and has waded through too much blood to deny its intoxicating appeal. When it runs along their blade, sprays into the air thick and stinking sweet… it’s enough to make a man sick.

The blood-drunk barbarian has fully embraced this revelation, delving into foul butcher’s magics and gluttonous bestial instincts to become a monstrous thing. These thirsty vampires must be careful to quench their slaughter-fueled addiction only in front of trusted allies or terrified enemies; society seldom looks kindly on a cannibal.

Barbarians who walk this path have undergone a ritualistic tooth-sharpening that leaves their mouth bristling with lupine fangs or shark-like daggers. This gives them a bite attack dealing 1d4 piercing damage, which they become proficient with upon entering this path. A special version of this attack, the bloody bite, allows them to slurp gore from the wounds of their enemies; this horrifyingly intimate violence means its damage die cannot be changed.

Sweet Red Nectar
When you enter this Path at 3rd level, you gain the ability to draw sustenance from sweet blood. You may use a bonus action to ready your slavering maw for a bloody rapture. Note the result of each of your bloody bite damage rolls until the start of your next turn, at which point you gain a number of temporary hit points equal to the total. This feature is unaffected by modifiers to damage. If you made no bloody bite damage rolls that round, you can still gain 1 temporary hit point from the cooling dregs around you. To do so you must be within reach of a fresh corpse, or have inflicted damage with a slashing or piercing melee weapon in that round.

You also develop the ability to brew potions of healing from potent blood and certain infusions. This process halves the normal gp cost, but requires at least ten pints worth of blood drawn from a living or recently-killed creature with a CR no less than the potion’s healing modifier (e.g. a potion of greater healing would require a beast of CR4 or higher). Anyone can drink these potions, but creatures other than blood-drunk barbarians suffer one level of exhaustion a minute after doing so. Other kinds of potion can be brewed in this way at the DM’s discretion, if more exotic blood is available.

Cannibal’s Lust
Beginning at 6th level, your bloody bite deals critical hits on a roll of 19-20 while you are raging. In addition, you automatically succeed on any Wisdom (Perception) check to notice blood or injury, but while you are aware of blood in the vicinity you suffer disadvantage on checks to perceive anything other than its source.

Visceral Lunge
Starting at 10th level, when you are attacked by a creature within reach of your bite, you can use your reaction to make a bloody bite against that creature. Alternatively, you can perform a Disarm attempt using your bloody bite.

Bleeding Heart Eater
At 14th level, you gain the ability to truly steal the power of your foes, ripping their strength straight from their heart. Once per short rest, while raging, you may cast the Shapechange spell with the material component of another creature’s heart (or analogous organ). This version of the spell can only transform you into the creature whose heart you just ate, and replaces its normal duration with “while raging”. It can transform you into an average example of that creature, or the specific creature to whom the heart belonged.

R.Shackleford
2016-07-08, 07:37 AM
I feel like I need to mix this with monk...

Barb 3 Monk 17

2d10+(2×dex mod) bite damage (attack + extra attack + 2d10 + (2× Dex mod) flurry of blows is a whole lot of bite.

Though Bard 3/Monk 2 gives you all that (minus extra attack which is crazy for that level

The wording of the 3rd level ability makes it seem that all bites add up for your temp HP.


6th level feature gives you a penalty, I don't know of any feature that penalizes you.

Also you shouldn't give bonus crit range in a barbarian. You already have brutal critical...

10th level feature is weird. You are essentially giving a creature a free "Extra Attack 2" from the fighter.

Level 14 is cool but troublesome and fiddly.

Revlid
2016-07-08, 09:11 AM
I feel like I need to mix this with monk...

Barb 3 Monk 17

2d10+(2×dex mod) bite damage (attack + extra attack + 2d10 + (2× Dex mod) flurry of blows is a whole lot of bite.

Though Bard 3/Monk 2 gives you all that (minus extra attack which is crazy for that level
Blergh, I almost always forget to check multiclassing! Thanks very much for bringing this to my attention.

This archetype was balanced (tentatively) around the idea that its bite attacks were basically limited to 1d4+(Str Mod) damage – effectively trading out the damage of a greatweapon or even a sword-and-board in exchange for the delicious temporary hit points.

You've noted that the 3rd level ability is worded so that all bites add up to your temporary HP – that's accurate, and intentional, but it was balanced off the idea that you wouldn't be doing more than a dagger's worth of HP damage even with Extra Attacks and Reaction attacks. Similarly, the increased critical range was predicated on the idea that you were only adding extra d4s, even with the Barbarian's Brutal Critical, and the fact that you basically got the Berserker Barbarian's Retaliation 4 levels early was based on the fact that he could "retaliate" with a greataxe or any weapon he wanted, while you were stuck with basically a dagger.

With that in mind, an effect like Martial Arts allowing you to dish out d10 damage per bite immediately destroys even my perfunctory attempts at balancing. An 8-level Monk 5/Barb 3 can spend 1 ki to dish out an average of 28 damage with bites in a round – acquiring almost half his full HP in temporary HP. And he can do it again whenever that ablative pool starts to dip!

Therefore, I've made three key changes. First, gaining your temporary hit points requires a bonus action, thus killing synergy between this and Flurry of Blows. Second, there's a distinction between a bite and a bloody bite; this path depends on the latter, which always dealing 1d4 damage regardless of whether you've multiclassed. Finally, you rack up temporary hit points per dice, rather than per damage, which lets you gain temporary HP without having to balance for Strength/Rage bonuses, magical enhancements, and even resistances.

Thank you so much for pointing this stuff out! It's been really useful.

R.Shackleford
2016-07-08, 10:54 AM
Blergh, I almost always forget to check multiclassing! Thanks very much for bringing this to my attention.

This archetype was balanced (tentatively) around the idea that its bite attacks were basically limited to 1d4+(Str Mod) damage – effectively trading out the damage of a greatweapon or even a sword-and-board in exchange for the delicious temporary hit points.

You've noted that the 3rd level ability is worded so that all bites add up to your temporary HP – that's accurate, and intentional, but it was balanced off the idea that you wouldn't be doing more than a dagger's worth of HP damage even with Extra Attacks and Reaction attacks. Similarly, the increased critical range was predicated on the idea that you were only adding extra d4s, even with the Barbarian's Brutal Critical, and the fact that you basically got the Berserker Barbarian's Retaliation 4 levels early was based on the fact that he could "retaliate" with a greataxe or any weapon he wanted, while you were stuck with basically a dagger.

With that in mind, an effect like Martial Arts allowing you to dish out d10 damage per bite immediately destroys even my perfunctory attempts at balancing. An 8-level Monk 5/Barb 3 can spend 1 ki to dish out an average of 28 damage with bites in a round – acquiring almost half his full HP in temporary HP. And he can do it again whenever that ablative pool starts to dip!

Therefore, I've made three key changes. First, gaining your temporary hit points requires a bonus action, thus killing synergy between this and Flurry of Blows. Second, there's a distinction between a bite and a bloody bite; this path depends on the latter, which always dealing 1d4 damage regardless of whether you've multiclassed. Finally, you rack up temporary hit points per dice, rather than per damage, which lets you gain temporary HP without having to balance for Strength/Rage bonuses, magical enhancements, and even resistances.

Thank you so much for pointing this stuff out! It's been really useful.

You're welcome. I don't always have much to add when it comes to homebrew due to having a completely different ideology in gaming (my groups share this ideology).

I was still drunk from the night before (which I find entertaining when I was reading this that I left future me a note about it) so I didn't go into more detail before but...

Sweet Red Nectar
Anytime you make a bite attack against a creature that isn't a construct or undead while you are raging you may use your bonus action to drink their blood. You gain Temp HP equal to your con mod (minimum 0) + proficiency bonus.

This keeps it simple, the temp HP raises at a consistent rate, and players can't really mess it up lol (on accident or purpose). Temp HP doesn't stack and hopefully it isn't anymore powerful than the Best totem (half damage). Might need to adjust the temp HP to just Con Mod?