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Tyranius
2017-05-18, 06:03 PM
I have a new player to D&D who loves his character but isn't enjoying the low mobility, limited options of his Berserker Barb
Every other party member has either magic abilities or is very versatile & he is left running around the battle field often being less impactful or wasting rage charges.
So I've homebrewed up a new path for him based around maximising mobility & giving his a bit more utility & fun factor.

I've got the bones of this from a Fighter: Dragoon build i saw by Logosloki on these forums.

Just want to run it by some other Dm's to make sure it doesn't look too OP or overly weak.


Path of the Sabre Cat

All those who dwell in the mountains know to fear the hulking Sabre Cats.

These feral beasts leap unseen upon their prey before tearing them apart with bestial fury.

Some barbarian tribes have learnt to imitate these fearsome beasts, leaping upon their enemies with reckless abandon, releasing roars of primal strength that cast fear into the heart of even the bravest men.


Cat’s grace: You cannot be knocked prone as a result of a fall or throw.


Leap: If you move at least 10ft in a straight line as part of your normal movement you can make a jump ignoring remaining move distance restrictions.



Level 3 – Pounce: If the Barbarian moves at least 10 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a melee attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the Barbarian can make one attack against it as a bonus action.

The save for the throw is 8 + (your proficiency modifier) + (your strength modifier)


Level 6 - Crash: After jumping 10 feet in a straight line towards a creature & ending your movement after a jump you deal your weapon dice as bludgeoning damage to each enemy target within 10ft of where you stop



Level 10 - Soar: Once per short or long rest you may jump a distance up to your movement.



Level 14 - Roar: Each target of the Barbarians choosing within 40ft must make a strength saving throw or be frightened for 1 minute. At the end of each turn a target can attempt to shake off the frightened condition by repeating the saving throw. On a success the target is immune to roar for 24 hours. You may only use this ability once per long rest.

The save for the throw is 8 + (your proficiency modifier) + (your strength modifier)

Amnoriath
2017-05-18, 06:40 PM
Overall this is way too battle-focused and front ended. Additionally there is little specification on what applies to rage or not and little utility
1. Your 3rd level is the strongest Barbarian level of any other sub-class even if you limited everything to while you are raging. Additionally immunity to a condition is way too much here. This is saying something as the Totem warrior is strong out the gate too in which it compensates by only having a ribbon at 6th level. You though choose to give them automatic area damage.
2. Soar though might very will be useless as Leap's language either does the same thing or better. They need to be cleared up.
3. Roar though might be the weakest one out there. While covering a lot of area and using an atypical save(typo?) being once per long rest the frightened condition is pretty easy to thwart.

I think your idea can be achieved through the Totem Warrior. This is not only a balanced sub-class it offers good utility and flavor while being able to tailor make just about any Barbarian concept. First, he takes the Eagle Totem upping his speed and can use it more freely during rage. You then can make your own 6th level ribbon that deals with jumping. You could also just look at either the Eagle, Wolf, or Stag aspects as they could fit in this idea very well for a different take. At level 14 he then takes the Lion Totem which gets you your bonus action attack after moving in a straight line. As for fear well, perhaps a special item or feat would be appropriate.

Tyranius
2017-05-18, 07:32 PM
Overall this is way too battle-focused and front ended. Additionally there is little specification on what applies to rage or not and little utility
1. Your 3rd level is the strongest Barbarian level of any other sub-class even if you limited everything to while you are raging. Additionally immunity to a condition is way too much here. This is saying something as the Totem warrior is strong out the gate too in which it compensates by only having a ribbon at 6th level. You though choose to give them automatic area damage.
2. Soar though might very will be useless as Leap's language either does the same thing or better. They need to be cleared up.
3. Roar though might be the weakest one out there. While covering a lot of area and using an atypical save(typo?) being once per long rest the frightened condition is pretty easy to thwart.

I think your idea can be achieved through the Totem Warrior. This is not only a balanced sub-class it offers good utility and flavor while being able to tailor make just about any Barbarian concept. First, he takes the Eagle Totem upping his speed and can use it more freely during rage. You then can make your own 6th level ribbon that deals with jumping. You could also just look at either the Eagle, Wolf, or Stag aspects as they could fit in this idea very well for a different take. At level 14 he then takes the Lion Totem which gets you your bonus action attack after moving in a straight line. As for fear well, perhaps a special item or feat would be appropriate.


Thanks for your feedback.

Not familiar with stag or lion totem paths, i will investigate those.

The Leap ability is badly worded, i meant that his jump distance is as normally determined(Distance=STR stat), more that he can jump his full distance without penalty even if he has used his movement speed.
Example: normally if he moved 25 of his 30 feet he could only jump 5 feet despite his STR 16 allowing a 15 feet jump, with this ability he could jump his full distance.

The prone immunity even though its conditional was a question mark for me, will defiantly rethink.

What about the third level ability is so powerful?
Its an adaptation of an ability found on low level beasts like Panthers.

Not disagreeing with your sentiments just a fairly new GM trying to hone his homebrew skills.

JNAProductions
2017-05-18, 09:12 PM
Crash needs limitations. Currently, as written, it lets you jump in place 30 times in a turn (30 1' jumps) and deal 60d6 damage to everyone nearby.

Tyranius
2017-05-18, 10:02 PM
Crash needs limitations. Currently, as written, it lets you jump in place 30 times in a turn (30 1' jumps) and deal 60d6 damage to everyone nearby.

Good catch.


Should read:

Level 6 - Crash: After jumping 10 feet in a straight line towards a creature & ending your movement after a jump you deal your weapon dice as bludgeoning damage to each enemy target within 10ft of where you stop

JNAProductions
2017-05-19, 01:35 PM
Good catch.


Should read:

Level 6 - Crash: After jumping 10 feet in a straight line towards a creature & ending your movement after a jump you deal your weapon dice as bludgeoning damage to each enemy target within 10ft of where you stop

That's good. It's a nice AoE, so good for hoard management, but no longer abusable by jumping in place, and fails to deal well with single-targets (since you get only one attack against them).

One thing is I would add a save for half damage-currently, it's an auto-hit.