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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Barbarian Subclass, Path of the Possibly Sexual Bodybuilder



Mystical-man
2018-11-17, 07:20 AM
one of my players is creating a character for our group and we were missing a main tank based character so he decided to play barbarian, he doesn't like to play most classes normally so with barbarian he requested to be well in his words "someone who finds their own biceps to be the most attractive thing on the planet". I found this so stupidly amazing that I made it into a subclass and it's more of a joke subclass but feedback is still appreciated

Majestic Rage
At level 3, when you enter rage your body and flowing hair makes all enemies intoxicated by you. each enemy within 15 feet of you must succeed on a wisdom saving throw or be charmed by you until the start of your next turn, the DC is equal to 8 + your strength modifier + your proficiency bonus.

Beauty in Strength
At level 3, whenever you attempt to seduce someone you can use your ungodly muscles to make them fall in love. you can add your strength modifier to the roll

Flexing those Abs
At level 6, whenever a enemy makes a attack against you you can use your ungodly looks to make them lose focus, you use your reaction to make the attack be rolled at disadvantage

The Perfect Body
At level 10, your strength and body draw the eyes of all who gaze upon it seeing only true power and beauty. You can perform a action make all non hostile creatures within 30 feet of you need to make a wisdom saving throw or be charmed by you for a minute, the DC is equal to 8 + your strength modifier + your proficiency bonus. You regain this trait when you finish a long rest

The Dance of Death
At level 14, while raging the first attack on each turn causes enemies to be mesmerised by it. You can choose to roll at disadvantage but if it lands the enemy must succeed on wisdom saving throw or be charmed by you until the start of your next turn, the DC is equal to 8 + your strength modifier + your proficiency bonus.

One thing I will note is that this is mainly for comedic purposes and isn't meant to be taken seriously but I still wanna make sure this is balanced. Also if anyone has ideas for abilities that would fit the theme even more then please say.

pygmybatrider
2018-11-17, 07:46 AM
Hey mate, this looks like a bit of fun. Who wants to be Conan when you can be Arnie?

A few things that jumped out to me at a glance:

While thematic, charmed might not be the most mechanically fitting combat condition for a tank character. It just means the target can’t attaxk you - which would be great, except you want it to attack you because you’re the big handsome meatshield and not the scrawny nerd with a spellbook.

I love the level 10 ability, as I think it’s alwajs great to expand a barbarians social capabilities, but I would think about reconsidering the charm effect of your level 3 and 14 abilities. I’d maybe look at taking ideas from the Ancestral Guardian barb who can mark an opponent who then makes all attacks against people other than the barb at disadvantage. This works for your concept as well I think, as you could easily say they are so enamoured with the barbarians muscular beauty that they can’t look away.

For your level 14 ability, I think maybe an ability that lets you use your bonus action to make a contested persuasion check against your target to “charm” them without charming then might work nicely, allowing you to do additional damage on your first attack of the round - maybe equal to your prof mod as a parallel to hexblades curse. Probably usable a number of times per rest equal to your Str mod. If you don’t like extra damage, maybe knock them prone as they grovel in front of your glorious visage, or blind them with your beauty.

For Beauty in Strength, I’d probably word it that you can use your Strength modifier instead of your Charisma modifier for any Persuasion checks - possibly granting you expertise if you don’t think that’s enough. I’m not sure you need to explicitly mention the seduction aspect.

The level 6 ability is actually quite powerful on a barb considering you are often Recklessly Attacking, giving enemies advantage on attacks against yourself in return - so being able to turn one of those attacks from being made with advantage into disadvantage is really useful. It might be less confusing to think about advantage/disadvantage if you instead made it a straight reduction to the attack roll equal to your Strength mod, though of course that is up to you.

Looks like a good base, and got me smiling - thanks for sharing!