How It Should Have Been: Fixes for 5E (Today: the Barbarian)

[Dark.Revenant]

Here, I explore D&D 5th edition content that missed the mark, explain why it ought to be better, and offer a solution for it.

The goal is simple: to offer insight into design issues with this edition of D&D, and to attempt to correct these issues as simply as possible.

The Ranger
Fixes: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/LhO8kd6Q8
Commentary: https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24476695&postcount=2

The Barbarian
Fixes: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/Dxl3foIAj
Commentary: https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24537986&postcount=23

More here! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?618533-DR-s-5E-Fixes-(Today-the-Sorcerer))

[Dark.Revenant]

The Ranger
Jumping right in with the Ranger, my fixes are HERE (https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/LhO8kd6Q8), reproduced here:


Ranger Fixes
If one of the following class features replaces an existing class feature, then you can choose whether to use the new class feature or the original one. If one of the following class features is a new feature, then you can freely use it unless it is also attached to a class feature, in which case you can use it as long as you're also using the referenced class feature.

Favored Enemy (v2)
Replaces Favored Enemy

Beginning at 1st level, you have significant experience studying, tracking, and hunting a certain type of enemy.

Choose a type of favored enemy: aberrations, beasts, celestials, constructs, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, giants, monstrosities, oozes, plants, or undead. Alternatively, you can select two races of humanoid (such as gnolls and orcs) as favored enemies.

You have advantage on Intelligence and Wisdom checks related to your favored enemies. For example, you would have advantage on an Intelligence (Nature) check to recall information about your favored enemy or a Wisdom (Survival) check to track them.

You choose one additional favored enemy at 6th and 14th level. Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of your favored enemies and replace it with a different type of favored enemy. This represents time spent extensively researching and training for future encounters.


Pathfinder
Replaces Natural Explorer

You are particularly familiar with one type of natural environment; your skills are shaped by the hardships you have faced in such regions. You gain one of the following favored terrain options of your choice. Your choice improves at 6th level, and you gain another one at 10th and 18th level.

In addition, when you make an ability check—other than a Charisma ability check—related to your favored terrain, your proficiency bonus is doubled if you are using a skill that you're proficient in. For example, your proficiency bonus might be doubled on a Dexterity (Stealth) check to quietly move through your favored terrain or a Wisdom (Survival) check to find fresh water.

Arctic
Very cold regions
Moving through difficult terrain composed of ice or snow costs you no extra movement. Whenever you finish a long rest, your exhaustion level is decreased by 2, rather than 1. Additionally, you don't suffer the effects of extreme cold, as described in the Dungeon Master's Guide.

At 6th level, you gain resistance to cold damage.

Coastal / Underwater
Oceanic, subaquatic, and seaside environments
You gain a swimming speed equal to your walking speed. You can hold your breath for a number of minutes equal to 2 + twice your Constitution modifier (minimum 1 minute).

Starting at 6th level, you have blindsight out to a range of 30 feet whenever you are submerged underwater.

Desert
Arid regions and wastelands
Your walking speed increases by 5 feet. You can sustain yourself on half the normal amount of food and water. Additionally, you don't suffer the effects of extreme heat, as described in the Dungeon Master's Guide.

At 6th level, you gain resistance to fire damage.

Forest
Wooded regions and jungles
Moving through difficult terrain composed of earth or plant matter costs you no extra movement. Additionally, you can try to hide when you are lightly obscured from the creature from which you are hiding.

Starting at 6th level, if you are surprised at the beginning of combat and aren't incapacitated, you can act normally on your first turn.

Grassland
Large, open plains
Your walking speed increases by 5 feet. Additionally, you have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing.

Starting at 6th level, you have advantage on initiative rolls.

Hill / Mountain
Mountain ranges, foothills, and highlands
You gain a climbing speed equal to your walking speed. Additionally, you are adapted to high altitudes, including elevations above 20,000 feet, as described in the Dungeon Master's Guide.

Starting at 6th level, you can see up to 1 mile away with no difficulty, able to discern even fine details as though looking at something no more than 100 feet away from you.

Swamp
Wetlands, bogs, and marshes
Moving through difficult terrain composed of mud or shallow water costs you no extra movement. Murky water and fog—including fog created by the fog cloud spell—don't impose disadvantage on your Wisdom (Perception) checks. Additionally, you have advantage on saving throws against disease and poison.

At 6th level, you gain resistance to poison damage.

Underdark
Subterranean environments such as caves and caverns
Dim light doesn't impose disadvantage on your Wisdom (Perception) checks. Additionally, you have advantage on any Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check you make to escape from being grappled.

At 6th level, you gain darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. If you already have darkvision, its range increases by 30 feet.

Urban
Cities, ruins, and places of civilization
Moving through other creatures' spaces (such as allies or crowds of people) costs you no extra movement. Additionally, you have advantage on any Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks you make to climb, jump, or otherwise traverse structures or terrain.

Starting at 6th level, if you are grappled or restrained by an effect that allows you to use your action to attempt to escape—such as a roper's tendrils or the web spell—you can also use your bonus action to attempt to escape.


Urban Rangers
Rangers who choose urban as a favored terrain are something of a different breed of adventurer compared to more typical rangers. Rather than being an expert naturalist, such a city-slicker would be most at home in alleyways and atop rooftops.

If you have city as one of your favored terrains, consider playing up the fact that you know your way around town like a forester knows his wooded trails. You know the best place to get good drink, the cheapest safe inn for a night's rest, travel routes to avoid guards, shortcuts between streets, and more. The city is your "natural environment."

On the other hand, being in your favored terrain is not intended to make you all-powerful. You can't expect to apply your Pathfinder benefits to every situation; convincing the guards not to arrest you, for instance, falls outside of the scope of this class feature.


Slayer's Mark
New feature

At 2nd level, you learn the hunter's mark spell, which doesn't count against your number of ranger spells known. When you cast it on a favored enemy, you can choose to apply the following modifications:

The spell's duration is a number of rounds equal to your Wisdom modifier + 1 (minimum 2 rounds), lasting until end of your turn when the duration ends. Concentration is not required.
When you cast the spell using a spell slot of 3rd or 4th level, the extra damage is increased to 1d8. When you use a spell slot of 5th level or higher, the extra damage is increased to 1d10.



Eidetic Ritualist
Replaces Primeval Awareness

By 3rd level, you have memorized a litany of natural rites and folkloric customs, many of which have supernatural effects. You can cast a ranger spell as a ritual if that spell has the ritual tag and the spell is of a level for which you have spell slots, as shown on the Ranger table. You don't need to know the spell.


Polyglot
New feature attached to Favored Enemy (v2)

By 4th level, your travels have exposed you to many types of creature and culture, giving you an opportunity to learn their foreign tongues. You learn to speak, read, and write two languages of your choice.


Wanderer
Replaces Land's Stride

By 8th level, your travels have brought you fresh perspectives and deeper understanding. You gain proficiency in your choice of Animal Handling, Athletics, History, Insight, Investigation, Medicine, Nature, Perception, Stealth, or Survival.

Choose one of your skill proficiencies (which may be the one you just gained). Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses the chosen proficiency.

In addition, thanks to your extensive wandering, you are able to speak, read, and write two additional languages of your choice.


Chameleon Shroud
Replaces Hide in Plain Sight

Starting at 10th level, you have learned how to blend in with any backdrop. When you are lightly or heavily obscured, you can use your action to become invisible for as long as you remain there without moving or taking actions.

While you remain invisible in this manner, you are hidden from divination magic. You can't be targeted by such magic or perceived through magical scrying sensors.

Once you use this feature, you can't do so again until you finish a short or long rest, or until you expend a spell slot of 1st level or higher to use this feature.


Foe Slayer (v2)
Replaces Foe Slayer

At 20th level, you become an unparalleled hunter of your enemies. When you make an attack against a favored enemy, you can choose to replace the attack roll with a 20. You must choose to do so before the roll.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (a minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.


Overview
The Ranger is ostensibly a nature-focused rough-and-tumble class, good with multiple types of weapons and adapting to problems as they arise, yet being particularly apt in specific situations (enemies, terrain types, etc.). This isn't the only kind of Ranger that players fancy; some are urban hunters who take to alleys and rooftops with such alacrity that a freerunner would blush, and there are many others besides. The Ranger evokes many a player fantasy and, in theory, ought to be a popular class. I find that new players, especially, find the Ranger appealing, only to later find the mechanics therein lackluster.

The Problem: Put simply, the Ranger chassis doesn't do a great job of helping players live out their fantasies. Oftentimes, the class features are so situational, restrictive, backwards, or downright weak that it only seems to put a damper on the character. I'm not even getting into the train-wreck that is the Beast Master here; even the better subclasses fail to fix what I feel are a serious set of core problems with the Ranger class.

The Fix: There is so much wrong here that there is no quick fix. Fully half the class features need to be reworked or straight-up rewritten. If I were to point out the single most egregious flaw of the Ranger, it would have to be the fact that it doesn't have a truly standout feature that sets it apart from other classes. Of the other half-casters, beyond spellcasting, the Paladin has Divine Smite, Lay on Hands, and a powerful 3rd-level subclass feature; the Artificer has Infusions and a powerful 3rd-level subclass feature; the Ranger just has its powerful 3rd-level subclass feature alone, making it feel quite anemic by comparison! Solving this issue was the primary design goal of the whole venture.


Favored Enemy (v2)
The Problem: I have three problems with the original class feature. First, it's too restrictive; the scope of the benefits you get out of the feature seem sparse, even by ribbon standards. Second, it has virtually no applicability in combat (until 20th level); you're no better at fighting your favored enemies than any other enemies. I can understand why the designers didn't want a flat numbers boost here, but is it really so bad to have some combat aid? Third, getting the most of this ability requires bending or breaking verisimilitude. You're encouraged to select favored enemies that fit your background or that you've faced in the campaign thus far. However, I find adventures tend to cycle through different types of enemies, meaning that if you've already faced something, you're unlikely to face it again for a while. The most optimal way to use this class feature is to select favored enemies that you are likely to meet in the future, not necessarily ones that you've already bested!

The Fix: The fix here is fairly subtle at first, but there are related sister-features that appear at 2nd and 4th level (Slayer's Mark and Polyglot), rounding out the overall design change for Favored Enemy. First, the advantage on Intelligence and Wisdom checks is no longer restricted; now, anything goes. Perception? You got it. Insight? Groovy. Hell, Investigation? Go for it. Charisma is intentionally omitted to avoid some potential multiclassing shenanigans, plus it would be stepping on the Bard's and Rogue's turf. The reason I've done this is to play up the idea that you're the subject-matter expert, opening up more opportunities for your Ranger to shine. Second, Favored Enemy can be changed after a level-up. This should avoid cases of "buyer's remorse", encourages you to pick RP-appropriate choices, and potentially facilitates some character growth, but it's slow enough that it shouldn't break your suspension of disbelief. As a side effect, however, the languages had to be decoupled from your selection of Favored Enemy (see Polyglot and Wanderer for the three languages you would have gotten with the original Favored Enemy, plus one for the road).


Pathfinder
The Problem: Natural Explorer isn't a bad feature, but it could have been so much more. I think the biggest issue with it is that it benefits travel, but not exploration. For all those bullet point benefits, essentially what you're receiving is a glorified "cutscene skip". You're a damn Ranger; you should live for environmental challenges! If you wanted to eliminate travel time, you'd have rolled up a Wizard. And as with Favored Enemy, Natural Explorer has the flaw of being most effective when you choose favored terrains in anticipation of reaching those terrains, which won't always line up with your prior traveling experience. Moreover, I think Natural Explorer is an empty void, a patch of design space just waiting to be filled... so I've done just that.

The Fix: This is the new centerpiece feature of the Ranger chassis: a choose-your-own-feature playground where mastering a type of terrain means that you bring your hard-won adaptations with you across the realm. The double-proficiency thing is kept (except now it works for any skill you're proficient in—save Charisma skills—so as not to punish choosing skills like Stealth, Acrobatics, Athletics, etc.), but everything else is wholly replaced. The core concept here is that no matter which terrain you pick, the lion's share of the benefits will help you out anywhere. This addresses a core complaint of early-level Rangers, namely that unless you're given the right circumstances, you essentially don't have class features. Each of the terrain types is balanced around having a cluster of benefits you get immediately, plus a stronger benefit you get at 6th level. Each of the 6th-level benefits are approximately on par with each other, but the 1st-level benefits have greater diversity. As a general rule, the 1st-level benefits are either a moderate feature plus two minor features, two moderate features, or a major feature plus a minor feature (a fourth possibility exists—four minor features—but this arrangement was not used). Since this feature scales at 6th level already, the additional terrain types come at 10th and 18th level, rather than 6th and 10th. As a side effect, this gives Rangers something to look forward to at higher levels—something that has notably been a weakness of the original Ranger. Also, City is finally added as a valid terrain type. Personally, I would consider the ruins of a city to count as city terrain.


Slayer's Mark
The Problem: As noted before, Favored Enemy doesn't normally have applicability in combat. Incidentally, Hunter's Mark competing for concentration with most of the other Ranger spells (and being a spell-known tax) is a notable flaw of the Ranger design as a whole.

The Fix: Killing two birds with one stone, this feature grants automatic access to Hunter's Mark and allows it to be used concentration-free on favored enemies. Unlike a certain UA, this does not give free uses of Hunter's Mark, and it is not a straight upgrade. With concentration taken out of the equation, Rangers should see more use of battlefield control spells like Ensnaring Strike and Spike Growth. The duration is especially short; this means you're likely going to use it only for one combat, and possibly not even one full combat, at that. I did this for three reasons. First, it encourages raising Wisdom beyond the bare minimum, but doesn't explicitly punish having a poor Wisdom; a two-round duration is actually three turns of combat for you (the baseline for combat duration in 5th edition D&D), since I've spelled out that the duration expires at the end of the turn. Plus, it's not like you need the tracking benefits of the Hunter's Mark spell on your favored enemies; you get those all the time, by default. Second, it opens up design space for the damage scaling, which will help higher-level Rangers keep up. Lastly, it makes multiclassing just for the concentration-free Hunter's Mark somewhat less appealing, in most cases.


Eidetic Ritualist
The Problem: Ranger can't freely prepare spells (only replace one per level-up), and doesn't even get to use the rituals they happen to learn spells for. This violates expectations about what a Ranger ought to be capable of; shouldn't the Ranger know how to set alarms, detect poison, and find specific plants and animals? Incidentally, Primeval Awareness does offer a small, fraction of this fantasy already, so we know which part of the design space to repurpose...

The Fix: This feature essentially grants unfettered access to Ranger ritual-casting, regardless of which spells you've specifically chosen to learn. It is intentionally much like Wizard ritual-casting. Aside from the obvious benefit of helping Rangers act as exploration experts, this also pads out the otherwise heavily-limited number of spells Rangers can learn.


Polyglot
The Problem: We removed the additional languages from Favored Enemy, so we're adding some of them back in at 4th level.

The Fix: Why 4th level? I've got three reasons for that; first, it flows better with most types of campaigns. By this point, most players will have an understanding of what's going on and who they'll be interacting with, so they can make informed decisions on their choice of languages. Second, two free languages at 1st level would be too good for dipping when you consider what Pathfinder already offers, 2nd level already has three class features after adding Slayer's Mark, and 3rd level potentially has three class features as well (some Ranger subclasses offer more than one feature at 3rd level). Lastly, it fits with the progression leading to Wanderer at 8th level; 4th level and 8th level both coincide with gaining an Ability Score Increase.


Wanderer
The Problem: Okay, Land's Stride is actually a decent class feature, but it doesn't work as well with this newer Ranger design. For starters, Pathfinder includes some of the benefit of Land's Stride already; I don't want to just invalidate previous features. Also, we need a place to put the remaining language proficiencies we stole from Favored Enemy.

The Fix: Wanderer grants two languages, a fresh skill, and expertise in something. It's an all-rounder proficiency booster, which fits our design space better; you got terrain-related features at 6th level and you're doing to have more terrain-related features at 10th level, so 8th level should offer something else. I feel it's also more broadly applicable to Ranger fantasies; not every Ranger is great at trekking through overgrown wilderness, after all, but almost every Ranger is going to be the kind of guy/gal who travels a lot.


Chameleon Shroud
The Problem: Hide in Plain Sight is a really disappointing ability, and is a top contender for most restrictive feature in the game. The stealth bonus is hefty, but Pass Without Trace gives you the same bonus (for the whole party!) for much less hassle. The lore/flavor restrictions are really the icing on the cake.

The Fix: This replacement for Hide in Plain Sight does essentially the same thing in principle, but implements it in a manner that is far more useful, evocative, and concise. The resource cost prevents spamming it to go about your entire adventuring day invisible.


Foe Slayer (v2)
The Problem: Foe Slayer is a top contender for most disappointing capstone in the game. I really shouldn't have to explain why.

The Fix: Auto-crit. When you attack a favored enemy, you can just place the d20 on the table with the 20 facing up. Now that's a Foe Slayer.

[Connington]

I really like these proposals as a serious increase to the Ranger's power and flexibility without invalidating existing/future subclasses or just dumping extra damage output. A couple of thoughts and questions below.



Favored Enemy (v2)
Replaces Favored Enemy
You have advantage on Intelligence and Wisdom checks related to your favored enemies. For example, you would have advantage on an Intelligence (Nature) check to recall information about your favored enemy or a Wisdom (Survival) check to track them.

The fix here is fairly subtle at first, but there are related sister-features that appear at the 2nd and 3rd level (Hunter's Mark and Polyglot), rounding out the overall design change for Favored Enemy. First, the advantage on Intelligence and Wisdom checks is no longer restricted; now, anything goes. Perception? You got it. Insight? Groovy. Hell, Investigation? Go for it. Charisma is intentionally omitted to avoid some potential multiclassing shenanigans, plus it would be stepping on the Bard's and Rogue's turf. The reason I've done this is to play up the idea that you're the subject-matter expert, opening up more opportunities for your Ranger to shine.

A lot of interesting potential skill-monkey builds here. For example, Favored Enemy (Beasts) would give Advantage on almost all Animal Handling checks. But since there's not much reason to take Beasts as a favored enemy otherwise, I'd call that a good thing. Since Advantage stacks with the Expertise of a 1st-level Rogue or Knowledge Cleric, you could also build a first rate mundane healer with Medicine, lie-detecting machine with expertise in Insight and advantage against Humans, or the world's great expert on Knowledge checks against certain kind of foes. None of that seems exactly game-breaking, but it is cool.


Pathfinder
Replaces Natural Explorer

In addition, when you make an ability check related to your favored terrain, your proficiency bonus is doubled if you are using a skill that you're proficient in. For example, your proficiency bonus might be doubled on a Dexterity (Stealth) check to quietly move through your favored terrain or a Wisdom (Survival) check to find fresh water.

What checks would be considered related to the City favored terrain? Or any of them for that matter. If I'm using Charisma (Persuasion) to gather information about a group of baddies hiding in a city, does that count? Athletics to burst through a door in a city? Arcana to identify a spell cast in a city?


Pathfinder
Hunter's Mark
New feature

At 2nd level, you learn the hunter's mark spell, which doesn't count against your number of ranger spells known.

Consider renaming this feature to something slightly different in the interest of avoiding confusion between the spell and the class feature.

[Dark.Revenant]

I really like these proposals as a serious increase to the Ranger's power and flexibility without invalidating existing/future subclasses or just dumping extra damage output. A couple of thoughts and questions below.

A lot of interesting potential skill-monkey builds here. For example, Favored Enemy (Beasts) would give Advantage on almost all Animal Handling checks. But since there's not much reason to take Beasts as a favored enemy otherwise, I'd call that a good thing. Since Advantage stacks with the Expertise of a 1st-level Rogue or Knowledge Cleric, you could also build a first rate mundane healer with Medicine, lie-detecting machine with expertise in Insight and advantage against Humans, or the world's great expert on Knowledge checks against certain kind of foes. None of that seems exactly game-breaking, but it is cool.

What checks would be considered related to the City favored terrain? Or any of them for that matter. If I'm using Charisma (Persuasion) to gather information about a group of baddies hiding in a city, does that count? Athletics to burst through a door in a city? Arcana to identify a spell cast in a city?

Consider renaming this feature to something slightly different in the interest of avoiding confusion between the spell and the class feature.

Thank you for the feedback!

Favored Enemy is intended to be broadly useful. That there are interesting combinations available is a feature, not a bug.

I added a clause prohibiting Charisma checks from the Pathfinder double-proficiency benefit. It's not ideal to exclude a specific kind of ability check, but it does seem to halt the more abusive applications of the feature. I also added a descriptive block about urban rangers and what the Pathfinder feature is expected to cover in a city.

I renamed Hunter's Mark to Slayer's Mark to keep in line with the Foe Slayer naming, without obscuring the purpose of the feature.

[Dragons_Ire]

This is the best Ranger rework that I have seen. I will probably offer this as a player option next time I start a campaign. Thanks for the work, and thanks for sharing it!

[Dark.Revenant]

This is the best Ranger rework that I have seen. I will probably offer this as a player option next time I start a campaign. Thanks for the work, and thanks for sharing it!

Wow, thanks! I can’t take all the credit though; I workshopped most of it with a circle of homebrewer buddies. I’ll have more to show, soon enough.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Bunch of cool stuff here!

One thing I might change is that, to me at least, swamps are associated more with rot/decay/stagnation than with poisonous plants and animals. I'd give rangers with Swamp favored terrain resistance to necrotic damage instead of poison damage. But that might just be me.

Also, as written the ranger ends up getting four bonus languages instead of just two. Is that intentional, or an accidental duplication? I have to say, I do kind of like the idea of rangers being able to translate pretty much wherever the party goes; it gives them a social role that they typically wouldn't have and fits with the 'seen-it-all wanderer' theme.

[Dark.Revenant]

Bunch of cool stuff here!

One thing I might change is that, to me at least, swamps are associated more with rot/decay/stagnation than with poisonous plants and animals. I'd give rangers with Swamp favored terrain resistance to necrotic damage instead of poison damage. But that might just be me.

Also, as written the ranger ends up getting four bonus languages instead of just two. Is that intentional, or an accidental duplication? I have to say, I do kind of like the idea of rangers being able to translate pretty much wherever the party goes; it gives them a social role that they typically wouldn't have and fits with the 'seen-it-all wanderer' theme.

I can see your point about swamps, but they *are* hotbeds of disease and teeming with dangerous (often venomous or poisonous) animals too. Resistance to poison is such a natural progression from advantage on saving throws against poison (and disease), that I couldn't really pick a different damage type. I could certainly see some kind of "wasteland" terrain type that granted necrotic resistance, though.

Rangers get a bonus language for each of their favored enemies, so that's one at 1st level, two by 6th level, and three by 14th level. The reason I accelerated the schedule somewhat (and gave a 4th language) is because Land's Stride was cut. Fun fact: a half-elf Ranger with these changes and the Linguist feat has 12 out of the 16 total standard and exotic languages. With a couple years of downtime, you could conceivably speak every single non-obscure language in the standard setting.

[mictrepanier]

For an beastmaster "urban" ranger, would you consider humanoids as cohorts ? One sidekick template as a base ? They now gain levels... Or maybe shapeshifting beasts, humanoid-shaped with no weapons proficiencies reverting to beasts forms whenever they need to attack ?

[Dark.Revenant]

I would consider an Urban Beastmaster to still have an animal companion. People can have pets in cities, after all.

[mictrepanier]

I would consider an Urban Beastmaster to still have an animal companion. People can have pets in cities, after all.

Well, a chiuhaha with +2 damage at level 3 is a menace! Seriously, the PHB beast should be small, since the natural stats for the beast are less important. The UA version is different. What version fits better with this Ranger revision ?

[Dark.Revenant]

I would say both are usable, post-Errata. Beastmaster isn't nearly as bad as it once was. Obviously, the UA version is more mechanically powerful and convenient, but I don't think my changes affect much how the Beastmaster plays as a whole, other than having automatic access to ritual-casting Beast Sense and Speak with Animals.

[mictrepanier]

Thanks! I'll try it!

[Lord Von Becker]

Looks pretty good! I do think Coastal and Swamp terrains are kind of stepping on each other's toes a bit, though. Also, I don't have the DMG - does deep water adaptation come with water breathing? I'd like to see them have the option to become immune to all types of difficult terrain - maybe if you grab two terrains that grant difficult terrain immunity? This is mostly because at some point it looks like it'll go from "I know how to deal with snowy and slippery/sticky and sucking/really really tangly footing" to "Which one of these can't I deal with again?" Poison resistance isn't bad, but I don't know if it's as strong as fire resistance. Also, Monk gets straight-up immunity at L10. Worth thinking about, even if it's not worth changing. Wasteland sounds like a pretty cool addition, and seems thematically clearer than Grassland to me - I might split Desert into Wasteland and Plains, and have Plains replace Grassland. Of course, Hills is also a pretty obvious scenery type, and might be worth distinguishing from Forest. Finally, I might rename Coast to Coast/Island, or possibly Seaside, just for clarity. Once again, I quite like this.

[Dark.Revenant]

Looks pretty good! I do think Coastal and Swamp terrains are kind of stepping on each other's toes a bit, though. Also, I don't have the DMG - does deep water adaptation come with water breathing? I'd like to see them have the option to become immune to all types of difficult terrain - maybe if you grab two terrains that grant difficult terrain immunity? This is mostly because at some point it looks like it'll go from "I know how to deal with snowy and slippery/sticky and sucking/really really tangly footing" to "Which one of these can't I deal with again?" Poison resistance isn't bad, but I don't know if it's as strong as fire resistance. Also, Monk gets straight-up immunity at L10. Worth thinking about, even if it's not worth changing. Wasteland sounds like a pretty cool addition, and seems thematically clearer than Grassland to me - I might split Desert into Wasteland and Plains, and have Plains replace Grassland. Of course, Hills is also a pretty obvious scenery type, and might be worth distinguishing from Forest. Finally, I might rename Coast to Coast/Island, or possibly Seaside, just for clarity. Once again, I quite like this.

Addressing some of these...

I changed the name of Coast to "Coastal / Underwater" and Mountain to "Hill / Mountain" and City to "Urban" so that they line up with the Monster Manual biomes. I also added descriptions to each of the terrain types to describe what kind of scope they cover (wasteland is a type of desest).

Deep water adaptation does not grant water breathing. To quote:


For a creature without a swimming speed, each hour spent swimming at a depth greater than 100 feet counts as 2 hours for the purpose of determining exhaustion. Swimming for an hour at a depth greater than 200 feet counts as 4 hours.

It occurs to me that since Coastal grants a swim speed, there's no point having that other benefit. I'm moving the hold-your-breath-longer benefit from Swamp to Coastal and changing Swamp to:


Moving through difficult terrain composed of mud or shallow water costs you no extra movement. Murky water and fog—including fog created by the fog cloud spell—don't impose disadvantage on your Wisdom (Perception) checks. Additionally, you have advantage on saving throws against disease and poison.

At 6th level, you gain resistance to poison damage.

There is some argument that could be made about the different difficult terrain types, but if you really care about it, you can just take the original Land's Stride feature. It would not be very clear/simple to have some kind of recombination effect between the various difficult terrain benefits.

Poison resistance is very good, as it is a common damage type and typically does a truckload of damage when it hits. Monks gain immunity, and that is a powerful class feature, speaking from experience.

[Lord Von Becker]

Dang, it ate my formatting. Anyway:
-All those changes look good. Kudos.
-They don't seem to have any way to get used to Grease and Grease-like effects. I guess that's fine.
-I don't think the use-limit on Chameleon Shroud is necessary - the fact that they can't move or act should keep it situational enough. Good for sleeping, waiting in ambush, and getaways, not so good for going places and doing things.

[Dark.Revenant]

The use limit on Chameleon Shroud is intended to keep the scope of the ability to what it was useful for to begin with: ambushing and spying. If it had no usage limit, you could basically just spam it during an infiltration mission to get invisibility all day for free; dash between shadows, turn invisibility on, rinse and repeat. You can still do this with the resource limit, but you'd need to be more careful about when you activate the ability.

[Lord Von Becker]

The use limit on Chameleon Shroud is intended to keep the scope of the ability to what it was useful for to begin with: ambushing and spying. If it had no usage limit, you could basically just spam it during an infiltration mission to get invisibility all day for free; dash between shadows, turn invisibility on, rinse and repeat. You can still do this with the resource limit, but you'd need to be more careful about when you activate the ability.
I dunno, it just feels needlessly limiting. Compare it to the other stealthy archetype, the Rogue - at the same level, Rogues get Reliable Talent, which (combined with Skulker and Stealth Expertise) gives them a guaranteed 18+DEX on their bonus action stealth checks (which they can also make while only lightly obscured). It is a bit more investment, but it's both expected, and absolutely going to beat normal Passive Perception - without as much vulnerability to hearing/smell/etcetera. Plus, it's a lot more versatile - even attacking doesn't break it. And, of course, it's fully at-will.

I think you might actually just be overestimating invisibility here? RAW, it's far from invincible - Blindsense and Truesight are hard-counters, while Keen Hearing and Keen Smell are soft ones. Honestly, it might be a bit weak even if it is spammable, since it doesn't really offer anything against unconventional senses.

[Dark.Revenant]

Since you can still combine your invisibility with Pass Without Trace, I didn't want to just add a flat bonus to stealth, and advantage is usually given out by DMs for being invisible regardless. I wracked by brain and came up with this as a way to make the invisibility stronger:


Starting at 10th level, you have learned how to blend in with any backdrop. When you are lightly or heavily obscured, you can use your action to become invisible for as long as you remain there without moving or taking actions.

While you remain invisible in this manner, you are hidden from divination magic. You can't be targeted by such magic or perceived through magical scrying sensors.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (a minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

[Lord Von Becker]

Still hardcountered by Blindsense, which is a lot more common than Truesight anyway. Pass Without Trace is a spell - Arcane Tricksters get those. Granted, it's a ridiculously powerful spell. But still.
Look, here's my stab at it.

Hide in Plain Sight
Starting at 10th level, you have learned how to blend in with any backdrop. When you are lightly or heavily obscured, you can use your action to become invisible for as long as you remain there without moving or taking actions. While invisible this way, you are also obscured from senses that would normally go right through the obstruction, such as a bat's hearing or a wolfhound's nose.


No use limit. It's good for ghosting around, sure, but the wizard already has Greater Invisibility. You need the at-will utility in order to keep up. If this winds up breaking Pass Without Trace, I'm pretty sure it's the spell that's broken rather than the ability.
(My stab at a Pass Without Trace rewrite: it lets you take 15 on your Stealth checks, instead of giving you a flat +10. Still powerful, just not unbeatable.)

[Dark.Revenant]

At-will invisibility is a rare feature, AFAIK only appearing for 11th level shadow monks (as a MAJOR class feature) and as an invocation for 15th level warlocks. Rangers getting at-will invisibility at 10th level, especially when it’s supposed to be a borderline ribbon ability you get alongside your second (originally third) terrain, is just too much power creep, in my opinion.

[Lord Von Becker]

Maybe offer it as a choice, instead of a third Favored Terrain? I'm pretty sure the other invisibility features don't immobilize you while in use, though.

[Dark.Revenant]

Continuing with the Barbarian, my fixes are HERE (https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/Dxl3foIAj), reproduced here:


Barbarian Fixes
If one of the following class features replaces an existing class feature, then you can choose whether to use the new class feature or the original one.

Epic Labor
Replaces Brutal Critical

By 9th level, by overcoming many trials through the course of your exploits, you have awakened a mighty power within yourself. This power manifests in the form of epic deeds, acts of seemingly impossible strength or skill that you can call upon when you most need them.

Learning Deeds
You learn two deeds of your choice, which are listed in the "Deeds" section below.

You learn an additional deed of your choice at 13th and 17th level. Each time you learn a new deed, you can also replace one deed you know with a different one.

Using Deeds
Each deed takes effect when you use your Epic Labor. Afterwards, you must finish a short or long rest to use your Epic Labor again.

Beginning at 13th level, you can use your Epic Labor twice between rests, and beginning at 17th level, you can use it three times between rests. Deeds can expend multiple uses of Epic Labor at once; this is listed as a "Magnify" effect. When you finish a short or long rest, you regain your expended uses.

Saving Throws
If a deed requires a saving throw, you use your Deed save DC, which is calculated as follows:


Deed save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier


Relentless Rage (v2)
Replaces Relentless Rage

Starting at 11th level, your rage can keep you fighting despite grievous wounds. If you drop to 0 hit points while you're raging and don't die outright, you can make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. If you succeed, you drop to 1 hit point instead.

Each time you use this feature after the first, the DC increases by 5. When you finish a short or long rest, the DC resets to 10.

Additionally, whenever you make a saving throw while you're raging, you can choose to immediately end your rage. If you do so, you automatically succeed the saving throw. You must choose to do so before the roll.


Path of the Berserker Fixes
If one of the following class features replaces an existing class feature, then you can choose whether to use the new class feature or the original one.

Frenzy (v2)
Replaces Frenzy

Starting when you choose this path at 3rd level, you can go into a frenzy when you rage. If you do so, for the duration of your rage, you receive the following benefits:


You can make a single melee weapon attack as a bonus action on each of your turns after this one.
When you roll maximum on a weapon damage die, you can roll the weapon damage die again and add it to the total damage. If a damage die is directly maximized (such as through the Brutal Critical deed), this benefit does not apply—you need to actually roll the die.

The first time you go into a frenzy, you suffer no adverse effect. If you use this feature again before you finish a long rest, you suffer one level of exhaustion when your rage ends.


Intimidating Presence (v2)
Replaces Intimidating Presence

Beginning at 10th level, you can use your action to frighten someone with your menacing presence. When you do so, choose one creature that you can see within 30 feet of you. If the creature can see or hear you, it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Charisma modifier—your choice) or be frightened of you until the end of your next turn. On subsequent turns, you can use your action to extend the duration of this effect on the frightened creature until the end of your next turn. This effect ends if the creature ends its turn out of line of sight or more than 60 feet away from you.

If the creature succeeds on its saving throw, you can't use this feature on that creature again for 24 hours.


Deeds
Brutal Critical
When determining the damage for a critical hit with a melee weapon attack—after you see the damage roll—you can use your Epic Labor to apply one of the following effects:


Maximize your weapon damage dice (including the extra dice from the critical hit).
Roll one additional weapon damage die.

Magnify. You can apply another one of the above effects for each additional use of Epic Labor. You may choose the same effect multiple times. For example, by using your Epic Labor thrice, you can roll two additional weapon damage dice and then maximize all of the weapon damage dice.


Feat of Strength
When you make a Strength check, you can use your Epic Labor to gain a +10 bonus to the roll. You make this choice after you see the roll, but before the DM says whether the roll succeeds or fails.

Alternatively, you can use your Epic Labor as an action to lift an incredible burden. For the next hour, your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift is doubled.

Magnify. For two uses of Epic Labor, your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift is multiplied by four. For three uses of Epic Labor, your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift is multiplied by eight.


Fell Throw
When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can use your Epic Labor to hurl a melee weapon that you are holding with deadly power and precision. For the turn, if the weapon has the thrown property, its normal range becomes equal to its long range; otherwise, the weapon gains the thrown property with a range of 30/30 feet.

The first time you throw the weapon as part of this Attack action, you have advantage on the attack roll. If you hit, you add 1d8 to the attack's damage roll.

Magnify. For two uses of Epic Labor, the extra damage becomes 2d8 and the weapon's range is doubled. For three uses of Epic Labor, the extra damage becomes 3d8 and the weapon's range is tripled.


Forceful Charge
When you enter your rage, you can use your Epic Labor to double your speed until the end of the turn.

On that same turn, if you move at least 20 feet in a straight line toward a target and then hit it with a melee weapon attack, you add 1d8 to the attack's damage roll. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a Strength saving throw. If it fails, you can knock it prone and push it up to 10 feet away from you. You can do this only once per fierce charge.

Magnify. For two uses of Epic Labor, the extra damage becomes 2d8 and you can push the target up to 20 feet away from you. For three uses of Epic Labor, the extra damage becomes 3d8 and you can push the target up to 30 feet away from you.


Mighty Leap
As a bonus action, you can use your Epic Labor to leap to any spot within 30 feet (this does not count against your movement). You stop early if you impact against a creature or a solid surface along the trajectory of your leap. You cannot leap if your speed is 0.

When you land at the end of your mighty leap, the impact creates a powerful shock wave. Each creature within 5 feet of you must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or be knocked prone.

Magnify. For two uses of Epic Labor, you can leap up to 60 feet and the shock wave range becomes 10 feet. For three uses of Epic Labor, you can leap up to 90 feet and the shock wave range becomes 15 feet.


Savage Strike
With a vicious strike to the vitals, a punishing hammer-blow, or a fearsome barrage, your body itself becomes a mighty weapon. When you hit with an unarmed strike, you can use your Epic Labor to add 1d8 to the unarmed strike's damage roll. If the target is a creature, you can impose one of the following effects on that target:


It must make a Strength saving throw. If it fails, you can push it up to 15 feet away from you.
It must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or be knocked prone.
It must make a Constitution saving throw. If it fails, it is poisoned until the end of your next turn.
It must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be frightened of you until the end of your next turn.

Magnify. For two uses of Epic Labor, the extra damage becomes 2d8 and you can choose to impose two of the above effects on the target. For three uses of Epic Labor, the extra damage becomes 3d8 and you can choose to impose three of the above effects on the target.


Tenacious
You can use your Epic Labor as an action to suppress the effects of your highest level of exhaustion for the next hour.

Alternatively, you can use your Epic Labor as an action to endure the elements. For the next eight hours, you don't suffer the effects of extreme cold and extreme heat, and you are adapted to high altitudes and deep water—as described in the Dungeon Master's Guide.

Magnify. You can suppress another level of exhaustion for each additional use of Epic Labor.


Wall Breaker
As an action, you can use your Epic Labor to break a hole in a nonmagical surface (such as a wall, a door, cage bars, a ceiling, or a floor) made of wood, bricks, crystal, or another material of similar toughness. You choose the size of the hole, as long as it fits within a 10-foot cube.

Magnify. For two uses of Epic Labor, you can break a hole in a surface made of stone, steel, mithral, or another material of similar toughness. For three uses of Epic Labor, you can break a hole in an adamantine surface or a creation of magical force, such as the wall created by wall of force.


Overview
The Barbarian is a class focusing on raw physical power, feats of might, and amazing endurance. Some players like to mix mystical flavor in with their Barbarian, but others prefer a hulking mass of muscle whose power comes only from within. Mythological figures like Heracles, heroic and pop-culture figures like Conan, and historical figures like Norse berserks form the inspiration for the Barbarian class. The Barbarian play-style is firmly entrenched with a melee focus, dealing heavy damage and tanking blows as well as any other class in the game. It is a class with a low skill floor, accessible to new players, but with enough tactical depth to benefit from good decision-making, positioning, and pacing.

The Barbarian is often misunderstood by analysts who claim the class is overly restrictive or under-powered right out of the gate. To the contrary, I think the Barbarian's best levels are in the first two tiers, especially levels 1 through 8:

Rage starts the Barbarian off immediately with a very impactful ability (offensively and defensively) with a limited resource and specific conditions for maintaining its use; these conditions provide meaningful tactical decisions for the player and counter-play options for the DM.
Reckless Attack adds a potent risk-reward option (if you use Reckless Attack every round, you're probably not playing optimally).
Danger Sense helps Barbarian players play aggressively and stay in the front lines.
The subclasses come into play, expanding upon the Rage mechanic for new options and a more solidified identity within the roles of the party.
Fast Movement promotes freedom in combat.
Feral Instinct reinforces the class' decisive, immediate play-style.


The Problem: It starts to fall apart at 9th level; nearly everything a Barbarian gets from this point onward just reinforces what they can already do, rather than offering more ways to be effective. In practice, this makes a late-game Barbarian less interesting to play than earlier in the campaign. Although Barbarian isn't the only class to fall prey to this trend, it's still the sort of thing we should try to avoid—campaign burnout is a real danger!

The Fix: For this fix, we're keeping a laser focus on the design voids of the Barbarian chassis: 11th, 13th, and 17th level—the 9th level is also addressed as a side effect of addressing the 13th and 17th levels. The theme here is choices; we're offering the player more ways to be effective, not straight boosts to power. In addition, the fix for the 11th level exacerbates a problem with the Berserker subclass, so we're addressing a few problems there as well.


Epic Labor
The Problem: Brutal Critical is mathematically okay, offering a passive damage bonus that adds up over time and feels pretty nice to use when it comes up. All told, Brutal Critical III winds up doing as much damage as Rage, if you can consistently get advantage on your attacks. But that's all it does. As far as interesting options and impactful abilities go, this leaves the 13th and 17th level of Barbarian feeling downright empty. When other classes get access to a new spell level (like 9th!), a powerful subclass ability (or capstone!), or some other fun new power, all the Barbarian gets is an extra d12 to damage maybe four or five times per full adventuring day.

The Fix: This is a huge feature, taking up more than a full page of text. Some would say it is too bold to have something similar to Combat Superiority, Arcane Shot, Metamagic, or even my Pathfinder (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24476695&postcount=2) feature show up this late into a class' progression; it is certainly unprecedented for official class design. However, I feel it is justified for two major reasons: first, the Barbarian has no similar feature already, not even in any of the subclasses; and second, it opens up the design space for powers that would be inappropriate for low-level characters. The benefit of all this is an impactful, customizable feature that carries the class through tiers 3 and 4. It uses a new, heavily-limited resource in the style of Channel Divinity so that it doesn't clash with Rage, and so that it isn't unduly powerful over the course of an adventure. The heavy resource limit makes the feature more interesting in actual play; you'll always have more ways to use the resource than you have actual uses of that resource, so it is best used judiciously. The resource recovers on a short rest for a whole bunch of reasons, but the main one is that it encourages the player not to sit on the resource if there is a good reason to use it.

Each individual deed that the Barbarian can learn from this feature needs to be discussed separately:


Deed: Brutal Critical
The original Brutal Critical needs to be captured by the new Epic Labor feature, in some way. I used Brutal Critical as a benchmark for how effective a deed ought to be; mathematically, it does about the same amount of damage throughout an adventuring day as the original Brutal Critical. Assuming two attacks per round, three rounds of attacks per combat, advantage on every attack, two combats per short rest, and a greataxe: the original Brutal Critical I does 7.6 damage, Brutal Critical II does 15.2 damage, and Brutal Critical III does 22.8 damage. Under the same conditions, the deed Brutal Critical does 7.8 damage, 16.3 damage and 24.8 damage for one, two, and three uses of Epic Labor respectively—when we account for the possibility that we don't score any critical hits for which to trigger the ability. Beyond being roughly equivalent to the original feature in terms of damage, the new Brutal Critical is more interactive and (in my opinion) satisfying; nothing is worse than rolling low on a clutch crit, so being able to say "no" to the dice gods is quite welcome.


Deed: Feat of Strength
I made this deed mainly because it represents a common player fantasy for Barbarians: beating the Bard in an arm-wrestling match. Of course, there are other reasons you'd use this deed, like lifting a portcullis, swimming up a waterfall, wrestling a giant, or carrying a Santa-sized sack of gold, but we need to be mindful of our priorities.


Deed: Fell Throw
This one was is still called the "Thorkell Throw" in my heart, but I was also inspired by great feats of ancient heroes from legend. Barbarians aren't generally a ranged class, but sometimes you just have to stick a sucker from a distance. Among other things. this is great for making use of a Returning Weapon, continuing a rage when no one is nearby, and dealing with flying foes, making it quite a versatile tool to whip out in the right situation.


Deed: Forceful Charge
The worst feeling is declaring rage and then realizing that you can't actually reach the enemy. The turn you enter rage, you generally can't do as much as on subsequent turns, so there was design space for a deed to be triggered by entering rage; this is the exception to the unwritten rule that deeds should avoid interacting with rage. The intent here is basically to allow a very quick reposition (typically to charge in, axe swinging), but the bonus effect to the poor creature stuck in your path can also be used for triggering dangerous effects (like wall of fire) or otherwise setting up allies.


Deed: Mighty Leap
It always bothered me that Barbarians can't jump really high/far, so I created a deed to address this. The way I've implemented this is fairly similar, in practice, to a teleport; it's sort of like the Barbarian's version of misty step, but with certain pros and cons. Unlike the spell, it doesn't work if the Barbarian is grappled or restrained (Rage and Feat of Strength should deal with that), but it does work beyond-line-of-sight (if you have room to jump over the obstacle). Using this deed affords the Barbarian numerous tactical options with regards to repositioning or reaching otherwise-inaccessible areas.


Deed: Savage Strike
The deed for when you just want to rip and tear; Barbarians just need to be able to throw down in a fistfight. The smorgasbord of effects to choose from is mostly an amalgamation of Combat Superiority and Open Hand Technique; you can choose between four different saves, so there's almost always something you can do to a foe. The Constitution one requires a bit of explanation; the idea is you're hitting the target in the vitals (a gut-punch, neck jab, knee to the nuts, etc.) and messing their day up something fierce, sort of like the sickened condition from past editions. The intent here is to allow some versatility with how a Barbarian can deal with a foe in the throes of melee; you can always attempt an unarmed strike, no matter how your hands are occupied, and at least one of these effects will make itself useful.


Deed: Tenacious
I started off trying to make separate deeds for enduring natural elements and for avoiding exhaustion, but ultimately the two functions came together in the same deed. The more important feature—ignoring exhaustion—comes first. This is a godsend for Berserkers, but any player can make good use of being able to shake off exhaustion in a pinch. It takes an action—rather than a bonus action—to activate, so that you can potentially enter rage and activate this deed on the same turn. The environment-mitigating effect is even more situational, but it lasts long enough to make a real difference. Honestly, it's worth taking this just so that you can walk into a snowstorm wearing nothing but a bearskin.


Deed: Wall Breaker
A caged barbarian is a sad sight; why don't we do something about that? I must admit that this deed is rather self-indulgent; busting through the floor is great fun, bypassing parts of a dungeon (like a known ambush site) never gets old, busting out of jail is a riot, and no one expects the Barbarian to punch through a wall of force! This is a surprisingly versatile ability, akin to a Barbarian version of Passwall.


Relentless Rage (v2)
The Problem: At certain levels—5th, 11th, and 17th—player characters undergo a shift to the next tier of play. Every class is meant to have something big happen at those transition points. At 11th level, full casters gain access to high-level (6th) magic, while everyone else gets some hard-hitting class or subclass feature, shaking up play-style or offering a substantial power boost. Barbarian, meanwhile, gets a rather disappointing feature: a fairly unreliable don't-die-when-you-are-killed ability. It is fairly powerful in terms of absolute damage-reduction, since it can theoretically triple your effective HP or something, but in most cases it will just stave off death for an extra round. For comparison, at this same level, Fighters get a third attack, Hunter Rangers can attack entire groups of enemies at a time, Shadow Monks can become invisible at will, Paladins deal substantial extra damage with each hit, and Rogues lose the ability to roll poorly.

The Fix: A major weakness of the Barbarian chassis, particularly as you get higher in level, is vulnerability to mental saves. You do not want to fail most mental saving throws, but you're not likely to have better than maybe a +2 with all of your mental saves added together, unless you rolled particularly well for stats or took the Resilient feat. Most other classes with a similar issue have mitigating factors (like Indomitable and Stillness of Mind), but not the Barbarian. This gave me an idea for what to do about Relentless Rage: allow the Barbarian to pass critical saving throws! I didn't want to just remake Diamond Soul or Indomitable, and I didn't want something that would use a reaction (unfair for Sentinel, PAM, 14th-level Berserker, and Ancestral Guardian players to name a few), so the cost is instead your current rage. The ability works in such a way that the Persistent Rage and 20th-level Unlimited Rage features won't break it—you're never perfectly safe, even at 20th level. Since you can't use this ability after you roll the die, it becomes a hard question of risk vs reward; that's definitely on-brand for the Barbarian!


Frenzy (v2)
The Problem: Since Relentless Rage (v2) costs you your rage, the Frenzy feature's automatic exhaustion penalty is especially punishing. I normally don't deal with subclass fixes within a base class fix (I even spared the Beast Master), but this was egregious enough to prompt a hard look at the Berserker subclass.

The Fix: First, the exhaustion mechanic works like other "go over your limits" abilities, such as Overchannel. The first time is free, but after that it starts to hurt. By the time you have enough rages throughout the day to get the truly dangerous exhaustion effects, it should be possible to acquire a means of having Greater Restoration cast upon you in a pinch, or you can take the Tenacious deed. This means there is certainly a downside to using Frenzy too often, but it's not nearly as crippling. Second, you actually benefit from using Frenzy right away, since it causes your damage dice to explode. I often find that a Berserker will enter a Frenzy but barely get to use the bonus attack, typically by being knocked out of rage early or because a party member suddenly went nova and defeated the enemy too quickly. While it's not exactly a lot of damage overall, it certainly feels good to roll extra damage dice every now and then.


Intimidating Presence (v2)
The Problem: Barbarians are strongly encouraged to prioritize Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution over their mental scores, and even then it's usually Wisdom that gets the 4th-best score. Relying on Charisma just means that the save DC is likely to be a lousy 12 or 13 at the level you get the feature—hardly reliable enough to be worth your full action!

The Fix: Scaling by Strength (or Charisma, but let's face it...) means that the DC is probably 16 or 17. Now we're talking!

[Lord Von Becker]

Okay, so. Thoughts.
*I have issues with the first half of Barbarian, but they're mostly issues of flavor - they're plenty powerful, but like Druid, they're also so restricted, mostly in ways that map to a kinda-condescending 'Noble Savage' archetype. Notably:
--Barbarians not only lack Heavy Armor proficiency, they aren't allowed to wear it and still get their class features. This means no berserking Black Knights, among other things.
--They aren't allowed to cast spells of any sort. "You're too mad, you can't set people on fire with your mind anymore." Not being able to concentrate on other stuff, I can see, but this is just dumb. Sorceror has been a thing for several editions by now.
--Rages are, unaccountably, a long rest resource. This feels extremely silly once you hit more than three, and honestly it's kind a strain with just three, since there's no consequence to the exertion. It's... weird.
--Also, Rage is pretty much core to every subclass and also half of the chassis, but it's expensive enough that you apparently aren't expected to use it in every fight. This is a less obvious problem than the default Ranger's, because the rest rules are presented so badly, but it effectively means you don't have class features beyond Reckless Attack and maybe Unarmored Defense for a significant fraction of the adventuring day.
--Notably, even assuming constant Rage, the Fighter consistently outdamages the Barbarian. Heck, so does the Monk! Also, they're much more reliable about it, and even have good options for forcing burst damage. Barbarian just relies super heavily on luck. (I think the outdamaging is supposed to be somewhat balanced by Reckless Attack, but that just turns the defense buff from Rage into an attack buff.)
--Also also, Brutal Critical grants a small enough advantage to Greataxes that Greatsword is still a better build decision. Inconvenient for fluff.

*As for your modifications:
-Epic Labor feels too specifically Hercules to me, from a flavor perspective. I'd prefer a different name, like Mighty Surge perhaps. Might be a me thing.
-A lot of those abilities are really cool, but not so much more powerful than "just attack/shove/grapple" to feel like a rest-restriction is anything but "you can't do this cool thing at-will, who do you think you are - a Monk?" Perhaps the cost could be for using them as bonus actions, since I love the idea of the Barbarian jumping around at-will, or at least at-will while raging.
-A Feat or something, to get more of these Deeds, would be nice. Some of them are mostly ribbons, like the environmental adaptation thing, and even without that there are eight Deeds and only four Deed slots - some way of choosing more would be nice.
-Relentless Rage feels like it could use some more thought - I'm not yet sure why exactly, that's just the impression I get. Something to do with the "drop rage to beat a save" thing having weird flavor, maybe? Also, it sounds like a good niche for the Barbarian to go nova with, burning rages to do something completely unreasonable. (Like be immune to damage and harmful conditions for a round, in response to anything that would take them out of the fight.)

*A notion I might as well share:
-Rages are 1/short rest for free, and you can take an exhaustion level to rage again. At some point, probably around level 5 or level 10, you get a bonus exhaustion level that can be healed with a short rest and carries no penalties. (This intentionally combos well with my Reworked Fighter (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?577038-Fighter-Reworks-(Second-Wind-Desperation-Moves-Champion-as-The-Fast-Guy))'s ability to take a bonus Action Surge in exchange for exhaustion levels.) Something else happens during Tier Four, but I'm not sure what yet.

*Also, one last thought on the Ranger Invisibility: Why not make it once per short rest? Less reliance on Wisdom, more restricted, more obvious IC rationale in the form of limited patience/hiding spots.

[Dark.Revenant]

Okay, so. Thoughts.
*I have issues with the first half of Barbarian, but they're mostly issues of flavor - they're plenty powerful, but like Druid, they're also so restricted, mostly in ways that map to a kinda-condescending 'Noble Savage' archetype. Notably:
--Barbarians not only lack Heavy Armor proficiency, they aren't allowed to wear it and still get their class features. This means no berserking Black Knights, among other things.
--They aren't allowed to cast spells of any sort. "You're too mad, you can't set people on fire with your mind anymore." Not being able to concentrate on other stuff, I can see, but this is just dumb. Sorceror has been a thing for several editions by now.
--Rages are, unaccountably, a long rest resource. This feels extremely silly once you hit more than three, and honestly it's kind a strain with just three, since there's no consequence to the exertion. It's... weird.
--Also, Rage is pretty much core to every subclass and also half of the chassis, but it's expensive enough that you apparently aren't expected to use it in every fight. This is a less obvious problem than the default Ranger's, because the rest rules are presented so badly, but it effectively means you don't have class features beyond Reckless Attack and maybe Unarmored Defense for a significant fraction of the adventuring day.
--Notably, even assuming constant Rage, the Fighter consistently outdamages the Barbarian. Heck, so does the Monk! Also, they're much more reliable about it, and even have good options for forcing burst damage. Barbarian just relies super heavily on luck. (I think the outdamaging is supposed to be somewhat balanced by Reckless Attack, but that just turns the defense buff from Rage into an attack buff.)
--Also also, Brutal Critical grants a small enough advantage to Greataxes that Greatsword is still a better build decision. Inconvenient for fluff.
I'm inclined to agree with most of your points here. Barbarian has always had a somewhat problematic understanding of flavor, which is something I tried to address—in part—with the changes I made. That said, a truly comprehensive fix would indeed amount to a rewrite of the class as a whole, which isn't the intent of this thread.


*As for your modifications:
-Epic Labor feels too specifically Hercules to me, from a flavor perspective. I'd prefer a different name, like Mighty Surge perhaps. Might be a me thing.
The naming and wording here is particularly difficult because of the distinction between the name of the resource and the name of the features that use the resource. A bunch of names were tried and rejected because they were misleading or unclear in some way. Epic Labor might be a bit flavor-specific, but gets the point across quite cleanly.


-A lot of those abilities are really cool, but not so much more powerful than "just attack/shove/grapple" to feel like a rest-restriction is anything but "you can't do this cool thing at-will, who do you think you are - a Monk?" Perhaps the cost could be for using them as bonus actions, since I love the idea of the Barbarian jumping around at-will, or at least at-will while raging.
The balance point is specifically the original Brutal Critical (or slightly above it). Half of the deeds don't use an action on their own; they just ride upon something else you're doing. The exceptions are long-term buffs (Feat of Strength, Tenacious) and spell-equivalent effects (Mighty Leap, Wall Breaker). In any case, an at-will version of any of these deeds would have to be extraordinarily weak in order to avoid power-creeping the class, and I didn't want to use even more page space than I already have.


-A Feat or something, to get more of these Deeds, would be nice. Some of them are mostly ribbons, like the environmental adaptation thing, and even without that there are eight Deeds and only four Deed slots - some way of choosing more would be nice.
The ribbons are alternative modes you get along with a much more useful effect, so that they wouldn't feel like traps. Anyway, the main trouble with a feat here is that you get an ASI right before each of the Epic Labor levels, meaning that the soonest you could do it is 12th level—and then you'd just get more deed choices on the following level anyway.


-Relentless Rage feels like it could use some more thought - I'm not yet sure why exactly, that's just the impression I get. Something to do with the "drop rage to beat a save" thing having weird flavor, maybe? Also, it sounds like a good niche for the Barbarian to go nova with, burning rages to do something completely unreasonable. (Like be immune to damage and harmful conditions for a round, in response to anything that would take them out of the fight.)
The way it works here is chosen specifically to work mechanically with Persistent Rage and unlimited rage; you wouldn't want to just auto-pass all saves at 20th level, without limit... Also, burning a rage directly would get funky if you're on your last rage; you couldn't burn out your existing rage, since it was technically already spent.


*Also, one last thought on the Ranger Invisibility: Why not make it once per short rest? Less reliance on Wisdom, more restricted, more obvious IC rationale in the form of limited patience/hiding spots.
I feel that it wouldn't be powerful enough if it was limited to once per rest. The UA variant feature Fade Away is an example of what it would need to do to pass muster as a 1/rest ability.

[Lord Von Becker]

I'm inclined to agree with most of your points here. Barbarian has always had a somewhat problematic understanding of flavor, which is something I tried to address—in part—with the changes I made. That said, a truly comprehensive fix would indeed amount to a rewrite of the class as a whole, which isn't the intent of this thread.
I mean, a comprehensive rewrite is pretty much exactly what you did for the Ranger? Not saying you need to do it, just that you needn't stop on that account.

The naming and wording here is particularly difficult because of the distinction between the name of the resource and the name of the features that use the resource. A bunch of names were tried and rejected because they were misleading or unclear in some way. Epic Labor might be a bit flavor-specific, but gets the point across quite cleanly.
Fair enough. (Do you have that list of rejected names, by happy chance? I might like to take a stab at it.)

The balance point is specifically the original Brutal Critical (or slightly above it). Half of the deeds don't use an action on their own; they just ride upon something else you're doing. The exceptions are long-term buffs (Feat of Strength, Tenacious) and spell-equivalent effects (Mighty Leap, Wall Breaker). In any case, an at-will version of any of these deeds would have to be extraordinarily weak in order to avoid power-creeping the class, and I didn't want to use even more page space than I already have.
I mean, it kind of should be stronger? Paladin both hits harder and is arguably tankier thanks to auras, although that is balanced by a lower CON if they aren't using cheese. They also have more staying power for their high-fantasy stuff.
Also, keep in mind that Level 11 is where Create Bonfire jumps ahead of Cloud of Daggers. Hence, it's the tier at which I'd be much freer with Level 2 spell effects and below.

The ribbons are alternative modes you get along with a much more useful effect, so that they wouldn't feel like traps. Anyway, the main trouble with a feat here is that you get an ASI right before each of the Epic Labor levels, meaning that the soonest you could do it is 12th level—and then you'd just get more deed choices on the following level anyway.
I mean, you'd only get one Deed choice. Maybe allow it as soon as Level 4, but it only grants one Labor charge? Idk.

The way it works here is chosen specifically to work mechanically with Persistent Rage and unlimited rage; you wouldn't want to just auto-pass all saves at 20th level, without limit... Also, burning a rage directly would get funky if you're on your last rage; you couldn't burn out your existing rage, since it was technically already spent.
Wasn't planning to allow burning the rage you're using; I'd phrase it like "while raging you can expend another use of rage to [whatever the feature does]".

I feel that it wouldn't be powerful enough if it was limited to once per rest. The UA variant feature Fade Away is an example of what it would need to do to pass muster as a 1/rest ability.What about twice/rest? It'd wind up (ostensibly) being 6/day, but still feel nicely tactical and also not overload the class with WIS-resources.

[Dark.Revenant]

I mean, a comprehensive rewrite is pretty much exactly what you did for the Ranger? Not saying you need to do it, just that you needn't stop on that account.
I did not touch any of the subclasses, the general progression was kept similar, spellcasting wasn't touched, and a few upper-level features weren't modified. But yes, Ranger needed a lot of work. Probably more work than any other class besides Sorcerer.


Do you have that list of rejected names, by happy chance? I might like to take a stab at it.
All I remember is trying Epic Potential and Mighty Deed (the latter was when the Deeds were called Epic Feats, which I also rejected). There were other names that I rejected but I don't remember them.


I mean, it kind of should be stronger? Paladin both hits harder and is arguably tankier thanks to auras, although that is balanced by a lower CON if they aren't using cheese. They also have more staying power for their high-fantasy stuff.
Also, keep in mind that Level 11 is where Create Bonfire jumps ahead of Cloud of Daggers. Hence, it's the tier at which I'd be much freer with Level 2 spell effects and below.
Cloud of Daggers does not call for a save, so realistically unless you're an Evoker, I'd say Cloud of Daggers wins until you hit level 17. But I digress.

Wall Breaker is effectively a 5th-level spell (Passwall) and eventually becomes 6th-level (Disintegrate) if you pour 3 uses into it. Tenacious is a somewhat weaker version of a 3rd-level (Protection from Energy) or 5th-level (Greater Restoration) spell. Savage Strike is a stronger version of Open Hand Technique and probably about on par with a 1st-to-3rd-level smite spell, depending on how many uses you put into it. Mighty Leap is more-or-less a combination of a 1st-level (Earth Tremor) and 2nd-level (Misty Step) spell, maybe a level higher when maxed out. Forceful Charge is essentially an upgrade on a 1st-level spell (Zephyr Strike) and probably counts as 2nd-level as a result, 3rd-level if maxed. Fell Throw is essentially a ranged attack spell that has auto-advantage and like 1d12+1d8+5 damage, which I'd say is probably 2nd-level, 3th-level if maxed. Feat of Strength is basically 2nd-level (Enhance Ability). Brutal Critical doesn't really have a spell equivalent, but it could probably be considered 1st-level or higher, depending on uses.

Conceptually, we're adding a 2nd-level spell per short rest at 9th level, then it upgrades to 3rd-level at 13th and then 4th-level at 17th. Unlike actual spells, they work with Rage. It's worth noting that this is actually better progression than third-casters at those levels, though obviously it falls short of half-casters. One could argue that specific Deeds aren't powerful enough, but I disagree that the overall Epic Labor resource needs to be at-will.


I mean, you'd only get one Deed choice. Maybe allow it as soon as Level 4, but it only grants one Labor charge? Idk.
I'd sooner just bump the number of Deed choices up to 2 at 13th/17th, though my concern there is having way too many choices for so limited a resource.


What about twice/rest? It'd wind up (ostensibly) being 6/day, but still feel nicely tactical and also not overload the class with WIS-resources.
The class technically only has just the two Wisdom-based resources (Chameleon Shroud at 10th and Foe Slayer at 20th), though Wisdom scaling is used for Spell Save/Attack and Slayer's Mark duration. Maybe it could be like one of those new-fangled "1/Rest but you can spend a 1st-level spell slot to do it again" features?

[Lord Von Becker]

I did not touch any of the subclasses, the general progression was kept similar, spellcasting wasn't touched, and a few upper-level features weren't modified. But yes, Ranger needed a lot of work. Probably more work than any other class besides Sorcerer.
Huh. I hadn't realized Sorceror needed much - the capstone is boring, and of course the subclass choice could stand to be pushed back past the tutorial levels, but I thought the rest boiled down to spell selection. Oh well.
As for Barbarian, basically all the fixes I see boil down to "if you have proficiency in a class of armor, you can benefit from any class features you have while wearing it", and a reworked Rage. The draft I lost half a year ago had "1/rest for 1 minute, and you can use on it outside that to get the bonus damage but not the damage resistance, also Rage requires concentration but otherwise doesn't interfere with spellcasting".
It didn't address the second half of the class, but you've done that.

All I remember is trying Epic Potential and Mighty Deed (the latter was when the Deeds were called Epic Feats, which I also rejected). There were other names that I rejected but I don't remember them.
Surge of Strength, Surge of Power, or maybe just call them Deed uses?

Cloud of Daggers does not call for a save, so realistically unless you're an Evoker, I'd say Cloud of Daggers wins until you hit level 17. But I digress.
Thought it was Dex-for-half? Huh. Guess not.

Wall Breaker is effectively a 5th-level spell (Passwall) and eventually becomes 6th-level (Disintegrate) if you pour 3 uses into it. Tenacious is a somewhat weaker version of a 3rd-level (Protection from Energy) or 5th-level (Greater Restoration) spell. Savage Strike is a stronger version of Open Hand Technique and probably about on par with a 1st-to-3rd-level smite spell, depending on how many uses you put into it. Mighty Leap is more-or-less a combination of a 1st-level (Earth Tremor) and 2nd-level (Misty Step) spell, maybe a level higher when maxed out. Forceful Charge is essentially an upgrade on a 1st-level spell (Zephyr Strike) and probably counts as 2nd-level as a result, 3rd-level if maxed. Fell Throw is essentially a ranged attack spell that has auto-advantage and like 1d12+1d8+5 damage, which I'd say is probably 2nd-level, 3th-level if maxed. Feat of Strength is basically 2nd-level (Enhance Ability). Brutal Critical doesn't really have a spell equivalent, but it could probably be considered 1st-level or higher, depending on uses.

Conceptually, we're adding a 2nd-level spell per short rest at 9th level, then it upgrades to 3rd-level at 13th and then 4th-level at 17th. Unlike actual spells, they work with Rage. It's worth noting that this is actually better progression than third-casters at those levels, though obviously it falls short of half-casters. One could argue that specific Deeds aren't powerful enough, but I disagree that the overall Epic Labor resource needs to be at-will.

I guess a lot of my issue is that some players strongly prefer fewer fiddly resources to keep track of, and I'm one of them. 5E equating that to low-fantasy is bad enough - it heavily restricts martials, it isn't great for casters, and it really massively hurts necromancers - but making new resources a mandatory part of the chassis is kind of bad. Also, keep in mind that Scorching Ray in a 3rd-level slot is pretty closely equivalent to a Barbarian attack action after 5th level.

I'd sooner just bump the number of Deed choices up to 2 at 13th/17th, though my concern there is having way too many choices for so limited a resource.
Fair enough.

The class technically only has just the two Wisdom-based resources (Chameleon Shroud at 10th and Foe Slayer at 20th), though Wisdom scaling is used for Spell Save/Attack and Slayer's Mark duration. Maybe it could be like one of those new-fangled "1/Rest but you can spend a 1st-level spell slot to do it again" features?
I'd count that as three, but that sounds cool, yeah. A lot of my issue with the current draft is how arbitrary it feels, and how bad that is for tension compared to the imagery.

[Dark.Revenant]

Surge of Strength, Surge of Power, or maybe just call them Deed uses?
Power Surge has an unfortunate electrical connotation, and "surge" in general doesn't really fit with the deeds that last a long time. I tried using plain old Deed uses, but it wasn't clear to the reader how many deeds you could use per rest. It was easy to read it as "you can use each individual type of Deed you know 1/rest", which I think you'll agree would make for an even fiddlier resource.


I guess a lot of my issue is that some players strongly prefer fewer fiddly resources to keep track of, and I'm one of them. 5E equating that to low-fantasy is bad enough - it heavily restricts martials, it isn't great for casters, and it really massively hurts necromancers - but making new resources a mandatory part of the chassis is kind of bad.
Barbarian has but a single resource in the entire class: Rage. I think two subclasses add a thing you can do once per short rest. For comparison, Fighter has three resources, not counting subclasses or feats. I think there's quite a lot of room for the Epic Labor resource.


I'd count that as three, but that sounds cool, yeah. A lot of my issue with the current draft is how arbitrary it feels, and how bad that is for tension compared to the imagery.
Updated!