Path of the Mutating Frenzy- Barbarian Archetype

[Ranckorr]

I made a thread about this quite a while ago but I have expanded it greatly. I'd like some possible critique on it and maybe some more suggestions if possible. It is supposed to be really body horror-like and very customize-able. The original inspiration for certain mutations like the giant blade, claws, hammerfist, and whip mutations came from prototype.


Path of the Mutating Frenzy- Barbarian
3rd- Minor Mutation
Gain the ability to modify your arms and legs during rage. As part of the bonus action to rage, you can choose one mutation to use during the rage. Any mutation you choose to do requires the chosen limb to not be holding something. Choose two at 3rd. Choose two more at 6th, 10th, and 14th.
Claws- Two Arm Mutation. Melee Weapon Attack. Finesse. Reach 5 ft. One Target. Hit 1d4 + Str mod slashing damage. Can attack again as a bonus action without proficiency
Whip- Single Arm Mutation. Melee Weapon Attack. Finesse. Reach 15 ft. One Target. Hit 1d4 + Str mod slashing damage.
Hammerfist- Single Arm Mutation. Melee Weapon Attack. Reach 5 ft. One Target. Hit 1d8 + Str mod Bludgeoning damage.
Grasping Tendrils- Single Arm Mutation. As an action, you can initiate a grapple with a range of 15 ft. As a bonus action on each of your turns, you can move the grappled target up to 10 ft with an opposed athletics check as long as the grappled target is within the 15 ft range.
Giant Blade- Single Arm Mutation. Melee Weapon Attack. Reach 5 ft. One Target. Hit 1d12 + Str mod Slashing damage. Crit range 19-20.
Shield- Single Arm Mutation. Gain a chitin or bone shield coming out of your arm. +2 AC.
Running Legs- Leg Mutation. You gain 15 ft of extra movement.
Jumper- Leg Mutation. Your legs morph to mimic the effects of a Jump spell.
Knife legs- Leg Mutation. Melee Weapon Attack. Finesse. Reach 5 ft. One Target. Hit 1d6 + dex or str mod slashing damage.
Serpentine- Leg Mutation. Become Immune to the prone condition. Gain a constrict. 1d8 + strength modifier damage and the target is grappled (escape (8 + strength modifier + proficiency bonus)). Until this grapple ends, the creature is restrained and you can’t grapple another creature with this mutation.
Barbed Ram- Single Arm Mutation. Melee Weapon Attack. Reach 5 ft. One Target. Hit 1d4 + Str mod piercing damage. On dash, can attack as bonus action. If moved at least 20ft, Hit 1d10 + Str mod piercing damage
Pressure Cannon- Single Arm Mutation. Able to mimic the effects of the Gust cantrip focused on your palm. Can only be fired from one arm per turn. This mutation is able to substitute the Gust effect for firing a tiny sized object (rock, potion, crossbow bolt).
Spider Legs- Leg Mutation. Gain a climb speed equal to your walking speed.
Rooting Spikes- Leg Mutation. Prevents forced movement when you are on the ground.
Large Hands- Two Arm Mutation. Able to grapple as though you were a large sized creature.
Luminous Nodes- Single Arm Mutation. Have little lights on your arm creating bright light out to 10 ft, dim light out to 30 ft. As a bonus action, you can force creatures in a 10 ft cone in front of you to make a constitution saving throw (8+proficiency bonus + constitution modifier) or be blinded for one minute. They can repeat the save at the end of their turns.
Amphibious- Two Arm Mutation. You adapt your body to an aquatic environment, sprouting gills and growing webbing between your fingers. You can breathe underwater and gain a swimming speed equal to your walking speed.
Tunneling Claws- Two Arm Mutation. Gain a 10 ft burrow speed where the tunnel closes behind you. The claws only deal 1d2 plus strength modifier slashing damage damage.
Bone Lance- Single Arm Mutation. Melee Weapon Attack. Reach 10 ft. One Target. Hit 1d10 + Str mod Piercing damage.

6th- Constant Mutation
You can now use one mutation outside of a rage and it can be activated as an action. Additionally, during your rage, you can use up to 2 mutations at a time given you have enough limbs. At 14th level, you can use up to 5.

10th- Major Mutation
Gain the ability to modify your body during rage. Choose 3. Gain 2 more at 15th
Chitin/Scales- +2 natural armor. This can stack with unarmored defense.
Poisonous Mucus Coat- Your body secretes a poisonous mucus. When a creature comes in contact with you (by you physically touching them or them physically touching you), Constitution save (8 + you Constitution modifier + your Proficiency Bonus). On fail, 2d4 poison damage.
Adaptive Hide- Gain resistance to a damage type. Each time this is chosen, another damage type can be picked.
Devouring Maw- Mouth Mutation. You can initiate a devour check on creatures on an attack roll as a free action. This is a vore type of thing.
Powerful Jaw- Mouth Mutation. Melee Natural Attack. Bite. 1d8 + Strength Modifier piercing damage. The target is grappled (Escape DC(8+str mod+Prof)). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and you cannot bite another target.
Flame Breath- Mouth Mutation. Using this mutation, you can mimic the effects of a dragon’s breath spell.
Supercharged- General Mutation. All natural weapons gain 1d4 lightning damage.
Cavitation Sheen- General Mutation. All natural weapons gain 1d4 thunder damage.
Rotting Venom- General Mutation. All natural weapons gain 1d4 necrotic damage.
Searing Acid- General Mutation. All Natural weapons gain 1d4 acid damage.
Deadly Venom- General Mutation. All Natural weapons gain poison. On hit, Constitution save (8 + you Constitution modifier + your Proficiency Bonus). On fail, 2d4 poison damage.
Burning Flame- General Mutation. All natural weapons gain 1d4 fire damage.
Icy Touch- General Mutation. All natural weapons gain 1d4 cold damage.
Frightful Presence- mimic the frightful presence of an adult brass dragon.
Spike Racks- Ranged Weapon Attack. Range 30/60ft. 1d4 + Dexterity modifier piercing damage. You can attack two targets at once.
Prehensile Tail- Melee Natural Attack. Slap deal 1d6 + str bludgeoning. On hit, can choose to grapple the target.
Stinging Tail- Melee Natural Attack. Reach 10 ft. Hit 1d4 + str piercing damage and the target must make a DC(8+con mod+prof) constitution saving throw or become poisoned for one minute, repeating the save at the end of each of their turns.
Detonating Tail- Melee Natural Attack. Reach 10 ft. Hit 1d6 + strength modifier bludgeoning damage and force a dexterity saving throw. On fail, deal 2d6 fire damage in a 5 ft radius around the target.
Bug Wings- Flight speed 30 ft. Can hover.
Big Wings- Flight speed 80 ft. cannot hover.
Muscle Mass- +2 base strength
Adapted- +2 base constitution
Many Jointed- +2 base dexterity
Tremendous- Increase in size by one category. Advantage on str saves and on grapples on creatures smaller than you.
Miniature- Decrease in size by one category. Advantage on dex saves and stealth checks
Tunneling Maw- Mouth Mutation. Gain a 30 ft burrow speed that leaves a tunnel. You gain a ranged attack that you puke out debris. Ranged Weapon Attack. 1d8 + Dexterity Modifier Bludgeoning damage.

14th- Vicious Consumption
You start consuming biological material with your melee mutated weapons. When you hit with your mutated melee weapons while below half your maximum hit points, you deal 1d6 extra necrotic damage and you heal the same amount. You cannot use this feature against constructs or elementals.


Edit* I removed some of the mutations and changed some others to balance things a bit better. Of all the things that are here, I'm not likely to get rid of anything else. Who knows though.

[Twelvetrees]

I’m gonna take this point by point.

Minor Mutation:

This is in need of some clarification as to how it works. You mention that you can modify your arms and legs, but the list of options also includes “General Mutations” which don’t appear to fit into either of those two categories. It’s also difficult to tell if these mutations take any sort of action to activate and how many you can be affected by at once. I’m also unsure whether Arm Mutations preclude the use of weapons and shields.

If I’m reading between the lines correctly, if a character is using a Two Arm Mutation, they can’t use any other mutation that affects their arms. If they use a Single Arm Mutation, they could use a second Single Amr Mutation and if they use a Leg Mutation, they can’t use any other Leg Mutation. And I’m guessing General Mutations can be stacked as much as one wishes. Have I got that right?

If mutations require saves, establish how those DCs are calculated when going over how Mutations work, please. Something along the lines of how the Battle Master’s Combat Superiority is laid out would be good.

Can you go over why you chose 5th, 9th, and 14th as the levels where you gain more of these? Only 14th matches up with a Path Feature level.


Claws
This is roughly equivalent to the Battlerager’s Battlerager Armor. Perfectly fine balance.


Whip
+5 feet to a normal whip. That works.


Hammerfist
I’m really having trouble envisioning this one. Are your arms supposed to be merged? And can you clarify what is going on with the ground pounding attack? Is the effect to knock creatures prone and deal 2d8 + your strength modifier in damage on a failed save and to just deal half damage on a successful save?


Grasping Tendrils
Hold on, this option is strictly better than Whip above. Same reach, better damage, and you can grapple? Why does Whip exist when this is around?

When moving the grappled target, do they have to remain within a certain distance of you? Right now, from my reading, you can continually move them away from you and the grapple won’t break. Also, can you please make it more clear how moving a creature into an object or creature works? What is “the damage”? And “any creature” is way too permissive of wording.


Blade
This obviates needing to choose between using two-handed weapons and using a shield. Balance aside (and this is a strong ability), this makes the game less interesting. It’s the best option for a weapon.
I’m also having trouble seeing how this relates to mutating.


Shield
Can you wear a shield on the same arm? If so, this is too good. If not, it’s easier to use a shield instead of taking this mutation. Could you go over what your intent with this mutation is?


Running Legs
This is essentially a version of the Totem barbarian’s Elk and Eagle totems put together, which is a little strong. Can we get some fluff for how this mutation works?


Jumper
This is awesome. It’s also a better version of the Tiger totem ability (which, to be fair, isn’t great). It would be good to say whether this affects long jumps, high jumps or both. Do remember you are still limited by your total movement when jumping.


Knife legs
Can you explain this one? You’ve got better options with the other mutations if you want a weapon to attack with. Also, is this actually a Finesse weapon? It seems to require you to use strength for the damage.


Serpentine
This is really strong. Restrained is a powerful condition and I’d be leery of letting a low-level character use it almost at-will.


Barbed Ram
This is cool. You’ve got to set things up to make the best use of it, but it’s also really leans into the flavor of having ram horns. I’d suggest changing the movement to require you to move 20 feet towards a creature. It would more closely resemble the existing Charge or Pounce attacks of animals like the Boar and Panther if that were the case. But dang, I want to play a charge-happy barbarian now.


Searing Acid, Deadly Venom, Burning Flame, Icy Touch
Meh. These are strong options when you get Extra Attack, but they aren’t terribly interesting.


Lock Breakers Fingers
99.99% of the time, it would be easier to just have Thieves’ Tools. This doesn’t seem useful.


Pressure Cannon
Gust cantrip is fine. Hold on, this implies that you can duplicate the effects of Single Arm Mutations on both of your arms? Is that the case? Also, how does firing a tiny-sized object work mechanically?


Brewing Orbs
Much like Lock Breaker’s Fingers, this feels unnecessary and not like a choice that players would want.


Spider Legs
Ooh. This? This is really interesting. It’s weakened by only being accessible while raging, but it is still something that I’d want to choose. It also fits well with the idea of mutation because it grants you a new ability.


Rooting Spikes
Very niche. This could use a boost.


Large Hands
Niche, but less so because raging makes you good at grappling. Still only comes into play if you encounter Huge creatues, so it’s not terribly useful.


Luminous Nodes
I like this. Bioluminescent body parts definitely feels like a mutation. It does need more information on how long the blindness lasts and if there is a save to resist it. Blinding is also a strong condition, so imposing it as a bonus action in an area is ridiculously good. This could use some toning down.


Amphibious
This is fun! And another good example of a mutation that feels like a mutation. I’d suggest looking at the Alter Self spell to see how the Aquatic Adaptation piece is described and use similar wording here.


Tunneling Claws
If it wasn’t limited to being present only while you were raging, this would be quite good. As it is, it’s circumstantial at best. It’s a really cool mutation (and feels like one!) but if I were making a character, this is not one of the first options I’d gravitate towards.


Bone Lance
Wait, what? No! This is a better version of Barbed Ram and makes Barbed Ram a trap option. This also makes weapon choices less interesting, much like Blade. I’d be in favor of removing this option.




6th- Constant Mutation
Hold up. Some of this information needs to be laid out in a Mutations section at the beginning of the subclass. If a reader only realizes that one mutation can be used at a time from levels one through five when they get to this section, they’re to be disappointed (and possibly confused). Also, if mutation slots are a thing, that needs to be explained earlier as well.

How do you activate mutations when not raging?

Using more than one mutation slot on a single mutation to increase the damage is too strong. Being able to use a 2d12 Bone Lance at 6th level deals way too much damage. A 5d12 Bone Lance at 12th level is ludicrous.




10th- Major Mutation
Two different tracks for mutations is confusing. Are you limited in the use of these as well?


Chitin/Scales
Natural Armor isn’t really a thing in 5e. Also, this is better than the Defensive Fighting Style, which rubs me the wrong way.


Poisonous Mucus Coat
How is contact determined?


Adaptive Hide
Nice. This treads the line of powerful and flavorful well. Can you choose a different damage type each time you activate it?


Devouring Maw
What’s a devour check? And a free action isn’t a thing in this edition, either.


Powerful Jaw
This feels redundant with the existence of Serpentine, but I suppose having both would allow you to restrain two creatures.


Flame Breath
I think gaining the effect of the Dragon’s Breath spell (as a 3rd or 4th level spell, maybe) would be easier than using the breath weapons of Brass Dragons.


Supercharged, Cavitation Sheen, Rotting Venom
These straight-up damage boosts are making me concerned about balance now. Stacking four of these with a Bone Lance would give you a weapon that would deal 1d12 + 4d4 + Strength modifier damage. That’s roughly equivalent to the extra damage from Great Weapon Master, but without having to deal with the attack penalty and GWM is a strong feat. I’d suggest reducing the number of mutations that only provide damage boosts.


Frightful Presence
This is better than this Berserker’s Intimidating Presence feature, which they get at the same level as this can be attained. I would suggest either copying the Berserker’s ability or removing this.


Spike Racks
The damage on this is piddly. And requiring Dexterity for the damage likely makes it worse. How does attacking two targets at once work?


Prehensile Tail
This feels more reasonable that the mutations that cause the restrained condition, but the existence of those mutations means that this one is almost pointless.


Stinging Tail
This is interesting! How long would the target be poisoned for?


Detonating Tail
What? Does your tail explode? How does this work, in-game?


Bug Wings, Big Wings
Whoa. I really like these – it’s really evident you mutated if you sprout wings – but 10th level is a little low level for at-will flight (which you can get with these because of the ability to use a mutation when not raging). I’d suggest trying to balance these to be about as powerful as the 14th level Eagle Totem feature.


Muscle Mass, Adapted, Many Jointed
These don’t feel like mutations. They also smell like cheese, to me.


Tremendous
Who are “the small folk”? And this is duplicative of a rage benefit, so it isn’t as useful as it seems at first glance. Rage already gives you advantage on Strength saves.


Miniature
This likely has a lot of crossover with Danger sense, which makes it less useful. Advantage on Stealth checks is okay, but the other mutation options are much more exciting.


Tunneling Maw
Oh, hang on. You can have an at-will burrow speed at 6th level with Tunneling Claws, can’t you? That makes that ability almost too useful. The attack this mutation grants would be decent if it wasn’t Dexterity-based. The burrowing is also really good now. But it’s likely fine at this level, considering that Moon Druids can turn into Earth Elementals at the same level.




14th- Vicious Consumption
It would likely be easier to say what creature types this doesn’t work against. I imagine you would be good if you said that it doesn’t work against Constructs or Elementals. I think this also needs to specify if it only works against creatures, because otherwise a Mutating Frenzy barbarian can just hit a tree a bunch to heal back to full health.

I’d suggest limiting this ability in some fashion as well. Similar abilities, like the Champion Fighter’s Survivor feature or the Redemption Paladin’s Protective Spirit feature tend to work only if you have fewer than half your hit points remaining. I think it would be reasonable to limit this in the same way.




Suggestions

Stylistically, it would be easier to read if mutations were structured in a similar manner to things like the Battlerager Armor feature from Path of the Battlerager.


Battlerager Armor
While you are wearing spiked armor and are raging, you can use a bonus action to make one melee weapon attack with your armor spikes against a target within 5 feet of you. If the attack hits, the spikes deal 1d4 piercing damage. You use your Strength modifier for the attack and damage rolls.

It would also be good to have a section at the beginning that laid out how mutations worked. The Battle Master’s Combat Superiority feature would be a good example to follow.

If you want to encourage players to choose different mutations throughout the adventuring day or to switch between mutations mid-rage, you could consider offering a benefit each time you used a different mutation. Maybe something like a certain number of temporary hit points?



This was fun to look through! Comparing this version to your last one (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?589711-Path-of-the-Mutating-Frenzy-(Barbarian-Path)), this appears to be in a much better spot with balance, too (I ran across your old version when updating the Compendium).