If Barbarians could cast spells while Raging ... Multiclassing question!

[LtJaron]

Hello all!
As the title implies ...
If Barbarians could cast spells while raging, what spellcasting class would create a good or interesting syngery when multiclassing.
Personally I thought about Sorcerer for Sorcery Points to twin or quick cast spells while raging, but I wanted to hear your (especially farfetch'd) ideas!

Regards
LtJaron

[Skylivedk]

You'll get a ton of mileage out of Armour of Agathys and the Abjurer's ward. IIRC there's a dragon mark or a Ravnica background that gives you AoA.

[Spiritchaser]

Hello all!
As the title implies ...
If Barbarians could cast spells while raging, what spellcasting class would create a good or interesting syngery when multiclassing.
Personally I thought about Sorcerer for Sorcery Points to twin or quick cast spells while raging, but I wanted to hear your (especially farfetch'd) ideas!

Regards
LtJaron

I’d go for control and debuff, and don’t be afraid of concentration spells. Lock down your foes well away from the squishy party members.

If they want to break your concentration by attacking you, then all is well and good. Take warcaster. You are raging so damage is halved, and you’ll Have con save proficiency.

If they do devote all their energy to breaking concentration despite this?

Even if you lose you win. They beat on you for three rounds until the dice really hated you? Cool. That’s what you wanted them to do anyway.

You’re afraid that their saves are going to be too low? Take spells that impact multiple targets. Some will fail.

Still too doubtful? Ok, take spells that alter terrain or slow your opponents down. Take Spirit guardians or the excellent non concentration debuff that sorcerers can’t take for no good reason: grease

[NaughtyTiger]

barbarian cleric... now THATs a shaman...

aid, spritiual guardians

[LtJaron]

barbarian cleric... now THATs a shaman...

aid, spritiual guardians

Hell yeah, that's a cool idea! Also Spiritual Weapon is a favourite idea of mine to mix with a barb :)

[LtJaron]

I’d go for control and debuff, and don’t be afraid of concentration spells. Lock down your foes well away from the squishy party members.

If they want to break your concentration by attacking you, then all is well and good. Take warcaster. You are raging so damage is halved, and you’ll Have con save proficiency.

If they do devote all their energy to breaking concentration despite this?

Even if you lose you win. They beat on you for three rounds until the dice really hated you? Cool. That’s what you wanted them to do anyway.

You’re afraid that their saves are going to be too low? Take spells that impact multiple targets. Some will fail.

Still too doubtful? Ok, take spells that alter terrain or slow your opponents down. Take Spirit guardians or the excellent non concentration debuff that sorcerers can’t take for no good reason: grease

Really great ideas ! I was also looking into the idea of having more spells that are cast on bonus actions, so I can maintain rage by attack each round. (Expeditious Retreat, Misty Step, Dragon's Breath etc.)
Also Ritual spells would be a cool addition i think, as to have more utility outside of combat (Plus find familiar for help action is gold)

[LtJaron]

You'll get a ton of mileage out of Armour of Agathys and the Abjurer's ward. IIRC there's a dragon mark or a Ravnica background that gives you AoA.

Nice! Yeah AoA was one of my first thoughts.
Will have to check those other options out!

[loki_ragnarock]

So you'd need:
Str
and
Int/Wis/Cha

As constitution isn't required for multiclassing, it doesn't actually need to be high; it's a want, not a need.


And to maintain rage, you'd need to attack or take damage every round.


There's an inherent advantage to maintaining concentration by ensuring that you take half damage. But the OP doesn't say that the restrictions on concentration are lifted, just the spell casting restriction. Without that additional tweak, no casting hypnotic pattern or hold person or spirit guardians or the like, since they can't be maintained while raging.

So, with that in mind, probably warlock. Armor of Agathys was good before, it's still great now because you can just cast it again to reinvigorate those temp hp and it doesn't require concentration. All of that adds up additional survivability on the "take damage every round" clause of maintaining rage. Eldritch Blast as an at will gives you an enormous range to make mobile enemies that ignore you for a round a non issue, even in the event that your DM rules that "attack" requires an attack roll. Hellish Rebuke lets you do some off turn damage reaction damage when things attack you back. Iconic, class specific spells that all synergize well if the barbarian can cast while raging.

The class features also synergize fairly well. Want to dip barbarian? Take the invocation that gets you extra attack and don't worry about taking it to 5. Want to dip warlock? Be a hexblade and add criticals on a 19 or 20 to your advantage attacks and extra crit damage - in addition to proficiency to damage and regaining hp on a kill - again without worrying about taking many levels to do it.
A dip in either direction would work well for a final character.

And there's a fun niche combination. Invocations like Devil's Sight and Eyes of the Rune Keeper combine with the totem barbarian's 6th level Eagle Sight ability to allow one to read in darkness up to a mile away. A real kick in the face to the 3e "class feature" of illiteracy.

So, I'm going to say warlock.

[LtJaron]

So you'd need:
Str
and
Int/Wis/Cha

As constitution isn't required for multiclassing, it doesn't actually need to be high; it's a want, not a need.


And to maintain rage, you'd need to attack or take damage every round.


There's an inherent advantage to maintaining concentration by ensuring that you take half damage. But the OP doesn't say that the restrictions on concentration are lifted, just the spell casting restriction. Without that additional tweak, no casting hypnotic pattern or hold person or spirit guardians or the like, since they can't be maintained while raging.

So, with that in mind, probably warlock. Armor of Agathys was good before, it's still great now because you can just cast it again to reinvigorate those temp hp and it doesn't require concentration. All of that adds up additional survivability on the "take damage every round" clause of maintaining rage. Eldritch Blast as an at will gives you an enormous range to make mobile enemies that ignore you for a round a non issue, even in the event that your DM rules that "attack" requires an attack roll. Hellish Rebuke lets you do some off turn damage reaction damage when things attack you back. Iconic, class specific spells that all synergize well if the barbarian can cast while raging.

The class features also synergize fairly well. Want to dip barbarian? Take the invocation that gets you extra attack and don't worry about taking it to 5. Want to dip warlock? Be a hexblade and add criticals on a 19 or 20 to your advantage attacks and extra crit damage - in addition to proficiency to damage and regaining hp on a kill - again without worrying about taking many levels to do it.
A dip in either direction would work well for a final character.

And there's a fun niche combination. Invocations like Devil's Sight and Eyes of the Rune Keeper combine with the totem barbarian's 6th level Eagle Sight ability to allow one to read in darkness up to a mile away. A real kick in the face to the 3e "class feature" of illiteracy.

So, I'm going to say warlock.

True. Actually my whole curiousity stems from reading the homebrew subclass Path of the Spellstorm, by AuraTwilight, which gives barbarians limited spellcasting (Like EK) and makes them able to cast and maintain concentration on spells while in rage, which i found rather interesting, since most other classes could work with spellcasting some way or another.

[Man_Over_Game]

Druids have a surprising amount of close-mid range Concentration spells, or self-buff spells. They'd be good close-range combatants if they actually got decent weapons and could use metal gear.

[NaughtyTiger]

cleric, ranger, druid

2 levels of moon druid is already overused barbarian thing because lack of casting doesn't matter.
ranger is all bonus action, all concentration

[loki_ragnarock]

True. Actually my whole curiousity stems from reading the homebrew subclass Path of the Spellstorm, by AuraTwilight, which gives barbarians limited spellcasting (Like EK) and makes them able to cast and maintain concentration on spells while in rage, which i found rather interesting, since most other classes could work with spellcasting some way or another.

Egad. Is that their level 3 ability?

So... nearly unbreakable concentration while taking half damage and proficient with constitution saves?

Concentration on the table, Abjuration Wizard. You'll never lose concentration and you'll be durable as Eff. Enjoy your 9th level spell slot and the certain knowledge that the enemy will have to do over 40 points of damage to put the concentration DC over 10. Take the damage for whatever character is getting hit with near impunity, allowing you to not just be a hp sponge, but for anyone in the party to be one. Don't bother investing in armor class, because you'll never need it. Just cast the staple hold person, hypnotic pattern, other concentration based debuffs and enjoy what is basically perpetual invulnerability with a slightly slower spell progression.

[Man_Over_Game]

Egad. Is that their level 3 ability?

So... nearly unbreakable concentration while taking half damage and proficient with constitution saves?

To be fair, you're basically describing a Bladesinger with 2x the HP and 1/3 the caster levels.

[Bosh]

Barbarian dip with warlock. AoA already works (cast before you rage) but hex pushes it over the top.

[heavyfuel]

To be fair, you're basically describing a Bladesinger with 2x the HP and 1/3 the caster levels.

So, a worse Bladesinger :smalltongue:

[Brawnspear]

I've been playing a half bearbarian, half fiend blade pact warlock goliath for awhile now. He is an absolute treat. I burned an invocation on getting the ability to cast and concentrate while raging. Most times it doesn't come up since I have only the 2 spell slots per rest, but I tend to use it on utility more than Armor of Ag. I think I've used it the most on the fly spell, or chucking a giant boulder (my version of eldritch blast). He also has the fiendish vigor invocation, so I tend to start every encounter with some free rechargeable hp, and there's a person in the party with inspiring leader, so again a bit of overlap with Armor of Ag. I am going to be getting shadow of moil shortly and I'm sure that will pop up frequently in my castings.

So far my favorite couple of things have involved flying and lifting heavy objects. Once a giant wagon to drop on a purple worm. The other, the entire party (while hasted), including the paladin's horse to make it back to the fort in time to head off a yuan ti attack.

I do have hex, but i think I've cast it once on this character so far, things die too quick, and I have polearm master as well as rage to eat up my bonus actions.

[Erose]

We really do need a rage mage.