Rage mage... hm...

[Desteplo]

I like barbarians. And wizards.

Warlock: lots of spell like abilities usable
Sorcerer: quicken between rages/support
Wizard: war mage shield, rituals out of combat and more traditional rage mage

Honerable mention:
Bard: drum solos, support with inspiration, “axe” solos

Any subclass synergy you can think of? I want strength based tiger barbarian. Don’t like flavor of hexblade

-looking for a tabaxi barbarian/caster
-tiger barbarian/fiendLock
-TB/shadow sorcerer (deep nocturnal flavor)
-TB/war mage with a consistent shield with major synergy because it limits spell casting and you cast cast in rage anyway

[Lavaeolus]

In terms of Barbarian / Caster splits, I like Warlock and Bard. Of course, the main thing they bring to the table are some non-spell features that enable some odd synergies, so whether they'd be to your taste is up in the air. Arcane Deflection is nice, but Wizards in particular are defined by the spells they choose.

The big block we have to face, of course, is that Barbarian gets a lot out of raging, and raging turns off spellcasting and shuts off any spells that rely on concentration. That doesn't mean it shuts off spellcasting completely, however: there are spells that can be cast beforehand, but don't rely on Concentration. Longstrider is one example, increasing your speed for the next hour.

Barb / Warlock is, I think, the best at capturing a sort of spell-y magical feel without, you know, actually using spells in combat. Barbarians are a little MAD even without dipping into CHA casters, but you can probably manage the bare-minimum of 13 CHA while maintaining decent Barb stats. Armor of Agathys is one of the aforementioned long-duration spells that you could cast before combat, and it's particularly nice on a Barbarian. You could use Hexblade to switch yourself from STR-focused to CHA-focused, but you'd be giving up your Rage damage bonus and Reckless Attack; instead, the main appeal would be grabbing Hexblade’s Curse. If you're feeling down on Hexblade's themes, you don't have to feel too bound to it. Your primary choices, build-wise, come down to the Invocations you want to use and the Pact/Patron features you want to take advantage of.

I won't pretend it's a secret powerhouse, but it is a surprisingly viable multiclass, and not too rigid in how to combine it. The Blade Pact is probably the obvious combination here, but for a smaller dip (three levels or so) the Chain Pact offers some utility and you could get some use out of Gift of the Ever-Living Ones. Mixing a Ancestral Guardian or a Tundra Storm Barb with Celestial Warlock makes for a more-supportive-than-usual Barbarian. Fiend Warlock's first feature is hurt a little by a bad Charisma modifier, but with a more significant investment into Warlock you'll likely enjoy the temp HP.

The Bard / Barbarian is a niche build, in that it's a very nice grappler but other than that the two classes are clashing against each other. Thematically, Skalds also have some D&D history to jump off of. As far as features go, Rage, Expertise, Bardic Inspiration -- all useful things to ensure you pass that Athletics check. Lore Bard + Jack of All Trades will make you a pretty solid skillmonkey, and Cutting Words can be used to further heighten your grapples. Swords Bard will get some Blade Flourishes to bring into combat and an alternative source for Extra Attack, for a more caster-heavy multiclass split. Again, the fact you'll likely have to sacrifice CHA hurts this multiclass, and this time it's less ignorable; so while this is pretty potent at the thing it's committed to, it's probably not the most optimal build out there. The more your team can actually capitalise off you grappling and shoving people, the better.

Finally, of course, there's the Moon Druid who just wants to take a level in Barb to Rage while wildshaped. Not so much a "Rage Mage" as "I just wanted to play an angry ape", but it can work; action economy at the start of a battle can be a pain, however. All these characters, of course, should be able to bring in some utility spellcasting when outside of combat, which is something you'll likely want to take advantage of.

[Frogreaver]

I like barbarians. And wizards.

Warlock: lots of spell like abilities usable
Sorcerer: quicken between rages/support
Wizard: war mage shield, rituals out of combat and more traditional rage mage

Honerable mention:
Bard: drum solos, support with inspiration, “axe” solos

Any subclass synergy you can think of? I want strength based tiger barbarian. Don’t like flavor of hexblade

-looking for a tabaxi barbarian/caster
-tiger barbarian/fiendLock
-TB/shadow sorcerer (deep nocturnal flavor)
-TB/war mage with a consistent shield with major synergy because it limits spell casting and you cast cast in rage anyway

Necromancer. Animated dead don’t require concentration and with you up front tanking it should work out pretty well.

Clerics aren’t bad either. If you can precast spiritual weapon before fight then rage at start it’s okay. Also aid is pretty good as a prebuff. Worst case you use slots on it. Channel divinities aren’t spells either.

Fireball can give you an initial ranged attack before you close in and rage.

Nearly everything good a Druid gets is concentration so I’d rule them out.

Wizards/barbarians in general can alternate between rage and high level cast of shadow blade in encounters.

Warlock for eldritch smite and hexblades curse is pretty effective combination.

[ftafp]

i love the idea of a rage mage and it bothers me to no end that raging and spellcasting are incompatible

if i had to give a good barbarian caster combo I'd say barb/moon druid, but for casting during a rage your best option is refluffing some ability like those of a shifter, aasimar, bladesinger or spore druid as a rage

an admittedly poor but newly available option is to grab a one level of genielock along with glyph of warding from any available source. while you're inside your bottled respite you can inscribe glyphs of warding on some weapons and tell them to trigger when a creature is hit with one of them, then carry those weapons out with you. so long as as the weapon and the bottle are never more than ten feet apart you can cast spells with your weapon attacks. it just costs 200 gp a spell

[Man_Over_Game]

Barb / Warlock is, I think, the best at capturing a sort of spell-y magical feel without, you know, actually using spells in combat. Barbarians are a little MAD even without dipping into CHA casters, but you can probably manage the bare-minimum of 13 CHA while maintaining decent Barb stats. Armor of Agathys is one of the aforementioned long-duration spells that you could cast before combat, and it's particularly nice on a Barbarian. You could use Hexblade to switch yourself from STR-focused to CHA-focused, but you'd be giving up your Rage damage bonus and Reckless Attack; instead, the main appeal would be grabbing Hexblade’s Curse. If you're feeling down on Hexblade's themes, you don't have to feel too bound to it. Your primary choices, build-wise, come down to the Invocations you want to use and the Pact/Patron features you want to take advantage of.

This has been the only real solution I've seen people use when they want to make a Barbarian "Caster". Mostly, they leverage Armor of Agathys with Rage to deal lots of damage to melee enemies.

[Mr Adventurer]

I wonder if it would be possible to design a new subclass for Barbarians for this. Fighters ger EK after all. Do Barbarian subclasses have enough to sacrifice to justify 1/3 casting?

[RSP]

I guess BS and Barb? BS doesn’t require Conc or casting for the subclass benefits. Could still get +Int to AC, use spell slots to absorb damage and +Int to damage. Extra Attack would overlap if taking both classes deep enough.

[Friv]

Phoenix Sorcerer might be a fun combination for a really big rage mage, although it might take some time to get really wild. Level 1 lets you just light anything on fire, which is pretty useful and rage-y even when you aren't properly raging. It also lets you cover yourself in fire as a bonus action, hurting anyone who stabs you and boosting your fire damage. You can use that alongside a rage, or in addition to it, and you can grab a ranged fire cantrip to help cover one of the big barbarian weaknesses, faraway or flying enemies. And if you reach Sorcerer 6, you get a big phoenix explosion whenever someone drops you, which is also real nice.

In terms of metamagic, you could go a few ways. Distant Spell lets you really roast faraway baddies, Extended Spell lets you throw something up and then go smashing faces in, and Seeking Spell compensates for having a potentially lower Charisma by giving you spell advantage (although outside of cantrips you probably don't want a lot of rolled spells.)

You probably won't be going far past 2nd-level spells, if you're planning to be more of a barbarian than a sorcerer, so you're mostly looking for buffs. Spells like Feather Fall, Jump, and False Life give you immediate spell buffs that you can then use on a rage, or you could focus on spells that are entirely out of combat like Charm Person, Comprehend Languages, or Disguise Self. At 2nd level, good combat spells might include See Invisibility, Mirror Image, or just Knock every door open as you charge through it engulfed in flame and then rage out.

In terms of leveling up, I would personally probably go: Barbarian 3, Sorcerer 3, Barbarian 6, Sorcerer 6, Barbarian the rest of the way. That lets you start by pushing Barbarian to a useful point, then building up and outwards as a sorcerer, shifting back to Barbarian for extra attacks and more path features, then getting up to better spell buffs and the like, then finishing the job.


\Barbarian 2, then Sorcerer 3, then Barbarian up to 6, then Sorcerer up to 6, then Barbarian the rest of the way. That gives you the

[cutlery]

Perhaps a muscle wizard? https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Muscle_Wizard_(5e_Class)


But yeah, other than that, buff before rage (hard in some combats), or dip Paladin (MADness) to smite with slots.

[Man_Over_Game]

I wonder if it would be possible to design a new subclass for Barbarians for this. Fighters ger EK after all. Do Barbarian subclasses have enough to sacrifice to justify 1/3 casting?

I've always been a big fan of having certain spells be cast when you Rage, things like Zephyr Strike, Hunter's Mark. Made a subclass around it once, where you don't roll Concentration checks, but the spell ends as soon as Rage does.

[Amechra]

I wonder if it would be possible to design a new subclass for Barbarians for this. Fighters ger EK after all. Do Barbarian subclasses have enough to sacrifice to justify 1/3 casting?

My favorite homebrew approach to it is this one (https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/88ax70/homebrew_path_of_the_fury_shaman_a_barbarian_who/).

...

One way of making this work that I think people gloss over is the idea of using Barbarian to cover your in-combat role, while your caster stuff covers your out-of-combat role. Load up on a bunch of rituals and utility spells, and revel on how you don't have to spend spells to be good in a fight.

I vote Barbarian/War Cleric - cast Spiritual Weapon before you rage, and go to town.

[Teaguethebean]

Barb 1/Warlock 5/Barb 2/ Warlock 17/Barb 3
Any barb subclass works can go Fiendlock, Pact of the blade, It genuinely is a really fun and viable tank build.

[jaappleton]

Mark of Healing Halfling Bladesinger.

There you go.

My bad. I read the title as RED mage.

[Desteplo]

Story time: I’ve been thinking more on it. The inspiration was dark souls 1 (since I have time and I needed a dark scene to realize life could be worse) I went essentially strengthens based fighter with plate armor, shield feat, with a battle axe (for versatility)
-then took a dip into pyromancy (basically Fire dragon sorcerer)

Didn’t want to replicate that character. But did make me think about rage mage. Since a lot of the time I was two handing the axe during boss fights anyway (all that poise!)

ANYWAY: barbarian sorcerer, with quicken spell is the traditional rage mage mechanically. And thematically think fits best since they’re both the essentially wild

Though after I posted thought that bard is very nice combo. As a team buffer and utility. Doesn’t totally mesh a bunch but it gives a good base for combat and then the addition of lots of non combat3 additions (as someone mentioned in previous posts)
-bard still gives features within rage, think there’s a spy bard that gives a psychic version of a smite too
-warlock has some abilities usable in rage But they rely on an action which will end rage
-sorcerer has bonus action potential but leans heavy on resources
-wizard bladesinger is interesting (saw that someone posted) didn’t think about it since it’s usually locked under elf

[elyktsorb]

Just now realizing Barbarian doesn't stop spore druids from doing spore druid things

[Vogie]

I'm a fan of a barbarian mixed with war cleric. Divine Fervor gives you pseudo-rage damage bonus on those fights you don't want to spend a rage. Regardless of your barbarian type, you get a bonus action attack (up to your wis mod), and if you know that a fight is coming, you can precast things like Spiritual weapon, Aid, or Warding Bond, prior to rolling initiative.

[Mr Adventurer]

Divine Soul Sorcerer would let you pick up those non-Concentrarion Cleric spells and still be a Sorcerer

[Desteplo]

I'm a fan of a barbarian mixed with war cleric. Divine Fervor gives you pseudo-rage damage bonus on those fights you don't want to spend a rage. Regardless of your barbarian type, you get a bonus action attack (up to your wis mod), and if you know that a fight is coming, you can precast things like Spiritual weapon, Aid, or Warding Bond, prior to rolling initiative.

Go full Orc and you have yourself a follower of Grumsh

[Chugger]

Barb w/ 2 levels of War Wizard is worth considering.

You can add +4 to any saving throw you miss - well once a round you can. It also adds +2 to ac if you want to use that - it's sometimes useful. You can have a familiar, which is useful. You can cast longstrider on yourself and move faster - it's not concentration.

So it will work with rage if you cast it before you rage.

And WW adds to initiative if you have at least some intel - get a Headband of Intellect if not! As a barb w/ WW you will be an initiative-winning fool!

The rituals you get could come in handy, and you can add more to your spellbook as you find them. An unseen servant pre-cast before combat can theoretically feed you a healing potion if you go down, if the DM allows this (some allow familiars to do this too).