(Lore Question) Path of Wild Magic

[Chalkarts]

I'm one of those annoying players that has to have a novella for a backstory.
I'm intrigued by the Path of Wild Magic Barbarian but I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around it.
I just can't envision a Fey barbarian, at least not a base race one. I could see a Satyr WMBarb, but A gnome, or Dwarf, it's hard for me get to the "why" of it.
I'm not explaining it well,
Hopefully someone gets it, lol.

[PhantomSoul]

I guess... uh... you got really intense emotions in a Fey Crossing and/or made a deal/oops with a Fey and/or you're actually a sorcerer have Fey lineage and/or you don't fluff Feyness at all.

[Dork_Forge]

A couple of my players played brothers that got hit by a wild magic storm, one became a wild magic sorcerer and the other a wild magic barbarian. Kind of fantastic fourish.

[Millstone85]

The Feywild isn't the only source of wild magic. Others include the Elemental Planes, the chaotic-aligned Outer Planes, and the Far Realm.

Anyway, I think the barbarian class, as it has come to be used in modern D&D, often shares themes with the druid. And among the various "forces of nature", a great deal must be either elemental or fey. So if you can justify a barbarian of any race, you can justify a wild-magic one.

Also, forest gnomes have close ties with elves and the fey, and rock gnomes are pretty whimsical too. A headcanon of mine is that they are descended from dwarves who settled in the Feywild.

[Avonar]

I'm running Out of the Abyss and we have a Wild Magic Barbarian who absorbed some of the faerzress. There are plenty of ways to justify chaotic magic.

[Chalkarts]

Also, forest gnomes have close ties with elves and the fey, and rock gnomes are pretty whimsical too. A headcanon of mine is that they are descended from dwarves who settled in the Feywild.

Forest Gnome was my original thought. I just picture a tiny little guy that suddenly explodes in a violent eruption of magic and is feral Jack Jack from the Incredibles.

[quindraco]

I'm one of those annoying players that has to have a novella for a backstory.
I'm intrigued by the Path of Wild Magic Barbarian but I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around it.
I just can't envision a Fey barbarian, at least not a base race one. I could see a Satyr WMBarb, but A gnome, or Dwarf, it's hard for me get to the "why" of it.
I'm not explaining it well,
Hopefully someone gets it, lol.

Ever read the origins of the Slaad?

Basically, sufficient exposure to Limbo for you or your ancestors should qualify.

[Kuulvheysoon]

Heck, you could even steal the plot of BG3 entirely and have an implanted slaad tadpole that you're keeping at bay somehow.

[Chalkarts]

Basically, sufficient exposure to Limbo for you or your ancestors should qualify.

This inspired my solution.
He was just a normal guy. Basic nobody. out somewhere(details yet to come), either fell through Limbo, or into a wellspring of magic, which infused him with the wild magic and essentially turned him into a barbarian. He couldn't rage at all until the incident. He found that he liked the rage a lot, got into some fights, became a gladiator and fights for crowds and glory now.
Standard Superhero Origin story.
Thanks for the inspire.

[Naanomi]

Failed magic experiment... Juiced up on too much 'raw magic' attempting to awaken magical abilities... Most subjects just died, but one particularly robust individual...

You could also go a bacchanalia style barbarian, religious revelry of the local party God leaking out all over the place

[ZRN]

I'm one of those annoying players that has to have a novella for a backstory.
I'm intrigued by the Path of Wild Magic Barbarian but I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around it.
I just can't envision a Fey barbarian, at least not a base race one. I could see a Satyr WMBarb, but A gnome, or Dwarf, it's hard for me get to the "why" of it.
I'm not explaining it well,
Hopefully someone gets it, lol.

The subclass immediately made me think of the Irish legend of Cuchulainn, who was some kind of demigod or half-fairy (where "fairy" means "otherworldy supernatural badass elf" per my reading). He would go into a rage that the translation calls "warp-spasms" because he transforms into a grotesque monster.

Basically, if you emphasize the "wild" part of the feywild, it can make sense to envision someone getting tainted by fey magic and becoming a crazy feral warrior.

[PattThe]

The Feywild isn't the only source, I found that out playing my Triton WMb3WMs1 in an aquatic game. The inner planar boundaries at the bottom of the ocean- or an actual bloodline/culture frmo the inner planes works nicely as well. Plus, any backstory that can inspire rage within a character can associate that emotional trial of their development or career with positive energy, the feywild, the inner planes, hell- even the abyss or as someone said, Faerzress.
I can imagine that a Wild Magic Barbarian could rise up randomly in a world even in its most foundational and shamanistic origins, where magic is omnipresent but spellcasting hadn't been discovered by many.
Anything that could make you a wild magic sorcerer (exposure to hilariously powerful cosmic-cube level magics in the campaign world by accident or with intent) could make you a wild magic barbarian if you associate it with your rage and have a extreme magical importance of one'self that they can conflict internally with.

Tasha's:
"Many places in the multiverse abound with beauty, intense emotion, and rampant magic; the Feywild, the Upper Planes, and other realms of supernatural power radiate with such forces and can profoundly influence people"

Hell, look at that quote's conclusive idea on the topic. 'Supernatural forces that can profoundly influence people." That could be a shadowfel power source with a vampire.

[Evaar]

Wild Magic offers some character possibilities that wouldn't necessarily be open to other Barbarians, too.

Like consider a character who looks very frail, with crystal shrapnel embedded along his right arm and neck. He carries a sword that looks like it weighs more than he does.

That crystal shrapnel, though, is the source of your strength. You didn't ask for this and you didn't train for it, but you were there in the wizard's tower when everything went to the hells. You should've died, but somehow you made it out alive. You tried extracting some of those shards but the pain was incredible and you found they just somehow grew back the next day. Things are different for you now.

[J-H]

Remember, Rage is just a name. If anyone's read The Law of Averages over on Spacebattles, there's a police officer in the story who is... extremely ebullient. He's big, he's wide, he's strong, his volume ranges from Loud to Booming, and as long as he keeps his courage up, his FIGHTING SPIRIT! will not allow him to go down to a villain. Basically his superpower is Heart, but in the awesome "can't put him down" way instead of the useless way.

That's the alternate take on rage I like.

[quindraco]

This inspired my solution.
He was just a normal guy. Basic nobody. out somewhere(details yet to come), either fell through Limbo, or into a wellspring of magic, which infused him with the wild magic and essentially turned him into a barbarian. He couldn't rage at all until the incident. He found that he liked the rage a lot, got into some fights, became a gladiator and fights for crowds and glory now.
Standard Superhero Origin story.
Thanks for the inspire.

Quite welcome!

[PattThe]

Find a way to auto-damage yourself and hang in the back-lines, and you can be just a big ol' con-20 sorcerer who rages to activate those nice 30ft wild magic effects. The theme could be "I was hearty enough to handle this blessing but I reeeally shouldn't. Like, "I shouldn't be alive" barbarian works well for a shadow sorcerer revenant or otherwise undead race. Channelling powwerr fromm da negative enerji plane. Plus if you want, any PC undead origin with 13cha can pick up any kind of warlock patron for orcus..

[Naanomi]

Find a way to auto-damage yourself and hang in the back-lines,
Scourge Aasimar?

[PattThe]

Scourge Aasimar?

Now we're cooking with fire. Plus you resist the self-damage innately. Plus, everyone loves a barbarian who can raise the cleric up from death's door to get Mass Healing Word back online to save the team. This is definitely more "a few times I get to go crazy", which works because barbarians only get so many rages (less if you multiclass).
There should be something that a few DM's out there that would allow for a damage condition on a barbarian who isn't built to do classic barbarian things. "You want to abuse rage but aren't being a brick wall of pain? You can't cast in rages, but sure I guess." Maybe someone could craft a magical component or item (perhaps even a party member) to try and "help" with your wild magic, and it ends up causing you some Iron-Man style toxicity that kicks in when you use magic or wild magic, and starts causing you pain at end of turn until you receive magical healing.

Lots of RP potential there over a million different routes. From "whoops! omg sorry aaahh" to "Oh stop complaining, this is useful."

[Chalkarts]

That's the alternate take on rage I like.

I settled on his rage being exciting for him, like a drug. He knows it's not smart to try and stay all ragey but he can't wait to get the opportunity. Bar fights, pit fights, dock fights, any time he can rage and get that feeling for a minute here and there, he's there for it.

[Contrast]

I just can't envision a Fey barbarian, at least not a base race one. I could see a Satyr WMBarb, but A gnome, or Dwarf, it's hard for me get to the "why" of it.

I have a gnome barbarian for whom rage is signified by an unhinged laughter. He feels at his most alive when raging and that energy bubbles out of him as manic laughter.

He also worships Lliiara the Goddess of Joy and Vergadain the dwarven god of luck and trickery. I wouldn't say either of those gods are typically down with brutal violence (which the character definitely enjoys) but, it turns out, people are complicated and have more than one facet.

Which is to say your faeness or wild magicness can define everything about the character but it doesn't have to if you don't want it to.

[Arkhios]

Strapped tightly on a rack, a mad wizard used you on his/her cruel and extremely painful experiments, and as target practice for waves and waves of raw magical power so long that those energies seeped into your very being until you became strong enough to break free!


Easily applicable to any race.

[sambojin]

What race? Firbolg.
Pseudo giant fey'ish whatevers, in tune with nature, but trickstery/ out-of-phase while being magic-connected too. Ragey is very doable, but so is bonus-popping invis-after-attacks-are-done when out of Rage for more damage mitigation, or "seeing all the magics" to grab/ use/see whenever you need to. The super-Disguise Self and talk-to-the-animals and heavy-lift are just side bonuses.

Disadvantage to all attacks for 1 round, 1/sr invis (you're not "casting" it, it's just magical, so Rage stackable). Rage resistance + damage. More detect magic than you'd know what to do with. Lots of Disguises. Talk to wild creature friends. Heavy lift coz barb=Strength. Wild magic surge Rage. It's all there.

By level 6, you are either mini-blessing/ guidancing (probably not, but maybe) a few times a day, or.....
Giving back 3x lvl1-3 spell slots to the party per day!!!!! Yes, do this, do this heaps. Hell, multiclass out after this point if you want. I would. You are now awesome. You have 10min non-magic non-concentration mini-Bless+Guidance, or extra spell slots to hand out. You are Very, Very Awesome (note: MC into Druid. You can never have too many level 1-3 spell slots as one. Plus you get wildshape at lvl2, that even wants the mini-bless. You do you first, then anyone else later, proficiency bonus times per day).

Tasha's the Firbolg stats into line with a Barb build, their languages to common/ Sylvan/ Primordial(or whatever), and have some fun. Drop two levels of Druid(any) in there if pure Barb'ing gets boring. Or Warlock(invocation blah, depending on where you want to go with it). Add flavour to taste if just being Barb gets a little stale, but you've got a nice little grab-bag of tricks and sustain already due to Firbolg.
A third level of Druid or Lock if you really want other options eventually. Anything with spell slots or riders on attacks will do though.

Rage doesn't have to just be raaarrrggghhh! There's focused sh*tF'rries to be done as well!

(You actually could reflavour a lot from the lvl3 and 6 abilities. Crazy or super-rational genius, Jekyll and Hyde, real-fighting Ki, tapping the uncontrollable power, being a conduit for skill or goodness (possibly with unintended consequences), offbeat extravagance, pure headonism, the (un)holy-touched, true-true-neautral-as-a-nexus, and many many more flavours from it. Basically, a really good subclass that can fit with any race or culture or world. I just gave you an obvious and easy take on it)

[PattThe]

What race? Firbolg.
Pseudo giant fey'ish whatevers, in tune with nature, but trickstery/ out-of-phase while being magic-connected too. Ragey is very doable, but so is bonus-popping invis-after-attacks-are-done when out of Rage for more damage mitigation, or "seeing all the magics" to grab/ use/see whenever you need to. The super-Disguise Self and talk-to-the-animals and heavy-lift are just side bonuses.

Disadvantage to all attacks for 1 round, 1/sr invis (you're not "casting" it, it's just magical, so Rage stackable). Rage resistance + damage. More detect magic than you'd know what to do with. Lots of Disguises. Talk to wild creature friends. Heavy lift coz barb=Strength. Wild magic surge Rage. It's all there.

By level 6, you are either mini-blessing/ guidancing (probably not, but maybe) a few times a day, or.....
Giving back 3x lvl1-3 spell slots to the party per day!!!!! Yes, do this, do this heaps. Hell, multiclass out after this point if you want. I would. You are now awesome. You have 10min non-magic non-concentration mini-Bless+Guidance, or extra spell slots to hand out. You are Very, Very Awesome (note: MC into Druid. You can never have too many level 1-3 spell slots as one. Plus you get wildshape at lvl2, that even wants the mini-bless. You do you first, then anyone else later, proficiency bonus times per day).

Tasha's the Firbolg stats into line with a Barb build, their languages to common/ Sylvan/ Primordial(or whatever), and have some fun. Drop two levels of Druid(any) in there if pure Barb'ing gets boring. Or Warlock(invocation blah, depending on where you want to go with it). Add flavour to taste if just being Barb gets a little stale, but you've got a nice little grab-bag of tricks and sustain already due to Firbolg.
A third level of Druid or Lock if you really want other options eventually. Anything with spell slots or riders on attacks will do though.

Rage doesn't have to just be raaarrrggghhh! There's focused sh*tF'rries to be done as well!

(You actually could reflavour a lot from the lvl3 and 6 abilities. Crazy or super-rational genius, Jekyll and Hyde, real-fighting Ki, tapping the uncontrollable power, being a conduit for skill or goodness (possibly with unintended consequences), offbeat extravagance, pure headonism, the (un)holy-touched, true-true-neautral-as-a-nexus, and many many more flavours from it. Basically, a really good subclass that can fit with any race or culture or world. I just gave you an obvious and easy take on it)

Nice that innate detect magic saves a use of your magic detection class feature.

[sambojin]

Yeah, it's a double-up, but proficiency bonus times a day + 1/short rest is close enough to "whenever you want", whereas either by themselves isn't. Use your short rest one first, with your dailies covering the rest of "I see magic people" load.
If you're going to Lore up a subclass, may as well get them good with their ribbons, especially when they're pretty ribbons to have.
(And on the MC druid wildshape thing, well... You have Extra Attack and mini-bless. And Reckless Attack. And basic Rage resistance + damage. That is good little wildshape, right there. It could even be big Moon wildshape, but then you miss out on half the fun. Plus a free spell slot once a day, just for you. You can even just familiar in stuff for amusing telepathic conversations and/or help actions/scouting. Yay!)
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From the OP though?
Dwarf? See the magic in the craftsmanship, and have the skills to use any tool, to do such fine work yourself, let others do theirs, and make such tools and weapons work for your cause through sheer focused determination? Or the lore of elders past, and their benevolent fury against the ones that stand against their kin, random though it may seem? Or the rites of ages and the grudges of Dwarven kind released, stern and unyielding, wrathful and random as a mountain storm, but giving to the valleys below. Fury of the Forge, with hammer blows given to crush the skulls of enemies and take their crafts back into "correct and proper hands", while giving the hammer wielder's assistants the advice and help they need to maintain such a workshop. The Prophetic or Deathdriven, placing themselves in harm's way under their God's great assays of such souls, given gifts to give greatness to many, for the Hold and Hearth moves as one such as you does, to wherever it is required, seeing and knowing and doing what must be done. Easy-as with dwarves.

Gnomes? Crazy "about to snap" tinker gnome, or a down with the vibe and the feral fury forest gnome? Are the tinker toys really not magical, or can only you see it (perhaps that little magical trinket all players get is key)? Is the power of nature waiting to burst from you, no matter where you are, what you're doing, this is the little old (wo)men's way? Is it the downtrodden barely thought-of gully gnomes, the world and their place in it, about to be understood for the power and rage they hold against any who would stop them or keep them there, be it through lack of physical prowess or knowledge of what they can offer to all? Perhaps it is the Deep Dwellers, so in touch with the bones of the earth that the magic courses through their very beings, yet you can channel it, so powerfully that simple combat releases it as a burst of momentary geological timestep, yet so fundamental that you may give such power to others due to your depth of this understanding, for you are from it and in it, always? There's lots of sorts of Gnomes, and this is only just scratching the surface of that race.

I mean, it's actually a really easy subclass to fit into anything. Yeah, rage is rage, but placing why the rage is there, and how your fits of brilliance and spontaneous outbursts occur, even if it's just your way of focusing your mind into "deadly cold and calculating, with a light show when that switch is thrown", or "raw enthusiastic genius, heavy handed and unrestrained", or "whimsical fantasy released, but with a Grimm's fairytales darker, bloodier edge to it", and not have it be "just a magical frothing looney moment" (although this works too). This is pretty easy to do with any race or background or world. The magical gifts and knowledge from the lvl6 stuff can be altered to fit outlooks and societies and histories immensely easily as well, and even into the adventurer's own reasons for doing what they are doing.

Thinking about stuff too simply really lowers the creative backstory and roleplay potential of any sub/class. There's always some slant or flavour or angle to add to any of them, but it's on you to do so.


((Anyway, it's easier than Druid Circle stuff. Because DMs tend to go "of course there's a vaguely *to your specific domain and/or *close-enough*" temple/ fort/ social construct/ cleric'y whatever* related thing to your character in this campaign you can potentially bounce off". Sort of the same thing with Rogues, isn't it? Like free "Every sh*te-box town has a mafia, doesn't it"? But the Druid thing..... Every Good Berry feeds a person for a day, even in whatever BS town you're in. Yeah man, we'll hate you for it, but just go and f* with things in our game. Because, your thing is everything outside a town, but sometimes still in them. No world-wide druid things or circle support for you! Even though your class specifically states that there's circles within circles and there's tonnes of weird stuff going on. Nature and stuff. Circles of not-against-each-other, but flavoured to "can-be-if-required". So, yep, that's why that. OP af.
You probably should have gone Barb and multi-classed into that kind of "I don't even need to do too much as a DM if I want you to do side-missions" thing.
Does the Vow of Generalised Goodness Paladin deal with the Thieves Guild? Or the Fighter with the Wizard's Scriptorium? No? For all the Druid's BS, remember who they should be dealing with, and it ain't just fuzzy-wuzzy CR1/4 beasts. You may be just a part of Nature living, or something with truly world-wide impact from small changes and social interactions amongst your own or others.
Anyway, thanks for listening. I got it off my chest. I don't do Ted-Talks))