DEX barbarian 5e?

[Spacehamster]

Anyone seen any good DEX subclass homebrew for 5e? :)

[animorte]

Subclasses? I'm not sure, but I've built a DexBarb for Unarmored Defense + Dueling fighting style (yes, multiclass Fighter) with Shield Master. Was a little silly but I prevented unbelievable amounts of damage over time with that.

[Maat Mons]

Dunno, but if you put your points in Dex instead of St, and later manage to acquire a Belt of Giant Strength, it seems to me you've got the best of both worlds. Your Str score winds up just as high as if you'd been pumping it, but you instead spent those points on something that isn't overwritten by your item.

[MrStabby]

A homebrew would be tricky... or at least inelegant.

It would not just be likely to be adding features but rewriting existing ones. Rage would need to be reworded, as would the capstone.

It would also be tricky to balance against others without being bland. Con+dex+shield unarmoured defence would be very solid ability if there were support for dwx as a primary stat. This would squeeze a bit of power out of what could reasonably be added to other class features.

[GalacticAxekick]

The Barbarian already benefits immensely from Dexterity.
Proficiency with all finesse weapons
Dex and Con bonuses to AC
Advantage on most Dex saves
Advantage on initiative rolls


The only reasons to use Strength, as a Barbarian, are (1) to deal Rage Damage and (2) to use Reckless Attack. The simplest way to write a Dex Barbarian would be to get rid of those two reasons:


Tracelike Fury. Starting at 3rd level, your rage is a state of focus that allows you to strike vital targets with great precision, even if that means putting yourself at risk. You can use Reckless attack when you make any attack using Dexterity, and you can deal Rage Damage when you hit a creature with any attack using Dexterity.

Patience & Precision Starting at 6th level, you gain proficiency in two of the following skills: Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, or Stealth. If you choose a skill that you are already proficient in, you gain expertise instead.

Cat & Mouse. Starting at 10th level, you can Hide or Search as a bonus action.

Zero to One-Hundred. Starting at 14th level, if you are not surprised at the beginning of combat and aren’t incapacitated, you can begin combat with a surprise round, but only if you enter your rage before doing anything else in that round.

Stoic Champion. When you gain the Primal Champion feature at 20th level, you can increase your Dexterity score by 4 instead of your Strength score.

[Garfunion]

This might have relevance here. Using dexterity is still viable option for these optional features.


I’ve been looking at the Barbarian as an alternative option for a spell-less ranger.
Many of the barbarian archetypes are still usable with ranged weapons.

Brutal Bow(optional)
This 2nd-level feature replaces the Reckless Attack feature and works with the Brutal Bow feature. You gain no benefit from the replaced feature and don't qualify for anything in the game that requires it.

You may use your strength modifier instead of your dexterity modifier for any ranged attack and damage rolls you make with a shortbow. While raging you may add your rage damage bonus to the damage rolls of your shortbow.

Precision Critical(optional)
This 9th-level feature replaces the Brutal Critical feature and works with the Precision Critical feature. You gain no benefit from the replaced feature and don't qualify for anything in the game that requires it.

You can roll one additional weapon damage die when determining the extra damage for a critical hit with a ranged attack using a shortbow.

This increases to two additional dice at 13th level and three additional dice at 17th level.

[Twelvetrees]

Glancing through the homebrew compendium (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?481588-D-amp-D-5e-Homebrew-Compendium-2), I found a couple:


Path of the Dervish by Ghost Dragon (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?397494-Barbarian-Archetype-Dervish)
Path of the Wardancer by Catullus64 (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?634841-Barbarian-Path-of-the-Wardancer-(PEACH))