Thibbledorf Pwent — Almost (Mt. Dwarf Fighter/Barbarian)

[Arkhios]

Some years ago (jayzus, is it already 10+ years!?) I had this character in Pathfinder Society, called "Boulder", who was a dwarf of almost gigantic stature (and width), for a dwarf, at least. He was a notorious tavern brawler and a general pain in the arse of tavern owners, banned from all taverns from here to there, having broken several furnitures and structures in fits of rage and tavern brawls. Anyway, he used to have a spiked plate (obviously not a thing in 5e) and preferred to fight "up-close-and-personal" (grappling) and making a mess with those spikes in the process. In short, the character took inspiration from Pwent and Battleragers.

So, a while ago, I had a discussion where Boulder came up and I started to wonder how would or could I rebuild him in 5e. He had this ability that allowed him to drink all stuff (alcohol and potions) very quickly especially when raging, and it just so happened that Enlarge Person was a big favorite, if you don't take the booze into account.

I realized that now I could make this happen by combining Battlerager with Rune Knight, and maybe reflavor runes and stuff as brews.

I'm unsure of the ideal build though, and would like to hear your input on this.

[Unoriginal]

Some years ago (jayzus, is it already 10+ years!?) I had this character in Pathfinder Society, called "Boulder", who was a dwarf of almost gigantic stature (and width), for a dwarf, at least. He was a notorious tavern brawler and a general pain in the arse of tavern owners, banned from all taverns from here to there, having broken several furnitures and structures in fits of rage and tavern brawls. Anyway, he used to have a spiked plate (obviously not a thing in 5e) and preferred to fight "up-close-and-personal" (grappling) and making a mess with those spikes in the process. In short, the character took inspiration from Pwent and Battleragers.

So, a while ago, I had a discussion where Boulder came up and I started to wonder how would or could I rebuild him in 5e. He had this ability that allowed him to drink all stuff (alcohol and potions) very quickly especially when raging, and it just so happened that Enlarge Person was a big favorite, if you don't take the booze into account.

I realized that now I could make this happen by combining Battlerager with Rune Knight, and maybe reflavor runes and stuff as brews.

I'm unsure of the ideal build though, and would like to hear your input on this.

You can certainly do that, Rune Knight is great for grappling builds and it work well with Barbarian. The Unarmed Fighting Style and/or Tavern Brawler make grappling great for such a character, too.

The main question is how much you want the Batllerager subclass. Because it doesn't give much compared to other Barbarian subclasses

[Arkhios]

You can certainly do that, Rune Knight is great for grappling builds and it work well with Barbarian. The Unarmed Fighting Style and/or Tavern Brawler make grappling great for such a character, too.

The main question is how much you want the Batllerager subclass. Because it doesn't give much compared to other Barbarian subclasses

I guess 6 levels in Battlerager is enough. Reckless Abandon seems fun to have, and increases survivability somewhat.

Unarmed Fighting style, Tavern Brawler, and maybe even the Grappler feat would be what I'd aim for. Maybe Fighting Initiate for Defense Fighting Style later (or start with that, and Unarmed later).

I'm not sure if I want all of Rune Knight, though.

[thoroughlyS]

I don't know if you've heard of the path of the giant barbarian from Glory of the Giants, but it sounds like a really good fit for the character, especially if you don't want to progress rune knight. At 3rd level, they can grow to Large size and get 5 more feet of reach (plus a few other goodies). And starting at 6th level, you can swing or throw weapons so hard they break the sound barrier (i.e. deal thunder damage). I know you're looking at battlerager, but nothing is stopping you from wearing spiked armor as an aesthetic choice (all said, it's basically just scale mail that costs an extra 25 gp for looks). And mechanically, a single level of fighter for the unarmed fighting style gives you the mechanical benefit that a battlerager gets (when paired with tavern brawler), plus second wind to replace reckless abandon. I would probably do something like giant barbarian 5/fighter 1/barbarian 6+.

[Arkhios]

I don't know if you've heard of the path of the giant barbarian from Glory of the Giants, but it sounds like a really good fit for the character, especially if you don't want to progress rune knight. At 3rd level, they can grow to Large size and get 5 more feet of reach (plus a few other goodies). And starting at 6th level, you can swing or throw weapons so hard they break the sound barrier (i.e. deal thunder damage). I know you're looking at battlerager, but nothing is stopping you from wearing spiked armor as an aesthetic choice (all said, it's basically just scale mail that costs an extra 25 gp for looks). And mechanically, a single level of fighter for the unarmed fighting style gives you the mechanical benefit that a battlerager gets (when paired with tavern brawler), plus second wind to replace reckless abandon. I would probably do something like giant barbarian 5/fighter 1/barbarian 6+.

Admittedly, the Spiked Armor as-is is very poorly designed. You can deal damage with one only if you are a Battlerager, which is dumb, lazy, and/or perhaps a little wary about meddling with the rules. For example, the Valenar Double Scimitar from Eberron: Rising from the Last War is much better design.

How I would've done it, is either make the Spiked Armor change your unarmed strike damage from 1+Strength Bludgeoning to 1d4+Strength Piercing, or make Armor Spikes a separate weapon that needs to be attached to a set of armor* in order to function. *Possibly a specific list of reasonably suitable armor types, such as studded leather, breast plate, half-plate, and plate (just off the top of my head).
Unarmed Strike purely because the armor spikes leave your hands free, so that you can use your hands for something else (e.g. Grappling).

If I ever end up playing this character, I might ask the DM if they would let me use one of the proposed changes to Armor Spikes/Spiked Armor.

Path of the Giant seems definitely great, though the Cantrip is perhaps a bit odd to have. I think I might try to replace it with something else of equal value. Mighty Impel might not be necessary either, so I could see branching out before that. Maybe Path of the Giant 9/Fighter (maybe Battle Master, or even Champion) 11 for three attacks per Attack Action, and some other goodies.

[thoroughlyS]

Admittedly, the Spiked Armor as-is is very poorly designed. You can deal damage with one only if you are a Battlerager, which is dumb, lazy, and/or perhaps a little wary about meddling with the rules. For example, the Valenar Double Scimitar from Eberron: Rising from the Last War is much better design.

How I would've done it, is either make the Spiked Armor change your unarmed strike damage from 1+Strength Bludgeoning to 1d4+Strength Piercing, or make Armor Spikes a separate weapon that needs to be attached to a set of armor* in order to function. *Possibly a specific list of reasonably suitable armor types, such as studded leather, breast plate, half-plate, and plate (just off the top of my head).
Unarmed Strike purely because the armor spikes leave your hands free, so that you can use your hands for something else (e.g. Grappling).

I agree that it doesn't make a lot of sense for it to be locked within a subclass. I personally think that "spiked armor" should have been "armor spikes", a decorative extra that you could pay a small price to add to armors. Then there could just be a feat that let you deal damage with them, similar to the battlerager armor feature. Because I don't see why a fighter, paladin, ranger, or rogue couldn't learn to fight effectively with spiked elbows/knees. Nor why you should have your AC capped at the starting armor.

[Mastikator]

I would not combine battlerager and tavern brawler feat. They'd compete for bonus actions. IMO just go rune knight for the first 6 levels, take unarmed fighting style and either take tavern brawler and stay fighter, or skip tavern brawler and multiclass into barbarian, I'd probably only take 2 levels of barbarian for the reckless attack and rage.