Path of The Hunger (5e Subclass)

Path of The Hunger

Barbarian Subclass

Many barbarians come from tribes and are raised into the ways of their Path. Not so with the Path of The Hunger. The Hunger finds its subjects and guides them along what is ultimately a path of devouring their enemies, even to the point of cannibalism.

It's not clear what The Hunger actually is. Is it a disease, like lycanthropism or vampirism? Is it an extension of an other-worldly entity, similar to the influence of Great Old Ones over their warlocks? Is it a psychic manifestation pressed out into the world by some supernatural intelligence? Or perhaps it's a form of physically manifested schizophrenia? Whatever it is, two things about it are certain: 1) It is embraced by its host, not inflicted upon them. 2) It talks to its host...and the host talks back. Once The Hunger finds you, it seduces you into it's lifestyle of carnivorous violence.

Hunger Barbarians (often called "Eaters" or "Biters") do not so much rage as they succumb to The Hunger, the drive within that fuels their strength and demands to be fed in return. At first, it is a whisper, a growl, a suggested course of action. Eventually, The Hunger manifests physically within the host and makes its presence known to all.

What makes a Biter strong also makes them terrifying. It's a rare adventurer that travels alongside a Biter, but such an adventurer finds an invaluable companion. Biters are no more likely to be evil than any other person, but that doesn't make them less unsettling. Thus, many Biters have trouble finding lasting comradery. But at least they're never alone...

Ravenous Embrace

Starting at 3rd level, The Hunger improves your ability to grab and hold onto targets. The first time you attempt to grapple a specific creature, your proficiency bonus is doubled for that Strength (Athletics) check. (If you are not proficient with Athletics, instead add one-fourth your Barbarian level, rounded up.) Once you have used this bonus against a creature, you can't use it against that creature again until you reroll initiative. This does not stack with expertise or any other feature that also doubles your proficiency bonus.

Chomp

Also at 3rd level, the Hunger Barbarian's teeth grow sharper and stronger, taking on a more carnivorous arrangement, be that canine, feline, shark-like, or perhaps just increasing their prominence. And those teeth ache to sink into something.

You can use a bonus action while raging to make a bite attack against a creature you have grappled. The bite attack has the following characteristics:

• It deals 1d6 + your Strength modifier damage (piercing or slashing, depending on your technique) and gives you temporary hit points equal to your rage damage bonus + your Constitution modifier until the end of your next turn. At 11th level, the damage increases to 2d6. You are proficient with your bite attack.
• If the target is wearing medium or heavy armor, the bite attack has disadvantage. Natural armor does not carry this penalty.
• Hit points taken from a bite cannot be healed until after the creature finishes a long rest unless the barbarian's saliva is removed by a means of eliminating disease. (Creatures immune to disease are immune to this characteristic.)
• If a creature you bit attempts to hide from you anytime within the next hour, they do so with disadvantage.
• Once bitten, a creature has disadvantage to escape your grapple until the start of your next turn.

• If the creature attempts to teleport away, it must make a contested Constitution check against you. If it wins, it teleports successfully. If you win, it does not teleport (losing any spell slot, etc. used for the teleport). If the check is a tie, the teleport is successful but you teleport with the creature.

After you bite someone, your rage cannot end for at least one minute unless you are incapacitated.

Our Head

At 6th level, you start to hear the voice of The Hunger inside your head. You begin referring to yourself in the plural (we instead of I). Anytime you attempt to speak of yourself in the singular, you must succeed on a DC 11 Intelligence check or the words come out plural.

On the bright side, having company in your head has its perks. You gain the following benefits:

• You have advantage on initiative rolls.
• You have Devil's Sight to a range of 20 feet and darkvision to a range of 60 feet.
• You gain proficiency in one Wisdom or Intelligence skill of your choice, courtesy of the knowledge The Hunger brings to the relationship.
• Whenever dice are rolled to heal you, roll them twice and take the roll you prefer.

Insatiable Appendage

At 10th level, whenever you succumb to The Hunger (rage), a tentacle-like appendage manifests from your body. The nature of this appendage varies from Biter to Biter. Use the table below to pick or roll the nature of your appendage. (If you wear armor, consider that when selecting.)

Appendage Appearance

d6	Appearance
1	Your tongue elongates, similar to a frog. A gap forms in your teeth so you can still bite.
2	You grow a prehensile tail.
3	Flesh and muscle extend from your abdomen in a malformed limb.
4	A visible emanation of psychic force, like a ripple in the air that floats beside you.
5	Your hair grows incredibly long and twists into a monstrous braid.
6	A viscous ooze seeps from your pores to form a gelatinous vine.

Regardless of the appendage's appearance or nature, its function is always the same. You can use an attack to grapple a creature within 10 feet with the appendage, even when your hands are occupied. At the start of your turn, you can inflict bludgeoning damage equal to your Strength modifier to a creature grappled by your appendage without using any action.

Also, once on your turn when you take the attack action, you can use one of your attacks to constrict the grappled creature, forcing it to attempt a Constitution saving throw against a DC of 10 + half your barbarian level, taking 2d6 bludgeoning damage on a failure or half as much on a success.

The appendage can only grapple one creature at a time (though you can grapple others with your hands if they are free).

Tentacular Assistance

Also at 10th level, when your appendage is present but is not grappling anyone, the precarious limb busies itself improving your mobility the following ways:

• Your lifting and carrying capacities double.
• You can dash as a bonus action, however doing so makes it impossible to grapple with your appendage until your next turn.
• You can use your reaction to add a d4 to your armor class for one attack as your appendage defends the blow or ushers you out of harm's way.

Voracious Frenzy

At 14th level, The Hunger, once fed, refuses to be satiated. The power it offers intensifies as long as there is meat on the table. Once per rage, when you bite a creature, you can choose to succumb to a frenzy of gnashing teeth and lashing appendages. While in the frenzy, you gain the following:

• You manifest a second tentacle. You gain the benefits of Tentacular Assistance as long as one of those tentacles isn't grappling.
• When you take the attack action, you can make one additional attack as long as at least one attack is made with a tentacle.
• Both of your tentacles are permeated with jagged teeth.

• Any creature grappled by a tentacle takes piercing damage equal to your rage damage bonus at the end of its turn.
• You can make a bite attack with an unoccupied tentacle. Each tentacle is limited to one bite attack per turn. The statistics are identical to the Chomp feature, but these attacks can target creatures that are not grappled.

• You can add your rage bonus to the damage of every attack, not just one per turn.
• Each time you deal any amount of damage with a bite attack, heal yourself half that amount (minimum 1).
• All bite attacks are made with advantage.

While in the frenzy, you must attempt to bite a creature at least once on each of your turns. If there is no creature within range, you can instead use the dash action to come within 10 feet of a creature. Failure to do one of or the other will end your frenzy. You cannot use dashes to extend the frenzy on consecutive turns. After all, The Hunger must feed.

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