Path of the Bloodied (5e Subclass)
Path of the Bloodied[edit]
| “ | I've seen barbarians rage before, but I've never seen anything like that blood covered monster screaming with the rage of a mad god. | ” |
| —Some nameless guy in a bar | ||
A Blood Rager is someone who's life is now all about the rage. His rage is fueled by his own pain making him more and more vulnerable and more and more berserk the closer to death he becomes. Just before the end he forgets about preserving his own life and so leaves himself completely vulnerable, but who in their right mind would get close enough to a mad berserker god to try and take advantage of the fact?
This class is for those who think that a raging barbarian is just a little too subtle. The price for that extra power is high, the closer to death a Blood Rager gets the quicker his life will drain. This is not the class for someone who wants an unkillable juggernaut, but rather for someone who enjoys the balance of life and death, taking risks, and hitting like a freight train at the cost of survivability.
- Blood Rage
Starting at 3rd level, your fury fuels your wrath. If you have taken 10 or more points of damage in a single turn since your last turn, you can use your bonus action on this turn to gain the benefits of rage, lasting until the end of your next turn. Doing so doesn't spend a use of your rage feature.
In addition, if you have taken this amount of damage while raging, you can use your bonus action on this turn to make a melee weapon attack using Strength against the creature who caused that damage to you.
- Howl of Terror
At 6th level, you can use his own pain to terrify his opponents. As an action he may use Howl of Terror. When you take this action, each creature within 30 feet of you that can see you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier) or be frightened of you until the end of your next turn.
- What doesn't kill you
Starting at 10th level, your hit point maximum increase by 12, plus additional 2 points for each level you gain in the barbarian class. In addition, whenever you spend hit dice to regain hit points during a short rest, you gain 2 additional hit points per die spent.
- Rage Beyond Death
Beginning at 14th level, while you're raging, having 0 hit points doesn’t knock you unconscious. You still must make death saving throws, and you suffer the normal effects of taking damage while at 0 hit points. However, if you would die due to failing death saving throws, you don’t die until your rage ends, and you die then only if you still have 0 hit points.
Optional Class Features[edit]
- Life Blow (Replaces Reckless Attack)
When you reach the 10th level, you can sacrifice your own vitality to make powerful blows. When you make an attack with a melee weapon using Strength, you can choose to lose 5 hit points. This hit point loss can't be prevented in any way. On a hit, you cause additional 10 points of damage.
- Eye for an eye (Replaces Relentless Rage)
Starting at 11th level, while raging, whenever you take damage from an attack from a creature within 5 feet, you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against that creature. On a hit, you cause the same damage you have taken. The damage type equals your weapon's type.
- Building Rage (Replaces Brutal Critical)
While raging, whenever you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack using Strength, you gain 1 critical stack. For each critical stack you have, the critical hit margin and your AC are reduced in 1. For example, a Barbarian with AC 16 and 2 critical stacks score critical hits on a roll of 18-20, and have its AC reduced to 14. When you score a critical hit, your critical stacks are reduced to 0.
You can have a maximum of critical stacks equal to your proficiency bonus. You lose all your critical stacks when you rage ends, or after missing an attack. Starting at 13th level you gain 2 critical stacks for successful attack, and 3 critical stacks at 17th level.
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