Talk:Path of the Toxophilite (5e Subclass)

My intent in creating this subclass is to simultaneously provide a ranged option for barbarians (which are very obviously designed to stick to melee) and also fix the problem of barbs falling behind on damage. I want this kind of barbarian to be like a 'giant archer', who can use their strength to draw inhumanly-sized bows and launch devastatingly strong projectiles fractions of a mile away.

Ranged Focus is chiefly designed to remove the "melee-only" restrictions for several barbarian class features. I feel that this is a necessary step to make a ranged barbarian that doesn't feel counter to the barbarian's class identity. This was somewhat challenging for me to write in a way that I thought held true to 'what a barbarian is', a type of warrior unmatched in strength.

Greatbow Construction tries to solve the problem of the barbarian's damage, while placing a strong focus on strength. I wanted this to be progressive with strength, so as a character gets stronger, they may be able to use more powerful weapons and deal higher damage. Note that any character strong enough can use these weapons, though only this barbarian can steady. This should be something that the barbarian can do to slightly buff the party's damage, though a balancing factor is the split between the Strength requirements and the Dexterity to be able to consistently hit and add more damage (which is of course negated for this barbarian). Steadying the weapon should be a gamble for the barbarian, as enemies could take advantage of the immobility to reposition. For as good as triple the damage die sounds, I feel like it's necessary for a dps-focused barbarian. Other classes like fighter, pally and rogue can still effortlessly outdamage this subclass anyway.

Full Draw is a way for ranged hits to have more 'oumph' besides just an increase in damage. It also works well thematically with the ability to knock flying enemies out of the sky by imposing the prone condition. Note that because prone causes ranged attacks to happen with disadvantage, this is somewhat counterproductive for the barbarian to do. I intended this feature to be useful for the whole party.

Eagle Eye is a bit bland but advantage on perception checks is really good to have for a subclass devoted to hitting targets at range. Being able to read faces and words from far away is an out-of-combat bonus that I feel would be necessary to have as a consequence of having superhuman sight.

I know what you're thinking with Pegasus Slayer. It's not as overpowered as you'd think. First off, this is super situational. Enemies flying in are rare for a reason: they're always annoying encounters for a party with at least one melee-focused combatant. This feature makes up for the lost damage that melee party members are missing out on AND incentivizes those enemies to land so that the whole party can fight them together. There's also synergy with party casters who cast Levitate on their enemies. I think this is a fitting capstone for a barbarian subclass that puts emphasis on both ranged attacks and party synergy. Garghello (talk) 02:10, 9 November 2020 (MST)