Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana: Barbarian and Monk

Unearthed Arcana makes an unexpected return (the last one was back in May) with a three-page PDF containing two subclasses -- Path of the Wild Soul for the barbarian, and Way of the Astral Self for the monk.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

This is why we cannot have nice things.

I could be like, "Do you know what would truly be nightmare fuel? A musical subclass of the Paladin, a Bardadin, that would Smite you with Bad, Smug, Music. Like D&D Air Supply."

snip...

I'm all out of smites, I'm so lost without them
I know you were right believing for so long
I'm all out of smites, I shouldn't have novaed
I can't be too late to say that I was so wrong

{as an action, the song of oath restores 1d4 spell slots to the bardadin}

 

[Istbor]

This is why we cannot have nice things.

I could be like, "Do you know what would truly be nightmare fuel? A musical subclass of the Paladin, a Bardadin, that would Smite you with Bad, Smug, Music. Like D&D Air Supply."

And someone would probably start doodling a picture of that to post here, and then someone would start a change.org petition ("What do we want? BARDADIN! When do we want it? NOW! Because regular Paladins are all out of love, they're so lost without this subclass ...").

And I'm sure that WoTC would release some sort of "The Complete Bardadin Guide to Eldritch Horror" within the year.

I envision Bagpipes. Or the Recorder. That would be the only two choices.

This talk has me remembering the old Barbarian shout build from Diablo 2 affectionately called the Bardbarian...

 

[BookBarbarian]

I envision Bagpipes. Or the Recorder. That would be the only two choices.

This talk has me remembering the old Barbarian shout build from Diablo 2 affectionately called the Bardbarian...

Great build!

I went Berserker* myself
_{*yes I realize the irony of that Barbarian doing magic damage and my previous post complaining about the lack of good non magical barbarians in 5e}

 

[lkj]

This is why we cannot have nice things.

I could be like, "Do you know what would truly be nightmare fuel? A musical subclass of the Paladin, a Bardadin, that would Smite you with Bad, Smug, Music. Like D&D Air Supply."

And someone would probably start doodling a picture of that to post here, and then someone would start a change.org petition ("What do we want? BARDADIN! When do we want it? NOW! Because regular Paladins are all out of love, they're so lost without this subclass ...").

And I'm sure that WoTC would release some sort of "The Complete Bardadin Guide to Eldritch Horror" within the year.

At first when I read this, I was, like, "Yeah! Next thing you know there will be some kind of barbarian sage subclass!!!"

Then I remembered that there is already a model for that in the popular imagination:


AD

 

[CleverNickName]

First, I like that UA is publishing stuff again; the three-month hiatus had me worried.

Second, the Wild Soul Barbarian. They lost me with the phrase, "magic erupts from you as you rage." Magical Barbarians don't really make sense to me. Maybe I could use something like this for a boss villain?

Third, the Astral Monk. I really like the flavor text, and I like the concept of a monk that struggles to reconcile their physical body with a "true" astral form. But the crunch doesn't really rise to meet the fluff. At the end of the day, it's just a stack of combat buffs. I can see this working in an anime-style campaign, maybe one that borrows heavily from Dragonball Z or something, but it's not my cuppa tea.

 

[TwoSix]

Sometimes it feels like they just create subclasses just to cover every possible combination of fluff/lore and mechanics. Reminds me when you started seeing CHA based fighters.

"Well, we know STR and DEX can impact the ability for a fighter to be effective in combat because those tie together in a logical way. But that's not enough. We should have fighters where they add their CHA bonus to hit and damage because good looks and witty words make sharper blades or something! And one where they add WIS bonus! And one where they add INT bonus! Because reasons!"

You say that like it's a bad thing. And really, if there's any class that should be able to leverage their stats in multiple ways, it's an uber-generic class like fighter. Using specific stats makes more sense for classes with very specific methodologies, like a wizard.

 

[Jer]

Wild Soul Barbarian is the subclass I didn't know I wanted. I've never wanted to play a Barbarian before but I've already got ideas for how I'd play one of these. A barbarian with wild uncontrollable arcane magic coursing through their body and causing magical chaos every time they rage? Sign me up!

 

[TwoSix]

Oh, I definitely don't have any objection to Anime in general (though my games don't lean that direction). But the more I think about some of the characters in those shows and how they burst with their special powers, the less odd that a Barbarian chassis seems to me.

I will admit, that like @lowkey13 my initial thought was that the 1e barbarian must be spinning in his grave (as the magic-hating magic-item destroying fellow). But that was mostly just funny to me.

The idea of barbarian rages being 'bursts of magical power' is kind of growing on me. But the key will be a very good flavor text intro that makes it clear that these barbarians are special sauce. (Though, heck, it's not like spirit totem barbarians aren't this way already).

Honestly, I feel like people who don't understand the idea of a "magic barbarian" haven't seen the newest version of She-Ra.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

All those magic Barbarians like Totem Warriors, Zealots, Ancestral Guardians and Storm Heralds actually justify the Barbarian existing as a class on it's own rather than being a sub-class of Fighter. There's only room for about 2 or 3 concepts at the most, for non-magical Barbarians.

 

[BookBarbarian]

At first when I read this, I was, like, "Yeah! Next thing you know there will be some kind of barbarian sage subclass!!!"

Then I remembered that there is already a model for that in the popular imagination:


AD

Every once in a while I think of this and want to play a sage background Barbarian.