Unearthed Arcana New Barbarian Primal Paths in November 7th Unearthed Arcana

The new paths are

• Path of the Ancestral Guardian
• Path of the Storm Herald
• Path of the Zealot

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

Nice, but why all the barbarians have magical abilities? I mean isn't too much magic already in the classes?
I would prefer to have some more options for non magical abilities especially for the so called martial classes like the barbarian.

I don't think forcing some classes to be martial and some classes to be magical, is a helpful thing to do.

All it does is mean that any time someone comes up with a cool idea that is magical and thematically fits and otherwise martial class - like these barbarian paths - that the idea gets scrapped, or gets added to a magical class that it also thematically fits. And then a threshold has to be considered at which something goes from "martial" to "magical" that, at least in the past, has resulted in a distinct case of "martial characters can't have nice things" because any physical prowess that goes beyond what real humans can do is indistinguishable from magic, making martial characters have to be "realistic" while magical characters have no such limitation.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Nice, but why all the barbarians have magical abilities? I mean isn't too much magic already in the classes?

Every 5e class has magical abilities. The Berserker already doesn't.

(I suppose a 'Thaneborn' type could be non-magical, but it could also, oh, call on ancestral spirits or something....)

I would prefer to have some more options for non magical abilities especially for the so called martial classes like the barbarian.

When some classes were so called 'Martial,' the Barbarian was so called 'Primal' and had magical abilities.

But, yes, it would be nice to see some more non-supernatural options, both where existing classes need more, and where they're needed to fill missing archetypes &c...

I don't think forcing some classes to be martial and some classes to be magical, is a helpful thing to do.

As compared to forcing all classes to be magical?

I'm thinking characters may be more relevant that classes. A player wanting a raging barbarian PC needn't play a magical character, he has to play a magical class, but he has one (OK, & 1 in SCAG) sub-class he can use. A player, more simply, wanting to play a hard-hitting melee type needn't play a magical character (though he could, a smite-happy Paladin for instance), he can already choose a Berserker, Champion or even Battlemaster. Likewise, he wants Ranged DPR, or general sneakiness & sneak-attacking, there are both magical and non-magical options.

Of course the non-magical options could be greatly expanded, there's a lot of design space there. It could probably include a completely non-supernatural class or two, though, as the magical basses are pretty well covered (excepting some 3e Sorcerer builds, though I probably shouldn't mention that).

then a threshold has to be considered at which something goes from "martial" to "magical" that, at least in the past, has resulted in a distinct case of "martial characters can't have nice things" because any physical prowess that goes beyond what real humans can do is indistinguishable from magic, making martial characters have to be "realistic" while magical characters have no such limitation.

That is a bad thing, I agree, though not as bad a bad thing when mechanical balance isn't riding on it. However, while it's happened very consistently in the past that such a 'threshold' has been used to justify radical class imbalance in favor of casters, it's not actually /necessary/. The broader genre/myth/legend that inspire D&D's fantasy includes both magical or otherwise supernatural displays of power and superhuman but otherwise natural displays of prowess. The latter do not have to cross into the former at some threshold of effectiveness, so martial & supernatural could be balanced, and, indeed, have been so in the past, even (however briefly) in D&D.

 

[Corwin]

Zealots look awesome. I so want to give one a go!

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Pretty much most of the non-magical Barbarian niches have been filled by the Berzerker.

The Ancestral Guardian with it's small army of ancestral spirits, I feel makes a pretty good guardian of the living once they get all of their powers.

I like the Storm Herald concept, as I felt the idea of an element-themed Barbarian was a niche that hasn't been filled yet. The auras matches my idea of a Barbarian that is wreathed in flames, having an ice and a lightning Barbarian is a plus.

Zealot is another nice concept, and I feel it's appropriate that they point out which sort of Gods might have Zealots, as it's obviously more of a War God thing rather than a Goddess of Love. That Zealous Presence power could be quite good as a small army could be getting advantage on attacks, even if it's for 1 round only.

 

[flametitan]

I still have a little concern over the overlap of the zealot and the cleric, but I don't know if that's a failing of the zealot or a failing of the cleric for being too AD&D in its flavour (holy warrior who channels divine energy) but without the priesthood elements to fall back on (as they seem to have stripped off and tucked into the acolyte background). Now, while a zealot might not necessarily be a representative of a god, the fact that they get divine energy from their faith is a little eyebrow raising, Perhaps some more details on how they are distinct as a concept from a cleric of war might help a little.

 

[I'm A Banana]

The zealot is really cool, but I'd expect some different skill proficiencies than what it has. "Hi, I am powered by the divine lord Tempus to strike with a divine fury! But what is a Tempus? Um...I dunno. I know how to track deer, though!"

The storm herald is interesting with the terrain options. I like those themes, but I wonder what it would lose if you just let them pick any option at any level a la the Totem barbarian....

I dig the vibe of the ancestral guardian, though I'd prefer if the rage enhancement was a little different. Advantage is the Wolf's thing.

edit: to amend the Zealot issue, I'd almost rather have the zealot be an option for the paladin or cleric - give up spellcasting/smite/whatever, and get a rage instead. It's a better fit on that chassis than on the Barbarian's "outdoorsy" base. Plus, then you could have it be Wis/Cha based and not have to rely on Str/Con. I love the idea of a Cha-based raging paladin, honestly.

 

[Leatherhead]

Nice, but why all the barbarians have magical abilities? I mean isn't too much magic already in the classes?
I would prefer to have some more options for non magical abilities especially for the so called martial classes like the barbarian.

There are only so many ways you can write up "you get mad, things hurt you less, and you smash things harder"
Also the Barbarian was a Primal class and the "martial Vs magical" division is as dead as the dodo in 5e. Everything runs on magic now instead of physics.

 

[Xeviat]

What of the barbarian says they have to be outdoorsy? With the right background and skill choices, they're just a super tough warrior who channels their fury


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[OB1]

Love the flavor of all three but I think the mechanics are only 1/3 or 1/2 baked (though with some cool ideas). Definitely need some work here.

Not sure how I feel about the introduction of auto damage zones as they basically circumvent bounded accuracy and break the action economy, but since it's tied to rage maybe it's not that big of a problem. Other than the Sleep and Magic Missile spells does anything else in 5e cause auto damage?

 

[I'm A Banana]

What of the barbarian says they have to be outdoorsy? With the right background and skill choices, they're just a super tough warrior who channels their fury

They don't have to be. But unless you're going to make everyone take the Acolyte background (or whatever) first, you've got the relatively common result of a zealous warrior for the gods who wouldn't know a temple to Tempus from a hole in the ground (but who, thanks to Survival or Nature, definitely knows a lot about holes in the ground). The baseline barbarian mechanics - unarmored defense, fast movement, "feral instinct," armor proficiencies, skill proficiencies - all point to a creature of the natural world. It's not telling the story of a crusading holy warrior, it's telling the story of a wild man of the savage frontier. These two things aren't incompatible, but they also don't necessarily go together. Just 'cuz Rage is a useful mechanic for a kind of zealous holy warrior doesn't mean it belongs in the Barbarian - classes are stories, not isolated packages of mechanical fobs.