The new paths are
- Path of the Ancestral Guardian
- Path of the Storm Herald
- Path of the Zealot
And my counterpoint is basically the same: the purpose of the Barbarian class (or any class) is first and foremost to be a story, a fictional archetype, a kind of character. That's the major reason you even HAVE classes in your game - to create packages of mechanics to support a particular character type.
So if your new barbarian subclass isn't first and foremost a barbarian, it's not supporting that narrative.
WotC has already done their best to allow power-swapping in a very constrained way via the Multiclassing rules. They didn't do anywhere near a perfect job, but they did the best they could. Any other system they create is just going to exacerbate any imbalances even worse, so you're better off constructing your new classes out of existing classes. If you want a raging holy warrior, just write up a Barbarian 3/Paladin 9/War Cleric 8 build, give it a fixed progression (which levels to take when), copy that progression onto a chart listing levels 1-20 (including the new ASI levels), and give that chart to your players. Voila! Holy Warrior class, balanced as well as WotC knows how to balance it.
WotC has already done their best to allow power-swapping in a very constrained way via the Multiclassing rules..
I think Zealot is a perfect fit for the barbarian. Civilized folks, both literally and socially, who become holy warriors become paladins. It's formal. Trained. But in tribes from harsh lands, some warriors are still chosen by their war god.
I rarely agree with Defcon 1 but this is my feeling on the matter.I ALWAYS prefer to just swap in a single class feature across classes than force someone to take a whole level of a class they don't actually want. And while I certainly understand some player's beliefs that WotC can't "balance things" right... I don't care and don't find it nearly as onerous as some people feel it is. I'd still rather see them take a concerted shot at a Feature Swap ruleset than not have it at all.
Best for you and some people, perhaps. Not every group uses or even likes the multi-classing rules. Give them options and allow DM or groups decide which is best for them.
Ick. See, I find that to be entirely inelegant. Having to take a whole bunch of different classes all because you wanted just a single feature out of one and add it to another. Delaying progression in your primary class (meaning the loss or delay of ASIs, feats, other features) because you're forced to take levels in another class to get that class feature, and in addition, a whole bunch of other features you didn't actually want.
I ALWAYS prefer to just swap in a single class feature across classes than force someone to take a whole level of a class they don't actually want. And while I certainly understand some player's beliefs that WotC can't "balance things" right... I don't care and don't find it nearly as onerous as some people feel it is. I'd still rather see them take a concerted shot at a Feature Swap ruleset than not have it at all.
The more ways we have to create the types of characters players want is a-okay with me. Same reason why I didn't dismiss the 5E Prestige Class out of hand either (as that was just merely the Subclass system in a different form, not that it stopped some people from freaking the heck out about it too.)
There's a lot of things that the Barbarian has that don't make a lot of sense for a character like that. While stuff like Fast Movement/Bonuses vs. Traps and the like can be handwaved away, it's a pretty clear handwave, and it weakens the archetype overall to handwave it.
Rage is not the point of the Barbarian class, and if that's all you're really interested in, just loot some version of it and stick it in whatever class makes more sense for you.
I was actually assuming that the other characters would be the ones that care, since they can move as they wish without the barbarian's say so.Assuming of course that a raging barbarian would care.
That sounds like punishing the entire group for one player's choice to play a berserker.Then again, I get berserkers to make perception checks to perceive friend from foe. What's a little blue on blue between party members eh?