Apr 17

Apr 17 The Shaman - A Barbarian Subclass

It’s taken me a long time to come around to this subclass. 5th edition UA tends to give its new subclasses spellcasting abilities of one sort or another and it always bothered me when spellcasting was given to traditional fighter classes. I felt it watered down the primary spellcaster classes and provided front line fighters with one more ability to shine during a fight AND gave them an excuse to not wade into battle. It’s a nice change of pace, but if you wanted to cast spells, then you should have played a wizard (or ranger, but I’m not going there, at least not today). I know its a very old school mentality, but I was stuck in the mentality that fighters hit things, clerics heal, and wizards cast fireball. And you know who the ultimate fighter is….the Barbarian!

Now, before you skip down to the comments to start your rant on how ignorant I am and that the game is completely different from 1st edition and I should try to keep up, realize that I have softened my stance on this notion. Do I think fighters should get spells now? Not really, but they have that option, so I got over it. If I don’t think that fighters should get spells then guess what, I shouldn’t play and Eldritch Knight but that doesn’t mean I should poo-poo when someone else does. The game has changed over the last 40 years and I needed to change with it. Who am I to say how you should play the game…no one of importance, that who.

Ok, rant over.

The shaman created here is a DPS/Support hybrid. Having the ability to wade in and do a great deal of damage with a single blow is still something this subclass can do because they still have that wonderful little ability to know as rage. As we will see below, the spellcasting ability provided to the shaman focuses on spells meant to enhance/buff character’s abilities and provide them with a tactical advantage on the battlefield, not do damage. It’s a delicate balance, on one hand making a subclass that is enjoyable to play with worthwhile skills and abilities that will make people give a try while on the other hand making sure it isn’t so powerful that it throws off the game balance.

So let’s jump in and take a look at the Shaman, nature lover and spiritual leader of the barbarian horde.

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The Shaman
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The Shaman
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Spell Casting

It should come as little surprise that the Barbarian spells come from the Druid spell list. Giving the shaman access to every spell on their list was just too much, so the spells the shaman can choose from are limited to abjuration and transmutation. It was tempting to give the shaman access to evocation spells, but giving them access to damage spells at lower levels would have provided the shaman with an advantage over other characters of the same level that could create an unbalanced party. The shaman’s strength is creating a landscape that provides an advantage during a battle, either by physically changing the area itself or providing magical enhancements to its allies. Once this has been completed, a shaman should feel free to rage and start hitting things.

Spirit Guide

We aren’t going to go down the whole ”what is your spirit animal” road for this ability. A spirit guide is NOT a spirit animal. I have enough issues giving them spells, let alone giving the barbarian a familiar. Think of a shaman’s spirit guide as that inner voice you sometimes hear, or if that doesn’t work for you, as a little guardian angel on your shoulder keeping an eye out on you. It’s that sense you get that prevents you from pulling out into traffic, only to have a car race by in front of you as it blows a red light. Or maybe it’s that little inner voice telling you to where to check for your lost car keys and lo and behold, that’s where they are. At the 3rd level, you get an advantage on your initiative rolls and gain proficiency in all Perception checks.

Focused Rage

Combining the primary ability of a barbarian and spellcasting had to happen, but only in a way that didn’t make the shaman ridiculously overpowered. Being able to rage and cast a third level spell is too much for any one class to have. A cantrip, however, nicely combines the two abilities without breaking the subclass. I have no issue with the barbarian being able to cast Thorn Whip at those annoying kobolds throwing sling stones from just out of range. At 6th level, you can maintain your focus and can cast a cantrip while you are raging.

Lightning Strike

Ok, so this one feels a little Paladin-ish, even more so when I was calling it Nature Smite. By now, your shaman should be in touch with nature and be able to use it to hit things harder. Since damage is the name of the game for a barbarian, powering up damage on a successful hit made sense at this stage in the shaman’s development. You can’t just go around giving away extra damage at no cost though, so using a spell slot to add lightning damage to your melee attack seemed like the logical cost. Since it’s lightning damage, I think of it less like you calling upon your deity to rain down electrical fury upon your enemies, and more of the shaman channeling the forces of nature through its weapon, delivering a burst of lightning upon a strike. At 10th level, you can expend a spell slot to add an extra 2d8 electrical damage to a successful melee attack.

Shared Rage

Nature is the conduit through which you obtain your spellcasting ability. Once the shaman has fully mastered the ability to harness the power of the world that surrounds them, they will find that the conduit is a two-way street. Not only can they draw power from nature, but they can send it out, using it to deliver their raw emotional fury to those around them. This two-way flow of energy takes years of practice to grasp, as the shaman can find themselves sending out an uncontrolled amount of energy, sapping themselves of their strength and overwhelming their allies. Once mastered, the shaman can send out a fixed amount of their power to nearby allies for a limited period, allowing them to share the shaman’s rage. At 14th level, you can share your rage ability for several rounds equal to your Constitution modifier.

So there we go the shaman subclass for the barbarian. Would the shaman make a good class by itself in the 5th edition? It has been a stand-alone class in previous editions, so the potential is there, but I believe that as a subclass of the barbarian, you can fully capture the intended flavor of what a shaman is, without stepping on the toes of the barbarian and druid classes. As always, please let me know your thoughts and opinions. Your constructive feedback can only make future homebrew better!