When it comes toDungeons & DragonsBarbarians are a favorite class for new and old players. Barbarians can range greatly in appearance, however, they are most commonly associated with their ability to channel their rage. While rage isa common ability and motivatorfor barbarians, the class has a lot more to offer.
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There areeight official subclassesfor players to further customize their barbarians.
In addition, barbarians inDungeons & Dragonshave access to plenty of useful abilities and proficiencies. Some of the more useful abilities often get overlooked due to rage often taking a central focus in the class.
8Rage
While the ability toRage is the most iconic and well-known feature to the class, due to it granting players resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. Rage also gives the player a bonus for their damage dealt to enemies. The damage bonus increases with the barbarian’s level, and can also be combined with the damage bonuses magical weapons can often grant.
Another useful reason to use Rage is that it grants players an advantage on strength checks and strength-saving throws. This becomes handy both in and out of combat, and when used creatively can create interesting scenarios.
7Reckless Attack
At the second level Barbarians gain access to Reckless Attack. Reckless Attackallows players to gain an advantage on melee weapon attack rollsusing Strength during their turn. While this can help when a player needsa second chance to land a melee attack on a target, this also puts them at risk. During Reckless Attack attack rolls made by enemies on the Barbarian also gain advantages until the start of the player’s next turn.
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The rules state that Reckless Attack can only be used on a melee weapon attack, however, thrown weapons and unarmed strikes count as melee weapons. This means a Barbarian can throw javelins, spears, and even daggers and use the advantage granted from the ability. This rule also gives players an advantage on their offhand weapon attacks that use strength as well.
6Danger Sense
Danger Sense is a feature that can often be overlooked by players and GMs. The ability is unlocked at the Barbarian’s second level and gives players an edge when dodging attacks. Danger Sense grants Barbariansadvantage on Dexterity saving throws against effects they can see. This includes effects from things such as traps and spells.
An important thing to note is that the official description of Danger Sense does not specify if the effects are limited to standard magical effects or include effects such as Dragon’s Breath and other spells.
5Fast Movement
Similar toUnarmored Movement, an ability Monks gainwhen they reach the second level,Fast Movement increases a Barbarians speed by 10 feet. Players can gain access to Fast Movement once they reach the fifth level in the class.
While Unarmored Movement, can only be used while not wearing armor or wielding a shield, Fast Movement can be used while wearing armor. As long as the armor a Barbarian is wearing is not heavy armor, they can still use this ability.
4Feral Instinct
Feral Instinct is a seventh-level ability thatcan turn the tables on an ambush encounterto favor the party. At the start of combat, if an enemy attempts an attack that would typically surprise the player, they will react as normal instead.
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However, this only works if the player has not been incapacitated and immediately uses their bonus action to enter their Rage. Players can use the optional rules fromTasha’s Cauldron of Everything, to be able to move up to half their movement during the bonus action. This movement is separate from the player’s regular movement speed and grants a 20-footbonus movement for most Barbarian typesat the fifth level if combined with Fast Movement.
Combining both Feral Instinct and Fast Movement means a Barbarian that has been surprised can move up to 60-feet after entering a Rage.
3Brutal Critical
At ninth-level Barbarians unlock the brutal Critical feature. This featureallows barbarians to roll an additional damage diewhen determining the extra damage from a critical hit. The number of dice increases again at the thirteenth and seventeenth levels.
When usingweapons such as a maul or greatsword, that deals 2d6 damage, a critical would add an extra 1d6 at ninth-level. Brutal Critical works best with weapons that use larger damage die, such as a greataxe or lance both dealing 1d12 damage.
This feature is also not limited to being used only with Rage, like other features Barbarians have access to.
2Almost Undying Barbarians
At the eleventh-level Barbarians gain access to Relentless Rage. If a player is knocked down to zero hit points, they can choose to drop to one hit point instead of on a successful Constitution saving throw. The save increases by five on each success.
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When paired with a Path of the Zealot Barbarian subclass,it becomes nearly impossible for a Barbarian to die. A fourteenth-level Zealot barbarian also gains access to Rage Beyond Death, if they drink a Potion of Healing right before the rage ends. This means that if the Barbarian isbrought to zero hit points they will not actually die. They can still die if the rage ends and they are still at zero hit points.
Combining Rage Beyond Death and Relentless Rage means Path of the Zealot Barbarians are a relentless force in combat.
1Primal Champion
If a Barbarian is able to reach level 20 in a campaign, they receive the Primal Champion feature. This featureboosts their Strength and Constitution scores by four points each. Primal Champion also increases the maximum threshold for those ability scores to 24.
Primal Champion is the only way toincrease two ability scores at oncebeyond the standard 20 thresholds. This is very useful due to Constitution also increasing the player’s total hit points as well, meaning players can instantly gain 80 hit points at this level.
With a Strength of 24, a Barbarian can deal an additional 11 damage points with every attack they make while raging. The Barbarian will also have a +13 to hit with melee weapons, assuming no magic items are being used.
