I haven't played as a barbarian in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dungeons & Dragons for a while. It's usually my starting point whenever a new adventure arises, but then I think of all the cool or magic things I can do as other classes and drift away from it. But in my heart, I've always been a barbarian. Smash first and ask questions never. I'm here to Rage and break doors down, and I'm all out of doors. Some players avoid barbarians though, despite their obvious use in a party, thinking that roleplaying as them will be dull, with their slow-witted character unable to contribute to anything. But that doesn't need to be the case, and the latest barbarian subclass taps into the heart, soul, and even brain of our barbarian brethren.
This new subclass comes courtesy of the Unearthed Arcana Playtest 7, which as you might guess is the seventh playtest of its kind. As D&D moves on (kind of, long story) from 5e to OneD&D, it has been gradually trialling new ideas for changing classes, spells, weapons, and anything else you can think of. The changes to Wild Shape are the most controversial so far, but Playtest 6 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:tweaked monks and reflavoured Ki, added 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:an Aquaman-style druid, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a dancing bard, and reverted most o✨f the changes rogue has had since 🥃2014. In an earlier Playtest, several changes were pitched for barbarian, 🥂with Playtest 7 rolling six of them back. Most interesting though is the new subclass, The Path of 💯the World Tree.
With Path of the World Tree, your barbarian has a connection to Yggdrasil, the Norse World Tree that connects the nine realms, acting as a path between, amongst others, Midgard and Asgard. It's great to see barbarians getting involved in some proper mythology rather than mystic forces being a vague excuse for why they can hit things, and that connection is reflected as we look at how the subclass behaves too.
It's all very Viking in its design, which is perfect for a barbarian. As always with a barb, you have the ability to Rage. But, pulling on the strength of the tree and your connection to a force greater than yourself, this grants temporary hit points from Level 3. At Level 6 you can summon the tree's spectral branches to bind your foes, and from Level 10, these can even be used to attack. Barbarians are all about damage, so it makes sense that the abilities are combat-focused, but it's refreshing to see them link thematically in a way that suggests something deeper stirring in these characters than 'Me angry. Me bear'.
A Viking warrior with a deep enough connection to the World Tree that it can be healed by it, and may utilise it against its foes, feels more befitting of a paladin, a class typically considered far more intelligent. That's not to complain that Path of the Tree is in the wrong place, however - it's exactly the kind of refreshing change OneD&D should be offering, especially when it stays so true to the character as a whole.
Most interesting though is the final ability that comes at Level 14. Moving away from combat, this ability (called Travel Along The Tree) allows you to travel along the tree. In the presence of any tree designated as Huge or higher, Path of the Tree barbarians can open up a portal to any destination as long as they know its name and the plane it exists on, though it will only take you to the nearest Teleportation Circle. This ability carries the barb themselves and up to five willing creatures, and can be used once per Long Rest for free, and at a cost of 5 Rage for each subsequent use. It's great to see barbarians get an ability that makes them useful outside of combat, and underlines that this might be the smartest upgrade the Playtests have offered thus far.
Barbarians recently got another, official subclass too, so that suggests it may be something of a priority to beef up the options for beefcakes. The ones in Unearthed Arcana are not official and may not be in the finalised version of OneD&D, it's worth noting. But in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Bigby Presents: The Glory of Giants, barbarians got 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a new subclass with Path of the Giant. I found it to be underwhelming, attempting to simulat♒e playing as a giant while being too mindful of balance to make it much of anything, and the feat it came with was restrictive for it to be of an🦂y use and required a second feat slot to be used on a complementary feat. Path of the World Tree though seems like it would be far more rewarding.
I'm constantly tempted to play as a barbarian, and Path of the World Tree only heightens that temptation. It's always fun to smash things, but it can get old if that's all you can do. However, Path of the World Tree lets you smash things while being a Viking in touch with Norse mythology, and it's an upgrade I never knew barbarian needed.