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The battlerager barbarian unleashes the full fury and strength of a dwarf and combines it with the rage-fueled power of a barbarian. Even your armor is dangerous to the touch when you play a battlerager, and you are fortified by your own recklessness when you rage across the battlefield.
As a battlerager, you specialize in grappling your opponents and trapping them in combat with you. This is a class that is built for dwarves, who are mighty even though they are small. With spiked armor, offensive tactics, and a resilience that no other species in fifth editionDungeons & Dragonscan match, the battlerager is a terrifying foe and a fearsome ally.
Features Of A Battlerager Barbarian
Battlerager Armor
At third level, you gain an offensive benefit from wearingspiked armor.While you are raging and wearing spiked armor, you can make one melee weaponattack using your spike armoras a bonus action. Your spike armor uses your Strength modifier anddeals 1d4 piercing damageon a hit.
Also, any time you successfullygrapple a creature as an attack,the target takes three piercing damage.
Reckless Abandon
At sixth level, yougain temporary hit pointsequal to your Constitution modifier every time youattack recklessly.These temporary hit points last as long as your rage lasts and then disappear.
This excellent feature takes away some of the risk of using your reckless attack.Use your reckless attack ability as much as possiblesince you will be protected from your opponent’s returning attack even if it hits you.
Battlerager Charge
At fourteenth level, an attacker within five feet that hits you with a melee attacktakes three piercing damage.The attacker only takes this damage if you are wearing spiked armor and you are not raging.
Best Ability Scores For A Battlerager Barbarian
Strength is most importantfor a battlerager barbarian. Your strength will determine the modifier you add toattack and damage rollsfor all your attacks, and it will also determine what you add to the attacks from yourbattlerager armorfeature. You want to max out this ability score as quickly as possible.
Constitution is also very important.As a frontliner, you want to have ahigh Constitution scoreso that you have high enough hit points and saving throws to be a resilient fighter.
The temporary hit points you gain from your reckless abandon feature is equal to your Constitution modifier, so ahigh Constitution will be extra helpfulas a battlerager barbarian.
Dexterity is useful for you.Dexterity won’t be used in your attacks as a barbarian, but it does determine yourArmor Class,and you want this to be as high as possible since you’ll be on the front lines.
Charisma is not crucial,but it certainly shouldn’t be your lowest ability score. You may use it for Intimidation, but you won’t use it for much else.
Wisdom and Intelligence are both statistics that you can dump.You may want Wisdom to be slightly higher, sinceWisdom saves are more commonthan Intelligence saves, but do not put significant points into either of these ability scores.
Best Species For A Battlerager Barbarian
This class can usually only be taken by dwarves,as the battlerager barbarian is connected to the dwarven culture. However, your Dungeon Master may allow you to play as a different species.
All dwarves in fifth edition gain abilities that benefit the barbarian class.You gain two points to Constitution,and you also gainresistance against poisondamage in addition to advantage on saving throws against all poisons. You also gain proficiency in battleaxes, handaxes, and warhammers, all of which are wonderful weapons to wield as a barbarian.
When it comes to specializing your dwarf build, there are two subspecies that will come in handy for you:
The mountain dwarfis a tried and true barbarian species. As a mountain dwarf youincrease your Strength by two pointsin addition to the two point increase to your Charisma. You gain proficiency in light armor as well. You already have proficiency in this as a barbarian, but the two point bump to your Strength is powerful enough that this barely matters.
The duergar, or gray dwarf,is a great choice if you want to be more creative. Duergar increase their Strength by one point and also have advantage on saving throws against illusions and against being charmed and paralyzed.
Make sure to keep track of your resistances and the saving throws you have advantage against.Barbarians are most vulnerable to saving throws,so you want to take all the help you can get in this department.
Duergar also gain the ability tocast the Enlarge spell on themselvesonce per long rest. This will give you advantage on all Strength checks and Strength saves, andyour weapons deal 1d4 extra damageeach time you attack. If youcombine this with your rageability, you’ll be very dangerous indeed.
If your Dungeon Master lets you play a species besides the dwarf, thehalf-orc is a tried and true barbarian class.This class gives you proficiency with the Intimidation skill. You can also roll an extra die when you score a critical hit. You drop to one hit point instead of zero the first time you would be knocked unconscious by an attack.
Best Equipment For A Battlerager Barbarian
Weapons
As a barbarian, you start with quite a lot of weapons. You have a handaxe, four javelins, and your choice of any simple weapon, andany martial weapon of your choice or a greataxe.
When choosing your simple weapon, thegreatclubis a wonderful choice. The greatclub deals 1d8 damage, the most of any simple weapon.
When it comes to your martial weapon,you want the greataxe.It is a two-handed weapon dealing1d12 damage,the most of any martial weapon, and is usually only wielded by barbarians.
The greataxe and greatclub are bothtwo-handed weapons,meaning you won’t be able to use a shield with either of them.
Armor
As a battlerager barbarian, you shouldalways be wearing spiked armor.This gives you an Armor Class of 14 + your Dexterity modifier (to a maximum of two), making it a great medium armor choice.
Other Equipment
You gain anexplorer’s packwhen you become a barbarian at first level, which is full of valuable equipment for any adventurer.
In addition, since you’ll most likely be playing as a dwarf you have proficiency with either smith’s tools, brewer’s supplies, or mason’s tools.You should try and get a set of tools that corresponds to your tool proficiency,since you never know when an odd proficiency may come in handy.
You can ask your Dungeon Master if they’ll let you start with a set of tools. If they don’t you can try and find most sets of tools while shopping in villages or cities during your adventure.
Best Feats For A Battlerager Barbarian
Dwarven Fortitudeis a great option for a class that panders to dwarves. This feat lets you increase your Constitution by one point, which is always helpful.You can also spend one hit die to heal yourself in combatwhenever you take the Dodge action. This is a wonderful option to heal yourself in combat without being a magic user.
Grappler works well for a battlerager barbariansince you gain benefits from your spiked armor. The grappler feat gives you advantage on attack rolls against a creature you are grappling, and lets you use your action to make an extra grapple check once a creature is grappled to restrain them.
With the Grappler feat and your battlerager armor feature, you can score great damage against a creature by pinning them down and then attacking.
Sentinelis a wonderful feat for any barbarian.Sentinel traps creatures in combat with you.
This feat lets you take opportunity attacks against creatures even if they disengage from you.When you hit a creature with an opportunity attack its speed becomes zerofor the rest of the turn, preventing it from moving away from you. In addition, when a creature within five feet of you attacks a creature other than you, you can use your reaction to take a melee attack against them.
Next:Dungeons & Dragons: How To Build A Path Of The Beast Barbarian
