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Have you ever been playingDungeons & Dragonsand wanted to use more cool magical effects as a barbarian? Have you ever enjoyed the randomness of a wild magic sorcerer but either didn’t want to play a spellcaster or were worried about the potential negative effects? Congratulations, a path of wild magic barbarian is perfect for you!
Unlike something like eldritch knight, you’re not really gaining the ability to cast spells. Instead, your barbarian can activate one of several random magical effects when they enter a rage, making it play differently from other barbarians while still focusing on melee attacks and taking damage.
Path of Wild Magic Class Features
Once you take this subclass, you get access to magic awareness, which is Detect Magic that exchanges a wider range for not being able to go through cover, andwild magic surge.
Unlike a wild magic sorcerer, the table for path of wild magic barbarians hasonly eight options, and they’re all beneficial. Some will give you defensive benefits, some give you offensive options that you may use every turn.
When you enter a rage, you roll a d8 to determine the effect. Eventually, if you want to try for a different effect,unstable backlashlets you reroll when you take a hit or fail a saving throw.
Another good feature of this class isbolstering magic,allowing you to either help someone regain a spell slot, or adding a d3 to their attack rolls and ability checks.
Why You Should Play A Wild Magic Barbarian
Wild magic barbarians are the raresupport based barbarian, and let you do a few types of damage other than straight bludgeoning, slashing, or piercing damage from your melee weapons.
you may help another spellcaster regain spell slots, you have ranged options, you can teleport, the main difficulty is thatyou can’t choose which effect you get.
Wild magic barbarian isbest for players who are versatile and willing to try out different strategiesdepending on what they get on the table, and want to play both defense and offense.
Best Stats For A Wild Magic Barbarian
Wild magic barbariansbenefit the most from investing in Strengthlike traditional barbarians. The only stat that otherwise affects your class features is Constitution.
Benefit of investing
Strength
You’re mainly going to be focusing on melee attacks, so good strength is a must.
Constitution
Better HP will help you survive longer, and your Constitution modifier determines the saving throw for wild magic effects that require one.
Dexterity
Improvement to AC allows you to take more hits and increases your survivability.
Wisdom
Does not do a lot for you in terms of combat, however it is a common saving throw.
Charisma
A good stat for roleplay but doesn’t directly do anything for you in terms of class and abilities and less common as a saving throw.
Intelligence
Not necessary for any of your skills and not very common for saving throws, safe to make a dump stat, especially if you have a high Int character in the party otherwise for getting lore.
Best Species For A Wild Magic Barbarian
Lore-wise wild magic barbarians are often elves and other magical species, butthat’s not the most efficient optionwhen trying to maximize your stats. We recommend these:
Dwarf
Mountain Dwarf will increase both your most useful stats, strength and constitution, as well as let you resist poison damage
Halfling
Stout halflings get a boost to Strength, and all halflings get the ability to reroll any one they get on the die.
Human
Humans let you choose which stat to improve, making them versatile.
Dragonborn
You get a boost to your strength, an extra resistance, and a slightly more reliable ranged option in the form of your breath weapon to handle far off enemies.
Gnome
Rock gnomes get a boost to constitution and automatic advantage on all Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma saving throws against magic.
Half-Orc
Your strength and constitution both get an increase, you get an extra feat to help you tank attacks that would drop you to 0, and you can do more damage on your critical hits.
Best Feats For A Wild Magic Barbarian
You should still pick feats that benefit physical attackers, because your magic options are so inconsistent a magic based feat won’t help.
Mage Slayer
Always good for barbarians because they otherwise have trouble dealing with mages reliably. This way you can inflict penalties on mages trying to maintain concentration.
Sentinel
A good feat for crowd control that makes it harder for enemies to get away from you and allows you to make an opportunity attack even if your opponent disengages.
Grappler
Another good feat for stopping enemies from escaping, granting advantage on attacks against creatures you grapple and allowing you to pin them, taking both of you out of the battle.
NEXT:Dungeons & Dragons: How To Build A Path Of The Zealot Barbarian
