D&D (2024) The Unrealized Barbarian Nerf.

[Leatherhead]

Given that the new monster mechanics are less than a year old, and mostly pertain to mid to higher level monsters, its entirely possible that you haven't had the opportunity to see it in action.

Here is a link that goes more in depth:


In short: Nearly 90% of all monsters that only deal B/P/S damage are CR 5 or lower.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Well, I mean, we wouldn't want a Barbarian player to feel like their rage is doing little-to-nothing, of course, but IME it's always been more the full opposite of that - Barbarians generally seem next to impossible to even threaten them, far or less worry about killing them.

I might be unusual in that I actually enjoy having my character get the snot kicked out of them. I'm happy to end a fight barely able to stand. I don't like dying or anything, but D&D is usually pretty safe when it comes to that.

 

[pukunui]

On a related note, I noticed there was something in the latest packet that was specifically bypassed by force damage, which immediately put me in mind of all the monsters in MotM that got force damage added to their weapon attacks. I’m guessing that was deliberate.

 

[Clint_L]

Given that the new monster mechanics are less than a year old, and mostly pertain to mid to higher level monsters, its entirely possible that you haven't had the opportunity to see it in action.

Here is a link that goes more in depth:


In short: Nearly 90% of all monsters that only deal B/P/S damage are CR 5 or lower.

Sure, but that's still most monsters, and of the rest, many if not most of them still do at least half their damage from B/P/S. By the time characters reach a level where even some of the mooks might have different damage types available, typical barbarians have well over 100 HP. I'll have to wait to see how it plays out in my games, but right now my main home game has a barbarian tank and at level 6 he's already incredibly durable.

 

[cbwjm]

I don't like the fact, that so many people feel preasured to get the bear totem, which is actually quite underpowered at the point where you get it.
I would even say it is a trap option.

Instead of bear totem you could take wolf token and give everyone around you advantage on all attacks...

I haven't played a totem barbarian, but I agree, wolf totem is much better in a melee heavy group.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I haven't played a totem barbarian, but I agree, wolf totem is much better in a melee heavy group.

Wolf is a bit redundant in a melee heavy group since shoving an enemy prone also grants advantage, and raging Barbs shove with advantage already.

 

[cbwjm]

Wolf is a bit redundant in a melee heavy group since shoving an enemy prone also grants advantage, and raging Barbs shove with advantage already.

Except with wolf totem you don't need to spend an attack shoving an enemy prone.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Except with wolf totem you don't need to spend an attack shoving an enemy prone.

You also don't need to hope that the initiative order wont't let the enemy stand up before your allies can attack it.

Wolf totem is great when you have allies in melee that can take advantage of it, and can take some of the hits as well. Bear is fantastic when you have a single barbarian holding the line while the artillery in the back takes out the enemies.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Except with wolf totem you don't need to spend an attack shoving an enemy prone.

Yes, it basically frees up one attack, while costing you the other benefits of imposing prone (restricting enemy movement and imposing disadvantage). It's worth maybe half an attack. You have to consider whether that's worth it to you compared to e.g. having one of the Shepherd Druid's wolves do the shoving for you.

Polearm Masters can do Shove as part of kiting: shove prone, GWM attack twice with advantage, move away out of arch range (accepting an opportunity attack at disadvantage to eliminate any possibility of a given enemy being in the to Attack you next round, due to the cost of standing up, assuming an enemy with speed under 70'ish). In a melee-heavy party you might not do the kiting part but you could still play e.g. a Zealot or Bear Totem barb or Samurai, and now you spend one(ish) attack in order to grant everyone advantage, AND get other benefits from your 3rd level subclass choice.

Wolf totem isn't useless but it's partially redundant. It's easy to give advantage to melee fighters if you're already a Str-based melee fighter. If you're not already shoving enemies prone as a barbarian, there's a good chance you're playing suboptimally and losing more HP per enemy than necessary.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Shoving prone for advantage is great, when you're fighting a single tough opponent no bigger than Large. If you're fighting a larger group it becomes far less useful, and you can't do it at all against a Huge or bigger opponent. And you still need the initiative order to favor your side for your allies to take advantage of the prone enemy. Finally, if you have a ranged attacker in your party they won't enjoy the prone enemies.

The wolf totem ability always works against all enemies and doesn't need any setup other than the barbarian being in melee. It's hard to overstate how good this ability is for a melee heavy party!