Class guide #1.1: The Barbarian --- Path of the Ancestral Guardian

[@ChancesSpellbook]

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[@brandoncreek5709]

I kind of like the idea of a more timid, intellectual barbarian with this subclass. Not wanting to fight, but when the time comes that he needs to defend his friends he calls on his ancestors to help him. I even kind of like the idea that maybe his "Rage" isn't a rage at all, more of an induced battle trance where he's partially imbued with the strength and courage of his ancestors. Maybe he even gets somewhat possessed by one for the duration and starts talking in an aggressive scottish accent because dear old great granddad McLaughlin is here to party.

[@Kowalskinator]

best subclass for roleplaying as an insane barbarian who has voices in their head

[@TV-qm8ob]

If you partner this class with cavalier you both would be the definition of hold the line. (It's all so funny if you both hit the same target)

[@matthewjennings7645]

I actually really like this reskinned to be less supernatural. Play up the roleplaying as if you're goading opponents in combat, bolstering allies to toughen up out of comradery. War songs and howls on the battlefield. Consult the Spirits, which isn't til level 10, just seems like a prayer to Tempus.

[@fr0stw0lf97]

"Look at me, I'm the opponent now!"

[@wesleyewert1023]

unlike most abilities that give this type of effect, spirit guardians does not stop working if your ally has the same ability. this means that if you and an ally are both ancestral guardians and hit something, they can't hit anyone without having disadvantage and that ally resisting the attack. combine this with spirit shield and barbarian chonk and you have one of the bulkiest parties in the game. plus none of these use resources so they can keep going as long as they have rage.

[@frescopino7866]

A character I've got in mind has, through trials and tribulations, gained the trust of an Aboleth. What I'm thinking is making her this subclass of barbarian and flavour it as projections from said Aboleth, so I'd basically be running into battle surrounded by spectral tentacles that grab onto my enemies.

[@nerdlydelicious1876]

The really neat thing about this subclass compared to other Barbarian subclasses is that this is an HP tank like all Barbarians, but it’s also incentivizing the enemy to attack you first and focus on you. If you’re fighting a boss that’s alone or even has a couple minions you can make that boss keep its focus on you because you’re drastically reducing the damage it can deal to your party members just by hitting it, which is something a Barbarian wants to do anyway. Like you said that may not matter much for bosses that use a lot of magic, but for anything that typically relies on attacks such as giants, dragons, even super high CR enemies like Pit Fiends, you’re seriously cutting into its ability to hurt your party just by attacking it. And if you’re level 14 even if it does attack your squishy wizard you can pull out a metaphorical uno reverse card and deal damage back to it. You are a tank that is forcing the enemy to focus on you

[@binolombardi]

I’m happy to hear you enjoy this particular subclass. It’s quite good in my opinion in that it provides an incredibly effective support option for the barbarian to help the party and reduce damage by a lot. An important note about the ancestral protectors feature is that the barbarian isn’t required to be near the target creature, and the attack type isn’t limited to melee attacks. Ranged weapon attacks and reached weapons can be used to apply this debuff to the creature. Reach weapons work well as you can try to target the most dangerous creature and heavily reduce its offensive capabilities. If your party members are there they can lock the creature down with attacks of opportunity if they wanna go after you when you put more distance between that creature. Very nice to use mobile feat too. Hit and run barbarian in my opinion. The spirit shield feature is incredible since it reduces damage of any type or source. Attacks, saves, hell it can even reduces fall damage. Pretty great. Vengeful ancestors is amazing as it doesn’t miss. Pretty much guaranteed damage to further incentivize you to help your teammates. I think this subclass would work ridiculously well with a swashbuckler. Ancestral guardian walks the big bad, swashbuckler is incredibly safe due to disadvantage and resistance. Monster moves away to attack the barbarian, gets opportunity attacked with sneak die. Barbarian may be free to recklessly attack without fear of retaliation at this point to increase its average damage and further increase the likelihood that its feature gets used.

[@mohammadmurie]

Yeah for ancestral guardian builds a sword and board set or bow works so well with them. Also partner this up with cavalier the two literally changes the front lines to just a wall

[@andrewpaul8732]

Gift of the ever living warlock I vocation allows you to heal the max value whenever you regain hit points. Huge synergy there. And you can take all the support spells to further the support tank role

[@Gummybearkillerr]

do you think you could build it as a support attacker or do you think its more for tank supports

[@andrewpaul8732]

@Edgar Navarrete Switching the shield for a 2h would still net you those barbarian damage numbers. My build takes charger so my dhampire heals for 1d4+5 when he bites. If you play with flanking rules this would let you run at someone whose stuck in melee with an enemy, flank them and with Astral guardian pesky goblins gonna have to strike at you next turn or have disadvantage. Really a big fan or this build

[@knedoshane]

I have a Tortle Barbarian path of Ancestors who carries a magic shield made out of the shells of his Ancestors. Fun, fun, fun character!

[@coleriedel751]

RAW: The wizard you're protecting would get resistance from the fireball because the target hit another creature. Doesn't have to target... just hit (takes damage), but wouldn't prevent target spells that charm/incapacitate/sleep/poison/et c

[@girf4233]

No resistance against fireballs RAW. The descriotion states "when an enemy hits a target other than you with an attack..." Fireball is not considered an attack as it has no attack roll.

[@samfish2550]

Id honestly ask if your dm is willing to homebrew it though, it's a good quality of life ability that enhances your role and doesn't break it.

[@chanceb5203]

I’m Chance too haha. First play through as barbarian thanks for the vids

[@coleriedel751]

My wild, Wood Elf Barbarian's guardians are flavored as whispy/shadow wolves that snarl, bite, and lounge to explain the protection they grant

[@nexusaquarion9281]

But questions here for any DM 3:15 this work on any creature I see if I lose sight of them it will not trigger and also does it work on multiple creatures or just one because it said creature

[@czcrossman]

Awesome vids I love these Barb guides

[@davifurtado6534]

this one sounds a great combination with leonin's roar. I'm going for it and I'll tell you how it goes

[@Allantitan]

So how’d it go?

[@davifurtado6534]

@@Allantitan Before I reach the subclass, I gave my life to Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, so instead I chose path of the zealot and my barbarian only talked in Bible verses. It was so much fun man

[@nexusaquarion9281]

I use this before the is hit not damaged even if the damage is low you just need to hit them to make it work

[@expensivemagic4754]

Thank you!

[@andrewpaul8732]

My great great great grandfather died of tuberculosis but hes still got my back. When I smash my for sometimes he'll appear to cough incessantly on enemy.

[@rmaschietto4075]

Chance, why do you say if you are dual wielding you can potentially activate veangeful spirits 4 times? (Noob alert, literally on the first hours of DnD). I am playing a barbarian but not sure which path to follow. I thought about the beast, but I think I want a more traditional look. And for this class, would you recommend dual wielding? I wanted to use the classic greataxe. Thanks for the video! Cheers

[@johnermactavish1162]

If they focus you, mission accomplished. If they focus your party HAHA EAT DISADVANTAGE, HALF DAMAGE, NEGATING ANY DAMAGE THAT GOES THROUGH, AND THEN EAT THAT SAME DAMAGE REFLECTED BACK AT YOU. There is no good options for the DM other then to cripple you with status effects.

[@tribbybueno]

god i hate to be this guy but its 'an-ses-trull' not 'an-ses-tree-yull' bugged me so bad 😅😅 ty for the guide though big dog!!