How to Play a Path of the Totem Warrior Barbarian in Dungeons and Dragons 5e

[@edamommy]

Totem barbarians only need the Bear Necessities

[@discipleofdeath2517]

Wisdom saving throws and puny mind damage our only weakness.

[@gabebaum6527]

Well pun sir, well pun

[@jackakimbo5718]

Boo this man!

[@m.b.8701]

Sadly

[@alexpietsch7997]

They're Ma Melora's Recipes, with just the Bear Necessities and Knives.

[@davidcarnan1270]

Monty: "Not to poke the bear..." Kelly: *takes 2d4 psychic damage*

[@MadSwedishGamer]

And it doesn't even get resisted.

[@FutureOverYou]

My BarBEARian is a Kalashtar to resist the physic weakness, haha.

[@jessejarnagin3763]

@@FutureOverYou not I'm No

[@aprammus9580]

@@FutureOverYouomg mine too lol!

[@Cz82]

Emerald Dragonborn Bear Totem Barbarian gets resistance to all damage types, a usable decent ranged attack, and once per day flight

[@MadnessOpus]

Multiclass that with Soulknife Rogue and you're good to deal some serious *E M O T I O N A L D A M A G E.*

[@dddawson]

Similarly, Kalashtar Bear Totem barbarians also gets resistance to all damage, but in their case they get advantage on Wisdom saves to help avoid getting mind controlled, plus telepathic speech.

[@lewisrobinson3380]

@@dddawson Gem Dragonborns such as Emerald also have telepathic speech.

[@AlienStepper]

l

[@mattmcguirk4511]

Dealing with this in my current campaign, buddy of mine rolled this with high stats. It is what it is. He's literally the only thing that survives the field most fights lol

[@creedofwar]

Centaur Elk totem Barbarian with Mobile feat. Completely opened my eyes to the power of movement. So much wild fun being your own cavalry charge anywhere you want.

[@ruga-ventoj]

Let's see. 40+15+10+10 by lvl 5 = 75ft during rage. Yeah, that's alot

[@newguy8288]

Tabaxi is even more broken in terms of movement, they get a total of 65 feet of movement but can multiply that and get 130ft. Not only that, but together someone giving you long strider first, hasta and with things like boots of swiftness you can break the sound barrier

[@knedoshane]

I've been waiting for my group's next campaign to do just that! We always do a lot of outdoor adventures and long travels!

[@benry007]

My favourite one for Centuar is Wolf. If you can convince a small paladin to take the mounted combatant feat then you can offer them permanent advantage on their attacks. In return you can reckless attack while not being targetable. You also get the evasion feature for free. At lvl 14 take the bear feature and now melee enemies have disadvantage on attacks against your rider but still can't target you. I'd probably go GWM, PAM and Sentinel. Sentinel also gives you a free attack every time the enemy attacks your rider. If the Rider is a paladin you also get permanent access to their Aura. The downside is movement on your allies turn. This could be remedied if they took a dip into glamour bard to allow them to move allies, though that would be up to them.

[@UninterestingPedant]

Another fun ancestry option to consider (as long as your DM is fine with setting-specific options) is the Kalashtar - resistance to psychic damage and advantage on Wisdom saving throws (no conditions, just all of them all the time) shore up 2 of the biggest Barbarian weaknesses. At 3rd level (choosing the bear totem), you get to be a raging melee monster who’s resistant to all damage and isn’t easily charmed or frightened; have fun being unstoppable!

[@nelu2371]

If your DM lets that fly he WILL regret it

[@andrewjordan3398]

Mine let me and later tried to curse me with a dream from a hag while revealing some important story info to me and forgot about it. Now the hags are super angry plus helped me out alot when getting the berzerker axe.

[@alexpratt8533]

@@andrewjordan3398 a Kalashtar totem Barb with a berserker ax is one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever heard of, and I love it.

[@andrewjordan3398]

@@alexpratt8533 thank you lol. This is a homebrew he created but not to mention after putting in some serious work through multiple sessions my dm allowed me to befriend and fight with a worg companion i names Cerberus. Then through party of the story the party gained "spark magic" and he gave Cerberus a necrotic breath weapon.

[@beantownbanshees]

Emerald Dragonborn also get psychic resistance, limited flight, psychic damage (breath weapon) and telepathy, as well as better ancestral stat increases. Between that in Kalashtar you have some powerful options

[@urvidhnarula6362]

I once played a rogue centaur with my friend playing a wolf totem barbarian halfling with me as his mount. With Mounted Combatant feat he forced all attacks directed at me to target him instead, and with Sentinel feat I could attack any creature that attacked him with a reaction (also applying sneak attack). We both also had perma advantage since I was always attacking enemies within 5 feet of him due to his wolf totem, and he had perma advantage because of reckless attack. I also always got sneak attack due to the perma advantage. That was some incredible synergy. He did go sword and board since halflings have disadvantage on attacks with heavy weapons, and dual wielding is too feat heavy, but he was always tanking for me so it made perfect sense to.

[@bray2964]

A wise man once said that the only thing scarier than a wildshaped mammoth-moon druid, is a wildshaped mammoth-moon druid with a roaring, raging, pole-arm wielding wolf-totem barbarian on their back.

[@smallmj2886]

My son played a totem warrior in LMOP. He chose the wolf at level three which really helped my daughter the paladin nova in amazing ways against bosses. They made short work of the little green dragon.

[@ethanj8728]

I found that totem barbarian with ritual Caster and magic initiate (druid) feels like a great shaman character. Barbarians also feel way more fun when you take a rogueish look at using tools and gear other than just attacking.

[@zmayer6207]

Yeah! I played this progression a while back and it was awesome: First level Cleric with Magic Initiate druid for Goodberrys, shillelagh. We play a Shaman a Primal Tribe Healer. Levels 2 and 3 we go, druid, all our power comes from our God ... Mother nature giver of all life. We take healing and support spells. We can now also transfer into a still rather friendly bear. Level 4,5,6 we go Barbarian. Our bear form will now rival our nature counterpart in terms of aggressiveness and ferocity and tankyness. Throughout the adventure we are an in combat aggressive person and out of combat we focus on empathy healing, and the well-being of the tribe, our dnd party.

[@tennysondiaz-campbell8155]

Ha! Yes! Finally the warforged Barb has been given some recognition. Amazing in roleplay, I mean I've got a 5"2 totem barb warforged and seeing him get ganged up on by 3 ettins and somehow win was an amazing mental image and made me fall in love with barbs. Now my favorite class alongside druid and artificer.

[@TTDundee]

Fun fact: wearing heavy armour negates the base rage abilities including the most important one, resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing; however, it doesn’t negate the damage resistance from bear totem which technically still includes BPS resistance

[@IMXLegedaryBard]

This was technically not my first character, but I never really got to play my bard, but my second and what I consider first true character was a Goliath Barbarian. I described on his upper right arm being tatted with the bear, eagle and wolf totem spirits to which I decided to actually get tatted on myself. This will forever be my favorite subclass and character

[@ryan76043]

Me too! Though mine was a Half-Orc. Instead of tattoos, every time he would get a new totem, he would add some part of the animal to his outfit. Bear hide cloak, eagle feathers tied in his hair, and a wolf claw necklace.

[@Kaizoku267]

😢❤

[@Olochgu]

another race i think offers some fun options for barbarians is the Wildhunt Shifter. their class feature (which you can use as often as your Rage if you don't multiclass) makes it impossible for enemies within 30ft to attack you with advantage, which i found pairs quite well with reckless attack in many situations. Also, you get Advantage in wisdom saves which is neat too.

[@alexpietsch7997]

Gnome Barbarians are underrated when fighting epic spellcasters. They either have advantage or proficiency in every saving throw.

[@horseblinderson4747]

Gnome monk similar concept. Both rely on not getting stuck with garbage stats though

[@fartcriminals9623]

You could go yuanti get magical defenses, spell casting, and you can still use 2 handed weapons

[@AKARazorback]

But they're gnomes. Ugh

[@zorn3255]

Being small is a big downside for 2 handed weapons users, as most 2-handed weapons are heavy, which small races have disadvantage using. Plus gnome advantage on saving throws only works vs spells, and a lot of charm and fear abilities aren't actually spells.

[@alexpietsch7997]

@@zorn3255 Fair. But they can still use a versatile weapon for 1d10. So it's still a decent average losing about 0.5 average DMG.

[@orangesouls7112]

I had a barbarian with a great way of dealing with flying enemies. The warlock would cast fly on him, he'd zip up to whoever was flying and then grapple them. The Zangief Maneuver was highly effective.

[@godsman00]

DM: Your turn Barbarian, what do you do? Barbarian: *AHHHHHHHH!!!!!* DM: Rage got it...

[@bradleybarr7572]

Starting a new campaign next week, wanted to play a Totem Warrior. Checked the channel this morning to see if this video already existed. I was sad to see it did not. A couple hours later and it does. Incredible timing!! Thanks dudes.

[@justintyrrell7057]

I took wolf totem at level 3 for rp/backstory reasons and the groups rogue has stolen so many kills by getting a crit with that advantage bonus. He took out Venomfang in LMoP with a near 50 damage sneak attack crit. It was amazing.

[@HandsomeDanVacationRentals]

Totem Barb is so much fun. Especially when you are a busy person irl and are looking for a character that is not super complex and time consuming. I rip mine as a less powerful hulk who is a very crude half orc with a soft spot for mothers of all kinds due to backstory, an obsession with great axes despite the dm continuously trying to throw better weapons at him, and absolutely no compunctions about using violence to solve all problems. After all, when all you have is a hammer every problem is a nail.

[@getschwifty5537]

Curious which animals you chose at each level. I think the first and third eagle choices are actually great for replicating Hulk's super jumps. Just flavor the flight as a straight forward jump each time. If you're a Goliath and your DM is cool, then second choice being bear should probably count for something when it comes to grabbing oversized things. Bonus action dash on your second turn, leap up to 80 feet (counting Fast Movement). Grapple dragons out of the air. At least theoretically.

[@HandsomeDanVacationRentals]

@@getschwifty5537 I did 1st as bear for tankiness, 2nd as bear as my dm tracks carrying capacity as we are raw (doesn't count against grapples though) and Hulk strong, and third as Eagle just so I can grapple flying enemies and punch them as a Hulk jump although Elk rush was an interesting option as a hulk rush.

[@Hyde_Hill]

Slight comment on Mauler vs Greatsword. Keep in mind that the bonus damage from brutal critical will be lower as you only get one extra d6 instead of a d12 and not 2d6. Same downside for dual wielder. Tough feat also worth a mention as well as the Ancestry that gets Psychic resistance the Kalashtar.

[@wassentme1891]

At early levels the dual-wielder gets twice as many chances to critical, which helps make up for that, but yes. You have a 10% chance to do an extra few points of damage.

[@Hyde_Hill]

@@wassentme1891 Slightly less then 2 because of the rage turn. However yes there are definite advantages. Although with GWM you have a good chance at some bonus action attacks anyway. Just thought I would mention the above as they had left that out of the considerations, however slight it is.

[@grantbaugh2773]

I played a wolf totem barbarian in a party with a fighter and a paladin. 3 martials getting advantage on all their attacks. We wrecked EVERYTHING.

[@laurenYprado]

I literally just started making my barbarian totem warrior character yesterday 😂 great timing for this video ❤️👍🏼

[@greatazuredragon]

I played a Bear Toten on Tomb of Anahilation. And it was awesome. The brute could take on anything and come back for more. ^^

[@derangedcomics]

This actually makes me want to play a Barbarian. Something I haven't done since maybe 1st or 2nd ed.

[@youtubecensorship842]

Easiest way to explain it is with a totem pole. Different animals on each tier, mix and match. The visual helps new players every time.

[@toustone2736]

Talking about unusual ancestries, the wildhunt Shifter and his feature, preventing your enemies to attack you with advantage, which is great with the reckless attack.

[@robertsilvermyst7325]

So one race that hasn't been mentioned that is amazing with barbarian: Shifter. Notably Wildhunt Shifter. First turn you bonus action rage, second turn to bonus action shift. The shift NEGATES the advantage enemies would get against you when you reckless.

[@JAShiro-tz1ki]

Wow! Nice one! 👍

[@parcefad161]

Longtooth is gd as well for bonus attack action

[@diamondgeezer9832]

Im playing a Lizardfolk Barb/Druid in Tomb of Annhilation. I took the tough feat and act as the damage sponge for the group. Turning into a giant constrictor snake with rage is really great!

[@isaacgraff8288]

Wood-Elf barbarian is also amusing when done right. Very much a 'you entered the wrong forest' can be fun.

[@bosunbones.8815]

My wood Elf barbarian is basically an angry lumberjack. :D

[@TomCottonNZ]

Currently playing a tortle barbarian in a frostmaiden run through. Only fourth level at the moment, but this video has given me a lot to think about! Thanks!

[@ryudragon7]

I played a campaign as a Moon Druid with a three level dip in Totem Barbarian. Everyone told me go Bear, but I picked wolf, due to having a Fighter, Rogue, and Paladin in the party as well. It gave my allies a lot more instances of advantage against the big target. I often described that my wild shapes would howl, roar, etc. with a force that resonated at the core of my allies. Like a call of the wild signalling this enemy was fresh meat. The Rogue jumped at every chance to assist. The others would help if there wasn't a bigger threat on the feild.

[@christianbravo115]

Playing my first barbarian and was inspired by Garruk the Hunter. Chose to be a pure blood ork totem warrior and it's been a blast! Level 7 now and this video has definitely helped me road map my character for the rest of the campaign!

[@TBoring]

Hadozee are great for Totem Barbarians. Hadozee Resilience can reduce damage even more and with Bear’s resistance feature makes you even tank-yer. Plus the level 14 Eagle feature combined with Glide for fantastic mobility

[@OniNoSweeney]

I did a Sea Elf Bear Totem Barbarian, but made it Dex based with twin short swords. Because Reckless Attack & Rage Damage specify only Strength based attacks, I could not use them well, but it left me with only 2 attributes to focus on, and Sea Elves got +2 Dex +1 Con, so I was already on my way. Worked rather well. I was a moderate damage dealer, but I had high AC & high HP, so I was a consistent problem who would not go away.

[@thedeaderer8791]

Perfect timing I made a bugbear bear totem barbarian and I'm running him thru descent into avernus. He uses a pole arm giving him a 15ft reach. Extra damage if I go first, GWM, and PAM he's a beast

[@andrewthemaroon8608]

Tavern Brawler to get prof in improvised weapons then use your shield as an improvised weapon for a free 1d4 bludgeoning AND keep your shield bonus is an interesting path

[@petercomrie1924]

I played a battle master fighter with a 3 level dip in bear totem for a party of squishy wizards/sorcerers. Watching Joe play Pluto Jackson was a huge inspiration for me

[@CivilWarMan]

Shadar-kai is an interesting ancestry to pick up for this. Their teleportation ability is not a spell, so you can use it while raging, and since the teleporting gives you resistance to all damage until the start of your next turn, it becomes stronger to pick up one of the non-Bear totems at level 3. Picture, for instance, a Shadar-kai Elk Totem Barbarian. At level 3, you have a walking speed of 45 while raging, and can move up to 75 feet on turns where you are raging and teleport. At level 5, when you gain Fast Movement, it goes up to 55 while raging and up to 85 if you also teleport. At level 15, you are able to fly those distances. And since you aren't dashing when you move those distances, you can keep attacking, so it increases the probability of keeping your rage going since few enemies are going to be able to get away from you. Fey Ancestry is also nice for making it easier to hit those saves against Charm effects despite usually not having great Wisdom saves.

[@banksyboi2695]

Can't believe you guys missed the Kalashtar Barbarian being able to add racial Psychic resistance on top of the Bear Totem lmao.

[@ForgottenSaber2367]

Emerald Gem Dragonborn do as well

[@Comicsluvr]

I was happy to hear you mention the 2-handed weapon option. Sure, Great Weapon Master really hits hard, but for me, the most iconic version of the Barbarian is the one wielding a pair of battle axes. If you take the Warforged option, you gain +1 AC from the Integrated Protection trait.

[@Jw87563]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="488">8:08</a> Now you too can be a Goliath of Towering Height and Size.

[@Motidur]

In my first dnd campaign my friend played a wolf totem barbarian and I played a druid with PAM(Vhuman) and later on War caster. Our party: monk, druid, sorcerer, barbarian(wolf boi), warlock. What we found to be amazing at lower level play was for our big wolf boi to run in and keep enemies busy while I as the guerilla tactic druid would maneuver around him keeping him alive with cure wounds or healing word while either joining in with shillelagh for some solid hits or provide some battlefield control through faery fire and entangle. Also worth noting, is that thorn whip is a 30ft range melee spell attack, which benefits from the wolf totem effect and could provide free on demand forced movement of some more dangerous enemies or getting our wolf boi friend out of a grapple

[@jondawson7911]

Harengon Elk Totem, plus the unarmoured movement feature, plus the Harengon jump, you can move 60 feet while raging at Level 5. This will only increase further when your proficiency bonus increases and if you take the Mobile feat. Though should be worth noting you need to rage, inflict or take damage then you can move as much as you want as both rage and the jump are bonus actions.

[@robertmillwardjr8490]

I reflavored the totem of bear to Mammoth and played a Loxodon which I feel something that was roleplay missed about the first bear choice, it causes you to grow a lot more body hair if it is possible. making you a very 'bearish' individual. I was a wooly loxodon with totem of the 'mammoth' XD Also the loxodon's built in unarmored defense really helps with ignoring the dex and even helping with the wisdom score for perception checks or saves.

[@darcraven01]

lol warforged barbarian... i can imagine it. "running rage.exe" as he charges into battle

[@dgthunderer]

I've been really enjoying my wolf totem goblin barbarian. The bonus action to disengage means I can always be where I need to be to tank damage and give my allies advantage. I have stacked dex and con along with a shield to have high AC.

[@tevisstier9044]

Currently playing a Tortle totem barb that just multiclassed into cleric. Can't cast/concentrate during rage, but my party needed the support. I didn't go with a high dex because of the Tortle's natural AC, and now I am running a shield and warhammer for an AC of 19, but able to drop big hits when needed.

[@taylorfriend6787]

I'm happy you made it a point to talk about all other options then bear especially with the newer feats

[@brettcardon4552]

The biggest hang up I have with the Eagle totem at 14th level is that it's not really flying, it's leaping. If you can't hover, it's not flying in my book. Also, I'm currently playing a Dragonborn barbarian who took one level in bard as part of his backstory. It's been great inspiring my party with music and then hacking and slashing though baddies on the battlefield.

[@slamsM6]

Problem with the 3rd level wolf for me is that my group uses flanking rules, which gives you advantage on melee attacks anyways, in pretty much the exact same scenario.

[@kambuzi1698]

Awesome video. I'm currently playing my first D&D campaign and hitting level 3 next session so I've been fretting over which path to take. This definitely answered some questions

[@stancal9249]

I see Totem as a great platform for "Baby's First Homebrew", because not only do you have several options at the totem levels in order to gauge the appropriateness of a proposed talent, but if you have a cool idea, you have three different levels of power that you can play around with. I haven't done it yet, but I love the idea I have of an Umber Hulk totem. One level has a tanky/strong boost, one level gives you a limited-use confusion ability, one level gives you some degree of burrow speed and tremor sense. Also, I'm there with you for a warforged barbarian. I see it like a Baymax situation where you have a combat protocol loaded up and going into a rage is like executing the KILL.EXE file you have downloaded and you go nuts, but then you go back to being a nice and friendly robot when your combat program finishes.

[@Nale_Ckleysho]

1 level fighter with great weapon fighting style, Totem Warrior 5th level, Equip plate for an AC of 18 4th level grab heavy armor master (massively improved with One dnd). Pick up a glaive or halberd and then grab the polarm master feat once you get to barbarian 8 and just like that you are literally a tank. (should be noted that RAW the 3rd level effect of bear totem does work while wearing heavy armor. With how HAM now scales with proficiency, this makes this build very viable in my opinion even going into mid-late game.

[@WhitneyHempsey]

Our family has a Colosseum style game going right now alongside our regular 2x monthly narrative campaign. It’s super fun to just focus on fighting, especially with all my kids. One of my kids chose a Bugbear Totem Warrior Barb and she is amazing. That 10f reach means she doesn’t need to get in many baddies melee range to attack and with the mobile feat she can move from one enemy to another, avoiding attacks of opportunity, while doing crazy damage on each attack. Everyone except my cleric is a melee class, so we had to get creative with movement to overcome the lack of ranged options.

[@AFarCryGames]

I'm going to be playing a Tortle Barbarian in my next campaign, and I'm super excited for it.

[@ArcTrooperDomo]

Been doing so on my current campaign, it's so dope

[@AFarCryGames]

@@ArcTrooperDomo We have a Goliath Cleric. We're developing an idea where I retract into my shell, and he hurls me at enemies.

[@deathknightrevan]

Wildhunt shifter is a really nice option. as a bonus action 1/ per rest: Con+ level temp hp, adv on wisdom saves, and enemies within 30 ft cannot gain advantage against you. lasts one minute. so basically just reckless attack every turn for no downside.

[@cosatoir9928]

Rolling with a level 5 Eladrin Totem barbarian at the moment. He loves his home made great axe that can be swapped out with a maul head. Damn its fun being a smith.

[@ancientdarkmagic1409]

I like The Wolf Totem since it lets me support my teams aside from soaking damage and dealing massive damage.

[@issaikh]

Shoutout to the Leonin race, if your DM allows it. A dash of extra movespeed, a skill of choice(among some useful ones for a barbarian), and a short range AOE battle roar with a DC scaling off your constitution makes it a compelling option. If the DM's not feeling it, maybe suggest it as a reskinned tabaxi?

[@joycebruce9444]

Bear totem has saved me from party splash damage now more times than I could count

[@jdmbapastor5172]

Can't wait for the Echo Knight Fighter!

[@Sunstreaker2k5]

Great video, I've been wanting to try a totem barbarian for a while. My current campaign does in fact have a Gnome Barbarian, path of wild magic. Raised by giants, thinks he hasn't hit his growth spurt yet, which is hilarious. Especially when we casted Enlarge on him while he was raging and made him all of 5 feet tall. That said, I hate to point this out but it bugs me to no end: Dual Wielder, not Duel Wielder.

[@kikutaro92]

Love these types of videos. Hope y’all do a Moon Druid one soon!

[@TheRobversion1]

I've played a wolf totem 3 clock sorc 13 before in a one-shot. lots of fun. Basically, the build is a durable melee support tank that works off of 2 combos: 1. use spell slots for 3 things mainly: -upcasted armor of agathys -bastion of law -upcasted tiny servants so the 1st combo is upcasted armor of agathys, bastion of law and rage. rage and bastion of law keep armor of agathys up during a fight. when i start to run out of bastion of law i convert spare spell slots into sorc points and reapply bastion of law to allow me to keep punishing melee attackers. 2. the 2nd combo is tiny servant + wolf totem + a backpack: create as many tiny servants you can afford with spell slots, have them hide in a backpack while adventuring. once you get to melee range, they all come out and attack enemies with advantage, after attacking they all return inside the backpack to gain total cover from your enemies (one uses their free object interaction to close the flap of the backpack) so they arent vulnerable to aoe dmg. bonus points on this combo if you have a party member can cast crusader's mantle to join you.

[@LeonardAndHisBiscuit]

Something to note about the Bear Totem at LVL 3: Normal rage provides the typical damage resistances while you aren't wearing heavy armor. RAW, it doesn't have this requirement for the Bear Totem's resistances. So as long as you have the proficiency to wear heavy armor through multiclassing/feat uses, you can have a legally built Barbarian wearing heavy armor for high AC, who has resistance to almost all damage types during rage, and with the Heavy Armor Master feat to reduce weapon damages by 3 at all times. You're essentially invincible at lower levels. Probably works best if you're focusing Fighter who's already using heavy armor and dip 3 levels into Barbarian.

[@akmi1931]

Heavy Armor doesn’t let you rage, so no resistances

[@LeonardAndHisBiscuit]

@@akmi1931 Rules As Written (RAW) on Rage don't specify that you *can't* use it while in heavy armor, just that you don't gain the benefits of Rage while in heavy armor. The Bear Totem option does not have that stipulation in its rules. If the Bear Totem option said that it adds on new resistances in addition to the original resistances, then there would be a problem with using it in heavy armor. But it just says that it resists all damage except psychic, including the original three, on its own.

[@askyw69]

Elk 6 doubles the out of combat travel pace for you and up to ten companions. When out of combat the Urchin background allows you, and any companions you lead, to travel between any two points in a city twice as fast as your speed would normally allow. When combined you have 4x travel speed within cities for yourself and ten other companions. You are now the single fastest taxi in any city you go to. With a capacity of 10 passengers at a time, whilst on foot. Elk 6 works while mounted. Urchin doesn't specify, and is up to the DM. If your DM allows you to use mounts with the Urchin background then your speed effectively doubles yet again. All in all a pretty solid way to peacefully make money/gather information during downtime, or simply be the getaway driver for your party of thieves.

[@ZDC331]

I'm actually playing a Bear Totem in a homebrew'd Spelljammer/Far Future Cyberpunk 2077 fusion. Bear Totem by itself is nutty, but I created a monster since Cybernet Legs give bonus base movement speed, Gorilla arms let you deal more damage, biomoniters and secondary heart give you revives, you can regenerate outside of combat, ect. I went Bear/Eagle/Eagle. I had resistance to all damage but psychic, modified a sniper rifle to operate of my Strength Stat and had the 1 Mile Eagle Vision, and my base movement speed was 70 and as an Orc I could Bonus Action Dash already. I was so hard to put down and no distance was safe. I even survived being punched by a God. It was amazing.

[@Hyde_Hill]

Eagle at 6th level plus Observant is just fun. Sure you can't really spare the ASI for optimal combat. However it is worth considering.

[@cameroncox2739]

Played a totem Barbarian in my first ever campaign as a 5e player! Took the usual cheese of variant human gwm at lvl 1, etc. By 5th level the dm threw a young red dragon at us and I managed to tank a fire breath due to bear totem and won a contested grapple check to hold it's mouth shut like you would an alligator while the paladin, rogue, and cleric burst the scaly brute down in two turns swinging with advantage due to a DM ruling. That tankiness is awesome!

[@Hyde0991]

I played an elk totem barbarian up to level 10 and found it really fun. I maxed Con to 20, left Str at 18, and took resilient for Dex because of the 1 point bonus. I regret not taking it for Wis instead but other than that it was great to be able to reach an enemy at any point on the map if necessary. The level 6 option helped us (mostly in flavor) to travel around the sword coast without difficulty. I was also the second smartest of the group with a 13 in Int which was fun to have some brains behind the brawn even if that was just “average” brains.

[@foolslayer9416]

My Totem Warrior wears a Ring of Psychic Resistance. So he fights Mindflayers like how Moon Knight killed that jackal in the Moon Knight show.

[@dragonmaster613]

We need more options for Totem Animals! Bear, Eagle, Wolf, Elk, and Tiger are not enough!

[@dragonmaster613]

LV14 Eagle is just Hulk Jumping!

[@yoandallairedelisle6675]

Wolf totem. More players your group have, more this totem is strong. Good video

[@KatanaKamisama]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="937">15:37</a> Duel, is a 2 people fighting. Dual is 2 OF something. They are not the same. This mistake is understandable since someone was being a method actor and getting into their inner barbarian and dumping Intelligence.

[@andrewjordan3398]

In the campaign im in with my friends i chose Kalastar (maybe spelled wrong) Barbarian which helps me get resistance to psycic damage as well and immune to i believe dream spells. Both which came in handy when my dm forgot about those and targeted the beefy barbarian to try and turn against the party.

[@elementalflame3578]

The guy on the left sounds like a less depressed version of severus snape and I love it

[@dallinadams9422]

The best tank class. Best as a Gith to cover psychic, or as a dwarf to max out on health. Can even work to max out your AC. The other features are pretty interesting though

[@TheRedneckGamer1979]

My most recent barbarian was a Dragonborn Way of the Ascendant Dragon monk / Beast Barbarian, takes a while to come online features wise but at high level it is an incredibly fun combination, two claw attacks, a breath weapon and flurry of blows or two breath weapons and a flurry of blows, it is insanely fun. My party has taken to just dropping fireballs right on top of them as the monkbarian just holds a bunch of enemies in place or takes a choke point because of both her insane hitpoints, resistance to fire and the ability to save for none with evasion. Super fun incredibly active way to combine the two classes.

[@worldshaking00]

My OC Moose Knuckle: Half-orc Totem Barbarian (Bear-3, Eagle-6, Elk (reskinned as a moose) - 14. Took Tavern Brawler (hence the 'knuckle' har har).

[@markustheweird165]

You are doing great videos for character creation... Would be nice to see either a forge domain cleric or a war domain cleric and hear what you think about them

[@dragonmaster613]

I mix the options to create different any animal. Like Bear, Elk, Wolf for a Dire Wolf build. Or Bear, Wolf, Elk for a Bull build.

[@dallinadams9422]

It's definitely nice having the feats that include a +1 to stats

[@joshuadefriese1907]

Another strong choice for barbarian to give them some more utility options is Loxodon. Your AC is 12+CON mod, and with a 16 CON and a shield, you can start with a 17 AC as a barbarian. You also don’t have to do anything special with your Dex score, and it’ll also grant you access to Powerful Build and a third appendage with which you can grapple.

[@stevenwhitehead8468]

You guys should have done the Barbarian grappler. Total tough guy! Skill Expert feat with Athletics expertise and you rule the battlefield. My Goliath has a 1200lb carry cap. The DM lets me smash enemies with other enemies (Tavern Brawler). I can also throw for distance.

[@TheDoniggy]

You both should make separate designs or templates for popular characters. Each of you make like a Naruto or captain america without talking to each othet and see which variant wins

[@LoreFoundry]

Thank you for the video as always gentlemen. First I'd like to say I agree wolf is a sleeper. My favorite combination is to play a wolf totem as a support character. Prioritizing the sentinel feat to keep enemies near me. Nobody talks about it but for all the damage you do not get from GWM, that's damage your allies get. And well in a party giving 3-4 other people advantage can be much more than the 10-20 damage extra from GWM at earlier levels. Unpopular opinion. Barbarians do not need dexterity. You're almost always going to reckless attack. Giving the enemy roughly a +5 to hit you when they get advantage. Not to mention the Barbarian features that give them advantage on Dex saving throws and initiative at higher levels. Which again is effectively a +5 on the roll. Having a higher Wisdom shouldn't be slept on.

[@woodshark000]

I'm currently playing an elk totem barbarian and I'm loving it

[@deantitus9734]

Hey Monty, I thought that the Hill Dwarf gets +2 to Constitution and +1 to Wisdom because that's where the extra HP comes from!!

[@PhoenixNorthstar]

for the races I do like Minotaur just for the charge ability (a reason to take Elk at 3rd) or the option to knock an enemy prone as a bonus action, and a Minotaur Barbarian just feels right. That said my favourite option is the shifter, because being a feral warrior descended from Lycanthopes is thematic for a Barbarian, especially if you're playing a Totem or Beast Barbarian. Of special note is the Wild Hunt subrace, which ALLOWS YOU TO NEGATE ADVANTAGE AGAINST YOU FOR 1 MINUTE, essentially removing the penalty for reckless attack.

[@dallinadams9422]

Yeah, my Critmaster is pretty crazy. He's just a berserker, but he is pretty crazy with survival. He has a pretty crazy homebrew item that not only bumps up his damage dice to d20's, but also heals him for however much critical damage he does. Combine that with relentless, it becomes very hard to keep him down

[@OnceUponAMidnight]

I'm currently playing a Wood Elf Circus Barbarian. He's a former aerial performer with the circus so I took Path of the Eagle at 3rd and 6th level, can't wait to get fly at 14th. His speed and agility is crazy good (with haste cast he can move at 540ft per round).

[@Indomakio]

Mark my words: Totem Barbarian will be changed for One DnD. The same way the Hunter is just one (the best) option now, the Bear totem will be the only option, opening new potential subclasses for elk, wolf and eagle.

[@Hazel-xl8in]

frankly i think horde breaker was a better ability than colossus slayer but yeah, basically

[@Phhase]

...that will never be explored, I'm sure.

[@axel12345678909]

I played as a Twilight cleric/eagle-eyed barbarian. My DM constantly forgot that I was able to see everything for 100ft in perfect detail

[@jgrigg1720]

I'm currently playing a totem, furbolg, barbarian who's essentially an errand boy for a place similar to candle keep in drakenheim.

[@AgentForest]

Eagle + Eagle Barbarian Trick: You can dash as a bonus action, and fly, but you don't remain in the air? Good thing you resist smashing damage. The enemies you grapple generally don't... So grab two people, bonus action dash straight up. Half movement, but with the dash you can get, at level 14, to 40 feet. Then drop them. They'll take 4d6, you'll take half. But wait, there's more! There are rules for landing on something. You can land on one of them to cushion your fall, forcing it to take half of your fall damage if they fail a Dex save. This means one enemy takes 4d6, the other takes 6d6 (roughly), and you take half of 2d6 (again, roughly, as you are still rolling 4d6, but splitting the damage between the enemy and yourself, then halving your damage portion from resistance). And now they're both prone.

[@SFOX64]

Great video guys! Would love to see a series on how you guys would recreate a beloved character from a movie, tv series or video game in D&D!

[@jeffm9770]

I love Polearm Master and Sentinel. Enemy approaches you, smack them when they get 10' away and they can't get to you.

[@rantdmc]

Let me tell you about Throkk - my 11th lvl totem warrior. Half Orc outlander, Bear Totem at 3rd lvl, Tiger totem at 6th lvl. uses a +2 greataxe called "Raven's Wing" which does additional cold and necrotic damage, and a Dwarven throwing axe that was gifted to him for enabling a city of dwarves to recover their fortress after an infiltration of Undead. Throkk has 24 Strength from finding a Manual of Gainful Exercise (to everyone's amazement Throkk was able to read it) and a blessing from the Raven Queen, and 20 Constitution. Carries around a trebuchet which is set to fire at anyone who breaks into our camp at night. Inspired by his tiefling warlock friend Hope, he became committed to the Raven Queen and she later designated him as her champion, giving him homebrew abilities as a Champion of Mother Winter, such as double resilience to cold and necrotic damage when raging. Throkk doesn't wear armour: armour's for wimps... Throkk has a Goliath barmaid girlfriend who disappeared temporarily when our home city was captured while the party got lost in the Feywild for 5 years. Throkk was beside himself, but they later rediscovered one another and had an intense reunion! Picked up 2 kobolds as pets when defeating an undead dragon (literally, Throkk picked them up and carried them home) who he named Sprit and Sprot. Sprit died tragically in the line of fire, but Sprot is now being trained as an artificer by dwarves and might be my next character! Feats so far: Great Weapon Master Thinking of taking either Resilient Wisdom (to make mind control less likely) or Mobile as feats for 12th lvl. Also thinking of taking 2 lvls of Fighter for Action Surge. Any thoughts?

[@julianjones1130]

So I had a bear totem barb in a campaign I was running, they encountered two spirit trolls in a swamp. Definitely recommend spirit trolls to challenge your party especially those pesky totem barbs.