Barbarian Subclass – Path of the Burnt

Barbarians of the Burnt experience a rage so wrathful and pure that it manifests in a painful destructive heat which they use to scorch and fry their enemies. While all barbarians embrace their race in order to surpass their mortal limits, those that follow the Path of the Burnt take this to another level. Their rage is so hot and pure that it manifests as unstable flames.

Path of the Burnt Features

Levels	Features
3rd	Blistering Heat
6th	Beyond Fury, Charred Flesh
10th	Burning Skin
14th	Explosion

Blistering Heat
(3rd-level Path of the Burnt feature)

At level 3 your rage burns so hotly not even your own body can withstand it. While raging, you can use your bonus action to take 1d4 fire damage. If you do so, your next successful melee attack, made on your current turn, deals an additional 1d8 fire damage.

Beyond Fury
(6th-level Path of the Burnt feature)

At level 6 your rage can become unmanageable and explosive. While raging, as an action, you can expend one of your remaining rages to explode. All creatures with 20ft, including yourself, must succeed a Dexterity saving throw or take 4d6 fire damage. You automatically fail this saving throw. You can increase this damage by 2d6 for each use of rage you expend (maximum of 6). You can use this feature once before needing to take a short or long rest.

Charred Flesh
(6th-level Path of the Burnt feature)

At level 6 your body is so burnt that fire begins to lose its impact on you. While raging you gain resistance to fire damage.

Burning Skin
(10th-level Path of the Burnt feature)

At 10th level, your body is so hot that just your touch can burn and melt the things around you. While raging, as an action, you can cast a modified version of the Heat Metal spell on a creature within 5ft without expending a spell slot. This version of the spell lasts until the affected creature ends its turn more than 5ft from you and does not require concentration. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus before needing to take a short or long rest.

Explosion
(14th-level Path of the Burnt feature)

At 14th level, your body is the only thing holding back a wave of immolating heat. When you are reduced to 0 HP your body explodes in a wave of heat. Creatures within 30ft must succeed a Dexterity saving throw or take 6d6 fire damage, or half as much on a success. Creatures behind full cover automatically succeed. Flammable objects within 60ft of you burst into flame.

In addition, while at 0 HP, you can choose to fail a death-saving throw in order to repeat this blast of fire.

Final Thoughts

Thanks for reading! A really enjoy playing and designing content for Barbarians! They’re so brutal and giving them the tools to do incredible feats of violence is very satisfying. I hope you enjoyed reading this post and can leave with some ideas for your own games! If you want to see the creative process live you can join me and the community on Twitch or Discord. You can also learn to improve your own homebrews by heading over to our Youtube channel!

Thank you for reading and may your next session be filled with glory!