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Barbarian: Path of the Trench - Drag Them Through the Mud
🕑 Added 2024-10-18 17:00:13 +0000 UTC
Hello good hunter,
Today, we're diving into the blood-soaked mud of trench warfare with a new Barbarian subclass that'll make you rethink what it means to be down but not out.
I wanted to capture that gritty, desperate fighting style born in the trenches of the Great War.
You're a master of staying low and staying alive.
That's your comfort zone now. You're not disadvantaged, you're in your element. And when you hit something? It's going down with you.
You'll have to stay low and move slower in exchange, but you'll be a hard one to kill.
Eventually magic can't touch you when you're hugging the dirt. And when you hit a prone enemy, you're not rolling damage—you're maximizing it. It's brutal, efficient, and exactly what you need to survive.
Finally you'll become the nightmare of the trenches. At late levels, you can lift that speed penalty and instead you're faster prone than most are standing, and can guarantee some crits.
I designed this for those characters who've seen the worst of war and come out harder for it. It's not pretty, it's not heroic in the traditional sense, but it's effective and it tells a hell of a story. It's simple, and brutally efficient.
Remember, sometimes the most dangerous enemy is the one you think you've already put down.
Take Care!
Evan | MonkeyDM
P.S: What name should I give this subclass? Trench or Trenches. If you have other suggestions leave them below. I'll pick a final name to put in the compendium itself when we're done with it. Thanks for the help!
Comments
Jared Vanotterdyk
This is really intriguing, though would being prone all the time nake it really hard to get into melee? That issue gets addressed at level 14, but thats pretty late in the subclass to be remedying the slow movement issue. Unless im missing something.
Monkey DM
yes that is a good idea
Jacob Hiatt
Just an idea, but maybe a fighter or monk subclass based off the German stormtroopers of the great war?
Monkey DM
that's why we made some origin feats to reward being prone and crawling haha
Danel
imagine a barbarian trying to do this path before they get in 3rd level, all their party members would think they're so silly from laying prone
Owen Justice
The only reason I would say Trench instead of Trenches is because, from the abilities, you'd kind of be in one trench at a time.
Monkey DM
perhaps, but we are sticking to wartime specific :)
James Sizemore
If it wasn't war-time specific you could name it the Path of the Crocodile or Path of the Lurker?
