The things that make the Barbarian/Warlock work are armor of agathys (non-concentration) and the eldritch smite invocation. It's not the strongest build but it's still a much better route than anything sorcerer or wizard brings.
You can also cast mage armor and get a +3 to AC. Edit: Alright just looked at mage armor and found out this doesn’t work. This is because mage armor doesn’t stack as the the wording is “makes your AC equal to 13 + dex modifier”
@@plasmagamer1771 Mage Armor makes your AC 13 plus your Dex mod. It doesn't stack with Unarmored Defense, which makes your AC 10 plus your Dex mod plus your Con mod.
I DM'd for a friend who wanted to play the BardBarian combo and what I did was I added a feat they could take I called warrior song. Essentially it was the raging barbarian could concentrate on spells during a rage by singing to their gods or ancestors or whatever. They could not cast a new spell during rage but as long as they kept up the warrior song they maintained concentration. This was effected by things like silence or some other effect that caused them not to be able to voice their song. It was not overpowered in my opinion and was very fun at the table.
@@Grooveworthy I don't get why someone would do that, if the spell is casted before they go into a rage and the quid is they need to be able to sing (verbal component each turn) in subsequent turns if raging to be able to mantain concentration, this ability is already adding a constant need foor verbal component after the casting, that's going to bring with it a lot of limitations for the raging barbarian to consider that will begin immediately when casted and will remain for as many turns after the casting as they can hold concentration. As I see this, limiting this to only spells that already had a verbal component does nothing for balancing a HB mechanic that's already well balanced, but it would only take away from the spells the barbarian can concentrate on and the possibilities at their disposal
Toss it onto a weapon, like a fluted haft of an ax so it whistles with each strike. Or a singing bowstaff that whistles through air. Each strike can imbue a bardic die to add spell damage to the strike. Let's you burn bardic die since you won't be using them during rages.
We had Barbarian Rizz where the Barbarian could expend a rage charge to have advantage on Persuasion and Performance checks. Didn’t require multiclassing in Bard though. He was a zealot barbarian who worshipped the Goddess of Love and had a special personal relationship with her is why.
Treantmonk has a great barbarian warlock build on his channel. Basically, it combines armor of Agathys with rage for tons of extra hp and radiating damage
The gentleness and sincerity in which Monty says I do when responding to Kelly saying you love the barbarian great axe @22:45 just warms the cockles of my D&D heart.
I made a fun barbarian artificer build. It had a Dr Jekyll / Mr. Hyde premise. Where a bugbear beast barbarian (named Jackel Snide) was granted superior intellect. While he's Dr jackel he uses his full range of abilities until hearing a trigger word (VENGEANCE). This sends him into a full blown rage and gives over more towards that animalistic side of bug bear. (Btw the trigger for him to regain his sanity was "Mommy loves you")
@@lovelessissimoit’s already labeled that it’s half or no damage with other rogue abilities. It’s how we rule it in our games. Currently I’m playing a rogue barian but it’s much more rogue than barbarian.
@@Fella_friendYes this is the case, and when you fail you take that half damage. However as a bear totem 3 you resist everything but psychic (save for kalashtar and emerald dragon), therefore you get your halved damage from uncanny dodge, THEN your bear totem kicks in and halves it again
For the MonkBarian, I have seen this done pretty well in play. Our group had a lv 3 Bear Totem, Lv 15 Long Death Monk Dwarf. His gimmick was rage, attack, and when he needed to heal, Patient Defense and use his dwarf feature to regain some HP. He would also use his ki points for either flurry of blows, or Mastery of Death to keep himself up at 1 HP.
This is cool, but more a monk with barbarian than a barbarian with monk though. I think the barbarian multiclass is better for a monk than the monk multiclass is for the barbarian.
That Barbarian / Peace Cleric reminds me of something from another TTRPG... In Exalted you had these things called "Limit Breaks" where a character get's pushed to their mental/emotional limit and snaps before acting either in exaggeration or direct opposition of their greatest Virtue, one of said Limit Breaks for a high Compassion character is literally "Violently Rage at the Stupidity of War!"
Jessie Peace, the Peace Domain Barbarian. He follows the path 0f non-violence up until the point when he just looses it. He was not as famous as his brother Warren.
One thing that did not get called out in the Barbarian / Artificer section is the synergy option in the Totem Barbarian / Armorer Artificer. You can Infuse a suit of Medium armor with Psychic Resistance (6th level), and a +1 Shield. At 5th level in either class, you get the Bonus Attack. You can still use your Strength for the Thunder Gauntlets Attack while in a Rage, and you have a Bonus Action got give yourself Temp HP, which always combos well with Barbarian.
@@derekseaton4412 This checks out. Two of the effects at that level say if you aren't wearing heavy armor. This ability does not say that so does in fact work when in heavy armor. I know you know. Just confirming it to anyone else that reads this
Barbarian-Cleric who’s on probation so he has to do nice things for the community to make his PO happy, but all he wants to do is swing his axe (bonus points: give him an axe with the staff of healing ability, call it The Random Axe Of Kindness)
@Al Jean Hey, the Greek Gods were mainly worshipped out of fearing their wrath. Zeus, Apollo, Hera, Hades, None of them were nice by human standards. I say a Barbarian in forced divine servitude is very Greek.
Don’t forget that Ranger dip gives you Expertise, so our Shoves or Grappling becomes god-like! And then there are things like Fighting Style, Horde Breaker, Dread Ambusher, or spells that work great with Barbarian - Longstrider, Goodberry,… Fey Wanderer 3 is also awesome on dual wielding Barbarian!
6:20 actually you can still rage in heavy armour, you just don’t gain the base benefits of rage (and fast movement) Any later rage benefits including subclass features will still work (bear totem giving resistance to all damage except psychic still includes bludgeoning, piercing and slashing) “While raging, you gain the following benefits if you aren’t wearing heavy armor” this stipulation is only on the base rage feature
Um, actually, there's more to it than just one feature that comes with the no-armor requirement... "While raging, you gain the following benefits if you aren't wearing heavy armor: - You have advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws. - When you make a melee weapon attack using Strength, you gain a bonus to the damage roll that increases as you gain levels as a barbarian, as shown in the Rage Damage column of the Barbarian table. - You have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage."
@@guyman1570 Heavy Armor also disables Fast Movement, but other than that it could work. You still get Danger Sense and Reckless Attack, but no bonus damage or advantage on Str rolls while raging. So it could work with an artificer multiclass perhaps, if they buff before combat.
For warlocks, you get invocations at lvl 2 and a pact boon at lvl 3; There are plenty of options there unrelated to spells or simply used for out of combat. There are even warlock sub classes such as the Undead or even the Fathomless that have a lvl 1 feature that's an ongoing benefit during battle. In general, warlocks don't have many spell slots and just burning them on armor of agathys is pretty good.
Oddly enough, Flurry of Blows is not tied to the 'Martial Arts' feature, but to the Ki feature, meaning you can use it while wielding a Heavy Two-Handed axe. Neither is Stunning strike tied to it. They do work together! Also, I could see a Raging Reckless Attacking Monkbarian bonus action Patient Defense, that sounds pretty good
Yup, Martial Arts is mostly there to let you use Dex on attacks when it normally can't and what's the Normal stat? STRENGTH!! So go ahead and start using a Great axe and flurry of blow with Str. If for any reason you lose the axe, then you got access to your fists to go all reckless punching.
@@ruga-ventoj - Martial Arts is also there to let the bonus action unarmed strike(s) not suck, including the 2 from flurry of blows or 1 for free. So it's important for all monks, otherwise flurry of blows would be 2x 1+str damage, as well as the benefit you mentioned for attack rolls. Correct that if your weapon is good enough and you're attacking with your preferred stat already, you don't want to use it on your Attack action, though. But yes, well spotted @Playlist B that Flurry of Blows only requires that you take the Attack action, not that you attacked with a monk weapon or unarmed. Interestingly, the free bonus action to make one unarmed strike does depend on making an unarmed strike or using a monk weapon during your Attack action, so you can't use it with grapple/shove or with a non-monk weapon, only flurry of blows.
The rules for monk actually say you CAN use your dex modifier instead of your strength mod. You don't have to. Also, warhammers are covered by kensei monk if I'm not mistaken. That's a brutal combination.
23:00 Given the Monk discussion, really curious to hear their thoughts on Tavern Brawler in BG3. Seems like Larian tweaked those rules to make this happen.
Most mechanics will tell you, percussive maintance works 80% of the time. So Artbarian thematically works. Also has decent synergies if you go battle smith
Barbarians break stuff. But the Artillerist likes that idea, and the roving cannon isn't bad as you're raging. Thieves' tools proficiency is underrated for breaking and disabling devices well. Armorsmith with the thunder gauntlets isn't bad at all, and works kind of nicely with Path of the Ancestral Guardian to get more than one target to focus on you and make one of them do less damage if they go after your allies. Grab Sentinel, have some tanking fun.
Yeah, honestly Artibarian isn't a bad combo at all! Unlike something like the Druid or the Bard, Artificers are half-casters specifically. They CAN spellcast, but spellcasting isn't the main focus. Not to mention that a good many of Artificer class and subclass features don't specifically require spellcasting. Except Alchemist, but I don't think that it is a good Artificer anyway, so I'm gonna ignore that. What boils down to a good Barbarian subclass or not is how core class/subclass mechanics interact with Rage, because Barbarians are all about that RAGE. Full spellcasters, even Druids, I think generally do not mix. You are meant to cast spells. Rage specifically prevents you from doing that. Thus, better places to look are the classes that don't require *spellcasting*. Artificer is a great example; it has other uses for spell slots aside from spellcasting, and its focus is more on magical items, not spellcasting. However, the spells it has access to are also great forms of utility. Personally, I think Artillerist and Battle Smith are great picks, but Armorer is also a good choice, too.
Wild Magic Barbarian and Wild Magic Sorcerer is a blast, usually when you least expect it. It's not the most optimal in combat, but it leaves an impression.
I have a bear totem/celestial warlock I'm rocking right now and have been for the past couple years. At level 10 he ran into a room with two Barlguras alone... soaked up so much damage and even managed to slay one of them. The rest of the party caught up and helped him finish the last one. You cast armor of agathys outside of combat whenever you think it's appropriate. You save your rages carefully… But in 2024 handbook, this build is even better, maybe even twice as good because the rages come back on a short rest. and you can get the packed of the chain and the packs of the blade at the same time in the new handbook. This build is insane. You cast healing light while you're raging since it's not a spell. You can just use it on yourself with gift of you ever living ones to be a mighty cockroach… Or if intelligent opponents are targeting squishier characters, they actually have to address you first because you keep distance healing your wizard or your rogue back up every time they go down , and you're still raging using your action to attack twice. If I don't want to use rage or I'm all out of them, that's totally fine. I cast spirit shroud and swing at advantage with reckless attack. Adding 1 or 2 d8 The best is when you finally reach celestial level 14 because when you go down, when the bad guy finally somehow manages to put you on the ground and knock you unconscious to zero or very much past zero, you spring right back up with tons of health and damage every bad guy around you and force them to try to try and get you down all over again . Talk about the tip of the spear of your adventuring party, super fun and first through the door of almost every dungeon room, time and time again.
When multiclassing with Paladin, Lay on Hands becomes so much better, cause when you heal yourself during rage those hitpoints are actually doubled, i'd say it's up there with fighters and rogues for S tier
@@denodagor that tracks. I thought I had missed some glorious synergy somewhere that let you actually heal double while raging. Would've been irresponsibly OP. Thank you!
When it comes to making a brutal legends like character, I found that instead of multiclassing the barbarian and bard you can instead multiclass bard with tempest cleric. I made a dwarf character that uses a battle axe as a guitar and blasts lighting as he plays some wicked riffs
I made an NPC Bardbarian I was quite fond of. He was a retired soldier turned barfly that would tell wonderful stories of his glory days to his eager audience. If a stranger dared to call him a liar they could find out just how capable a warrior he still was under that beer gut. Before fighting, he used cantrips like Friends and Vicious Mockery to really mess with people, but he wasn't afraid of a good barroom brawl.
Kensei Monk with Path of the Beast gets lets you count your claws as monk weapons so you could get 4 or 5 attacks each turn using strength. The bonus action attack would be your martial arts die and if you hit with it you would get a bonus to your AC. Later as a monk you could get sharpen the blade letting you add up to +3 to your claws. And your claw damage would increase to larger dice later as your monk die grows.
You don’t even need Kensei, the beast barbarian uses simple martial weapons in which you are proficient. Even if you don’t count the beast weapons as included in the simple weapons a monk is proficient in (because they are proficient in all of them) dedicated weapon allows you to use any weapon you are proficient with as a monk weapon as long as the weapon doesn’t have the heavy or special property
@@yuvalgabay1023 you don't need to be amazing with all 4 stats, you just need to be good enough to qualify for the multiclass. With point buy and a race with bonuses to 2 of the 4 stats you can easily get a 16 in 1 stat and 14s in the other 3, which is absolutely enough to make the combination work
Watching this again to decide if I want to make a barbarian with fighter dip or fighter with barbarian dip. And just now noticed the Gini Di eyebrow hat. Love it!!! I'm a patron for both you and them and love seeing you colab.
Haha I couldn’t help but to think of Ginny impersonating you guys during the “bardbarian” ranking, Monty goes low and Kelly says but the name is cool! Same with D4s they’re shaped like little pyramids, S tier die lol
For monk build: the rolling with difficulty podcast has a astral self/barbarian character. The astral arms let you use your wisdom in place of strength for checks and also lets you make unarmed strikes using your wisdom. The DM ruled that the rage bonuses still apply to attacks, checks, and saves when using wisdom in this case. The character is by no means a power build and it requires a nice DM, but all the features in the build synergise well.
i like this one, the arms say you *can* use your wisdom modifier in place of your strength or dex, so you can still use your strength and get to rage bonus and reckless attack with reach, without nice DMing, and attacking 4 times per turn with at level 8, a 1d6 +4 from strength and a +2 from rage on every attack dealing force damage could be pretty decent (this would be a barb 2 monk 6 i think) going wisdom with DM buy in gets you a really good AC compared to the strength build but you can of course still get a 15 AC on the strength build with the mountain dwarf and still have a 40 foot move speed once you hit monk 5 I would still agree that it's probably a B tier build though
Pertaining to the Barbarian/Artificer, there is one way I can see for this to work: To use the Artificer's spellcasting outside of combat for the most part. I mean, the artificer gets a bunch of utility spells that may prove useful in a pinch. Plus not having to worry about a spellbook like a wizard is a nice bonus if you can use essentially your infused item as a focus - like your greataxe for instance.
Something you didn’t mention about the Druid multiclass is that you can use unarmored defense while wildshaped. Most beasts have good dex and con but low ac, so that combined with the resistance makes wild shape a lot better.
You can use multiattack while wildshaped too. Any creature that doesn't already get multiattack becomes crazy powerful, and it can even help the ones that do, since most say 'you make one attack with (strong ability) and one with (weaker ability)' but if you have multiattack from barbarian you can make two with the strong ability. This also applies to a fighter 11 druid 9 for what may be the craziest 20th level multiclass.
Better sure but you lose two levels of druid and you aren't able to rage and wildeshaoe in the same turn. It's really not that great of a multiclass. Treantmonk's Temble is currently making videos about wildeshape and explains all of that pretty good
@Not- A-Theist You can rage and wildshape in the same turn. Moon druid says you *can* use a bonus action to wildshape instead of an action, rather than saying wildshape *becomes* a bonus action for you. Because of this neat little wording, you can use your action to wildshape and your bonus action to rage.
@@The_Crimson_Witch true, but if you use your action to wildshape, unless you've leveled into Barbarian 15, you've just used both your action and your bonus action, which means you've lost the chance to attack. You then have to pray the enemy isn't smart enough to steer clear of you/not run away from you so you can either take damage or get an opportunity attack. Otherwise you lose rage.
20:40 path of the beast actually works, by the rules, simple weapons in which you are proficient count as monk weapons. In fact, combining it with Kensei monk makes an actually good multiclass.
I would love it if it worked with agile parry... Unfortunately to get the +2 AC you need to wield a weapon RAW and your DM can reasonably argue that you can't wield your claws because you don't wield your hands (Same reason claws don't work with dueling fighting style)
Beast Barbarian 6/Kensei Monk x is actually pretty strong. Currently playing in a campaign with one and you can get up to 35ish DPR (not gonna list full calcs here). But the secret is - dedicated weapon / kensei weapon to get a 1d8 weapon to activate monk features with your attack action - path of the beast claws for an additional two 1d6 attacks with your attack action - martial arts / flurry of blows for either one or two 1d4 bonus attack attacks - all attacks get your str mod and rage bonus - all attacks at advantage because of reckless attack it really does peak right at level 9/10 overall and you mainly gain versatility/extra ki points with the rest of your monk levels, but once you have 3-4 ki points, you can potentially make 5 attacks a turn for an entire combat and that's just plain cool. of course, you do nothing besides this but still battleaxe claw claw kick kick is an awesome turn
My girlfriend played a Beast Barb/Monk in a one-shot I did, it was level 5, so 3 levels barb and 2 levels Monk and she loved it. We didn't think it would do so great, but it exceeded expectations. Not sure how well it would work at higher levels, but lower levels make the Flurry of Blows with Reckless super cool
Correction: Druids can concentrate on spells from the get go in Wild Shape, they don't need Beast Spells from level 18 to do it. They can *cast* them from Wild Shape at 18th level And while Monks cannot use 2 handed weapons, Tasha's optional feature allows Monks to turn weapons that aren't Heavy or Special into Monk weapons. Battleaxe is close enough, not every single melee martial build has to rely on GWM
Fucking thank you. The fact that everyone says you have to have GWM to me is just insane. I understand the numerical advantage it gives you but dealing damage is not the only point in the game.
The thing is, a melee martial build that isn’t doing good damage isn’t really providing anything in combat. They don’t generally have any features that help them do anything else. Don’t say tanking, there’s maybe half a subclass that can actually fulfil that role, and it’s still very limited. If you don’t want to build around combat, that’s cool, but then there’s no point discussing the combat effectiveness of multiclass options.
@@johndevlin9225 A Barbarian running great weapon master spends a valuable ASI or Feat and prevents them with point buy or standard array from maxing out their AC. A Barbarian running a shield can get a decent AC, and you can use subclasses like the Ancestral Guardian to reliably tank and draw aggro. A Barbarian when they max their Constitution and draws aggro is insanely durable and one of the best tanking options out there. There's more to melee fighters than maxing out damage.
@@TheHandgunhero Ancestral guardian was the half a subclass I was referring to, which enables you to gain fairly good control of one enemy as long as you are raging. If there are multiple enemies, or you don’t have enough rages to last the day, or the enemies are at a distance, you have basically no power over them. Still, it is probably the best tank in the game (which says more about the quality of the other tank options). As for drawing aggro, what do you mean by that? Being a very durable target that doesn’t do a lot of damage sounds like the enemies will walk past you and attack your allies that are actually a threat. And if you don’t have a reach weapon because you’re holding a shield then you aren’t even threatening a large area with your one opportunity attack. As for maxing out your ac, do you mean with unarmoured defence? How many ASIs do you think you’re getting? Because by wearing a breastplate (and there’s no reason for a barbarian not to) and having a +2 dex you have an ac that won’t be beaten unarmoured until you have a combined dex and con mod of +7, and that’s gonna take until at least level 16 if you want to max your primary ability score first, and that’s assuming you take no feats at all. I don’t see how a barbarian that focuses all their ASIs into maxing con and carries a shield is a tank at all. Sure they can take a lot of damage, but they have no tools to prevent their allies taking damage. They have a single opportunity attack, and that’s it, unless they’re the one subclass with any kind of ability that helps with this.
@@johndevlin9225 "drawing aggro" means convincing a key enemy to attack you instead of someone else. Usually by making it a worse option to attack someone else, usually by imposing disadvantage on attacks against anyone else. Like a Battlemaster's goading attack, or Ancestral Protectors which is disadvantage *and* resistance to the attack. (That only triggers on your turn, not op attacks anyway, but fair point about not controlling a large area to stop enemies with Sentinel, or just the threat of damage.) Of course it's not "aggro" like in an mmorpg like WoW; in D&D it's just a narrative thing, not mechanically forcing them to. Even the Compelled Duel spell is only disadvantage against other creatures, and only force a Wis save to move more than 30 feet away from you.
I do want to touch on the Monk/Barbarian build idea, because there is one thing that does help it out tremendously; and while it doesn’t allow for greataxes and heavy weapons, it still does a lot. Dedicated Weapon at Level 2 for monk. If you’re Barbarian, multiclassing into Monk, you meet all the criteria to have a heavy hitting weapon, using your strength, and have it be a monk weapon.
I’m glad you tackled the difficulties of Barb/Monk cause I’ve wanted to play a character based on a boxer type, and my initial idea was Barb 3 (Bear Totem) and the rest Monk (most likely Long Death for the resilient boxer)
There is a funny(but very specific) build with Barb(beast level 6 with high jump) and Monk(level 4 slow fall), where you do constant high jumps with a grappled enemy to knock them down and prone, then keep attacking. 1) Grapple target(cost 1 "attack"). 2) Spend your move to make a high jump. Make a Strength(Athletics) check and add that number to your jump height(should easily be over 10 in total). 3) As you and your enemy fall down(1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 10 feet), negate any fall damage you might take by using your reaction and Slow Fall feature(reduce damage by 5x your monk level, so 20). 4) If your enemy takes any damage from this, they are knocked prone, while you still hold on to them(prone requires half your max movement to stand up. Grapple means speed is 0, so no movement points). 5) Your enemy is now prone and you can use your second attack of the round to strike with advantage. 6a) On the enemy's turn, they can use their action to try to stop your grapple(they have to beat you in an athletics contest). If they succeed(unlikely), they are no longer grappled, but are still prone. As a result, they can only crawl, or stand up, using half their movement. 6b) Or the enemy can choose to attack you while still grappled and prone. This gives them disadvantage against you. 7a) If the enemy has escaped, just go back to 1) and start over. 7b) If the enemy is still grappled, you can do a dive bomb again(dealing a bit of damage) and then attack twice. Other benefits to this build. 1) You get to use a Tail(beast 3) to use as a defensive tool in situations where you want to spend your reaction on avoid direct damage rather than grappling(add 1d8 to your AC). 2) You can also choose to spend your reaction on Deflect Missiles. In both cases, it gives you a way to avoid powerful attacks. 3) You can jump high and grapple a flying creature, causing their speed to get reduced to 0, meaning instant falling. 4) Your Martial arts attack bonus action and Flurry of Blows can benefit from Rage damage modifiers. 5) Set up a wrestling competition with your party's Bard as your hypeman and ring announcer.
As someone whos played a Bardbarian Magical Girl Its not practical, but its really silly, especially if your DM gives you some small perks (like spending an insporation to cast while raging), but its not necessary. It was a Wild Magic/Glamour (20 str, 14 Dex, 16 Con, 18 cha), i just wore medium armor and it worked comfortably
I think Drunken monk 6, Totem Barb 14 is pretty good. Eagle at 3, preferrably bear, eagle, or tiger at 6, and then eagle at 14 makes a Rock Lee-esque character who becomes incredibly good at fighting when drunk. Flavor is that your Barb stuff happens when youre drunk. You get 25 feet of movement from monk UD and barb FM for more flying shenanigans, you get d6 punch dice (or 1d8 if you get UF from the martial adept feat), and you get magical attacks for every weapon you use including punches. The downside is that you do lose out on all of the really good late level monk abilities and 20th level barb abilities. All in all i think this could be a fun build and really flavorful for an old angry drunk who is secretly a master of fighting.
Love your vids boys. They are full of great info and are very entertaining. You two are great together. Keep em coming! Your vids helped me to increase me interest in DnD as well as different perspective on gameplay and roleplaying. Thanks very much for your efforts. I'll burn a blunt in your honors =D
How about an alchemist artificer/wild magic barbarian? You get the magic from your potions (no casting or concentration required) and you get the theme of chaos from both subclasses. It's not great, but I reckon it bumps the multiclass to a C at least.
And it just sounds fun! I'm playing a wild magic barbarian with a homebrew magic mushroom tea kit. Whenever I drink the mushroom tea, I roll a d12 and a magical effect happens. Some are from the alchemist elixirs and the rest are from the wild magic sorcerer table.
Mechanically it doesn't synergise, but what actually bumps it to C is the Armourer Artificer. You can use Thunder Gauntlets with reckless attack and strength, you can wear armour as a Barbarian so long as it's not heavy and boost your AC, you get infusions which give you useful utility if needed and you can draw aggro better without needing to be an Ancestral Guardian. You can even get the infusion that gives you resistance on Psychic Damage as a Totem Warrior.
@@TheHandgunhero for AC and utility purposes, I couldn't agree more. The only problem is that the weapons can't be combined with the awesome feats like GWM, so it lacks a bit in the damage department.
@@TheHandgunhero Thunder Gauntlets aren't doing a whole lot, though, given that they're just d8 weapons. You're trading much better weapons for the pseudo-taunt ability.
While the Barbarian Artificer pulls you in two different directions, I'd still give it at least a C. The artificer is very much about support and utility, so you have a number of non-concentration spells that can buff you before going into a rage. Topping it off with infusions, the steel defender or alchemist potions, you're setting yourself up to with a lot of buffs and extra defense. I can see a build that gives you some more utlity, but primarily makes you better as a tank.
Honestly a monk going 3 levels into barbarian is where I think it works the best. Beast totem barbarian on a monk, especially something already tanky like mercy or long death, makes you feel damn near unkillable
I played a Wild Magic Barbarian with 3 levels in Fighter for Battlemaster maneuvers, and HO-LEE-CRAP was he a magnificent beast of a damage dealer. I typically doubled or tripled the damage done by any other party member, and sometimes even all of them combined. It was nuts. And SUPER fun to play!
The big thing about barbarians is that you get such a limited amount of rages, that when you have a big adventuring day, and MANY encounters, then not taking more levels in barbarian really starts to hurt. The flip side is when you get a single class dip into a full caster and get those ranged cantrips (eldritch blast or toll the dead) you can really get through a bunch of encounters without being the dedicated front line on encounters where you aren’t going to rage (the ones where the wizard/sorc are going full blast in slots)
That is only if you're raging every fight. Multiclassing with fighter will allow you to save rages as you don't need to rage to be useful in a fight, so you can save your rages for basically an anime super sayan moment. Or if you're absolutely insane like moi, you find a way to make a barbarian archer with rogue levels. I'm not using most of my class features in most fights, but I'm finding that I really don't need to.
Monty asks at 22:17 if there's a monkbarian build that works Astral self monks get to use Wis instead of Str/Dex for attacks/checks/saves. So you can max Wis at first, use the monk's UA defense, and any simple weapon like the ol reliable quarterstaff. This "downgrades" your 1d12 to 1d8, but you keep the other MA features like 1d4+ BA
Barbarian with cunning action is very strong. I played a defensive focused goblin barbarian and the ability to disengage from one dying enemy to go help out where the three new enemies appeared came in clutch so many times.
In the last campaign I played it, one of the others players was a Rogue-Barbarian. Reckless attack to get advantage, drop an assload of sneak attack dice, disengage and pick your next victim.
I've played a barberian warlock before and it worked quite well! You aren't restricted to taking the eldrich blast invocations because you focus on weapon attacks. This allows you to take the utility options or buffs like constant false life. You won't be taking hexblade but any of the other patrons are great because they give spell like abilities without being actual spells so you can use them in rage. The Celestial's healing light is a standout because it's effectively free free uses of healing word while raging to bring up an ally or to be used on yourself to further buff your HP pool. I think it's best as a dip and is easily higher than a D, likely a C or B.
Similar vein: I had an Ancestral Guardian Barbarian/Rune Knight Fighter I played, and it was AMAZING! The power I felt when I played that character was fantastic. In one session, I two-round soloed an Abeloth
@fightingfalcon777 4 Zealot, 16 Rune Knight. I'm currently level 6. But my plan is: 1-3 Barbarian 4-8 Knight (Extra attack) 9 Barbarian (Feat) 10-20 Knight. I'm sure this isn't optimal. But I wanted to get Raging Giants Might right away. Being a large sized Rage monster and Rolling 4D6 every turn on my first attack is very fun!
Hey Ginny! You really are getting better all the time at impersonating the dudes! XD Nah, great video, guys, thanks! You are making me regret I played Barbarian single class, but I just wanted to see that hilarious Strength 24 barb mowing down everything.
Only other thing I would mention is that for the barbarian/druid combo, at lvl 10 moon druid you can wildshape into elementals. They have a MUCH better hp pool, and with rage and bear totem that makes them an absolute monster. Basically ever single elemental option gives you a minimum of around 200 extra hp while raging as a bear totem
They didn't mention that moon druid can use spell slots to heal itself. I don't believe that feature counts as casting a spell so it should be available while raging.
@@donovandawson9190 slightly up for interpretation just because brutal critical says you can roll extra “weapon damage dice”. So depending upon on your dm they might make it only count for weapons. But if you have a nice dm it should work
For the barbarian/ monk combo Sadly i don't see the abilities complementing each other, however, if you use sentinel feat and rage and stunning strikes you can have a good crowd control character in your hands. And as for dealing heavy damage, you can take the sharpshooter feat and throw javelin and hand axes to get that +10 to damage while using step of the wind to close in on enemies. The heavy long range damage will force the enemies to either take you down in close range or to flee
Barbarian with Bladesinger Wizard reminds me of Tulok the Barbrarian's build for Eda Clawthorne. I think the thematics of it alone are pretty sick, but also the actual play of it. You can switch between these forms depending on what you need in the moment, so I think it's got a lot more versatility than most would expect. Song of Defense much like Divine Smite lets you use your spell slots to provide benefits that bypass the anti-spellcasting drawback of rage. I think there's something decent there.
Variant Human, Barbarian Totem Warrior 5/Monk Way of the Long Death 3 Take Fighting Initiate - Unarmed Fighting, d8+STR for damage on Unarmed Strikes (no armor or shield). Bear Totem, obviously, for resistance to all damage. Up to 4 attacks per turn (extra attack and flurry of blows). 20 extra feet of movement. Touch of Death gives temp HP each time you take out a creature.
The benefit and strength of the Barbarian/Warlock combo comes from the invocations. There are plenty that give you benefits that work while raging. And you can use the spell slots outside combat for a variety of things.
I kinda like it but i just dont see it as very synergistic. Even just hexblades curse can be ok. But it isnt very potent and i hope it isnt done before extra attack and delaying actionsurge or whatever you are speccing sounds frustrating. It isnt bad tho. A critfishing build with a d12 weapon and halforc perhaps.. but there are better ways to do this :( I absolutely love the flavor. Demonic rage. It is close tho but you just dont have any high slots for the agathys before tier 3-4 and well at that point things hits for big dice anyway. Tier 1 play against kobolds and goblins with d4 damage is kinda the peak for it even if you build around it which is a mechanically selfinflictes arrow to the knee. But a funny one.
@@LordNerfherder you dont need high level slots, even just a 5 level dip gives you an extra +40 temp hp(two castings) dealing extra cold damage when hit and a magical +1 weapon. This is before a subclass that can massivly boost your power/survivabiliy. Or you go main warlock that can enter a rage when in melee Try it out one time, go barb 5/6+ warlock 3 is super fun and powerfull
Spell utility like that is nice on the Barbarian. As a class, I find the Barbarian tends to suffer disproportionately in out of combat applications, so having spells to do things is nice.
Not my idea, but I did see a post about someone making a changeling barbarian/warlock build. Where he played each class as a different persona. I liked the idea that I tried and enjoyed it. I've also done this with a changeling barbarian/wizard. Having your enemies overestimate you are a chef's kiss.
The thing about barbarian is that is you focus on a lot of out of combat utility spells that don't rely on your modifier too much, like invisibility and if you get to level 3 you can take expertise in athletics and be a grappling monster. Also you can use bardic inspiration while raging, which is nice.
Barbarian/Monk. If you go Kensei, go get a warhammer to do 1d10 damage on your attack since it's versatile. Then hit with your unarmed attack as bonus action. Both are bludgeoning damage, so get crusher feat and you can help the team and yourself a lot. Once you got lvl 5 for extra attack, you can replace 1 of your attacks with unarmed strike to use agile parry. You lose out on a bit of damage, but you get free AC. Or go Open Hand or Drunken Master monk. Use a staff for 1d8 versatile damage. And you unarmed attacks still can be done with bonus action. Crusher feat always helps. Also both lvl 3 features of open hand and drunken master are useful and can used very well. With a +2 on wis to get the multi class option, it's pretty decent saving throw dc at lower lvls.
Ok here's my monk barbarian concept(and you guys were really close with your ideas!): Kensei/totem warrior. Kensei lets us turn a weapon into a monk weapon, ideally pick a versatile weapon if you wanna go GWM. You can spend you ki on everything except unarmed strikes while you use totem warrior to get bear at lvl3, any of them at lvl 6 but my preferred is tiger, so I guess my build for now is 4 monk 6 barbarian. I'd probably do 8/12 split in favor of barbarian for HP.
@@keeganmbg6999 Technically you can still use GWM with a non-heavy weapon, but you lose its main benefit of the -5 to attack to gain a +10 to damage. You would still get the bonus action attack when you get a critical hit, something I constantly keep forgetting I can do...
Since the Warlock subclass ability comes online at level 1, a dip into the class gives the barbarian some decent versatility. There are a few subclasses that provide some interesting builds such as the self healing tank (fiend&celestial warlock) or subclasses that deal out extra damage (fathomless, hexblade, & undead). Spell slots can be used for out of combat utility, buffs, or for smites if you invest enough levels (though only very particular builds make it worth going that deep into a Warlock multiclass). I'd say the Barb/Warlock multiclass deserves a high B.
@@redbeard5939 I was actually thinking more like a gym bro frat jock who knocks back his bless-in-a-can and then crushes the can on his forehead, but that’s a cool idea too.
I’ve had so much fun playing a very much home-brewed mix of monk and barbarian with a Yin/Yang theme of calm/rage where rage is more like an “overdrive” where I can hit harder and faster, using wisdom as my attack modifier as in “using ancient fighting knowledge” to attack. I’m also a mix of an earth and fire Genasi and every-time I enter “overdrive” mode, fire jets out of my shoulders and calves- it is so cool and fun to play. Just shows that there definitely needs to be some kind of rage-themed monk subclass or something along those lines.
The iconic Bardbarian - Fahfard from the Fritz Lieber "Lanhkmar" short stories. You can do Barbarian/Undead Warlock to get the Form of Dread or Fathomless since the summoned tenticle does not require concentration and water breathing. Celestial warlock gives Healing Light (no concentration self heals) and Celestial Resistence's temporary HP.
There's actually a great play that you can combine the Artificer and Barbarian. Specifically, you pull out the Artillerist. The Arcane Cannon does not require spellcasting to function, and you can use it to give you and your team a solid buffer of temp hp. Not to mention that you can easily prioritize spells that don't require concentration, like longstrider to make your barbarian faster.
Play a Tortle, go Beast Barbarian and Artillerist Artificer, attach the cannon to your shell, and now you're the pokemon Blastoise. At Barb 5/Art 3 and you attack 3 times and can shoot a distant enemy with Hydro Pump or hit in a cone with Scald. It's a beautiful thing that I am still waiting to play. 😁
I think the Alchemist may actually have some nice synergy with Barbarian. Like the Paladin, you can spend your spell slots making elixirs instead, and all of the effects are useful for a frontline brawler.
I know this was about the Barbarian, but during their exposition on the Monk multi-class, I recalled the monk I made on Icewind Dale II, and the best item I found in the game. It was a necklace that granted bear claws once per day and added 1d9 to each strike, in addition to the damage of the monks unarmed strike. Imagine if the barbarian monk got a hold of that item.
Scrubbing through, it made it look like Monty gave BarBEARian a S and Kelly gave it a D, and that shook me to my core. Thankfully, the context made sense.
So I worked on some homebrew allowing Barbarians to rage and use other features with strength or dexterity which opened up a lot for my players. That and a few other monk and barbarian changes left me with the equivalent of Goku in my PC's party.
For the Bard-barian build how about a barbarian path of the juggernaut, with bard college of swords, weilding 2 flails with two weapon fighting and crusher Feats. With the juggernaut + crusher you would move (up) 10 ft the opponent on every attack adding 1d6 of fall damage, and if you use your flourish, you add 5 + 1d8 ft movement potentially throwing the opponent up to 20ft on a single attack. This could be a 1 level start for barbarian for its sweet start point, going 6 levels in bard for the extra attack and 2 more levels on barbarian to get the path of the juggernaut. All spells can be non combat oriented and. At level 9 it would be attacking 3 times for 1d8 (flail) + 1d6 (fall damage) + str + 2 (rage), adding to one attack a 1d8 from the flourish, and a potential additional 1d6 by moving the enemy 20+ft. You only need 13 in Charisma and a focus on Strength and Constitution would do quite nicely
How does that apply exactly? The Zealot barbarian adds radiant damage to their attacks, I wonder if the Undead feature there would allow you to add radiant as well as necrotic damage.
@@thesnep4757 Yes, you could also add radiant. (Or more necrotic, if you chose that for your Divine Fury.) > undead warlock 6th: Grave Touched > > In addition, once during each of your turns, when you hit a creature with an attack roll and roll damage against the creature, you can replace the damage type with necrotic damage. While you are using your Form of Dread, you can roll one additional damage die when determining the necrotic damage the target takes. So you could replace the slashing damage from your greataxe with necrotic, and roll an extra 1d12. It's similar to a crit for free every turn, for the base weapon damage, making a greataxe (1d12) pull way ahead of a greatsword (2d6) even before you get Brutal Critical.
Besides being a lot of fun thematically, Ancestral Guardian is also really a whole different beast when it comes to multiclass potential, because its actually entirely viable to do a Ranged, Dex-Based Barbarian with it, which pairs very well with a wide variety of ranged-focused as well as pet-having multiclass options.
A great Paladin Oath option that got missed in that section is Oath of the Watchers. The Channel Divinity boosts the party's mental saves, many of the Oath spells focus more on out of combat utility and include several long duration non-concentration spells, and the Watcher aura boosting initiative rolls makes Dexterity less important and reduces the MAD a bit. Just get enough Dex to get the most out of Half Plate and you don't really lose any of the tankiness of either class. Another important thing making Paladin Barbarian an A-tier combo is Aura of Protection, since that stays up while raging and really helps compensate for Barbarian's relative weakness against mental saves. Also, I'm amazed you managed to get through a section talking about Paladin/Barbarian multiclassing without bringing up one of the most obvious mechanical and thematic Barbarian paths for the concept: Zealot.
DR JEKKYL AND MR HYDE! The Incredible Hulk! The barb/artificer might not be amazing on paper but the theme of a scientist who can break out into a destructive rage has endless possibilities
I would say warlock is a C, armor of agathys can be cast before combat/raging and rage/reckless attack makes the spell even better. Also Eldritch smite.
I actually built a Tortle Barbarian Bladesinger and I think it's quite a cool combo. Sure you can't cast or concentrate on spells while raging, but what I like here is the versatility. Both the amount of rages as Bladesong are limited per long rest, so when one is depleted you focus on the other. The Bladesong itself I imagine as a gladiatorial display of martial beauty. You can also get one of the few non-Concentration spells off, rage and then activate Bladesong on your next turn. You're a frontline fighter that tries to get enemies to focus fire you. Don't mind all their opportunity attacks when you run around with 20AC. Also, just the idea of casting Fireball and then running in to finish them off...priceless. If you ever get to Barb3 taking Zealot might be the right pick so you can be resurrected time and again for free, haha
You should check our Treantmonk’s Guardian Build. It takes wizard levels for war Magic’s ability to boost saving throws. Really helps keep the barbarian in the fight
I had a half orc bard-barian, and she had some (homebrewed) weapons. They were shrieking axes. They were based on a kind of armor that polish Calvary used to have, that had holes drilled into them, and as they rode horses in a charge, the wind going through the armor would act like pipes, and they sounded, basically like Nazgul. So, my character had axes, that when being swung, would shriek, or sound like they were screaming. And the tone made depends on how fast you swung them. She was trained to use them for performance, like spinning poi, where she could make music with the axes, and when using them in combat also added an intimidation effect. Her attacks could be considered using a musical instrument, so she could use them for certain spells. Or spell like abilities. I also had a homebrewed subclass, that was like a skald or dirge singer, which was similar to a barbarian version of the Swashbuckler, or a Hexblade, that could use charisma for attacks, and use performance in combat for intimidation of enemies and inspiration for allies. Which I think the game is seriously missing. There are a lot of ways that music and combat could be combined. Even a monk could have a performance based subclass like a dancer that also fights. From a whilring dervish to a capoeira martial artist, there are many untapped options. Would love to hear your thoughts on the concept.
Friend is playing a barbarian monk. They're having a decent time in the campaign, primary issue is that they don't get that second attack until level 8 and they're very attribute dependent so they're feeling a bit limited in combat.
This is why you should usually go to level 5 in one class to get Extra Attack before multiclassing, for most multi-class builds. Otherwise you get left behind when the party hits level 5. Being late to the party with Extra Attack for more than one level is either bad planning or a tradeoff where you'd better have gotten something really good in exchange, hopefully long term not just being OP in those early levels. (e.g. if you choose your starting class for saving throw proficiencies, but don't want to go past 3 in it, then yeah you have a rough 3 levels in exchange for a somewhat more optimal build later if you didn't switch after 1 or 2 levels in your starting class, to come back later after you get Extra Attack from the class you plan to get to 5.) But in this case, would you want Str+Con save proficiency vs. Str+Dex? I guess it depends how many poison monsters your DM uses, but Dex saves are really common. Although monk evasion gives you half damage all the time, it's no damage if you pass on saves for half, so the absolute damage reduction is still half the AoEs damage whether you have evasion or not. e.g. on a 30 hp fireball, making the save leaves you 15 hp higher than not making the save, whether or not you have evasion. Proficiency + advantage from Danger Sense is good for reliably making saves. And many con saves are against poison, but monks are immune to poison at 10th level, so con save proficiency is significantly weaker. So I'd have started Monk, then dipped at most 1 level of barbarian for rage after monk 1 or 2, * then continued to monk 5 * then get to barbarian 3 if that's where you're aiming to stop * then continue with monk. But at least as a monk they can make an unarmed strike (or two with Ki for Flurry of Blows), so it's still 2 attacks.
@@TheLegendaryLegacy The bonus attack is an Unarmed attack. If you are wielding anything that is not a Monk weapon, armor, or a shield, you loses your Martial Arts benefits. Meaning your Unarmed attacks become a 1+strength+other modifier(like rage).
@@TheLegendaryLegacy You do not get Ki until 2nd level in Monk(for Dedicated Weapon). You do not get Kensei until 3rd level in Monk. Similarly, you do not get your Barbarian subclass until level 3. Regardless, your unarmed extra attacks are still unarmed attacks(either from bonus action Martial Arts or Flurry of Blows). Not claw attacks. Because your claw attacks counts as weapons. Which means at level 5, you are probably looking at a BeastBarb3/Monk2. Sure, it is possible to 2 claw attacks(d6) off, and then a bonus attack(martial d4) or Flurry(2 attacks at d4). But that is still lower damage than a Barb5 with Polearm Master and a Glaive, or a Barb5 with GWM. And it relies on using your bonus action to keep up, which means on turn 1(rage), you will be a fair bit behind. Similarly, to use Flurry, you need Ki, and with only 2-3 points, they are gone very fast. The Barb/Monk is MAD, so you will have a weaker 1-3 level. Similarly, you do not get a true powerspike at 4th level, if you multiclass at this point. You could wait until level 5 to multiclass(still MAD for 5 levels though), to get your Extra Attacks "on time", but then it is your level 6 that is a lot weaker, as a regular Barb will get their second path feature here(in this case, counting your claws as magical, among other things) and an additional use of Rage per long rest. In addition to this, the MAD barb will generally have lower AC(15) compared to a medium armored Barb(16), as well as lower HP. Thematically, it is a fun combo. But mechanically, there are so many things that do not mesh very well. You end up being a melee character with somewhat poor AC, minimal utility and only "ok" damage output. The Barb Monk does not scale well either, because items you get are typically not to your benefit or as powerful. Boosting your unarmed or natural weapon damage is possible, but has far less potential. Similarly, because you rely on both Rage and Ki, you want a decent amount of levels of both classes to have enough resources for tier 2+ campaigns. If you want to go "Nova" with a beast barb, the Fighter is a much better multiclass than Monk. You avoid going MAD. You only need a 2 level dip for Nova, and you get a fighting style and Second Wind. If you then go for Fighter3, you can pick Champion, Battlemaster or Echo Knight for more options. The BeastBarb/Monk is good for brawling and grappling. That is about it.
@@TheLegendaryLegacy What Barb AC? Due to MAD you might have 15 AC at best(if you sacrifice strength), until you get the Kensei stuff(which, at its earliest, is Monk level 3). Remember, this is the Barbarian list. You start as a Barbarian. So if you intend to go Barb3/Kensei6, you take 1 level in Barb and then maybe 5 levels in Monk for extra attack(meaning Kensei at character level 4). Then either 1 more in monk or 2 in Barb. That is still a big delay in various standard power spikes(3 levels with 15 or less AC, for instance, very few rages per long rest). If you use a shield or armor, your unarmed attacks(bonus attacks from Martial Arts/Flurry) becomes only 1 damage +modifers. It is not "solid" when there are so many levels where other characters get a noticable spike in power, while the Barb/Monk just get a small, situational compensation for what they lost, not a unique strength. When your overall damage and survivability is lower than a standard Barb in most of your levels, it is not "solid". It can still be fun and flavourful, but you are not competing with regular barbs or more optimized multiclasses anymore. To use Kensei's Agile Parry(+2 AC), it requires you to make an Unarmed strike as part of your Attack Action. To use both Claw and Unarmed Strike as part of your attack action, you need to be Barb3/Monk5(or the other way around). Which means for the Barb1/Kensei3(earliest AC boost), a Turn 2 attack round is: Unarmed Strike(to enable the AC bonus), followed by 1(Martial Arts) or 2(Flurry) Unarmed Strikes. Same deal for Kensei4(character level 5), although might have improved your Strength or AC with an ASI, to negate most of the MAD effect. At Kensei5(char level 6) you get 2 Unarmed attacks as your Attack action, but you cant use Claws yet, and you still only have 2 Rages per Long rest. So you either suffer from low damage(low damage die/few attacks per turn) or low AC(15 or less), partially due to MAD, for most of your early levels(1-7). Spending a very limited resource to deal extra damage is what it means to "go nova". You get your "Nova" at level 8 when you can get up to 5 attacks off in your turn, by spending Ki and Rage(rage was activated previous round). 5d6+25, or an average of 47.5 damage. That is "ok", but again, comes at the cost of a lower HP pool(compared to pure Barb) and the effect of MAD(either lower strength or AC. If you get +3 damage from strength, your base AC is 14, unless you use your ASI at Monk4 to improve it). A Level 8 Barbarian with a Flametongue Greatsword(which is a typical magic weapon at this level), can make 2 attacks per turn. In this case, they have also spent their level 8 ASI for increased Strength(+4 modifier now). That is 4d6+4d6+12, or an average of 40. If they have GWM(from level 4 ASI/feat), they can potentially get an extra attack as a Bonus Action, which is an extra 4d6+6. A total of 60 average damage. Remember, these attacks are more accurate when compared to the MAD Barb/Monk, due to having 18+ strength rather than 16 or less. If we use the -5 attack roll from GWM for an extra +10 damage to each attack, then it becomes 90 potential average damage. It only cost the Rage activation, of which you have 4, meaning every round, you can have this much potential damage. And Remember, you having, at least, 16 AC by this point(just from a simple Breastplate). The wrestle bodyslam combo is an old favourite of mine, and the reason why I consider Barb/Monk a fun character to try. Specifically in a 1-shot where you get to start at level 10(level 6 Beastbarb high jump and level 4 Monk slow fall). Outside of that, it is just less power and a lot of restrictions, if you try to level it from 1 to 10. I know, because I have done it a few times. You get overall more grapple potential by going Barb/Rogue(Advantage + Expertise makes your Athletics check auto win in most cases).
@@canis2020 understand that the purpose of this video isn’t to flex their creative muscles and rp chops. They have them and they are setting them aside to mechanically analyze these
Out of all my characters, my favorite was my Barbarian/Rogue. It meshes together so well in so many ways. I was a Bugbear, took the Scout Rogue and the Elk Totem Barbarian, getting such high movement speed and taking the Alert feat to be able to act first in combat. Was easily able to get the first hit on enemies who havent acted in the combat yet to get the extra Surprise Attack dice from the Bugbear race on top of the Sneak Attack dice which were guaranteed thanks to the Reckless Attack.
just starting a new campaign and I'm making a wood elf barbarian, but I plan to dip 3 levels into ranger for gloomstalker. Wood elf innate move speed, plus dread ambusher, plus longstrider, plus zephyr strike, we're literally just gonna be zoomin across the battlefield on every encounter.
A beast barbarian/monk build works if you (while having no martial weapons or armor) take the attack action, make two beast claw attacks, then a single unarmed strike, then another unarmed strike as a bonus action. Or you could flurry of blows and make three beast claw attacks. Going 5 levels of monk and 3 of beast barbarian gives you 4-5 attacks a round.
Barbarian and Warlock work fine. There are plenty of invocations that would help the barbarian and the spell slots are so limited anyway that you'll miss them less in combat.
The class alone is cool but not good mechanically, so to risk it being even worse mechanically by multiclassing is usually avoided. I once played a open palm monk with the blood hunter Lycan class, super cool flavor but I would’ve been way better as a level 20 monk
@@eliadams3711 to be fair multiclassing as a monk usually doesn't work too well unless you're extremely intentional with your choices, it's harder to play with than the other classes
I created a multiclass build in Balder's gate 3 that I'll be trying out in my next 5e campaign, a hexblade Warbarbadin. It's 5 warlock, 5 barbarian, and 2 paladin. It focuses on using smite "spells" while enraged to do massive damage with a pact blade. I've taken out bosses in a single turn with this build. That said, I realize the pact blade extra attack doesn't stack with the class extra attacks in 5e like it does in BG3 so I might take more ranks in warlock and fewer in barbarian for higher level spell slots but we'll see how it goes.
The barbarian monk you guys need to revisit and really read the Astra Monk wording. It says when you make a Str attack and can instead use your wis. This is different than all other wordings like the hexblade. So it should allow you to gain the barbarian rage bonus on your attacks. It's the best combo for the 2 classes and can make an insane grappler especially when pairing with say Owlin or a Gem Dragon Psychic
Also do they look at optional class features? If im not mistaken monk has an optional feature to allows monk to have one non monk weapon count as a monk weapon.
@@julianmills2261 There is indeed but that wording doesn't allow for the rage bonus. It works nicely though on a straight monk or monk rog, but still problematic for the barbarian getting all features.
Something I did that was interesting to get around the stunning strike issue. Is Barb 3 Monk 3 Bear totem, and Astral Monk. While it might take two turns to set up due to bonus action limitations. You get extra arms to do unarmored strikes while also carrying another weapon. My character was also a Warforged, so my DM created armblades for me. Which was fun.
The things that make the Barbarian/Warlock work are armor of agathys (non-concentration) and the eldritch smite invocation. It's not the strongest build but it's still a much better route than anything sorcerer or wizard brings.
You can also cast mage armor and get a +3 to AC.
Edit: Alright just looked at mage armor and found out this doesn’t work. This is because mage armor doesn’t stack as the the wording is “makes your AC equal to 13 + dex modifier”
Clockwork sorcerer also gives armor of Agathys and other abilities that support the spell that you can use in rage
@@Vawk20 Yeah, but you need at least two levels to swap out the previous spell. Hexblade Warlock benefits you way better with just one.
@@MadnessOpus True but a nice DM might let you swap at level 1.
@@plasmagamer1771 Mage Armor makes your AC 13 plus your Dex mod. It doesn't stack with Unarmored Defense, which makes your AC 10 plus your Dex mod plus your Con mod.
I DM'd for a friend who wanted to play the BardBarian combo and what I did was I added a feat they could take I called warrior song. Essentially it was the raging barbarian could concentrate on spells during a rage by singing to their gods or ancestors or whatever. They could not cast a new spell during rage but as long as they kept up the warrior song they maintained concentration. This was effected by things like silence or some other effect that caused them not to be able to voice their song. It was not overpowered in my opinion and was very fun at the table.
That's really cool, I'd limit it to verbal component spells, but it totally makes sense
@@Grooveworthy I don't get why someone would do that, if the spell is casted before they go into a rage and the quid is they need to be able to sing (verbal component each turn) in subsequent turns if raging to be able to mantain concentration, this ability is already adding a constant need foor verbal component after the casting, that's going to bring with it a lot of limitations for the raging barbarian to consider that will begin immediately when casted and will remain for as many turns after the casting as they can hold concentration. As I see this, limiting this to only spells that already had a verbal component does nothing for balancing a HB mechanic that's already well balanced, but it would only take away from the spells the barbarian can concentrate on and the possibilities at their disposal
Toss it onto a weapon, like a fluted haft of an ax so it whistles with each strike. Or a singing bowstaff that whistles through air. Each strike can imbue a bardic die to add spell damage to the strike. Let's you burn bardic die since you won't be using them during rages.
Simon singing Cheers in Adventure time lol
We had Barbarian Rizz where the Barbarian could expend a rage charge to have advantage on Persuasion and Performance checks. Didn’t require multiclassing in Bard though. He was a zealot barbarian who worshipped the Goddess of Love and had a special personal relationship with her is why.
Treantmonk has a great barbarian warlock build on his channel. Basically, it combines armor of Agathys with rage for tons of extra hp and radiating damage
The gentleness and sincerity in which Monty says I do when responding to Kelly saying you love the barbarian great axe @22:45 just warms the cockles of my D&D heart.
I made a fun barbarian artificer build. It had a Dr Jekyll / Mr. Hyde premise. Where a bugbear beast barbarian (named Jackel Snide) was granted superior intellect. While he's Dr jackel he uses his full range of abilities until hearing a trigger word (VENGEANCE). This sends him into a full blown rage and gives over more towards that animalistic side of bug bear.
(Btw the trigger for him to regain his sanity was "Mommy loves you")
Brilliant
One thing I've been looking at with a Rogue/Barbarian is the fact that Uncanny Dodge says "half damage" so it stacks with a Barbarian's resistance.
So...quarter damage?
Danger sense and evasion combo, especially has a totem bear Barbarian, is also something to not look over.
@@lovelessissimoit’s already labeled that it’s half or no damage with other rogue abilities. It’s how we rule it in our games. Currently I’m playing a rogue barian but it’s much more rogue than barbarian.
@@Fella_friendYes this is the case, and when you fail you take that half damage. However as a bear totem 3 you resist everything but psychic (save for kalashtar and emerald dragon), therefore you get your halved damage from uncanny dodge, THEN your bear totem kicks in and halves it again
For the MonkBarian, I have seen this done pretty well in play. Our group had a lv 3 Bear Totem, Lv 15 Long Death Monk Dwarf. His gimmick was rage, attack, and when he needed to heal, Patient Defense and use his dwarf feature to regain some HP. He would also use his ki points for either flurry of blows, or Mastery of Death to keep himself up at 1 HP.
This is cool, but more a monk with barbarian than a barbarian with monk though. I think the barbarian multiclass is better for a monk than the monk multiclass is for the barbarian.
Wouldn’t it be called a Bonk?
That Barbarian / Peace Cleric reminds me of something from another TTRPG...
In Exalted you had these things called "Limit Breaks" where a character get's pushed to their mental/emotional limit and snaps before acting either in exaggeration or direct opposition of their greatest Virtue, one of said Limit Breaks for a high Compassion character is literally "Violently Rage at the Stupidity of War!"
Oh, god... It's the WokeBarian.
Barbarian/Peace Cleric is Bender from Futurama saying: The whole world must learn of our peaceful ways! By force!!
Jessie Peace, the Peace Domain Barbarian. He follows the path 0f non-violence up until the point when he just looses it. He was not as famous as his brother Warren.
One thing that did not get called out in the Barbarian / Artificer section is the synergy option in the Totem Barbarian / Armorer Artificer. You can Infuse a suit of Medium armor with Psychic Resistance (6th level), and a +1 Shield. At 5th level in either class, you get the Bonus Attack. You can still use your Strength for the Thunder Gauntlets Attack while in a Rage, and you have a Bonus Action got give yourself Temp HP, which always combos well with Barbarian.
That's pretty cool. Can cast Aid too, right?
Also, Bear Totem resistances apply when you are in Heavy Armor RAW. You just miss out on the Bonus damage and Advantage on Str checks
@@VanBurenPhilips Yes, it's an Artificer spell.
@@derekseaton4412 This checks out. Two of the effects at that level say if you aren't wearing heavy armor. This ability does not say that so does in fact work when in heavy armor. I know you know. Just confirming it to anyone else that reads this
Infiltrator barbarian
In regards to your barbarian peace cleric... I have five words for you. "Court Ordered Anger Management Classes."
Barbarian-Cleric who’s on probation so he has to do nice things for the community to make his PO happy, but all he wants to do is swing his axe (bonus points: give him an axe with the staff of healing ability, call it The Random Axe Of Kindness)
i love it!
@Al Jean I’m assuming “PO” is “parole officer” here. I love the “Random Axe of Kindness” 😊
@Al Jean Hey, the Greek Gods were mainly worshipped out of fearing their wrath. Zeus, Apollo, Hera, Hades, None of them were nice by human standards. I say a Barbarian in forced divine servitude is very Greek.
Don’t forget that Ranger dip gives you Expertise, so our Shoves or Grappling becomes god-like!
And then there are things like Fighting Style, Horde Breaker, Dread Ambusher, or spells that work great with Barbarian - Longstrider, Goodberry,…
Fey Wanderer 3 is also awesome on dual wielding Barbarian!
Exactly and Absolutly!
6:20 actually you can still rage in heavy armour, you just don’t gain the base benefits of rage (and fast movement)
Any later rage benefits including subclass features will still work (bear totem giving resistance to all damage except psychic still includes bludgeoning, piercing and slashing)
“While raging, you gain the following benefits if you aren’t wearing heavy armor” this stipulation is only on the base rage feature
Um, actually, there's more to it than just one feature that comes with the no-armor requirement...
"While raging, you gain the following benefits if you aren't wearing heavy armor:
- You have advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws.
- When you make a melee weapon attack using Strength, you gain a bonus to the damage roll that increases as you gain levels as a barbarian, as shown in the Rage Damage column of the Barbarian table.
- You have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage."
To be fair... You're right about Totem Bear still working regardless of armor or no armor.
@@guyman1570 I'm glad you caught that. I was coming to let you know.... So... Umm.... Carry on, I suppose.
@@guyman1570 Heavy Armor also disables Fast Movement, but other than that it could work. You still get Danger Sense and Reckless Attack, but no bonus damage or advantage on Str rolls while raging.
So it could work with an artificer multiclass perhaps, if they buff before combat.
For warlocks, you get invocations at lvl 2 and a pact boon at lvl 3; There are plenty of options there unrelated to spells or simply used for out of combat. There are even warlock sub classes such as the Undead or even the Fathomless that have a lvl 1 feature that's an ongoing benefit during battle.
In general, warlocks don't have many spell slots and just burning them on armor of agathys is pretty good.
Oddly enough, Flurry of Blows is not tied to the 'Martial Arts' feature, but to the Ki feature, meaning you can use it while wielding a Heavy Two-Handed axe. Neither is Stunning strike tied to it. They do work together!
Also, I could see a Raging Reckless Attacking Monkbarian bonus action Patient Defense, that sounds pretty good
Yup, Martial Arts is mostly there to let you use Dex on attacks when it normally can't and what's the Normal stat? STRENGTH!! So go ahead and start using a Great axe and flurry of blow with Str. If for any reason you lose the axe, then you got access to your fists to go all reckless punching.
@@ruga-ventoj - Martial Arts is also there to let the bonus action unarmed strike(s) not suck, including the 2 from flurry of blows or 1 for free.
So it's important for all monks, otherwise flurry of blows would be 2x 1+str damage, as well as the benefit you mentioned for attack rolls.
Correct that if your weapon is good enough and you're attacking with your preferred stat already, you don't want to use it on your Attack action, though.
But yes, well spotted @Playlist B that Flurry of Blows only requires that you take the Attack action, not that you attacked with a monk weapon or unarmed.
Interestingly, the free bonus action to make one unarmed strike does depend on making an unarmed strike or using a monk weapon during your Attack action, so you can't use it with grapple/shove or with a non-monk weapon, only flurry of blows.
Works great for Drunken Masters who don't need wisdom for their feats and can make 5 bonus attacks with Intoxicated Frenzy
The rules for monk actually say you CAN use your dex modifier instead of your strength mod. You don't have to. Also, warhammers are covered by kensei monk if I'm not mistaken. That's a brutal combination.
How did you completely whiff the opportunity to say Barbonk? XD
23:00 Given the Monk discussion, really curious to hear their thoughts on Tavern Brawler in BG3. Seems like Larian tweaked those rules to make this happen.
The fact that you guys bring up Brutal Legend (one of my favorite games of all time) made me so happy 😁
For Barbarian-Rogue. Technically all finesse weapons can use dexterity, but it’s not mandatory. You can use any weapon with this.
Most mechanics will tell you, percussive maintance works 80% of the time. So Artbarian thematically works. Also has decent synergies if you go battle smith
A Totem Warrior artificer that crafts their own totemic machines inhabited by nature spirits sounds like an incredible concept
*Bartificer
YES thank you for saying this
Barbarians break stuff. But the Artillerist likes that idea, and the roving cannon isn't bad as you're raging. Thieves' tools proficiency is underrated for breaking and disabling devices well. Armorsmith with the thunder gauntlets isn't bad at all, and works kind of nicely with Path of the Ancestral Guardian to get more than one target to focus on you and make one of them do less damage if they go after your allies. Grab Sentinel, have some tanking fun.
Yeah, honestly Artibarian isn't a bad combo at all!
Unlike something like the Druid or the Bard, Artificers are half-casters specifically. They CAN spellcast, but spellcasting isn't the main focus.
Not to mention that a good many of Artificer class and subclass features don't specifically require spellcasting. Except Alchemist, but I don't think that it is a good Artificer anyway, so I'm gonna ignore that.
What boils down to a good Barbarian subclass or not is how core class/subclass mechanics interact with Rage, because Barbarians are all about that RAGE.
Full spellcasters, even Druids, I think generally do not mix. You are meant to cast spells. Rage specifically prevents you from doing that. Thus, better places to look are the classes that don't require *spellcasting*.
Artificer is a great example; it has other uses for spell slots aside from spellcasting, and its focus is more on magical items, not spellcasting. However, the spells it has access to are also great forms of utility.
Personally, I think Artillerist and Battle Smith are great picks, but Armorer is also a good choice, too.
Wild Magic Barbarian and Wild Magic Sorcerer is a blast, usually when you least expect it. It's not the most optimal in combat, but it leaves an impression.
I gave mine lightning lure, booming blade, shield, and mage armor to use before raging. It worked fine until he got angry 😂
36:18 Bear totem/Chain Celestial. Armor of agathys + Gift of the Everliving ones + Healing light + rage + Aasimar has a lot of potential
Throw in a periapt of health, Eldritch smite, Mirror image, hell, even try genie patron for out of battle casting and non-concentration flight!
Ok, I'm sold on this one.
I have a bear totem/celestial warlock I'm rocking right now and have been for the past couple years. At level 10 he ran into a room with two Barlguras alone... soaked up so much damage and even managed to slay one of them. The rest of the party caught up and helped him finish the last one.
You cast armor of agathys outside of combat whenever you think it's appropriate. You save your rages carefully… But in 2024 handbook, this build is even better, maybe even twice as good because the rages come back on a short rest. and you can get the packed of the chain and the packs of the blade at the same time in the new handbook. This build is insane.
You cast healing light while you're raging since it's not a spell. You can just use it on yourself with gift of you ever living ones to be a mighty cockroach… Or if intelligent opponents are targeting squishier characters, they actually have to address you first because you keep distance healing your wizard or your rogue back up every time they go down , and you're still raging using your action to attack twice.
If I don't want to use rage or I'm all out of them, that's totally fine. I cast spirit shroud and swing at advantage with reckless attack. Adding 1 or 2 d8
The best is when you finally reach celestial level 14 because when you go down, when the bad guy finally somehow manages to put you on the ground and knock you unconscious to zero or very much past zero, you spring right back up with tons of health and damage every bad guy around you and force them to try to try and get you down all over again . Talk about the tip of the spear of your adventuring party, super fun and first through the door of almost every dungeon room, time and time again.
29:10 Kelly's little sing-song "Double scimitars." with the little dance afterward is great.
When multiclassing with Paladin, Lay on Hands becomes so much better, cause when you heal yourself during rage those hitpoints are actually doubled, i'd say it's up there with fighters and rogues for S tier
Wait, what? I need details here!
@@JoelCSabo Since you take half damage to almost anything while raging, having 5 HP basically means 10 HP
You can also do this with Monk Way of Mercy healing. Keep punching and then occasionally heal yourself also with punching.
@@denodagor that tracks. I thought I had missed some glorious synergy somewhere that let you actually heal double while raging. Would've been irresponsibly OP. Thank you!
@Joel Sabo It's not illegal to use LOH during a rage, but if you're not attacking, you'll lose the Rage at end of turn.
It's kinda wild to see the snippet about the barbearian and for a while there's a D ranking on Kelly's side and an S ranking on Monty's side.
Honestly might be a great meme format.
When it comes to making a brutal legends like character, I found that instead of multiclassing the barbarian and bard you can instead multiclass bard with tempest cleric. I made a dwarf character that uses a battle axe as a guitar and blasts lighting as he plays some wicked riffs
I made an NPC Bardbarian I was quite fond of. He was a retired soldier turned barfly that would tell wonderful stories of his glory days to his eager audience. If a stranger dared to call him a liar they could find out just how capable a warrior he still was under that beer gut. Before fighting, he used cantrips like Friends and Vicious Mockery to really mess with people, but he wasn't afraid of a good barroom brawl.
Kensei Monk with Path of the Beast gets lets you count your claws as monk weapons so you could get 4 or 5 attacks each turn using strength. The bonus action attack would be your martial arts die and if you hit with it you would get a bonus to your AC. Later as a monk you could get sharpen the blade letting you add up to +3 to your claws. And your claw damage would increase to larger dice later as your monk die grows.
You don’t even need Kensei, the beast barbarian uses simple martial weapons in which you are proficient. Even if you don’t count the beast weapons as included in the simple weapons a monk is proficient in (because they are proficient in all of them) dedicated weapon allows you to use any weapon you are proficient with as a monk weapon as long as the weapon doesn’t have the heavy or special property
,the problem is i cant be good whit 4 stats. You just cant
@@yuvalgabay1023 and that is why it is not an S, but maybe a B instead of B-
@@yuvalgabay1023 you don't need to be amazing with all 4 stats, you just need to be good enough to qualify for the multiclass. With point buy and a race with bonuses to 2 of the 4 stats you can easily get a 16 in 1 stat and 14s in the other 3, which is absolutely enough to make the combination work
@@brazen_helm its will be workble but i have the feeling you will be not so good barb and not so good monk .
Watching this again to decide if I want to make a barbarian with fighter dip or fighter with barbarian dip. And just now noticed the Gini Di eyebrow hat. Love it!!! I'm a patron for both you and them and love seeing you colab.
Haha I couldn’t help but to think of Ginny impersonating you guys during the “bardbarian” ranking, Monty goes low and Kelly says but the name is cool! Same with D4s they’re shaped like little pyramids, S tier die lol
I’ve been thinking of dipping into 1 or 2 levels of Peace Domain Cleric so you guys shouting that out is awesome!
For monk build: the rolling with difficulty podcast has a astral self/barbarian character. The astral arms let you use your wisdom in place of strength for checks and also lets you make unarmed strikes using your wisdom. The DM ruled that the rage bonuses still apply to attacks, checks, and saves when using wisdom in this case. The character is by no means a power build and it requires a nice DM, but all the features in the build synergise well.
i like this one, the arms say you *can* use your wisdom modifier in place of your strength or dex, so you can still use your strength and get to rage bonus and reckless attack with reach, without nice DMing, and attacking 4 times per turn with at level 8, a 1d6 +4 from strength and a +2 from rage on every attack dealing force damage could be pretty decent (this would be a barb 2 monk 6 i think)
going wisdom with DM buy in gets you a really good AC compared to the strength build but you can of course still get a 15 AC on the strength build with the mountain dwarf and still have a 40 foot move speed once you hit monk 5
I would still agree that it's probably a B tier build though
I like the general idea,, but then I realise you need a bonus action for Astral Arms, then another bonus action for rage. :(
@@konradianknight true, but astral arms is 10 min duration atleast
@@menarg1549 Oh yeah I forgot about that, I was wondering if you could pre-activated one.
Pertaining to the Barbarian/Artificer, there is one way I can see for this to work: To use the Artificer's spellcasting outside of combat for the most part. I mean, the artificer gets a bunch of utility spells that may prove useful in a pinch. Plus not having to worry about a spellbook like a wizard is a nice bonus if you can use essentially your infused item as a focus - like your greataxe for instance.
Something you didn’t mention about the Druid multiclass is that you can use unarmored defense while wildshaped. Most beasts have good dex and con but low ac, so that combined with the resistance makes wild shape a lot better.
Came here to say this. Definitely B or A tier
You can use multiattack while wildshaped too. Any creature that doesn't already get multiattack becomes crazy powerful, and it can even help the ones that do, since most say 'you make one attack with (strong ability) and one with (weaker ability)' but if you have multiattack from barbarian you can make two with the strong ability. This also applies to a fighter 11 druid 9 for what may be the craziest 20th level multiclass.
Better sure but you lose two levels of druid and you aren't able to rage and wildeshaoe in the same turn. It's really not that great of a multiclass.
Treantmonk's Temble is currently making videos about wildeshape and explains all of that pretty good
@Not- A-Theist You can rage and wildshape in the same turn.
Moon druid says you *can* use a bonus action to wildshape instead of an action, rather than saying wildshape *becomes* a bonus action for you. Because of this neat little wording, you can use your action to wildshape and your bonus action to rage.
@@The_Crimson_Witch true, but if you use your action to wildshape, unless you've leveled into Barbarian 15, you've just used both your action and your bonus action, which means you've lost the chance to attack. You then have to pray the enemy isn't smart enough to steer clear of you/not run away from you so you can either take damage or get an opportunity attack. Otherwise you lose rage.
20:40 path of the beast actually works, by the rules, simple weapons in which you are proficient count as monk weapons. In fact, combining it with Kensei monk makes an actually good multiclass.
I would love it if it worked with agile parry... Unfortunately to get the +2 AC you need to wield a weapon RAW and your DM can reasonably argue that you can't wield your claws because you don't wield your hands (Same reason claws don't work with dueling fighting style)
I think what they meant was they don't count as unarmed strikes, but you're right about them counting as monk weapons.
Came here to say this
Beast Barbarian 6/Kensei Monk x is actually pretty strong. Currently playing in a campaign with one and you can get up to 35ish DPR (not gonna list full calcs here). But the secret is
- dedicated weapon / kensei weapon to get a 1d8 weapon to activate monk features with your attack action
- path of the beast claws for an additional two 1d6 attacks with your attack action
- martial arts / flurry of blows for either one or two 1d4 bonus attack attacks
- all attacks get your str mod and rage bonus
- all attacks at advantage because of reckless attack
it really does peak right at level 9/10 overall and you mainly gain versatility/extra ki points with the rest of your monk levels, but once you have 3-4 ki points, you can potentially make 5 attacks a turn for an entire combat and that's just plain cool. of course, you do nothing besides this but still battleaxe claw claw kick kick is an awesome turn
My girlfriend played a Beast Barb/Monk in a one-shot I did, it was level 5, so 3 levels barb and 2 levels Monk and she loved it. We didn't think it would do so great, but it exceeded expectations. Not sure how well it would work at higher levels, but lower levels make the Flurry of Blows with Reckless super cool
Correction:
Druids can concentrate on spells from the get go in Wild Shape, they don't need Beast Spells from level 18 to do it. They can *cast* them from Wild Shape at 18th level
And while Monks cannot use 2 handed weapons, Tasha's optional feature allows Monks to turn weapons that aren't Heavy or Special into Monk weapons. Battleaxe is close enough, not every single melee martial build has to rely on GWM
Fucking thank you.
The fact that everyone says you have to have GWM to me is just insane.
I understand the numerical advantage it gives you but dealing damage is not the only point in the game.
The thing is, a melee martial build that isn’t doing good damage isn’t really providing anything in combat. They don’t generally have any features that help them do anything else. Don’t say tanking, there’s maybe half a subclass that can actually fulfil that role, and it’s still very limited. If you don’t want to build around combat, that’s cool, but then there’s no point discussing the combat effectiveness of multiclass options.
@@johndevlin9225 A Barbarian running great weapon master spends a valuable ASI or Feat and prevents them with point buy or standard array from maxing out their AC. A Barbarian running a shield can get a decent AC, and you can use subclasses like the Ancestral Guardian to reliably tank and draw aggro. A Barbarian when they max their Constitution and draws aggro is insanely durable and one of the best tanking options out there.
There's more to melee fighters than maxing out damage.
@@TheHandgunhero Ancestral guardian was the half a subclass I was referring to, which enables you to gain fairly good control of one enemy as long as you are raging. If there are multiple enemies, or you don’t have enough rages to last the day, or the enemies are at a distance, you have basically no power over them. Still, it is probably the best tank in the game (which says more about the quality of the other tank options).
As for drawing aggro, what do you mean by that? Being a very durable target that doesn’t do a lot of damage sounds like the enemies will walk past you and attack your allies that are actually a threat. And if you don’t have a reach weapon because you’re holding a shield then you aren’t even threatening a large area with your one opportunity attack.
As for maxing out your ac, do you mean with unarmoured defence? How many ASIs do you think you’re getting? Because by wearing a breastplate (and there’s no reason for a barbarian not to) and having a +2 dex you have an ac that won’t be beaten unarmoured until you have a combined dex and con mod of +7, and that’s gonna take until at least level 16 if you want to max your primary ability score first, and that’s assuming you take no feats at all.
I don’t see how a barbarian that focuses all their ASIs into maxing con and carries a shield is a tank at all. Sure they can take a lot of damage, but they have no tools to prevent their allies taking damage. They have a single opportunity attack, and that’s it, unless they’re the one subclass with any kind of ability that helps with this.
@@johndevlin9225 "drawing aggro" means convincing a key enemy to attack you instead of someone else. Usually by making it a worse option to attack someone else, usually by imposing disadvantage on attacks against anyone else. Like a Battlemaster's goading attack, or Ancestral Protectors which is disadvantage *and* resistance to the attack. (That only triggers on your turn, not op attacks anyway, but fair point about not controlling a large area to stop enemies with Sentinel, or just the threat of damage.)
Of course it's not "aggro" like in an mmorpg like WoW; in D&D it's just a narrative thing, not mechanically forcing them to. Even the Compelled Duel spell is only disadvantage against other creatures, and only force a Wis save to move more than 30 feet away from you.
I do want to touch on the Monk/Barbarian build idea, because there is one thing that does help it out tremendously; and while it doesn’t allow for greataxes and heavy weapons, it still does a lot.
Dedicated Weapon at Level 2 for monk. If you’re Barbarian, multiclassing into Monk, you meet all the criteria to have a heavy hitting weapon, using your strength, and have it be a monk weapon.
I’m glad you tackled the difficulties of Barb/Monk cause I’ve wanted to play a character based on a boxer type, and my initial idea was Barb 3 (Bear Totem) and the rest Monk (most likely Long Death for the resilient boxer)
There is a funny(but very specific) build with Barb(beast level 6 with high jump) and Monk(level 4 slow fall), where you do constant high jumps with a grappled enemy to knock them down and prone, then keep attacking.
1) Grapple target(cost 1 "attack").
2) Spend your move to make a high jump. Make a Strength(Athletics) check and add that number to your jump height(should easily be over 10 in total).
3) As you and your enemy fall down(1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 10 feet), negate any fall damage you might take by using your reaction and Slow Fall feature(reduce damage by 5x your monk level, so 20).
4) If your enemy takes any damage from this, they are knocked prone, while you still hold on to them(prone requires half your max movement to stand up. Grapple means speed is 0, so no movement points).
5) Your enemy is now prone and you can use your second attack of the round to strike with advantage.
6a) On the enemy's turn, they can use their action to try to stop your grapple(they have to beat you in an athletics contest). If they succeed(unlikely), they are no longer grappled, but are still prone. As a result, they can only crawl, or stand up, using half their movement.
6b) Or the enemy can choose to attack you while still grappled and prone. This gives them disadvantage against you.
7a) If the enemy has escaped, just go back to 1) and start over.
7b) If the enemy is still grappled, you can do a dive bomb again(dealing a bit of damage) and then attack twice.
Other benefits to this build.
1) You get to use a Tail(beast 3) to use as a defensive tool in situations where you want to spend your reaction on avoid direct damage rather than grappling(add 1d8 to your AC).
2) You can also choose to spend your reaction on Deflect Missiles. In both cases, it gives you a way to avoid powerful attacks.
3) You can jump high and grapple a flying creature, causing their speed to get reduced to 0, meaning instant falling.
4) Your Martial arts attack bonus action and Flurry of Blows can benefit from Rage damage modifiers.
5) Set up a wrestling competition with your party's Bard as your hypeman and ring announcer.
@@Wintermute909 You can, but it requires your bonus action and you can only do it once per short rest.
As someone whos played a Bardbarian Magical Girl
Its not practical, but its really silly, especially if your DM gives you some small perks (like spending an insporation to cast while raging), but its not necessary.
It was a Wild Magic/Glamour (20 str, 14 Dex, 16 Con, 18 cha), i just wore medium armor and it worked comfortably
Dudes, this video series is dope- it’s so fun and improvisatory but totally informative. It’s a pleasure. Thank you! ❤
I think Drunken monk 6, Totem Barb 14 is pretty good. Eagle at 3, preferrably bear, eagle, or tiger at 6, and then eagle at 14 makes a Rock Lee-esque character who becomes incredibly good at fighting when drunk. Flavor is that your Barb stuff happens when youre drunk. You get 25 feet of movement from monk UD and barb FM for more flying shenanigans, you get d6 punch dice (or 1d8 if you get UF from the martial adept feat), and you get magical attacks for every weapon you use including punches. The downside is that you do lose out on all of the really good late level monk abilities and 20th level barb abilities.
All in all i think this could be a fun build and really flavorful for an old angry drunk who is secretly a master of fighting.
Love your vids boys. They are full of great info and are very entertaining. You two are great together. Keep em coming!
Your vids helped me to increase me interest in DnD as well as different perspective on gameplay and roleplaying. Thanks very much for your efforts.
I'll burn a blunt in your honors =D
Can’t wait to watch every single one of these videos for all the classes
How about an alchemist artificer/wild magic barbarian? You get the magic from your potions (no casting or concentration required) and you get the theme of chaos from both subclasses. It's not great, but I reckon it bumps the multiclass to a C at least.
And it just sounds fun! I'm playing a wild magic barbarian with a homebrew magic mushroom tea kit. Whenever I drink the mushroom tea, I roll a d12 and a magical effect happens. Some are from the alchemist elixirs and the rest are from the wild magic sorcerer table.
Agreed
Mechanically it doesn't synergise, but what actually bumps it to C is the Armourer Artificer. You can use Thunder Gauntlets with reckless attack and strength, you can wear armour as a Barbarian so long as it's not heavy and boost your AC, you get infusions which give you useful utility if needed and you can draw aggro better without needing to be an Ancestral Guardian. You can even get the infusion that gives you resistance on Psychic Damage as a Totem Warrior.
@@TheHandgunhero for AC and utility purposes, I couldn't agree more. The only problem is that the weapons can't be combined with the awesome feats like GWM, so it lacks a bit in the damage department.
@@TheHandgunhero Thunder Gauntlets aren't doing a whole lot, though, given that they're just d8 weapons. You're trading much better weapons for the pseudo-taunt ability.
While the Barbarian Artificer pulls you in two different directions, I'd still give it at least a C. The artificer is very much about support and utility, so you have a number of non-concentration spells that can buff you before going into a rage. Topping it off with infusions, the steel defender or alchemist potions, you're setting yourself up to with a lot of buffs and extra defense. I can see a build that gives you some more utlity, but primarily makes you better as a tank.
Honestly a monk going 3 levels into barbarian is where I think it works the best. Beast totem barbarian on a monk, especially something already tanky like mercy or long death, makes you feel damn near unkillable
Colby has a great mercy monk/barbarian build over on d4 deep dive that is self healing to boost the rage damage mitigation
Note that Beast weapons are simple melee weapons, which is why the claws count as a monk weapon
Love the idea, as a turtle strength monk to use reckless attack
I played a Wild Magic Barbarian with 3 levels in Fighter for Battlemaster maneuvers, and HO-LEE-CRAP was he a magnificent beast of a damage dealer. I typically doubled or tripled the damage done by any other party member, and sometimes even all of them combined. It was nuts. And SUPER fun to play!
The big thing about barbarians is that you get such a limited amount of rages, that when you have a big adventuring day, and MANY encounters, then not taking more levels in barbarian really starts to hurt.
The flip side is when you get a single class dip into a full caster and get those ranged cantrips (eldritch blast or toll the dead) you can really get through a bunch of encounters without being the dedicated front line on encounters where you aren’t going to rage (the ones where the wizard/sorc are going full blast in slots)
That is only if you're raging every fight.
Multiclassing with fighter will allow you to save rages as you don't need to rage to be useful in a fight, so you can save your rages for basically an anime super sayan moment.
Or if you're absolutely insane like moi, you find a way to make a barbarian archer with rogue levels. I'm not using most of my class features in most fights, but I'm finding that I really don't need to.
Monty asks at 22:17 if there's a monkbarian build that works
Astral self monks get to use Wis instead of Str/Dex for attacks/checks/saves. So you can max Wis at first, use the monk's UA defense, and any simple weapon like the ol reliable quarterstaff. This "downgrades" your 1d12 to 1d8, but you keep the other MA features like 1d4+ BA
Barbarian with cunning action is very strong. I played a defensive focused goblin barbarian and the ability to disengage from one dying enemy to go help out where the three new enemies appeared came in clutch so many times.
In the last campaign I played it, one of the others players was a Rogue-Barbarian. Reckless attack to get advantage, drop an assload of sneak attack dice, disengage and pick your next victim.
I've played a barberian warlock before and it worked quite well! You aren't restricted to taking the eldrich blast invocations because you focus on weapon attacks. This allows you to take the utility options or buffs like constant false life. You won't be taking hexblade but any of the other patrons are great because they give spell like abilities without being actual spells so you can use them in rage. The Celestial's healing light is a standout because it's effectively free free uses of healing word while raging to bring up an ally or to be used on yourself to further buff your HP pool.
I think it's best as a dip and is easily higher than a D, likely a C or B.
Playing a Barbarian Zealot Fighter Rune Knight in my current campaign. Love it!
Similar vein: I had an Ancestral Guardian Barbarian/Rune Knight Fighter I played, and it was AMAZING! The power I felt when I played that character was fantastic. In one session, I two-round soloed an Abeloth
@fightingfalcon777 Yeah man! It's a very strong combination. Super fun to play!
@@chrisg8989 hell yeah! Rage + Giant’s Might just allows you to wreck house
@@chrisg8989 What was the Level breakdown for your PC?
@fightingfalcon777 4 Zealot, 16 Rune Knight. I'm currently level 6. But my plan is:
1-3 Barbarian
4-8 Knight (Extra attack)
9 Barbarian (Feat)
10-20 Knight.
I'm sure this isn't optimal. But I wanted to get Raging Giants Might right away. Being a large sized Rage monster and Rolling 4D6 every turn on my first attack is very fun!
Hey Ginny! You really are getting better all the time at impersonating the dudes! XD
Nah, great video, guys, thanks! You are making me regret I played Barbarian single class, but I just wanted to see that hilarious Strength 24 barb mowing down everything.
In regard to barb/rogue, you can use the double bladed scimitar from Ebberon because the feat gives in finesse
Almight comes to mind when talking about a Peace Cleric Barbarian, he smiles just before buffing up and kicking ass
Only other thing I would mention is that for the barbarian/druid combo, at lvl 10 moon druid you can wildshape into elementals. They have a MUCH better hp pool, and with rage and bear totem that makes them an absolute monster. Basically ever single elemental option gives you a minimum of around 200 extra hp while raging as a bear totem
I think 11 druid for 6th lvl spells and 9 barbarian is optimal I believe 9 is brutal crit right?
They didn't mention that moon druid can use spell slots to heal itself. I don't believe that feature counts as casting a spell so it should be available while raging.
@@donovandawson9190 slightly up for interpretation just because brutal critical says you can roll extra “weapon damage dice”. So depending upon on your dm they might make it only count for weapons. But if you have a nice dm it should work
For the barbarian/ monk combo Sadly i don't see the abilities complementing each other, however, if you use sentinel feat and rage and stunning strikes you can have a good crowd control character in your hands. And as for dealing heavy damage, you can take the sharpshooter feat and throw javelin and hand axes to get that +10 to damage while using step of the wind to close in on enemies. The heavy long range damage will force the enemies to either take you down in close range or to flee
Barbarian with Bladesinger Wizard reminds me of Tulok the Barbrarian's build for Eda Clawthorne. I think the thematics of it alone are pretty sick, but also the actual play of it. You can switch between these forms depending on what you need in the moment, so I think it's got a lot more versatility than most would expect. Song of Defense much like Divine Smite lets you use your spell slots to provide benefits that bypass the anti-spellcasting drawback of rage. I think there's something decent there.
Variant Human, Barbarian Totem Warrior 5/Monk Way of the Long Death 3
Take Fighting Initiate - Unarmed Fighting, d8+STR for damage on Unarmed Strikes (no armor or shield). Bear Totem, obviously, for resistance to all damage. Up to 4 attacks per turn (extra attack and flurry of blows). 20 extra feet of movement. Touch of Death gives temp HP each time you take out a creature.
The benefit and strength of the Barbarian/Warlock combo comes from the invocations. There are plenty that give you benefits that work while raging. And you can use the spell slots outside combat for a variety of things.
Just cast armor of agythis before combat, hexblade curse for more damage / fiend for the temp hp after each kill
I kinda like it but i just dont see it as very synergistic. Even just hexblades curse can be ok. But it isnt very potent and i hope it isnt done before extra attack and delaying actionsurge or whatever you are speccing sounds frustrating. It isnt bad tho. A critfishing build with a d12 weapon and halforc perhaps.. but there are better ways to do this :(
I absolutely love the flavor. Demonic rage.
It is close tho but you just dont have any high slots for the agathys before tier 3-4 and well at that point things hits for big dice anyway. Tier 1 play against kobolds and goblins with d4 damage is kinda the peak for it even if you build around it which is a mechanically selfinflictes arrow to the knee. But a funny one.
@@LordNerfherder you dont need high level slots, even just a 5 level dip gives you an extra +40 temp hp(two castings) dealing extra cold damage when hit and a magical +1 weapon. This is before a subclass that can massivly boost your power/survivabiliy. Or you go main warlock that can enter a rage when in melee
Try it out one time, go barb 5/6+ warlock 3 is super fun and powerfull
Spell utility like that is nice on the Barbarian.
As a class, I find the Barbarian tends to suffer disproportionately in out of combat applications, so having spells to do things is nice.
Not my idea, but I did see a post about someone making a changeling barbarian/warlock build. Where he played each class as a different persona. I liked the idea that I tried and enjoyed it. I've also done this with a changeling barbarian/wizard.
Having your enemies overestimate you are a chef's kiss.
The thing about barbarian is that is you focus on a lot of out of combat utility spells that don't rely on your modifier too much, like invisibility and if you get to level 3 you can take expertise in athletics and be a grappling monster. Also you can use bardic inspiration while raging, which is nice.
Barbarian/Monk. If you go Kensei, go get a warhammer to do 1d10 damage on your attack since it's versatile. Then hit with your unarmed attack as bonus action. Both are bludgeoning damage, so get crusher feat and you can help the team and yourself a lot. Once you got lvl 5 for extra attack, you can replace 1 of your attacks with unarmed strike to use agile parry. You lose out on a bit of damage, but you get free AC. Or go Open Hand or Drunken Master monk. Use a staff for 1d8 versatile damage. And you unarmed attacks still can be done with bonus action. Crusher feat always helps. Also both lvl 3 features of open hand and drunken master are useful and can used very well. With a +2 on wis to get the multi class option, it's pretty decent saving throw dc at lower lvls.
Ok here's my monk barbarian concept(and you guys were really close with your ideas!): Kensei/totem warrior. Kensei lets us turn a weapon into a monk weapon, ideally pick a versatile weapon if you wanna go GWM. You can spend you ki on everything except unarmed strikes while you use totem warrior to get bear at lvl3, any of them at lvl 6 but my preferred is tiger, so I guess my build for now is 4 monk 6 barbarian. I'd probably do 8/12 split in favor of barbarian for HP.
No Versatile weapon can be used with GWM as there are no single handed Heavy weapons.
@@keeganmbg6999 Technically you can still use GWM with a non-heavy weapon, but you lose its main benefit of the -5 to attack to gain a +10 to damage. You would still get the bonus action attack when you get a critical hit, something I constantly keep forgetting I can do...
Since the Warlock subclass ability comes online at level 1, a dip into the class gives the barbarian some decent versatility. There are a few subclasses that provide some interesting builds such as the self healing tank (fiend&celestial warlock) or subclasses that deal out extra damage (fathomless, hexblade, & undead). Spell slots can be used for out of combat utility, buffs, or for smites if you invest enough levels (though only very particular builds make it worth going that deep into a Warlock multiclass). I'd say the Barb/Warlock multiclass deserves a high B.
You could do an alchemist barbarian and burn all your spell slots on elixirs, which don’t count as spells and don’t require concentration.
Solid argument for Alchemist actually being useful.
Yes!
The Jekyll and Hyde
@@redbeard5939 I was actually thinking more like a gym bro frat jock who knocks back his bless-in-a-can and then crushes the can on his forehead, but that’s a cool idea too.
I’ve had so much fun playing a very much home-brewed mix of monk and barbarian with a Yin/Yang theme of calm/rage where rage is more like an “overdrive” where I can hit harder and faster, using wisdom as my attack modifier as in “using ancient fighting knowledge” to attack. I’m also a mix of an earth and fire Genasi and every-time I enter “overdrive” mode, fire jets out of my shoulders and calves- it is so cool and fun to play. Just shows that there definitely needs to be some kind of rage-themed monk subclass or something along those lines.
The iconic Bardbarian - Fahfard from the Fritz Lieber "Lanhkmar" short stories. You can do Barbarian/Undead Warlock to get the Form of Dread or Fathomless since the summoned tenticle does not require concentration and water breathing. Celestial warlock gives Healing Light (no concentration self heals) and Celestial Resistence's temporary HP.
The fiend with the temp hp, armor of agathys, pact of the blade...
There's actually a great play that you can combine the Artificer and Barbarian. Specifically, you pull out the Artillerist. The Arcane Cannon does not require spellcasting to function, and you can use it to give you and your team a solid buffer of temp hp. Not to mention that you can easily prioritize spells that don't require concentration, like longstrider to make your barbarian faster.
Play a Tortle, go Beast Barbarian and Artillerist Artificer, attach the cannon to your shell, and now you're the pokemon Blastoise. At Barb 5/Art 3 and you attack 3 times and can shoot a distant enemy with Hydro Pump or hit in a cone with Scald.
It's a beautiful thing that I am still waiting to play. 😁
I think the Alchemist may actually have some nice synergy with Barbarian. Like the Paladin, you can spend your spell slots making elixirs instead, and all of the effects are useful for a frontline brawler.
I know this was about the Barbarian, but during their exposition on the Monk multi-class, I recalled the monk I made on Icewind Dale II, and the best item I found in the game. It was a necklace that granted bear claws once per day and added 1d9 to each strike, in addition to the damage of the monks unarmed strike. Imagine if the barbarian monk got a hold of that item.
Scrubbing through, it made it look like Monty gave BarBEARian a S and Kelly gave it a D, and that shook me to my core. Thankfully, the context made sense.
So I worked on some homebrew allowing Barbarians to rage and use other features with strength or dexterity which opened up a lot for my players. That and a few other monk and barbarian changes left me with the equivalent of Goku in my PC's party.
16:32 Going Barbarian Zealot 4, Rune Knight 16. I'll delay extra attack by 3 levels but it's totally worth it attacking with 4D6 every turn.
For the Bard-barian build how about a barbarian path of the juggernaut, with bard college of swords, weilding 2 flails with two weapon fighting and crusher Feats. With the juggernaut + crusher you would move (up) 10 ft the opponent on every attack adding 1d6 of fall damage, and if you use your flourish, you add 5 + 1d8 ft movement potentially throwing the opponent up to 20ft on a single attack. This could be a 1 level start for barbarian for its sweet start point, going 6 levels in bard for the extra attack and 2 more levels on barbarian to get the path of the juggernaut. All spells can be non combat oriented and. At level 9 it would be attacking 3 times for 1d8 (flail) + 1d6 (fall damage) + str + 2 (rage), adding to one attack a 1d8 from the flourish, and a potential additional 1d6 by moving the enemy 20+ft. You only need 13 in Charisma and a focus on Strength and Constitution would do quite nicely
Later on you can even dip into paladin to add smite uses for your spell slots or fighter for the action surge
Undead Warlock/Totem Barbarian could be great too. Add necromantic damage onto your attacks
How does that apply exactly? The Zealot barbarian adds radiant damage to their attacks, I wonder if the Undead feature there would allow you to add radiant as well as necrotic damage.
@@thesnep4757 Yes, you could also add radiant. (Or more necrotic, if you chose that for your Divine Fury.)
> undead warlock 6th: Grave Touched
>
> In addition, once during each of your turns, when you hit a creature with an attack roll and roll damage against the creature, you can replace the damage type with necrotic damage. While you are using your Form of Dread, you can roll one additional damage die when determining the necrotic damage the target takes.
So you could replace the slashing damage from your greataxe with necrotic, and roll an extra 1d12. It's similar to a crit for free every turn, for the base weapon damage, making a greataxe (1d12) pull way ahead of a greatsword (2d6) even before you get Brutal Critical.
So I heard "Peace Domain Barbarian"... thanks for the character idea guys. This is something that I've been thinking about for awhile.
Ancestral guardian barbarian, phantom rogue is a theme that goes together well
Just finished a campaign using this combo and yeah, it was a lot of fun
Besides being a lot of fun thematically, Ancestral Guardian is also really a whole different beast when it comes to multiclass potential, because its actually entirely viable to do a Ranged, Dex-Based Barbarian with it, which pairs very well with a wide variety of ranged-focused as well as pet-having multiclass options.
A great Paladin Oath option that got missed in that section is Oath of the Watchers. The Channel Divinity boosts the party's mental saves, many of the Oath spells focus more on out of combat utility and include several long duration non-concentration spells, and the Watcher aura boosting initiative rolls makes Dexterity less important and reduces the MAD a bit. Just get enough Dex to get the most out of Half Plate and you don't really lose any of the tankiness of either class. Another important thing making Paladin Barbarian an A-tier combo is Aura of Protection, since that stays up while raging and really helps compensate for Barbarian's relative weakness against mental saves.
Also, I'm amazed you managed to get through a section talking about Paladin/Barbarian multiclassing without bringing up one of the most obvious mechanical and thematic Barbarian paths for the concept: Zealot.
The artivicer can work really well as a tank with the armorer subclass, a combo colby from d4 uses a lot
Didn't even finish the video before liking. My dudes dropped a Brutal Legend reference in the Barb-barian section. Incredibly under appreciated game.
As for the warlock, it’s a bit of an investment but you can grab eldritch smite at lv 5
DR JEKKYL AND MR HYDE! The Incredible Hulk! The barb/artificer might not be amazing on paper but the theme of a scientist who can break out into a destructive rage has endless possibilities
I would say warlock is a C, armor of agathys can be cast before combat/raging and rage/reckless attack makes the spell even better. Also Eldritch smite.
Add Hexblade's curse and relentless curse to that😉
I actually built a Tortle Barbarian Bladesinger and I think it's quite a cool combo. Sure you can't cast or concentrate on spells while raging, but what I like here is the versatility. Both the amount of rages as Bladesong are limited per long rest, so when one is depleted you focus on the other. The Bladesong itself I imagine as a gladiatorial display of martial beauty. You can also get one of the few non-Concentration spells off, rage and then activate Bladesong on your next turn.
You're a frontline fighter that tries to get enemies to focus fire you. Don't mind all their opportunity attacks when you run around with 20AC.
Also, just the idea of casting Fireball and then running in to finish them off...priceless.
If you ever get to Barb3 taking Zealot might be the right pick so you can be resurrected time and again for free, haha
You should check our Treantmonk’s Guardian Build. It takes wizard levels for war Magic’s ability to boost saving throws. Really helps keep the barbarian in the fight
I had a half orc bard-barian, and she had some (homebrewed) weapons. They were shrieking axes. They were based on a kind of armor that polish Calvary used to have, that had holes drilled into them, and as they rode horses in a charge, the wind going through the armor would act like pipes, and they sounded, basically like Nazgul. So, my character had axes, that when being swung, would shriek, or sound like they were screaming. And the tone made depends on how fast you swung them. She was trained to use them for performance, like spinning poi, where she could make music with the axes, and when using them in combat also added an intimidation effect. Her attacks could be considered using a musical instrument, so she could use them for certain spells. Or spell like abilities.
I also had a homebrewed subclass, that was like a skald or dirge singer, which was similar to a barbarian version of the Swashbuckler, or a Hexblade, that could use charisma for attacks, and use performance in combat for intimidation of enemies and inspiration for allies. Which I think the game is seriously missing. There are a lot of ways that music and combat could be combined. Even a monk could have a performance based subclass like a dancer that also fights. From a whilring dervish to a capoeira martial artist, there are many untapped options.
Would love to hear your thoughts on the concept.
Friend is playing a barbarian monk. They're having a decent time in the campaign, primary issue is that they don't get that second attack until level 8 and they're very attribute dependent so they're feeling a bit limited in combat.
This is why you should usually go to level 5 in one class to get Extra Attack before multiclassing, for most multi-class builds. Otherwise you get left behind when the party hits level 5. Being late to the party with Extra Attack for more than one level is either bad planning or a tradeoff where you'd better have gotten something really good in exchange, hopefully long term not just being OP in those early levels.
(e.g. if you choose your starting class for saving throw proficiencies, but don't want to go past 3 in it, then yeah you have a rough 3 levels in exchange for a somewhat more optimal build later if you didn't switch after 1 or 2 levels in your starting class, to come back later after you get Extra Attack from the class you plan to get to 5.)
But in this case, would you want Str+Con save proficiency vs. Str+Dex? I guess it depends how many poison monsters your DM uses, but Dex saves are really common. Although monk evasion gives you half damage all the time, it's no damage if you pass on saves for half, so the absolute damage reduction is still half the AoEs damage whether you have evasion or not. e.g. on a 30 hp fireball, making the save leaves you 15 hp higher than not making the save, whether or not you have evasion. Proficiency + advantage from Danger Sense is good for reliably making saves. And many con saves are against poison, but monks are immune to poison at 10th level, so con save proficiency is significantly weaker.
So I'd have started Monk, then dipped at most 1 level of barbarian for rage after monk 1 or 2,
* then continued to monk 5
* then get to barbarian 3 if that's where you're aiming to stop
* then continue with monk.
But at least as a monk they can make an unarmed strike (or two with Ki for Flurry of Blows), so it's still 2 attacks.
@@TheLegendaryLegacy The bonus attack is an Unarmed attack. If you are wielding anything that is not a Monk weapon, armor, or a shield, you loses your Martial Arts benefits. Meaning your Unarmed attacks become a 1+strength+other modifier(like rage).
@@TheLegendaryLegacy You do not get Ki until 2nd level in Monk(for Dedicated Weapon). You do not get Kensei until 3rd level in Monk.
Similarly, you do not get your Barbarian subclass until level 3.
Regardless, your unarmed extra attacks are still unarmed attacks(either from bonus action Martial Arts or Flurry of Blows). Not claw attacks. Because your claw attacks counts as weapons.
Which means at level 5, you are probably looking at a BeastBarb3/Monk2.
Sure, it is possible to 2 claw attacks(d6) off, and then a bonus attack(martial d4) or Flurry(2 attacks at d4). But that is still lower damage than a Barb5 with Polearm Master and a Glaive, or a Barb5 with GWM. And it relies on using your bonus action to keep up, which means on turn 1(rage), you will be a fair bit behind. Similarly, to use Flurry, you need Ki, and with only 2-3 points, they are gone very fast.
The Barb/Monk is MAD, so you will have a weaker 1-3 level. Similarly, you do not get a true powerspike at 4th level, if you multiclass at this point.
You could wait until level 5 to multiclass(still MAD for 5 levels though), to get your Extra Attacks "on time", but then it is your level 6 that is a lot weaker, as a regular Barb will get their second path feature here(in this case, counting your claws as magical, among other things) and an additional use of Rage per long rest.
In addition to this, the MAD barb will generally have lower AC(15) compared to a medium armored Barb(16), as well as lower HP.
Thematically, it is a fun combo. But mechanically, there are so many things that do not mesh very well. You end up being a melee character with somewhat poor AC, minimal utility and only "ok" damage output.
The Barb Monk does not scale well either, because items you get are typically not to your benefit or as powerful. Boosting your unarmed or natural weapon damage is possible, but has far less potential.
Similarly, because you rely on both Rage and Ki, you want a decent amount of levels of both classes to have enough resources for tier 2+ campaigns.
If you want to go "Nova" with a beast barb, the Fighter is a much better multiclass than Monk. You avoid going MAD. You only need a 2 level dip for Nova, and you get a fighting style and Second Wind.
If you then go for Fighter3, you can pick Champion, Battlemaster or Echo Knight for more options.
The BeastBarb/Monk is good for brawling and grappling. That is about it.
@@TheLegendaryLegacy What Barb AC? Due to MAD you might have 15 AC at best(if you sacrifice strength), until you get the Kensei stuff(which, at its earliest, is Monk level 3).
Remember, this is the Barbarian list. You start as a Barbarian. So if you intend to go Barb3/Kensei6, you take 1 level in Barb and then maybe 5 levels in Monk for extra attack(meaning Kensei at character level 4). Then either 1 more in monk or 2 in Barb.
That is still a big delay in various standard power spikes(3 levels with 15 or less AC, for instance, very few rages per long rest).
If you use a shield or armor, your unarmed attacks(bonus attacks from Martial Arts/Flurry) becomes only 1 damage +modifers.
It is not "solid" when there are so many levels where other characters get a noticable spike in power, while the Barb/Monk just get a small, situational compensation for what they lost, not a unique strength.
When your overall damage and survivability is lower than a standard Barb in most of your levels, it is not "solid".
It can still be fun and flavourful, but you are not competing with regular barbs or more optimized multiclasses anymore.
To use Kensei's Agile Parry(+2 AC), it requires you to make an Unarmed strike as part of your Attack Action.
To use both Claw and Unarmed Strike as part of your attack action, you need to be Barb3/Monk5(or the other way around).
Which means for the Barb1/Kensei3(earliest AC boost), a Turn 2 attack round is:
Unarmed Strike(to enable the AC bonus), followed by 1(Martial Arts) or 2(Flurry) Unarmed Strikes.
Same deal for Kensei4(character level 5), although might have improved your Strength or AC with an ASI, to negate most of the MAD effect.
At Kensei5(char level 6) you get 2 Unarmed attacks as your Attack action, but you cant use Claws yet, and you still only have 2 Rages per Long rest.
So you either suffer from low damage(low damage die/few attacks per turn) or low AC(15 or less), partially due to MAD, for most of your early levels(1-7).
Spending a very limited resource to deal extra damage is what it means to "go nova".
You get your "Nova" at level 8 when you can get up to 5 attacks off in your turn, by spending Ki and Rage(rage was activated previous round). 5d6+25, or an average of 47.5 damage.
That is "ok", but again, comes at the cost of a lower HP pool(compared to pure Barb) and the effect of MAD(either lower strength or AC. If you get +3 damage from strength, your base AC is 14, unless you use your ASI at Monk4 to improve it).
A Level 8 Barbarian with a Flametongue Greatsword(which is a typical magic weapon at this level), can make 2 attacks per turn. In this case, they have also spent their level 8 ASI for increased Strength(+4 modifier now).
That is 4d6+4d6+12, or an average of 40.
If they have GWM(from level 4 ASI/feat), they can potentially get an extra attack as a Bonus Action, which is an extra 4d6+6. A total of 60 average damage.
Remember, these attacks are more accurate when compared to the MAD Barb/Monk, due to having 18+ strength rather than 16 or less.
If we use the -5 attack roll from GWM for an extra +10 damage to each attack, then it becomes 90 potential average damage.
It only cost the Rage activation, of which you have 4, meaning every round, you can have this much potential damage.
And Remember, you having, at least, 16 AC by this point(just from a simple Breastplate).
The wrestle bodyslam combo is an old favourite of mine, and the reason why I consider Barb/Monk a fun character to try. Specifically in a 1-shot where you get to start at level 10(level 6 Beastbarb high jump and level 4 Monk slow fall).
Outside of that, it is just less power and a lot of restrictions, if you try to level it from 1 to 10.
I know, because I have done it a few times.
You get overall more grapple potential by going Barb/Rogue(Advantage + Expertise makes your Athletics check auto win in most cases).
(Third time watching this for ideas) Barbarian+Ranger= "Rage against the machine". :)
Barbarians go well with STRogues and Fighters, and maybe paladins/rangers, but I can’t think of any other things that pair well without being MAD.
4 Barabarian rest of the way paladin is sick. The zealot smiter is fun thematically and strong.
This lack of imagination and midmaxing insistence makes me a sad boi
@@canis2020 understand that the purpose of this video isn’t to flex their creative muscles and rp chops. They have them and they are setting them aside to mechanically analyze these
Out of all my characters, my favorite was my Barbarian/Rogue. It meshes together so well in so many ways. I was a Bugbear, took the Scout Rogue and the Elk Totem Barbarian, getting such high movement speed and taking the Alert feat to be able to act first in combat. Was easily able to get the first hit on enemies who havent acted in the combat yet to get the extra Surprise Attack dice from the Bugbear race on top of the Sneak Attack dice which were guaranteed thanks to the Reckless Attack.
Barbarians are front loaded, so having a dip in spell casting, can add so much versatility to the character.
But you can't cast spells while raging?
@BigPurpleCarrot i know. The spells are for social situations, exploration and even battle prep that doesn't require concentration.
@Jacob Richardson Yeah I don't see any merit in doing that. Get buffs and utility from your party
You should focus on killing stuff
@@BigPurpleCarrotgod you sound like an absolute bore to play with.
@@BigPurpleCarrot druids have some good non concentration spells that you can throw down and then bonus action rage
just starting a new campaign and I'm making a wood elf barbarian, but I plan to dip 3 levels into ranger for gloomstalker. Wood elf innate move speed, plus dread ambusher, plus longstrider, plus zephyr strike, we're literally just gonna be zoomin across the battlefield on every encounter.
Armor of Agathys with the warlock could be good with a raging barbarian
A beast barbarian/monk build works if you (while having no martial weapons or armor) take the attack action, make two beast claw attacks, then a single unarmed strike, then another unarmed strike as a bonus action. Or you could flurry of blows and make three beast claw attacks. Going 5 levels of monk and 3 of beast barbarian gives you 4-5 attacks a round.
Barbarian and Warlock work fine. There are plenty of invocations that would help the barbarian and the spell slots are so limited anyway that you'll miss them less in combat.
I had to switch subtitles on at the cleric peace multiclass when you said "raging PEACE"
Such a shame they didn’t cover the bloodhunter multi class. I know it’s not an official class but I hope they start to include it more.
The class alone is cool but not good mechanically, so to risk it being even worse mechanically by multiclassing is usually avoided. I once played a open palm monk with the blood hunter Lycan class, super cool flavor but I would’ve been way better as a level 20 monk
@@eliadams3711 to be fair multiclassing as a monk usually doesn't work too well unless you're extremely intentional with your choices, it's harder to play with than the other classes
I created a multiclass build in Balder's gate 3 that I'll be trying out in my next 5e campaign, a hexblade Warbarbadin. It's 5 warlock, 5 barbarian, and 2 paladin. It focuses on using smite "spells" while enraged to do massive damage with a pact blade. I've taken out bosses in a single turn with this build. That said, I realize the pact blade extra attack doesn't stack with the class extra attacks in 5e like it does in BG3 so I might take more ranks in warlock and fewer in barbarian for higher level spell slots but we'll see how it goes.
The barbarian monk you guys need to revisit and really read the Astra Monk wording. It says when you make a Str attack and can instead use your wis. This is different than all other wordings like the hexblade. So it should allow you to gain the barbarian rage bonus on your attacks. It's the best combo for the 2 classes and can make an insane grappler especially when pairing with say Owlin or a Gem Dragon Psychic
Also do they look at optional class features? If im not mistaken monk has an optional feature to allows monk to have one non monk weapon count as a monk weapon.
@@julianmills2261that weapon can’t have the heavy property. That feature doesn’t help.
@@julianmills2261 There is indeed but that wording doesn't allow for the rage bonus. It works nicely though on a straight monk or monk rog, but still problematic for the barbarian getting all features.
@@lamarwashington2718 Ah. My bad. Its been a minute since I looked at that rule, but thanks for clearing it up!
@@mixelplix Yea I see that now, my bad. Thanks for helping clear it up!
Something I did that was interesting to get around the stunning strike issue. Is Barb 3 Monk 3 Bear totem, and Astral Monk. While it might take two turns to set up due to bonus action limitations. You get extra arms to do unarmored strikes while also carrying another weapon. My character was also a Warforged, so my DM created armblades for me. Which was fun.