Barbarian Path
Path of the Coastal Wizard
The Path of the Coastal Wizard is not for everyone. It is not, ultimately, for most people. It requires years of diligent study and meditation, decades of professional experience, and a commitment to detail that can only be described as "lackadaisical". The Coastal Wizard is a barbarian who rages to forget, insistent that the thing they said this morning is absolutely true until they say another thing that contradicts it tomorrow. Their furious tantrums leave only splintered furniture and punctured balloons in their wake.
Coastal Wizards are universally chaotic - the very heart of the philosophy demands a belief in making rules up on the spot, without any real consideration for the rules one has made before. Good and evil are rarely relevant concepts to a Coastal Wizard, though, as their thought process cannot be enclosed in such rigid boxes.
Requirements: Elf
Also, you have to be an elf. That's just how it is. There are plenty of elves, just pick the strongest kind or whatever.
Path of Coastal Wizardry Features
| Barbarian Level | Feature |
|---|---|
| 3rd | Best At Games, Tactical Wizarding |
| 6th | I Made It Better |
| 10th | Backwards Compatible |
| 14th | Ultimate Wizard |
Best At Games
When you choose this path at 3rd level, you immediately become an unimpeachable expert at game design. You gain proficiency with all gaming sets (dice, dragonchess, playing cards, and three-dragon ante). When you make ability checks using a gaming set, you may choose to use your Strength modifier in place of the ability you would normally use. After you do so, the gaming set is destroyed.
Tactical Wizarding
Also at 3rd level, you gain a special ability modifier, called your Wizarding modifier. You can calculate it by taking the negative of the sum of your Intelligence and Wisdom ability modifiers.
Wizarding modifier = -1 * (your Intelligence modifier + your Wisdom modifier) Wizarding save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wizarding modifier
When you enter your rage, you go into a state of serene contemplation and carefully-considered strategy. While you are raging, every melee attack deals bonus psychic damage equal to your Wizarding Modifier.
Practical Tactical Brilliance
For example, a Coastal Wizard with Intelligence 8 (-1) and Wisdom 6 (-2) has a Wizarding modifier of +3, and so gets a damage bonus of +3 from this feature.
I Made It Better
At 6th level, your keen mind makes you a master at evaluating anything and figuring out how to improve it. You gain proficiency in improvised weapons. While you are raging, you can use any object around you as an improvised weapon which deals 1d12 bludgeoning damage.
When you hit with an improvised weapon, you may choose to make it better as part of the attack. If you hit, the attack deals an additional 1d12 damage. Afterwards, the object is no longer suitable as a weapon, and any checks made to use it for its intended purpose are made at disadvantage.
You can make things better a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining all uses after a long rest.
Backwards Compatible
At 10th level, you gain perfect knowledge of everything behind you. You gain proficiency in the History skill, or expertise if you are already proficient.
As a bonus action, anytime a creature is behind you, you may declare them backwards compatible. Anytime you take damage from a backwards compatible creature, you may reduce that damage by your Wizarding modifier. Only one creature may be backwards compatible at a time.
As 5th Edition has no official facing rules, there are no rules for what it means for a creature to be behind you. Make some up. You're good at game design!
Ultimate Wizard
Starting at 14th level, you are beginning to feel the keen edge of the martial/caster disparity, and you do not like it, so you will fix it. As a reaction to a spell being cast within 60 feet of you, you may learn the spell.
You may cast the spell one time, using your Wizarding modifier. It follows all the normal rules for spellcasting, including components, though you can substitute a wizard hat you are wearing for any material components that do not have a specified cost. You may cast this spell even while you are raging, and casting this spell in this way counts as attacking for the purpose of maintaining your rage.
You may learn a number of spells in this way equal to your proficiency bonus, though you may only know one at a time. After a long rest, you forget any spells you have learned in this way, and regain all uses of this ability.
Path of Coastal Wizardry quirks
The following are some optional quirks for a player of this archetype to choose from.
| d6 | Quirk |
|---|---|
| 1 | You cannot stop tweeting for some reason. |
| 2 | Your friends all suspect a shadowy toymaker is secretly dictating your actions. |
| 3 | When nobody is looking, you love to roll in piles of money. |
| 4 | You begin Raging anytime someone points out one of your contradictions. |
| 5 | You frequently give away your toys, to encourage others to play with them. |
| 6 | Whenever your toys get too popular, you get mad and take them away. |
Change Log
v0.3
- Tweaks to I Made It Better
v0.2
- Tiny quality-of-life buff to Ultimate Wizard
v0.1
- Rough Draft
Credits & References:
- Path of Coastal Wizardry created by somanyrobots | Discord | Patreon
Art:
- All art © Wizards of the Coast LLC
- Ineffable Blessing, by Milivoj Ćeran
- Side Quest, by Alex Konstad
Background Image Stains
Fan Content Policy
This work is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.