Path of the Windblade

 
At 3rd level, your primal connection to the howling winds
Barbarians who follow the Path of the Windblade channel
imbues your movements with supernatural grace and agility.
their rage to summon a mantle of furious wind that swirls
You gain proficiency in the Acrobatics skill if you don’t already
around them when they rage. Fighting with a grace and
have it. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability
speed that sets them apart from other barbarians, they dance
check you make that uses this proficiency.
and flow across the battlefield like a whirlwind of gore and
Additionally, you learn the gust cantrip, and Wisdom is
steel. At your option, you can pick from or roll on the
your spellcasting ability for this spell.
Windblade Quirks table to create a quirk for your character.

 
d6 Quirks Beginning at 6th level, your primal connection to the howling

winds around you deepens. When you enter a rage, you can
Powerful winds whip up around you when you
1
experience strong emotions. cast the gust of wind or warding wind spell, requiring no

components and without requiring concentration. Wisdom is

2 An invisible wind blows your hair and clothes. your spellcasting ability for these spells.

Each of your movements looks like a step in a You can cast use this feature twice, and you regain all
3
neverending dance. expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Designs of gusts and clouds magically etch themselves 

4
in weapons you wield.
Also 6th level, you move with the breakneck pace of a
In your dreams you dance on the winds, soaring high
5 hurricane. Your walking speed increases by 10 feet and your
amongst the clouds.
jump distance is tripled while you aren’t wearing heavy

You find it almost impossible to sit still, constantly

6 armor.
tumbling or dancing. Additionally, you are always under the effects of a freedom

of movement spell.



Starting when you choose this path at 3rd level, you can

summon primal winds that slash and buffet your enemies in At 10th level, when you take the Dash action you charge like a

battle. When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add cyclone. For the remainder of your turn you gain a +2 bonus

your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack. to AC against opportunity attacks, and when you move within

Additionally, the winds enhance your weapon strikes. 5ft of a hostile creature that you can see, that creature

When you are wielding a separate melee weapon in each immediately takes 1d6 slashing damage from your scything

hand, once on each of your turns choose one of the following blades. A creature can only take this damage once per turn.

immediately after you hit a creature with a weapon attack:


The attack’s target takes slashing damage equal to 1d6 +
Starting at 14th level, you emanate a whirlwind of hard-edged
your proficiency bonus.
air that slashes nearby foes like blades while you rage. The
The attack’s target must succeed on a Strength saving
whirlwind extends 10 feet from you in every direction, but not
throw (DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your
through total cover. A creature takes 4d4 magical slashing
Wisdom modifier). If it fails, the winds shove it up to 10
damage when it enters the whirlwind for the first time on a
feet away from you or knock it prone (your choice).
turn or starts its turn there. A creature can only take this
You glide on the wind, flying up to 10 feet without
damage once per turn.
provoking opportunity attacks.

2
This 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.


Front Cover: 'Barbarian Chick' by Maciej Kuciara

Page 2: 'Malakir Cullblade' by Rodrigo Idalino

Page 3: 'Celtic Swordsman' by Roman Zawadzki


The whole thing is heavily influenced by/ indebted to/

plagiarised from:

Path of the Cyclone by u/Vagar and;

Path of the Bladestorm by the inimitable u/KibblesTasty

I didn't originally like the supernatural wind theme, but

"the TWF subclass" isn't really a theme. Swirling around

raining down lots of attacks feels pretty airy, so there we go.

Damage-wise it does less compared to Berserker

(intentionally), but should be fairly comparable to most other

subclasses. There's a focus on movement to encourage that

feeling of blitzing around the battlefield slashing everything

on your way through. I wanted it to feel like Sonic or using

Whirlwind in Diablo 3 barbarian.


Given that this subclass is meant to be the barbarian TWF
subclass, ability mod to TWF attack was a no brainer. Then I

didn't want to just add damage the way Cyclone does; having

the choice of several effects seems more fun. Inspired by

Open Hand Monk's Open Hand Technique and Swarmkeeper

Ranger's Gathered Swarm.


Ribbon to reinforce that you're a graceful wind-ey barbarian

not just ug ug barbarian smash.


Speed and agility are the name of the thematic game,

(almost) on par with eagle totem. In a lot of ways the biggest

buff here is freedom of movement stopping giving immunity

to restrained (paralysis is nasty, but it's also fairly rare).


Become the Diablo barbarian you wanted to be.


More wind. Not ultra strong, but certainly useful in the right

situation. Warding Wind disadvantage on ranged attacks is

pretty good, but a) Reckless Attack cancels that and b)

barbarians are pretty well protected from being pincushioned

already.


Basically cloud of daggers that moves with you. Added the

"only take this damage once per turn", otherwise you end up

finding that your best damage is done by just pushing

enemies back and forth through the buzzsaw whirlwind and

that's boring and not fun.

This 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.

 

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