Path of the Spell Chosen

Arcane magic flows through the world on currents and tides. Anti-magic regions are voids where that power cannot reach. Other areas capture, focus, and contain magic, creating places of power where a skilled arcanist can enact mighty rituals.

Sometimes, a living creature becomes a locus for arcane power. Through happenstance, a curse, or a magical ritual, they become fused with the essence of arcane magic. This power roils within their souls, straining and contorting their physical forms while also giving them great physical strength and durability.

Such creatures are barbarians of the Path of the Spell Chosen. Whether by choice or curse, a maelstrom of arcane energy roils within them and demands to be unleashed.

Over time, a spell chosen barbarian learns to harness the power within them to create magical effects. At first they can mimic cantrips, but in time they learn to produce more powerful spells. The spell chosen rely on a unique form of casting, one in which they use their physical might to direct and shape the torrent of spell power that roils within them.

From Magic Forged

Each spell chosen was formed by a fluke of arcane energy. What event granted you this strange power?

Use the following table as inspiration for your own character’s unique feature:

D4 Roll: Origin

1: You were a frail, sickly apprentice wizard until a mistake in mastering a spell caused you to undergo a profound transformation.

2: A warlock crafted you with dust collected from moon beams and water pulled from an empty well.

3: Once you were an archmage, until you lost a duel against your greatest rival. At least, that’s what you think happened. Unfortunately, you lost your memories along with your knowledge of magic, leaving a raging furnace of uncontrolled power in its place.

4: Once you were an intelligent magic item. During an epic battle, your former bearer broke you in half to unleash your energy in a cataclysmic explosion. To the surprise of everyone in the fight, you popped from the item’s pieces.

Marked by Magic

The spell chosen bear an unmistakable mark of their nature. The magic within them alters their physical forms, giving them unique and remarkable traits. How did magic alter our character? What is their distinctive trait or marking? Do they wear it as a badge of honor, hide it in shame, or something else?

Use the following table as inspiration for your own character’s unique feature:

D6 Roll: Unique Feature

1: Your hair shimmers with a rainbow hue of colors that shifts and changes based on your mood. When you are particularly emotional, your hair moves of its own accord.

2: Your skin is an odd color for your species, such as a bright scarlet or purple. The color sometimes changes when you sleep.

3: One of your fingers is always surrounded by a halo of blue fire that emits no heat and barely any light. A seer once told you that one of the world’s great enigmas would be solved by the light you carry.

4: Your eyes are black fields. Anyone studying them closely can see stars that form unknown constellations.

5: Runes are marked across your body. Each time you sleep, they shift into different writing. Only you can read them, and sometimes they offer cryptic prophecies.

6: A small, slug-like creature with a tiny mouth has sprouted on your neck. It sometimes speaks, hissing profanities or offering flattery in a tinny version of your voice.

Path Features

The Path of the Spell Chosen grants the following features.

Arcane Nature

At 3rd level, you learn three cantrips of your choice from the wizard spell list. Strength is your spellcasting ability for them. When you roll damage for a cantrip you cast, add your Rage Damage as a bonus to the roll. Each time you gain a level, you can choose to replace one of the cantrips gained with this feature with a different one chosen from the wizard spell list.

At the start of your turn while raging, roll a d6. On a 5 or 6, you may cast a cantrip that turn as a bonus action.

Design Notes: In my last article, I wrote that a d6 of damage per round was about balanced for a feature at this level. I tried to finesse things here by having the extra cantrip activate a third of the time. That is a bit below target for raw damage, but when you consider cantrips with buffs or control effects I think it’s a solid benefit.

The Rage Bonus to cantrip damage is there to give the barbarian a sense of brute force compared to other casters. Personally, I like features that allow non-casters to dip into the spell list. It sets up a lot of customization options for both optimizers and story tellers.

Spell Aspect

Starting at 6th level the magic that flows through you grants you a supernatural ability. Choose one of the benefits from the list below.

Abjuration. The arcane magic that flows through you can protect you from effects that would otherwise overwhelm you. If you fail a save, you can add your Rage Damage bonus to the roll to turn it into a success. Once you use this ability, you cannot use it again until you complete a short or long rest.

Conjuration. You can cast find familiar. Once you cast it, you cannot cast it again until you complete a long rest. Strength is your spellcasting ability for this spell.

Divination. You add your Rage Bonus as a bonus to all Wisdom (Perception) and Wisdom (Insight) checks.

Enchantment. You add your Rage Bonus as a bonus to all Charisma checks.

Evocation. You add your Rage Bonus as a bonus to all Strength checks you make to break, bend, or move creatures and objects.

Illusion. You can cast disguise self. Once you cast it, you cannot cast it again until you complete a short or long rest. Strength is your spellcasting ability for this spell.

Necromancy. You can cast speak with dead. When you cast the spell using this feature, you can only target the corpse of a creature you slew. Once you cast it, you cannot cast it again until you complete a short or long rest.  Strength is your spellcasting ability for this spell.

Transmutation. You can cast alter self. Once you cast it, you cannot cast it again until you complete a long rest. Strength is your spellcasting ability for this spell.

Design Notes: I wanted to give this barbarian some notable non-combat options. I love providing lists of options. It lets a player decide what non-combat role they want. The design above also lets players decide if they want a more powerful, single use ability, or a smaller but constant benefit. My experience is that players appreciate a sense that the choices are varied on multiple dimensions.

Spell Seer

Starting at 10th level, you can cast detect magic at will, without expending a spell slot. You can cast see invisibility. Once you cast that spell, you cannot cast it again using this feature until you complete a long rest.

Design Notes: Detect magic feels like a nice fit for a barbarian spawned by magic. I considered giving it out at lower levels, but a free 1st-level spell for a non-caster felt too good before 10th. See invisibility is a little bit of a stretch, but detect magic didn’t feel impactful enough to be the only benefit here. At high levels, players want features that are worth the space they take up on an increasingly crowded character sheet.

Greater Spell Aspect

At 14th level, choose two wizard spells that are 5th level or lower. You can cast each spell. Once you cast a spell chosen with this ability, you cannot cast it again until you complete a long rest. Strength is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

When you gain a level, you can choose to swap one or both spells for different wizard spells that are 5th level or lower.

Design Notes: This ability might feel very powerful, but there are two things here helping to balance it. To start with, most spells require an action to use and therefore compete with the barbarian’s standard damage output. Per the DMG a 5th-level spell is worth about 44 damage against a single target. A 14th-level barbarian falls a little short of that as the typical damage output per round while raging. That gap is OK in my experience, as this feature should clearly provide an upgrade. At the very least, the gap is small enough that the limit on this feature’s uses keeps it in check.

A player might opt for utility over damage output here, as the barbarian can already dish out solid damage. There’s a good argument that going broader with a buff spell or some other form of utility, rather than competing with the barbarian’s baked in combat abilities, is the better path to go when building a character.