Introduction:

As of this posting, I hold the Path of the Totem Warrior Barbarian as the gold standard for DnD 5e subclasses. For starters, the subclass’s features help lend themselves to creating one of the iconic barbarian “types.” That type being a character that is a durable, nature-tinged melee juggernaut. I have a comprehensive review of the subclass coming up, so stay tuned if you’d like to take a deeper dive into this excellent subclass. Suffice it to say, this subclass has a ton going for it in terms of flavor and simple, effective features.

Before getting into the post proper, let’s take care of some housekeeping items.

Character Build Notes:

Meet Smada Reimroc! He’s the Path of the Totem Warrior (PotTW) barbarian I played to 10^th level in a recently concluded, homebrewed 5e campaign from my longtime DM Joel. Before jumping into the post, I want to give you some quick info on some of my choices during the campaign. Getting this bit out of the way early will help the rest of the post read much more smoothly. Here we go!

Race & Background: Half-orc & Folk Hero

Attributes at Campaign End (we started with the standard array): 18 STR, 14 DEX, 14 CON, 12 WIS, 10 INT, and 8 CHA

Selected Path of the Totem Warrior Features: 3^rd Level: Bear Totem Spirit; 6^th Level: Bear Beast Aspect

Selected Feats: 4^th Level: Great Weapon Master; 8^th Level: Orcish Fury

Alright, now that’s out of the way, let’s move on to “My Three Favorite Takeaways from Playing a Path of the Totem Warrior Barbarian to 10^th Level!”

The 3^rd Level Bear Spirit Totem Feature Was Central to the Subclass’s Synergy with the Base Class

If you happen to be unfamiliar, here is the wording of the Bear option for the Path of the Totem Warrior 3^rd-level feature:

While raging, you have resistance to all damage except psychic damage. The spirit of the bear makes you tough enough to stand up to any punishment (PHB p50).

The lynchpin for Path of Totem Warrior is the nearly blanket damage reduction while raging granted by selecting the above feature. This Path’s expanded damage reduction suffused, colored, and supported almost every decision I made during combat. It also synergizes with the combat-focused features attained through the base class excellently. The best way I can explain how crucial this feature ended up being to my experience playing the class is that it allowed Smada to barbarian harder.

How the Bear-focused Path of the Totem Warrior Affects Combat Dynamics

In my experience, all combats have one major breakpoint that can limit a player’s agency. That breakpoint is when a PC takes enough damage to be at risk of being downed during the enemy’s next turn. When this point is reached, several players’ decision trees get a severe pruning. Casters with healing ability immediately feel pressured to heal. And, should healing not be available, the damaged characters are pressured to use their action to disengage and seek a safer position on the battlefield.

Of course, adding some “real” risk into the fight can naturally inject more excitement into the encounter. However, healing isn’t that exciting of action option typically. Additionally, healing doesn’t introduce a new advantage for the group to leverage into an encounter win.

I am a firm proponent of damage and battlefield control actions generally being the most optimal choices in a fight. For instance, damage removes enemy combatants, which introduces a massive disadvantage to the enemy force. Control spells and actions can advantage the party or disadvantage the enemy, or both. Keep in mind that one side is winning at any given point in D&D combat, and one side is losing. Healing maintains the combat’s status quo, whereas damage and control, and to a lesser extent buffing and debuffing, increase one side’s advantage in battle.

“Round Buffers” and Healing Efficiency

So, what does all of that have to do with playing a PotTW barbarian? Well, Smada’s expanded damage reduction affected the party’s action trees in two significant ways.

First, since Smada essentially took 50% damage from the start of the combat, the number of rounds required for him to be damaged enough for healing to become an efficient choice was greater. This “round buffer” allowed the casters to prioritize more impactful action use longer. This buffer allowed our party’s bard and druid to focus more on control, buffing and debuffing with their spell slots. Generally, this spell plan enabled the party to gain an early advantage in combat, which we regularly converted to a win.

Second, if combat devolved into a pure DPS race, spending actions to heal Smada remained relatively efficient due to his taking 50% less damage. In my experience, healing often cannot keep up with or exceed incoming damage—especially on a lower AC class like a barbarian. However, a single up-casted Cure Wounds on Smada could undo rounds worth of damage. Even casting Cure Wounds or a Healing Word at 1^st level could stall the enemy’s progress on the party HP pool.

The Subclass’s Expanded Damage Reduction Enabled an Effective Melee Striker Build

My favorite synergy occurred when using the Reckless Attack feature while raging. Our campaign regularly saw our party being outnumbered by enemies, emphasizing the risk of using Reckless Attack. Because not only was Smada being hit often, but he was also being crit all over the place. Granted, many of those hits and crits would have had their damage reduced by the standard barbarian rage. However, especially in Tier 2 play, many enemies were landing hits not covered by the standard damage reduction. Fire, necrotic, lightning, force, and a fair bit of radiant damage were all regular damage types assailing Smada, and the expanded damage reduction kept him relevant in the fight longer. Smada staying close to enemies was doubly important as I took Great Weapon Master at 4^th level.

Of course, with the Reckless Attack feature, any barbarian subclass can be an excellent platform for the feat. However, the added survivability of expanded damage reduction makes the PotTW barbarian synergize incredibly well with the feat. This is because the feat also grants an extra attack upon scoring a critical or kill (using a bonus action). While crits happen when they may, the expanded damage reduction allowed Smada to last in melee long enough for enemies to get into “execution range.”

By 10^th level, Smada was regularly able to make three attacks, usually starting in round 2 or 3 of combat as less robust enemies fell before him. And, as I said above, damage’s key contribution to combat is removing combatants. Being able to make an attack after seriously disadvantaging the enemy further pushed our side’s advantage in combat.

The Path of the Totem Warrior’s Added Flavor Helped Create a Memorable Character

As powerful feeling and satisfying to play as Smada was in combat, my favorite contributions from the subclass came in its flavor elements. In my mind, the archetypal barbarian has a definite nature bent and the PotTW subclass interfaced with these ideas wonderfully.

In mechanical terms, much of this flavor comes with the subclass’s ability to ritually cast Beast Sense and Speak with Animals at 3^rd level and Commune with Nature at 10^th level. Though these abilities were more than covered by the party druid, they caught my attention at character creation. Their presence caused me to ask myself what kind of character would exist at the nexus of nature and society? I won’t bore you with backstory specifics. Still, the presence of these abilities captured my imagination and helped me to produce a character I absolutely enjoyed playing in and out of combat.

As a final note about flavor, the totem element of the subclass created an opportunity to collect small tokens from the various beasts we encountered or defeated in combat. The totem is a physical manifestation of the magic that permeates this type of barbarian. So, I was always on the lookout for keepsakes I could take to represent the possible choices I could make for totem features.

For instance, I collected some feathers from a group of griffins we battled. Suppose the campaign had us reach 14^th level. In that case, I could have fashioned the feathers into an eagle totem, granting Smada a temporary fly speed. Keeping an eye out for and then collecting these beast fragments was an enjoyable minigame throughout the campaign.

Honorable Mention Time!

I must give an honorable mention to the 6^th level PotTW Bear Aspect feature I selected. If you’re not familiar, it reads:

You gain the might of a bear. Your carrying capacity (including maximum load and maximum lift) is doubled, and you have advantage on Strength checks made to push, pull, lift, or break objects (PHB p50).

The interactions with the other players this feature enabled some of my favorite moments in the campaign. Two stand out in my mind especially.

One occurred when the horses for the party’s wagon-boat (it’s a long story) were eaten while we were deep in a swamp. Our Swashbuckler and the Bard had spent an inordinate amount of time “pimping” out the party’s party wagon-boat. They were loath to abandon the thing to the swamp.

We convinced the DM to let Smada roll a ton of athletics checks (with advantage per the 6^th-level feature) to physically drag the damn thing out of the swamp. All the while, the party was putting on an impromptu concert in the wagon—dancing lights included.

In a similar vein, and I can’t recall where he got it, but the Swashbuckler procured a small cannon. Until it exploded, Smada’s job was to lug it around between towns. We eventually used it to help destroy the avatar of a rogue nature god, which ended up being one of the most climactic and utterly ridiculous battles in the campaign.

I know both these points are definitely on the silly spectrum, but so much of D&D is! Even though this subclass doesn’t have much going for it out of combat, just being strong can be a fantastic enabler for the oddball ideas fellow players can dream up.

Conclusion

By any form of analysis, selecting the bear line of features for a Path of the Totem Warrior barbarian creates a top-tier subclass and character. My only quip would be that adding nearly blanket damage reduction to the barbarian’s already excellently focused kit can feel a bit like overkill.

If you’re interested in hearing more on that point, I will be going into more detail about this thought in my upcoming review of the class. Suffice it to say, this feature is nearly too good to pass up, which effectively reduces players’ ability to make meaningful choices within the subclass.

While I wouldn’t call the class is broken, it is so strong as to influence the game in significant and measurable ways. This influence must be accounted for by both the player and the DM. It must be accounted for because the subclass’s power can trivialize the danger of many combats. It can also place a ton of pressure on other players to lean into supporting such a strong class.

For instance, our party’s bard almost exclusively granted bardic inspiration to Smada. Seeing Smada’s potential DPR while using Great Weapon Master, they correctly assumed that doing what was needed to help assure Smada scored regular hits was one of the best uses of the feature. However, acting on this logic effectively reduced their and the other players’ decision trees.

Suppose you’re itching to play an insanely focused, brimming with synergy class. In that case, I can’t recommend the Path of the Totem Warrior barbarian enough! However, before you leap into the glorious slaughter that awaits you, I recommend talking over the class with your DM—especially if you plan to select the bear option for the 3^rd-level feature.