Path of the Totem Warrior 5e: Barbarian Subclass Review

Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobld

Where the Berserker from the PHB aims to embody the barbarian archetype of “here to smash”, Totem Warrior takes on an actual expanded theme. You take on a semi-druidic approach to battle and exploration, gaining a connection with nature to release its fury when needed while communing and exploring nature in a heightened sense out of combat.

Path of the Totem Warrior is by far the best option a barbarian can get to open up more build decisions, and while some totems tend to overshadow their competitors, most will be more than serviceable, and enable a ton of fun builds to engage combat and exploration in some more unique ways. You don’t have to stick to one totem once selected, meaning you get to full customize which totems you get, giving you exactly what you ask for out of this subclass.

3rd Level: Spirit Seeker and Totem Spirit

Spirit Seeker is a massive improvement for the barbarian class, and its so simple. You get two spells: Beast Sense and Speak with Animals, but you can only cast them as rituals. I can’t emphasize enough how relevant it is to go from having no magical abilities or tools to engage out of combat exploration to some, and this is exactly what Spirit Seeker is giving the barbarian class.

Speak with Animals is a personal favorite of mine, giving you a means of communicating with the critters and creatures around you. Most every environment has some amount of beasts, and they typically are great tools for figuring out what is in your immediate surroundings. Beast Sense requires a bit more set up that highly encourages you to pick up a pet or make friends with a local deer. If you can get over that barrier, this offers you a Find Familiar like sense that isn’t limited in range, making it a potential massive boon to scouting and exploring. My number one piece of advice for Totem Warriors in the early tier looking to improve their character is for them to pick up an animal companion organically, whether that be just buying a mastiff or draft horse or training in falconry. Spirit Seeker is an underutilized critical tool in making your Totem Warrior feel like they’re one with nature and expand their usefulness in the party tenfold.

Totem Spirit is the first of four split five abilities, three from the Player’s Handbook and two from the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide, each offering unique new ways to engage a fight.

Bear is the most commonly taken, and outrageously powerful for a 3rd level ability. Resistance to all damage types save psychic while raging will make your DM have to reconsider how much damage they can throw at you to meaningfully challenge your hit points, as now not even non-weapon damage can threaten your massive hitpoint pool.
Eagle I think is one of the more underrated options, specifically because it gives you a bonus action Dash which can be a huge boon. Barbarians already get an increased move speed; doubling that up with a bonus action dash each turn will put you wherever you want to be on a battlemap in a single round, all while also making it less likely you’ll get hit when running past a frontline tank to get to their backline caster buddy.
Elk isn’t particularly riveting here, giving you a bonus 15 ft. speed, but will work similar to eagle when you’re leveraging your bonus action for something else like off-hand attacks.
Tiger is conceptually neat, and opens up your jump distance to be massive. With a 16 Strength and a running start, you can clear nearly 25 feet with a long jump, or 9 feet with a high jump. If these didn’t ask you to being raging to function I’d be a lot more excited about them, as they can empower out of combat exploration in some interesting ways, and if you’re finding you’re getting to long rests with rages still available this can function as a one round free cast of the Jump spell. In combat, though, I don’t think this is particularly potent in the majority of environments.
Wolf is the final Totem Spirit option, and is stellar. In groups with one or more other melee weapon based allies, you will feel like the pack leader, getting your monks and fighters to follow you into battle for the advantage you offer. It's a simple team-based option I can’t recommend enough playing with. Giving your rogue an actual reason to use their shortsword instead of their bow leads to a lot more engaging fights for everyone.

6th Level: Aspect of the Beast

Aspect of the Beast differs a bit from many other subclass mid game options as it offers you a boost to your out of combat utility in place of an in combat defensive option, and does so in the form of five totem options again. I love it. Even with some of these options being a bit lackluster, forgoing a niche defensive tool for a potentially useful exploration tool is a trade I’ll take on a martial character every time.

Bear doubles your carrying capacity and gives you advantage on Strength checks made to push, pull, lift, or break objects. Carrying capacity doesn’t tend to get a lot of play at most tables, but some that use it will like this boon, functionally turning you into a pack mule able to lug around a ton of stuff with no penalty. More importantly, the advantage on pushing, pulling, lifting, or breaking objects comes up a lot in basic barbarian problem solving, making this an easy default option to go with.
Eagle lets you see up to a mile away with no difficulty, including fine details, and you aren’t bothered by dim light anymore. While conceptually I love it, finding practical uses for the sight enhancement is challenging, and with how many tables handle dim light, the second ability tends to get next to no play as well, making it a novel, yet underwhelming feature.
Elk doubles your travel pace and up to ten companions travel pace. If you’re in a hexcrawl style game and want to move faster, this is a way to do that! The vast majority of tables won’t want nor need this, though.
Tiger is simple, clean, and powerful. You get two more skills from Athletics, Acrobatics, Stealth, and Survival. Of note, Acrobatics and Stealth aren’t inherently available to barbarians, and both can be fairly useful. If you already have three of these, or don’t want one, this option isn’t that great for you, but if you are missing a pair and want both, this is a great passive boon.
Wolf gives you a tracking improvement and a bonus to moving stealthily, basically allowing you to maintain your stealth check while moving normally. That’s a change from 2/3s movement to full, which ends up not being all that exciting, and tracking isn’t something you’ll likely be regularly doing for an entire campaign, leaving this in a “meh” kind of space.

10th Level: Spirit Walker

Spirit Walker is a bit a bummer mechanically while being deeply rich thematically. You get Commune with Nature that you can only cast as a ritual that’s experienced through your totem animals. Commune with Nature does what it says on the tin: you talk to nature and learn about it, gaining information about terrain, bodies of water, plants, animals, peoples, extraplanar entities, extraplanar influence, or buildings. Three facts about the surrounding three miles is pretty useful, and as a martial character this is a magical way to interface with out of combat exploration. If you don’t have a druid in the party, this will feel like a decent new tool you’ll use from time to time out exploring, but isn’t something you’ll be able to reliably use session after session.

14th Level: Totemic Attunement

Totemic Attunement is the final subclass feature you get with, once again, one in five final abilities available.

Bear gives you a taunt-like effect that imposes disadvantage on enemies attack rolls if they don’t attack you, making you the default target for all their attacks. This leverages your hit point and resistances well, but if you aren’t paired with many other frontline allies, can feel close to useless. This feature is hyper dependent on your party composition; if you aren’t regularly back to backing it with a paladin and monk friend, you probably aren’t getting enough out of this to take it.
Eagle gives you a fly speed equal to your movement speed while raging, but you can’t end your turn in the air or you’ll fall. While thematically I adore this fantasy, a 40 ft. fly speed isn’t that revolutionary. It stacking with Eagle and Elk’s Totem Spirits is pretty nifty, though, and can make you the fastest creature around capable of getting literally anywhere you need to every round.
Elk gets a new bonus action ram, forcing a creature to make a Strength save or get knocked prone and take 1d12 + strength mod damage as you move through its space. From there, you can smash it with your weapon at advantage without needing to attack recklessly, and simultaneously set your allies up for more advantaged attack rolls, which is pretty cool. At its worst, this will feel like a bonus action attack, that is to say, a great ability to have.
Tiger literally gives you a bonus action attack, which will scale better with empowering a specific kind of weapon attack compared to elk, but it does have the condition of moving at least 20 feet in a straight line before swinging. This again pairs nicely with Elk and Eagles’ Totem Spirits that improve your mobility. You’ll get into neat play patterns where you’re charging around the room, lining yourself up for a series of quick blows before darting off to set up your next attack.
Wolf just gives you a guaranteed prone on a Large or smaller creature you hit with a bonus action. Elk probably is better than this, as it also comes with 1d12+Strength mod damage, but if you really want to get something prone and don’t already offer your buddies advantage on weapon attacks from the earlier Wolf feature, this can be an easy way to toggle advantage on for your other melee attackers and your own.

All Together

Looking over the entirety of the subclass is tricky as a bunch of combinations point you in interesting new directions. Totem Spirit Bear and Wolf both are generically powerful frontline options that pair well with Totemic Attunement Bear, encouraging a frontline supportive tank that also likes dealing good chunks of damage. Totem Spirit Eagle, Elk, and Tiger all empower your mobility in some way which pair nicely with Eagle, Elk, and Tiger in the Totemic Attunement tier. You can go Tiger in the Totem Spirit and Aspect of the Beast to build an all terrain ninja-like barbarian capable of performing exceptional feats of strength and agility, or commit to soaring to new heights with Eagle, using the rage fly speed to fly around temporarily and use your improved sight to scout ahead before a rest.

Spirit Seeker, Aspect of the Beast, and Spirit Walker all do contribute decent exploration abilities you are glad to get, and the other two abilities give you a unique enough combat experience that the entire option just feels good to play with. I can’t recommend this option enough; Path of the Totem Warrior can be a blast to play, offers fun and interesting choices regularly, and rewards diverse play patterns. All in all, an excellent barbarian subclass.

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