Path of the Protector

THERE IS A FURY EVEN DEMONS FEAR. The rage of a mother protecting her young ones. A mother bear, a dragon guarding her wyrmlings, an octopus guarding her eggs. Who would dare to stand between the younglings, and the protector that would die for them? You would die if you were so bold.

-Balli O'gane, Philosophies of Nature

Primal Path

Rage burns in every barbarian’s heart, a furnace that drives him or her toward greatness. Different barbarians attribute their rage to different sources, however. For some, it is an internal reservoir where pain, grief, and anger are forged into a fury hard as steel. Others see it as a spiritual blessing, a gift of a totem animal.

Path of the Protector

Following the legendary example of the barbarian leader known as Ayem, those that follow the Path of the Protector are hailed as the most powerful bodyguards on the Material Plane. Ayem herself was called the mother of her people, and the way she devoted herself to them, guided them, and protected them, is an inspiration to all who hear the tale.

Protective Rage

At 3rd level, when you Rage, pick 1 ally within 15ft of you. As long as you remain within 15ft of that ally, all enemies within melee range of you have disadvantage on weapon attacks made against that ally. Every time that ally takes damage from an enemy or aggressive entity, you gain temporary health equal to (your barbarian level) + (your Constitution modifier). This temporary health disappears when your rage ends.

If you do not deal or take damage for a round, but your chosen ally takes damage, you can continue to rage. If that ally falls to 0 hit points while you are raging, you gain advantage on all attacks for your next turn; however your rage then ends at the end of your next turn, and you suffer from two levels of exhaustion.

Nurturing Instinct

At 6th level, when you take a short or long rest you can chose a number of allies less than or equal to your proficency bonus. You instantly become aware of the position of any of those allies within 100ft of you that are at or below 1/4rd of their health, relative to your position. Furthermore, your movement speed increases by 10ft for each ally that you sense in this way.

Familial Protection

At 10th level, when you Rage, you can select an additional ally to protect. Should you decide to protect 2 allies instead of 1, then the temporary health you gain when a protected ally takes damage from an enemy or aggressive entity is reduced to (half of your barbarian level) + (your Constitution modifier).

Raging Retribution

At 14th level, while you are Raging, if an ally that you are protecting is being attacked by an enemy within range of your melee weapons, you can use your reaction to make a melee attack against that enemy.

Credits

Scott Tolksdorf, of naturalcrit.com for the fantastic interface I used to create this pdf. Visit his website to create your own pdfs that look as good as this one! Visit his patreon here to help him keep the servers running.

This Primal Path was inspired by Almalexia (a.k.a. Ayem) from The Elder Scrolls series. She was a warrior princess who, upon being turned into a Living God by her companion Sotha Sil (a.k.a. Seht), became known as the Mother of Morrowind. She was the protector of her people, and it is said that in a direct fight she could best Sotha Sil and Vivec (a.k.a. Vehk), both great warriors in their own right.

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