Path of the Focused (V 2.1)

Most barbarians rely on brute strength and raw emotion to gain their superhuman abilities. Those following the Path of the Focused gain their prowess from intensive training and conditioning, thousands of hours of experience culminating into flawless combat that lies beyond the realm of what others deem possible.

Student of War

At 3rd level, when you adopt this path, you gain proficiency with one type of artisan's tools of your choice.

Combat High

At 3rd level whenever you enter a rage your countless hours of practice and study are focused into a temporary combat high. You can take a bonus action on each of your turns while raging, and this bonus action may be used to take the Disengage or Search action.

Additionally, when you reduce a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack while raging, you gain temporary hit points equal to your barbarian level plus your Constitution modifier.

Resolute

At 6th level, your focus on the destruction of your enemies grants you an unwavering will. You gain proficiency in Wisdom saving throws.

In addition, you cannot be stunned while raging.

Eerie Gaze

At 10th level you may attempt to unnerve an opponent with a piercing glare as an action. When you do so, choose one creature that you can see within 30 feet of you. If the creature can see you, it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier). On a failure, the creature is frightened of you and it may not take reactions until the end of your next turn.

You may use this ability a number of times equal to your proficiency modifier and you regain all expended uses on a long rest.

Intercede

At 14th level, your focus allows you to protect allies while raging. When afriendly creature within 5 feet of you is targeted by an attack you may intercede as a reaction. When interceding, you take any damage the attacking creature deals to your ally until the end of the end of its turn so long as that ally remains within 5 feet of you. While this is in effect, anything that would force your ally to move instead forces you to move.

You may use this ability on a friendly creature again when it finishes a long rest.

2.0 to 2.1 changelog Resolute Mind changed to Resolute, added immunity to stun while raging

Author Notes I've heard a lot of people reflavoring rage as "focus" and always liked the flavor of it. Because of this, I wanted to create a subclass that applies that idea. This subclass is heavily based on the progression of the Berzerker barbarian path, in addition to capturing the flavor of the Battlemaster fighter, as you can see by the ripped ribbon feature "Student of War." This is the second version of this subclass, the first can be found here: http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/r1nKOXySb Combat High: I changed the base of this class to granting bonus action Search and Disengage, the two actions that I think strike a balance between useful and powerful. Disengage allows you to split your attacks among multiple enemies or attack the small mobs while still being in the big bad's face, and while Search is less useful, it makes sense for a focused barbarian and is a good countermeasure against rogues and other stealthy enemies. The temporary health emphasizes that this class is still a tank, and is rewarded for killing things, solidifying this class' role as a barbarian without giving up its added utility from the other benefits of Combat High. Resolute Mind: I like the flavor of this, and the fact that it isn't limited to rage puts it on par with Mindless Rage of the Berzerker path. No changes from V 1.0 Eerie Gaze: Balancing a stun on a barbarian was more of a headache than it was worth. This is a slightly modified version of the Berzerker's Intimidating Presense feature, trading out the 24 cooldown on a successful save for limited uses per day and taking away the target's reaction in order to keep some of the flavor of a stun without most of the benefits. Intercede: I have scrapped Improved Combat High in favor of a defensive tanking reaction. Forcing a creature to be unable to attack an ally until the end of its turn with no saving throw seems strong, but the limit of once until the protected creature finishes a long rest feels balanced to me. It could lead to clutch moments of defensive positioning, but the barbarian is still taking the damage from the attacks they protect against.

Written by /u/BabushkaSlayer