Path of the Giant: The Best Barbarian Subclass
So far in my deep dive through the pages of the new D&D sourcebook, Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants, I have gone into its expansive lore of Giants and The Ordning and also focused on some of the best monsters amongst the 71 found in the book’s Bestiary. If you’re a Dungeon Master wanting to add more Giants and Giantkinn into your sessions and campaigns, those are the places to start.
However, Glory of the Giants also made sure to add some options for those on the other side of the DM screen. If you’re a player who is looking to branch out and build a character who is tied in more ways than one to Giants, there are some new options here for you to choose from including a Barbarian subclass, two new backgrounds, and a few feats. In this first post, I will be just covering the new Barbarian subclass, as it is a doozy and possibly the best Barbarian subclass there is.
I’ll point out you still can’t play as a Giant, which is probably for the best unless you’re running an entire world of Giants, because there would be no end to the amount of buildings you can’t easily enter. No matter though, if your adventurer is intrigued with Giants, their history and lore, their incredible might, or any other aspect of them, you could easily have a halfling who wants nothing more than to be bigger than life and they get to do that with these additions. So, let’s look at creating a character who is tied to Giants.
Path of the Giant
If you are wanting to play a character who sprints headfirst into battle with a terror-inducing warcry and start swinging your weapon of choice around, killing enemies with reckless abandon, the Barbarian class is just for you. The defining characteristic of Barbarians is Rage, it is what makes them seemingly the best Tank class in 5e because when they’re raging it is nigh impossible to take them down (yes, there are arguments for Paladin builds to take the title belt for this as well, I know.)
While every Barbarian Rages, not every Rage is the same. Each Barbarian has to eventually choose a Primal Path, the way in which their Rage manifests on the battlefield. Path of the Giant joins eight other options for the path you can take once you reach 3rd level, each with their own benefits. Path of the Giant is for those who want the physical manifestation of their Rage to show in their actual size changing, literally growing more giant and filled with elemental strength as they tear through enemies in combat.
Now, to be fair, sometimes a new subclass is introduced, and looking at it it seems cool, and has neat flavor, but it is lackluster when it comes to mechanics: aka Undying Warlock. Or, it’s one of the original options and is terrible – looking at you, Berserker Barbarian. But, the Path of the Giant is actually a fantastic new subclass right out of the box. So, let’s look at what it has to offer.
3rd-Level Benefits:
Giant’s Power:
Learn to communicate in Giant (or another language if you already know Giant).
Learn either Druidcraft or Thaumaturgy as a cantrip.
Giant’s Havoc
When raging, gain Crushing Throw (add Rage Damage bonus to thrown ranged weapons).
When raging, gain Giant Stature (your reach increases by 5 feet as you grow in size up to Large).
6th-Level Benefits:
Elemental Cleaver
When raging you can infuse a weapon you’re holding with primordial energy choosing acid, cold, fire, thunder, or lightning and adding 1d6 damage to hits with the weapon.
The infused weapon can be thrown 20 ft./60 ft. and reappears in your hand after hitting or missing.
The infused weapon has a bonus action ability to change the damage type to any other in the list.
10th-Level Benefits:
Mighty Impel
When raging, as a bonus action, you can throw Medium and smaller creatures up to 30 feet.
Unwilling creatures make a Strength save (8+Str. Mod+Prof.) to avoid.
Creatures thrown to unsupported areas take falling damage and land prone.
14th-Level Benefits:
Demiurgic Colossus
When raging, your reach increases by 10 ft.
You can become Large or Huge.
Your Mighty Impel can be used on creatures that are Large or smaller.
The added damage of your Elemental Cleaver becomes 2d6.
As you can see, a Path of the Giant Barbarian is a force of raw power on the battlefield. Starting at 3rd-level, simply being able to add Thaumaturgy or Druidcraft is more so a bit of flavor and while a creative player may come up with some uses they will be limited. Speaking Giant, also more flavor.
However, Giant’s Havoc is a decently powerful boon early in the game. Crushing Throw will force your hand in how you want to play your character by making you choose a weapon that can be thrown and to use it regularly. Sure, you’re only getting a minor addition to the attack, but this is the only Barbarian subclass that offers you a solid amount of ranged damage, which is always helpful on expansive battlefields. The real show-stopper here is Giant Stature, adding to your attack distance is always a great thing to be able to do because it keeps you out of range of most opportunity attacks early in the game and keeps more enemies in your range of attack.
If you are playing in a game that allows feats, at 4th-level you can become a Polearm Master using a glaive, halberd, spear, etc. This means your attacks are reaching 10-15 feet and you have an opportunity attack range of that distance as well as making movement on the battlefield genuinely difficult for a large area of enemies. If you want to basically break the game with your character, make a Bugbear Path of the Giant Barbarian adding another 5-feet to your reach with their long-limbed feature. You now have 20 feet of reach when raging.
The addition of the 6th-level Elemental Cleaver is a fantastic build upon Crushing Throw as now you pretty much become Thor wielding your own Mjölnir by any other name and thrown weapon type. The added ability to change the damage type with a bonus action also makes you much more versatile when dealing with any enemies that have vulnerabilities, and even without that, you can be doling out extra thunder damage (the least likely to be resisted) from afar while keeping everyone else 10-20 feet away. But, next time you’re up against an army of Mephits, you will be slinging out a ton of damage (this is my way of recognizing that vulnerabilities aren’t necessarily a common thing amongst monsters in D&D and I really wish they’d focus on it more often. I mean how are Aarakocra not vulnerable to Fire? They’re literally birds. You ever put a flame near a feather? Rant over.)
Mighty Impel is incredible. There’s no way around it. You become Uncle Phil and everybody Medium and under (which will be a ton of beings at this level) are DJ Jazzy Jeff. Is it an old reference? Sure. But, hey ya gotta work with what your brain’s got. If your Dungeon Master is putting you in well-built dungeons that are multi-faceted and multi-layered you should be tossing fools left and right over ravines, into pools of poison, into the maws of massive beasts (okay, it says unoccupied spaces, but I’d let it happen with some minions), straight up where you are impaled by a stalactite, there are so many ways to toss those little guys with your Ragin’ self when you’re 10 to 15 feet tall. All I want in my life right now is to be a Bugbear Path of the Giant Barbarian that is swinging around a Glaive, tossing out thunder Javelins, and man- (or I guess) Bugbear-handling a group of Goblins and chucking them into the Sunless Cavern below.
Finally, we come to Demiurgic Colossus at 14th-level. If you’re anything like me, then you had no idea what the word Demiurgic meant and you can’t see a new word without going straight to the dictionary to rectify that situation. Well, reader, let me tell you, much like a Bridesmaid defining Love in a speech, according to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, Demiurgic means “One that is an autonomous creative force or decisive power.”
If you read my bit on Giant Lore, you recognize this is referencing Annam, the All-Father. You are slowly becoming equated with a creator of this world. One thing I absolutely love about this final addition to the subclass (aka its capstone to those new to Dungeons & Dragons jargon) is that it basically takes everything you’ve gained up to this point and just makes it a bit better. In my opinion, that is the best way to handle the capstone. No need for anything new, just bring it all to its peak.
The result of all of this is honestly the best Barbarian subclass of the nine available based purely on abilities. You may like the flavor of any of the others, but none of them is as powerful as The Path of the Giant in terms of sheer numbers. If you want to build a powerhouse of a tank, this is the new class for you.