Barbarians of the Path of Nightmares believe that battles are fought by both flesh and mind, preying upon their enemies’ fears to gain the upper hand. Using a mixture of might and magic, these terrifying warriors embody their own worst nightmares to render their foes speechless and move unseen throughout the world.
Fearmonger
Starting when you choose this path at 3rd level, you harness your own fears to empower your abilities. Your rage manifests visually as a small, nightmarish illusion from your body. The appearance may be a random phenomenon or something you choose, or it may even be based on your personal nightmares that come to the surface when you rage. Choose a nightmarish appearance or roll on the table below.
Nightmarish Appearances
(d8 / Illusion)
1 / Smoke and embers billow from you where your hair would normally be.
2 / Your eyes burn like coals, and the flesh around them appears charred and ashen.
3 / Your face blurs when you move, leaving a haze of afterimages behind it.
4 / When you speak or shout, cloying whispers edge into the minds of enemy creatures that can hear you.
5 / Your shadow moves on its own and pools around you as a dark specter.
6 / Your teeth grow unnaturally long and pointed.
7 / Inky, leathery imp wings unfurl from your back and loom behind you.
8 / Your tongue grows long and forked, and your eyes turn yellow with slitted pupils.
Saving Throws. Some of your features for this path use a special save DC, called your Nightmare save DC. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows:
Nightmare save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier (your choice)
Terrifying Fury
At 3rd level, your rage subtly draws out the fears of your enemies. While you’re raging, the first creature you hit on each of your turns with a weapon attack takes extra psychic damage equal to half your barbarian level, rounded up. You also gain proficiency in either the Intimidation or Stealth skill (your choice).
Apparition
Also at 3rd level, you can use a bonus action to teleport to an unoccupied space that you can see within 20 feet of you that’s also within 5 feet of another creature. If there are multiple creatures within 5 feet of that space, choose one. When you teleport in this way, that creature must make a Wisdom saving throw against your Nightmare save DC, provided that it can see you; the creature has disadvantage on the save if it didn’t see you before you teleported. On a failed save, the creature becomes frightened of you until the start of your next turn. A creature frightened in this way can’t make opportunity attacks against you, and you have advantage on attack rolls against it.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to half your level in this class, rounded up, and regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest. You can also use this feature as part of the same bonus action to enter a rage. If your speed is 0, you can’t teleport using this feature.
Alternatively, once you reach 10th level in this class, you can use an action to expend two uses of this feature to cast the invisibility spell, targeting only yourself, without expending a spell slot or material components. If you hit a creature while you’re invisible in this way, that target must make a Wisdom saving throw with disadvantage against your Nightmare save DC. On a failed save, it suffers the effects of your Apparition.
Waking Nightmare
Beginning at 6th level, you have resistance to psychic damage, and you can’t be frightened while raging. If you are frightened when you enter your rage, the effect is suspended for the duration of the rage.
In addition, you don’t need to sleep, and magic can’t put you to sleep. To gain the benefits of a long rest, you can spend all 8 hours doing light activity, such as cleaning your equipment, reading, or keeping watch.
Dreamseeker
Starting at 10th level, you can cast the dream spell, without expending a spell slot or material components. When you do, the saving throw DC for the spell is equal to your Nightmare save DC. For the duration of the spell, you can change the target of the spell up to five times, visiting the dreams of each creature separately. The spell otherwise ends early once the messenger becomes monstrous, as normal. Once the messenger becomes monstrous to a creature, that creature can’t be targeted by this spell again until 2 days have passed.
Once you’ve used this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.
Improved Apparition
By 14th level, your mastery over terror is unmatched. You can use an action to expend three uses of your Apparition feature to cast the fear spell, without expending a spell slot or material components, using your Nightmare save DC for the spell save DC. Further, when you cast invisibility on yourself, you can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide with- out squeezing. Your rage also doesn’t stop you from casting or concentrating on the fear or invisibility spells when you expend uses of your Apparition feature to do so, nor can your rage end early as a result of not attacking a creature on the turn when you cast a spell in this way.
In addition, when you use your Apparition to teleport, the distance you can teleport increases to 30 feet.
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