Path of Bloodfury

Start-class article · First seen: s4 · Last seen: s23

The Path of Bloodfury is Hugo’s barbarian subclass, a homebrew one: the idea was Hugo’s player’s and the DM made it (“Nick made it, so…”, [19][20]). Its name is never spoken in the recorded sessions. What play shows is a damage bonus that builds as Hugo keeps landing blows, two more for each round of combat in the early sessions [21][23][26], kept as “stacks” that carry from one fight into the next and pause when he stops hitting [29][31], and that build only on damage to a hostile creature [4]. In session 11 the DM said it was pulling Hugo ahead of the others [33]. By then a retune had added a release: in a round when Hugo deals no damage, the build-up bursts out as force damage, “void energy”, and the stacks reset [37][39][40][41]. From session 13 ranged attacks no longer count [46][47][49]. In session 22 he called his stacks “Bloodstacks”: they added six damage to the natural 20 that killed the living skin [15][53], and he saw no point raging for a thrown axe, since thrown attacks no longer build them [13]. In session 23 they were “blood stacks”, and part of the 32 damage of a natural 20 that destroyed one of the greatsword skeletons [58][59].

About this page

This page records what the recorded sessions show of Hugo’s subclass: how the table talks about it and how it has worked in play. It is not the subclass’s written text, which the wiki does not have, and the name is not spoken in any session; the wiki has used it from the start, from Chris’s answers to its early questions. Barbarian features that are not the subclass’s, such as rage and Reckless Attack, are left out, and so is Savage Attacker, which Hugo named in session 22 [15].

Origins

The subclass is homebrew (“Oh, yeah, it’s homebrew.”, [16]). When Terry remarked in session 5 that it sounded like “a 2014 subclass”, the DM answered “No, it’s a Nick.” and Hugo added “Nick made it, so…” [17][18][19]. In session 11 Hugo described the idea as his own: “I kind of thought of the idea behind it, and I was like, it would be cool if we could do this. And I think me and Nick didn’t really think about the full balance tuning behind it.” [20].

The stacking bonus

  • Two more a round. In session 4 Caelumn asked where Hugo’s extra two damage came from; “From my subclass.”, and the DM agreed it was because a round of combat had passed [21][22][23]. In session 5 Hugo explained a 17-damage axe blow the same way: “plus two each each round of combat” [24][25][26].
  • Stacks. The table calls the build-up stacks. When the succubus dominated Hugo in session 9 and turned him on his friends, he had “built up max stacks going into this”, so they faced “an extra plus eight to whatever i roll” [5]; earlier in that fight he had to check his character sheet for “which stack I’m up to” [27].
  • Carried between fights. In session 5 the DM asked whether the bonus carries over from combat; Hugo said it does, and that “it reactivates once I hit something so if I don’t hit something it pauses but then I hit it and it reactivates” [28][29][30][31].
  • Damage to a hostile creature. In session 7 the DM told Hugo he had been misreading the stacking: “It’s a creature you need to deal damage to. A hostile creature.” A blow against one of the fungal nodes tied to the Titan did not count [32][4].

The retune and the void release

In session 11 the DM said “I have actually thinking about us needing to retune your subclass because I think you’re pulling a bit too far ahead of the others” [33], and floated lowering the bonus “to only one damage increase” [34]. Hugo noted that it would not scale: it stays at two when his barbarian bonus grows to three [35][36].

The change already made came with a release. In the session 10 alley ambush, after missing with both attacks, Hugo ended his turn with the Aurelian Paladin taking “six force damage as I explode void energy” [37][38]. Hugo explained it in session 11: “So if I don’t deal damage in a round, then they take damage based off the number of rounds beforehand.”, and after it goes off “The stacks reset back to zero.” [39][40][41]. The DM put it more bluntly: “if he doesn’t deal damage within 6 seconds he’ll explode” [42]. Later that session Hugo used the same release on purpose, letting his stacks explode as force damage to turn the trees around him into splinters for firewood [9][43][44][45].

Melee only

By session 13 the subclass had changed again. Mid-fight the DM reminded Hugo that “your new Bloodlust only works” “on melee attacks.” [46][47], and Hugo complained later that “range attacks no longer count towards my bloodlust stack”, which kept him from using thrown axes [48][49][50]. In session 19 he joked about building “my bloodlust stacks” on the polymorphed Terry [51].

Session 22: the Bloodstacks

In session 22 Hugo calls his stacks “Bloodstacks” [15], and they carry the same limit on thrown attacks that came in with the session 13 change [49][13].

  • The kill. Hugo’s reckless natural 20 against the living skin came to 34: “So it’s going to take 28 damage plus the extra six. So it’s going to take 34 damage on that one. Huh? My Bloodstacks.” The DM accepted it, and Hugo explained that he had hit three times: “so i’m on six stacks” [15][52][53].
  • Not on thrown attacks. Against the flameskulls he dropped the idea of raging, “because I don’t get bloodlust stacks on thrown attacks anymore”, and threw an axe instead [13].

Session 23: “blood stacks”

Session 23 names the stacks once more, this time as “blood stacks”. In the second fight inside the ridge temple, Hugo landed a readied longsword blow on one of the greatsword skeletons for 16 [54][55][56]. On his next turn he rolled a natural 20: “so it’s gonna take 32 how does it feel about that because of blood stacks as well” [57][58]. The DM did not query the figure and ruled on the critical hit itself, “since that is a crit it dies outright” [59].

How much of the 32 the stacks supplied is not stated, and nothing is said in the session about how many he held. His one attack in the first fight was a thrown hand axe [60], and no stacks are mentioned for it.

See also

References

  1. ^ Session 4, line 672-676: "Where are you getting the extra 2 damage from?" "From my subclass.".
  2. ^ Session 5, line 806-808: "plus two each each round of combat".
  3. ^ Session 5, line 1013-1024: The bonus carries over between fights; "No, it's a Nick." "Nick made it, so...".
  4. ^ Session 7, line 133: "It's a creature you need to deal damage to. A hostile creature.".
  5. ^ Session 9, line 1392: "I have built up max stacks going into this".
  6. ^ Session 10, line 1009-1010: No damage dealt in his turn: "six force damage as I explode void energy".
  7. ^ Session 11, line 37-43: The DM: "needing to retune your subclass"; "maybe we lower it to only one damage increase".
  8. ^ Session 11, line 56-66: The void release; "The stacks reset back to zero."; "Oh, yeah, it's homebrew.".
  9. ^ Session 11, line 1683: Hugo lets his stacks explode to turn trees into firewood.
  10. ^ Session 13, line 717-719: "remember your new Bloodlust only works" "on melee attacks.".
  11. ^ Session 13, line 2011-2015: "range attacks no longer count towards my bloodlust stack".
  12. ^ Session 22, line 393-395: "28 damage plus the extra six"; "My Bloodstacks."; "so i'm on six stacks".
  13. ^ Session 22, line 1202: "I don't get bloodlust stacks on thrown attacks anymore".
  14. ^ Session 23, line 1840-1843: A natural 20: "so it's gonna take 32 how does it feel about that because of blood stacks as well"; "since that is a crit it dies outright".
  15. ^ Session 22, line 393: Inline citation.
  16. ^ Session 11, line 64: Inline citation.
  17. ^ Session 5, line 1022: Inline citation.
  18. ^ Session 5, line 1023: Inline citation.
  19. ^ Session 5, line 1024: Inline citation.
  20. ^ Session 11, line 66: Inline citation.
  21. ^ Session 4, line 672: Inline citation.
  22. ^ Session 4, line 674: Inline citation.
  23. ^ Session 4, line 676: Inline citation.
  24. ^ Session 5, line 804: Inline citation.
  25. ^ Session 5, line 806: Inline citation.
  26. ^ Session 5, line 808: Inline citation.
  27. ^ Session 9, line 1233: Inline citation.
  28. ^ Session 5, line 1014: Inline citation.
  29. ^ Session 5, line 1015: Inline citation.
  30. ^ Session 5, line 1016: Inline citation.
  31. ^ Session 5, line 1018: Inline citation.
  32. ^ Session 7, line 102: Inline citation.
  33. ^ Session 11, line 37: Inline citation.
  34. ^ Session 11, line 43: Inline citation.
  35. ^ Session 11, line 40: Inline citation.
  36. ^ Session 11, line 42: Inline citation.
  37. ^ Session 10, line 1009: Inline citation.
  38. ^ Session 10, line 1010: Inline citation.
  39. ^ Session 11, line 56: Inline citation.
  40. ^ Session 11, line 58: Inline citation.
  41. ^ Session 11, line 62: Inline citation.
  42. ^ Session 11, line 50: Inline citation.
  43. ^ Session 11, line 1686: Inline citation.
  44. ^ Session 11, line 1692: Inline citation.
  45. ^ Session 11, line 1694: Inline citation.
  46. ^ Session 13, line 717: Inline citation.
  47. ^ Session 13, line 719: Inline citation.
  48. ^ Session 13, line 2011: Inline citation.
  49. ^ Session 13, line 2013: Inline citation.
  50. ^ Session 13, line 2015: Inline citation.
  51. ^ Session 19, line 1341: Inline citation.
  52. ^ Session 22, line 394: Inline citation.
  53. ^ Session 22, line 395: Inline citation.
  54. ^ Session 23, line 1765: Inline citation.
  55. ^ Session 23, line 1775: Inline citation.
  56. ^ Session 23, line 1776: Inline citation.
  57. ^ Session 23, line 1840: Inline citation.
  58. ^ Session 23, line 1842: Inline citation.
  59. ^ Session 23, line 1843: Inline citation.
  60. ^ Session 23, line 1082: Inline citation.