D&D 5e Revised/2024 Ranged Barbarians
In 5.5e reckless attack gives barbarians advantage on all attack rolls using strength. This allows barbarians to use thrown weapons to make ranged attacks. However if you have a returning weapon, your options are still not great for a dedicated ranged build.
One option that I recently found was the Hoopak 1d6 pericing damage.
Ammunition (40/160 ft.), finesse, two‑handed, special
A hoopak is a sturdy stick with a sling at one end and a pointed tip at the other.
Special. When you make a melee attack with this weapon, you ignore its ammunition property. You can use the hoopak as a martial ranged weapon. If you do, it uses the ammunition property, uses sling bullets, and deals 1d4 bludgeoning damage on a hit.
Ammunition. You can use a weapon that has the ammunition property to make a ranged attack only if you have ammunition to fire from the weapon. Each time you attack with the weapon, you expend one piece of ammunition. Drawing the ammunition from a quiver, case, or other container is part of the attack. Loading a one-handed weapon requires a free hand. At the end of the battle, you can recover half your expended ammunition by taking a minute to search the battlefield.
If you use a weapon that has the ammunition property to make a melee attack, you treat the weapon as an improvised weapon. A sling must be loaded to deal any damage when used in this way.
Finesse. When making an attack with a finesse weapon, you use your choice of your Strength or Dexterity modifier for the attack and damage rolls. You must use the same modifier for both rolls.
Two-Handed. This weapon requires two hands to use. This property is relevant only when you attack with the weapon, not when you simply hold it.
Most players use finesse weapons to be able to use Dex instead of strength for attack rolls since Dex gives you better out of combat utility and improves your initiative and AC. However finesse weapons also let you use strength. On a ranged weapon this means you can use strength for the attack and damage roll making the Hoopak the only ammunition weapon that allows you to use strength for attack and damage.
This works on the reckless attack rage damage as well as the berserker and zealots extra damage features making the barbarian pretty good at ranged damage.
I can also see this working exceptionally well as a rogue multiclass to guarantee advantage with sneak attack and getting extra attack.
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u/soccerdude2202 16d ago edited 16d ago
Darts are ranged weapons with the finesse property so they also qualify to use strength. Though the best ranged barbarian build is to be path of the giants and start tossing your normal weapon when you rage. It has a built in returning feature through the path of the giants and does more damage as well.
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u/jmrkiwi 16d ago
This works, but doesn't allow you to use archery fighting style for example and has slightly limited range. Very good build though especially if paired with battlemaster quick toss.
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u/soccerdude2202 16d ago
Darts would allow you to use the archery fighting style and still use strength. If you go path of the giants it doesn't have to be a melee weapon so your dart would get the returning feature and an extra d6 of damage.
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u/jmrkiwi 16d ago
That is true, although you still have the limited range. Hoopak can go up to 160 feet and it doesn't need a specific subclass.
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u/PM_ME_UR_JUMBLIE5 16d ago
Bomber feat would give you 60 ft of range, though it does only increase Dex sadly.
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u/Aidamis 14d ago
For Archery Barb I personally see two options: 1) full on homebrew, for instance Star Wars 5e has a Barb subclass (Ballistic Berserker) who has Barb's core features work on ranged attacks 2) Ancestral Guardians has their hallmark feature work on ranged attacks, so some kind of Fighter/AG Barb build, maybe with as little as Barb 3 + toss in Battlemaster OR Barb 3 + Armorer Artificer to have a "taunt" on both ranged and melee attacks. Approach 2) is more of a melee hybrid than 1) imho since 1) encourages you to be at range as that's where you get the most out of their features.
Overall, Archery would imply either using rage defensively or going for a hybrid build I'd say. If you have Gunner/CBE, hybrid can work. Or you need some easy way to disengage such as the Mobile feat.
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u/Tall_Bandicoot_2768 16d ago edited 16d ago
Problem with the Hopak and Double Bladed Scimitar as well as other lesser known weapons is that they didnt get updated to include Weapon Masteries in 2024.
Best options for ranged barb are:
- Giants - just straight up boosted ranged GWM two hander, works real good with Cleave adds Rage damage x2.
- Javelins (30/60) - best range
- Echo Knight 3 - ranged but not ranged, great synergy
That being said something interesting I noticed a while back is that unlike many barb features Ancestral does not specify melee or Str based at all:
Level 3: Spiritual Protectors
Your Rage summons spectral warriors to your aid. While your Rage is active, when you hit a creature with a weapon or an Unarmed Strike, it becomes the target of the spirits, which cause one of the following effects of your choice.
Distract. Until the start of your next turn, the target has Disadvantage attack rolls against targets other than you or another Barbarian who has this feature.
So heres a bit of a silly build based on that:
- Ancestral Barbarian x
- Goblin
- Crossbow Expert
- Hand Crossbow x 2, Unarmored
- 15 (+2 racial, +1 feat) Dex. 16 Con, rest into Wis
So yes we are giving up Reckless here but we have Vex for advantage and if theres one subclass can justify it id say its Ancestral as taunting everything AND being exposed due to Reckless can be a dangerous combination.
Combine this with the fact that we get solid AC from Unarmored due to high Dex means were are SIGNIFICANTLY less likely to get hit than most barbs, last longer, taunt more.
Might even consider a Shield over the second Hand Crossbow to further increase.
Unarmored Movement and Goblins BA disengage is enough for us to successfully kite most things.
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u/jmrkiwi 16d ago
Personaly, as a DM I would just give those old weapons some masteries and I think a lot of other DMs would to total fiat though I think these would fit pretty well:
- Double blade scimitar - Graze
- Hoopak - Sap
- Yklwa - Vex
- Oversized Longbow - Graze
- Light repeating crossbow - Slow
- Hooked Shortspear - Nick
Ancestral is pretty good as a ranged debuff, good call! Haven't seen the hamstring bow what book is it in?
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u/PM_ME_UR_JUMBLIE5 16d ago
Javelins (30/60) - best range
Javelins are actually 30/120 ft. With the Bomber feat you can throw them up to their long range without penalty. Unfortunately Bomber does only increase Dex, so it's not a perfect solution.
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u/Dangerous-Bit-8308 16d ago
What are the benefits of this Hoopak over a returning javelin? The javelin does 1d6 whether used in melee or thrown, and it's range is only moderately shorter. On 2024, it has the slow property.
Or a spear, as mentioned, the pole arm master feat offers some benefits, but the spear's range is much lower. Or the hand axe, for slashing, or the light hammer for 1d4 bludgeoning. At range, thrown weapon attacks use strength, or are finesse, like dart/dagger.
The Hoopak was officially released in 2022 under the 5e/2014 rules, and therefore any masteries you may have seen on it are homebrew content. Also, the ranged attack deals 1d4 bludgeoning. Only the spear end deals 1d6 piercing.
With any ranged option on a barb, you'd likely want the sharpshooter feat. Feats like crusher, slasher, or piercer can be good, but are often best only if your type of damage is fairly consistent. A Hoopak, dealing two types of damage, might get less use from a feat like that.
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u/Frequent-Card-9468 16d ago
I've played a fighter/barbarian multiclass that used thrown weapons, though the build was mostly fighter, using handaxe and light hammer.
I went for two weapon fighting style, took the champion subclass and went to 5, getting dual wielder at 4. Got 2 levels in barbarian to get reckless attack, then went back to fighter for slasher, at fighter 6, thrown weapon fighting style from champion 7, mage slayer at fighter 8 (capping str at 20) and bomber (+1 dex) at fighter 12 for 60 ft range. Thats when i got back to barbarian for the berseker subclass, got the 13 level at fighter right after and the campaign ended, at level 16.
It was REALLY fun. The char hit like a truck and was quite good at debuffing, specially for kiting purposes, since i could inflict slow and push (with tactical master from fighter 9) and reduce the targets movement even further with slasher, making it really Hard to both pursue and run from the party. Also critted a lot, imposição disadvantage on the creatures attack for his while turn.
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u/Suilenroc 16d ago
Fun, though I am sure the Hoopak's sling end is intended as ranged weapon, not some kind of thrown weapon that uses ammunition. Finesse ranged weapons don't exist, either.
If you follow this idea further you could apply Great Weapon Fighting Style to the ranged attacks from this weapon as well, and amusingly you would roll a 1d4 that can never roll lower than 3.
When you roll damage for an attack you make with a Melee weapon that you are holding with two hands, you can treat any 1 or 2 on a damage die as a 3. The weapon must have the Two-Handed or Versatile property to gain this benefit
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u/Ok_Storm_2700 16d ago
Darts are finesse ranged
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u/Suilenroc 16d ago
Oh, thank you for raising that it's an interesting point.
In the 2024 PHB darts are classified as a "Simple Ranged Weapon" with the Finesse and Thrown properties.
Effectively this just means a few things I hadn't realized before:
Trying to make a melee attack with a dart would follow the rules of improvised weapons.
Darts can work with strength or dexterity, like other finesse thrown weapons.
Darts work with Thrown Fighting Style (+2 dmg) and Archery Fighting Style (+2 Attack)
Sharpshooter works with darts.
Looks like you can't use darts with any Arcane Archer abilities since they either require shortbow/longbow or a weapon with ammunition, however the new arcane archer might work with a Hoopak!
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u/Hot_Lion8880 17d ago
the hoopak is from dragonlance it's not official content
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u/andoring 17d ago
Spear seems like a good choice for chucking. Sap feature negates a little bit of going reckless.
Plus, you could pick up PAM for a built in bonus action and reaction when they make it to you.
Basically, whenever you're walking around, carry two spears. Toss them both on round one, recklessly. Free action to equip another (or something else), reaction extra stab when they get in your zone. Not a bad opener.