I decided to have a little more multi-class fun and see what I could do around the concept of an animal totem. Mechanically, the choices are pretty much what you’d expect, substituting a lion for the tiger totem found in The Sword Coast Adventurer Guide. The Circle of the Moon Druid completes the picture by allowing Lita to twice a day transform into a CR 1 lioness. She seems a fairly straightforward character on the surface, but once her initial goals are realized, there is any number of directions that she could be taken.
Lita
Human Barbarian (Lion Totem Warrior) 3/Druid (Circle of the Moon) 2
Armor Class 14
Hit Points 51
Proficiency Bonus +3
Speed 30 ft
Alignment neutral good
Languages Common, Elvish
Ability Scores
Strength 16 (+3)
Dexterity 12 (+1)
Constitution 16 (+3)
Intelligence 10 (+0)
Wisdom 13 (+1)
Charisma 10 (+0)
Attacks
Melee Attack: Battleaxe + 6 1d8+3 slashing damage. Versatile 1d10+3 slashing damage.
Melee or Ranged Attack: Handaxe +6 1d6+3 slashing damage, light, thrown (range 20/60)
Melee or Ranged Attack: Javelin +6 1d6+3 piercing, thrown (range 30/120)
Skills Acrobatics +1, Animal Handling +6, Arcana +0, Athletics +6, Deception +0, History +0, Insight +0, Intimidation +0, Investigation +0, Medicine +1, Nature +0, Perception +4, Performance +0, Persuasion +0, Religion +0, Sleight of Hand +1, Stealth +1, Survival +4
Equipment battleaxe, two handaxes, explorer’s pack, four javelins, walking staff, hunting trap, deerskin bracers – hunted, cured and crafted by himself, set of traveler’s clothes, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp
Class Features
Rage. In battle, you fight with primal ferocity. On your turn, you can enter a rage as a bonus action. While raging, you gain the following benefits if you aren’t wearing heavy armor:
- You have advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws
- When you make a melee weapon attack using Strength, you gain a bonus to the damage roll that increases as you gain levels as a barbarian, as shown in the Rage Damage column of the Barbarian table.
- You have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.
If you are able to cast spells, you can’t cast them or concentrate on them while raging. Your rage lasts for 1 minute. It ends early if you are knocked unconscious of if your turn ends and you haven’t attacked a hostile creature since your last turn or taken damage since then. You can also end your rage on your turn as a bonus action. Once you have raged the number of times shown for your barbarian level in the Rages column of the Barbarian table, you must finish a long rest before you can rage again.
Unarmored Defense. While you are not wearing any armor, your Armor Class equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Constitution modifier. You can use a shield and still gain this benefit.
Reckless Attack. You throw aside all concern for defense to attack with fierce desperation. When you make your first attack on your turn, you can decide to attack recklessly. Doing so gives you advantage on melee weapon attack rolls using Strength during this turn, you attack rolls against you have advantage until your next turn.
Danger Sense. You gain an uncanny sense of when things nearby aren’t as they should be, giving you an edge when you dodge away from danger. You have advantage on Dexterity saving throws against effects that you can see, such as traps and spells. To gain this benefit, you can’t be blinded, deafened, or incapacitated.
Totem Spirit (Lion). While raging, you can add 10 feet to your long jump distance and 3 feet to your high jump distance. The spirit of the tiger empowers your leaps.
Druidic. You know Druidic, the secret language of the druids. You can speak the language and use it to leave hidden messages. You and others who know this language automatically spot such a message. Others spot the message’s presence with a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check but can’t decipher it without magic.
Spellcasting. Spell save DC: 12 Spell attack modifier: +4
Cantrips: guidance, resistance
1st-level (3 slots): animal friendship, longstrider, speak with animals
Wild Shape. You can use your bonus action to magically assume the shape of a beast that you have seen before. You can use this feature twice. You regain expended uses when you finish a short or long rest. You can stay in a beast shape for a number of hours equal to half your druid level (rounded down). You then revert to your normal form unless you expend another use of this feature. You can revert to your normal form earlier by using a bonus action on your turn. You automatically revert if you fall unconscious, drop to 0 hit points, or die. Additionally, you can use a bonus action to expend one spell slot to regain 1d8 hit points per level of the spell slot expended. See the full rules for when you are transformed on page 66-67 of the Players Handbook
Proficiencies
Armor Proficiencies: Light armor, medium armor, shields
Weapon Proficiencies: Simple weapons, martial weapons
Tool Proficiencies: Pan flute
Saving Throws: Strength and Constitution
Skill Proficiencies: Animal Handling, Athletics, Perception, Survival
Background: Outlander (Tribal Nomad)
Wanderer: You have an excellent memory for maps and geography, and you can always recall the general layout of terrain, settlements, and other features around you. In addition, you can find food and fresh water for yourself and up to five other people each day, provided that the land offers berries, small game, water, and so forth.
Personality Traits: I place no stock in wealthy or well-mannered folk. Money and manners won’t save you from a hungry owlbear.
Ideals: Change. Life is like the seasons, in constant change, and we must change with it.
Bonds: I will bring terrible wrath down on the evildoers who destroyed my homeland.
Flaws: Don’t expect me to save those who can’t save themselves. It is nature’s way that he strong thrive and the weak perish.
Background: Lita grew up on the savannah as part of a group of tribal nomads. She learned from an early age to respect the lions that hunted the same land and to learn the lessons they taught and she grew into not only a capable warrior, but capable of using the spirit of the lion to hone her already formidable skills. Her powers only grew with her and her bond with the spirit of the lion grew deeper and deeper. However, she was forced to flee from her homeland when she came home from an embarrassingly bad hunt and found the tribe’s camp destroyed, and the bodies of many of her kinsmen dead, others missing, presumably carted away to be some form of slave labor. She committed to memory the symbol that adorned a shoulder patch of one of the attackers that her kin had taken with her and stalked off to get her vengeance.
Ben Erickson
