“...the melody  of the quartet filled the room as i strutted towards the Canapé table. A woman came to make comment on the absence of a partner. I retorted that i had several chasing me this evening and that she would be lucky to go home with the hosts horse with a face as long as hers. With a curt smile barely holding in the shattered self esteem she moved off as i smirked, this was my battlefield and i was in command...”

The Barbarian Archetype

Path of the
Socialite

Tear your enemies apart with your words and talk them into an early grave.

Key Feature

Stinging
Barbs

BREAK A PERSONS SPIRIT WITH AN UNRELATING VERBAL ATTACK ON HOW TACKY THEIR CLOTHES ARE.

Class Features
  • 1
  • 2
    • Vibe Check
    • Reckless Remarks
  • 3
    • Sizing them up
    • Spitting Venom
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
    • You want to be Next?
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
    • Who's in Charge?
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
    • Talk them into an early grave
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
    • Verbal Champion

1st level optional feature

Roasting

“I have become untethered and my rage know no bounds, you will feel the fury of my words as I dissect you from face to clothes.”

No one is safe from your insults as things get personal. On your turn, you can enter a Roasting rage as a bonus action.

While roasting, you gain the following benefits if you aren’t wearing heavy armour.

  • You have advantage on Charisma checks and Charisma saving throws
  • Any additional weapon damage from brutal critical is considered psychic damage
  • When you make a Stinging Barbs attack using Charisma, you gain +2 bonus to the damage roll. This bonus increases as you level similar to the Rage Damage table.
  • You have resistance to psychic damage and advantage on saves against being charmed and frightened.

If you are able to cast spells, you can’t cast them or concentrate on them while roasting.

1st level optional feature

In Fashion

Honey my sense of taste is my armour, look at me a despair in how trashy you are in comparison.”

While you are not wearing any armour, your Armor Class equals 10 + your Charisma modifier + your Constitution modifier.
If you are wearing the latest trend in formal clothes for the location then you gain an additional +2 Armor Class, if you sustain over half your total HP of damage, your clothes are considered dishevelled and you no longer gain this bonus.

Being seen in dishevelled clothes shakes your confidence and you receive a disadvantage on your CHA ability checks. You can repair your formal clothes on a short rest.

1st level optional key feature

STINGING BARBS

“I don’t need a sword to kill you, that top and those shoes have killed any creditability you had left.”

our words are venomous and are considered a weapon. Instead of a normal weapon attack you can instead insult an enemy and deal 1d8 psychic damage. You use your Charisma to make these attacks and deal damage.

Stinging barbs have a 60ft range and can provoke opportunity attacks when an opponent leaves a 5ft range. Creatures that can’t understand your language are still damaged by the tone of your voice and mannerisms. If a creature can understand you then you deal your rage bonus damage to them.

Taking Stinging Bards, removes extra attack at level 5 for Socialites, instead gaining additional barbs as the Socialite reaches higher levels.

You throw multiple barbs at higher levels, two barbs at 5th level, three barbs at 11th level, and four barbs at 17th level. You can direct the barbs at the same target or at different ones. Make a separate attack roll for each barbs.

2nd level optional feature

Vibe Check

Oh my gods, this place is so uncouth!

At 2nd level, you gain an uncanny sense of when things nearby are giving off a bad vibe, granting you an edge when it comes to being caught off guard. You have advantage on Charisma saving throws against effects that you can see, such as spells and traps. To gain this benefit you can’t be blinded, deafened, or incapacitated.

2nd level optional feature

Reckless Remarks

I’ll take you down with me!

Starting at 2nd level, you can throw aside all concern for defence 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 Stinging Barb attack rolls using Charisma during this turn, but attack rolls against you have advantage until your next turn.

3rd level feature

Sizing them Up

Wow, brave of you to wear that tabard with that shield. Where you hoping the enemy would stab their eyes out?

As a bonus action you look for flaws in a target to target for your Stinging Barbs. Make a contested insight check against the target’s performance to discover any flaws or insecurities.

On a successful check you can attack with advantage on Stinging Barb attacks or add your Charisma bonus to any weapon attack damage once per round.

This lasts against a target until you’ve had a short rest. Can be used twice per short rest.

3rd level feature

Spitting Venom

Oh I didn’t know we were trying to scare children today, oh that’s your normal face?

On a Critical, your stinging barbs cause more than just damage. When you roll a Crit, the target of your attack must make a WIS saving throwing against your spell save DC, on a failure roll 1d4, you impose the condition in the condition table on your target until the end of your your next turn. Additional Critical attacks from you onto the target increase the rounds affected +1/per Crit

1
Prone
2
Stunned
3
Deafened
4
Frightened

6th level feature

You want to be next?

Oh I’m not done yet, I see more insults to my eyeballs

On your turn, when you score a critical hit with your  Stinging Barbs or reduce a creature to 0 hit points with one, you can make one addition Stinging Barb

10th level feature

Who's In Charge?

Do what I say of I’ll tell them all about how you cry when you look in a reflection

If you spend at least 1 minute speaking to a group of people who understand you within a 40ft radius, you can incite them to perform an action for you. Make an Intimidation Ability Check DC 17, on a success you can give them a short command. On a failure you can at disadvantage attempt to instead make a second roll with a DC 14 to give them a single word command. You can effect a number of creatures equal to your Proficiency Bonus. Target’s aren’t magically compelled to follow these commands and may not follow them if they are against their morals. Once per day resetting on a long rest.

14th level feature

Talk them into an early grave

I’ll do whatever it takes, I’ll even talk them into suicide

Your words can do more than cut, they can force a creature to tear their own heart out, with what can only be described as a verbal assault.

As a Action you can choose a target that can understand you, make a CHA (Intimidation) check against a target's WIS saving throw.

If the target fails, each round you hold concertation on the verbal assault they gain a level of exhaustion. If the target succeeds the verbal assault ends. On your subsequent turns you both make the contested rolls. If the target succeeds, the assault fades and they cannot have this used against them again for 24 hours. You can use this twice per day resetting on a long rest.

20th level optional feature

Verbal Champion

Sticks and stones can break my bones and words will break them more.

At 20th level, you embody the power of verbal smackdowns. Your Charisma and Constitution scores increase by 4. Your maximum for those scores is now 24.

Roleplay

you can’t be serious

INSPIRATION FOR PLAYING AS THE PATH OF THE SOCIALITE BARBARIN IN YOUR GAME
YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS
Getting Into Character

  A Socialite is most at home at the parties and dances of the elite than out in the forest where their skills of dismantling a person’s soul are wasted. They aren’t the happy go-lucky partier, they come to dominate and control the room.    

     They are barbarians in just how vicious they are. Leaving a path of tears behind them as people’s self esteem is shattered with just a simple sentence. Their ability to find even the smallest flaw and exploit it is deadly.      

       People know to stand aside and give the Socialite what they want. Else their own standing in the social circle may be tarnished forever.

The Path of the Socialite is for people who enjoy to play the charismatic character, but still want to be up front in combat. Combining their love of vicious insults with making enemies crumble into sobbing messes on both the battlefield and the ballroom.

Think of characters like
Malcolm Tucker
Regina George
Dennis Reynolds
Blair Waldorf
Role in the group

control the room

Every top of the pack socialite needs their pose to back them up. The Path of the Socialite Barbarian is no different and thrives best when surrounded by their friends. Going solo is a sure fire way to quickly get socially ostracized.

As you aren’t the traditional frontline berserker, these characters work best to take out important leaders in the enemy lines from afar and dominate social situations when things turn sour.

“In high society the way you move across the ballroom is deadlier than the battlefield.”
Melina cattaway
socialite

Personality

     Socialites are the life of the party and love to be surrounded by both friends and admirers. Outgoing and charming they find that things just go their way when they ask for it. Sometimes that requires a little bit of coercion and social threats however. They know they are better than everyone else and don’t let them forget it.

Relationships

     Relationships are the key to the Socialites standing. Who they are seen with and who they spurn are key to maintaining their power. They tend to have many friends, but few they can fully trust as opening up is a key sign of weakness. Because of this they tend to latch onto those who they care for.

Morals

     How others think of them is all that matters. Being polite to the right people and being dismissive of others is all part of the game and they weld their looks and fortune like a weapon. However society is based around rules and the socialite knows that breaking them can lead to social exclusion.

Downtime

     Parties, gatherings, shopping and other leisure activities fill the calendars of the Socialites. Never one to say no to a day in the exclusive bath house or at a fancy restaurant. They know that what events they both attend and boycott will have massive ramifications to their standing.

Short Story

The Party

A short teaser for a narrative
Read the Story
Download The PDF

A handy reference guide for playing as The Bounty Hunter in your game.

VTT MODULE

Coming Soon

Explore other subclasses