Subclass Barbarian Path of the Wild Heart

What Is the Path of the Wild Heart?

The Path of the Wild Heart is a Barbarian subclass that treats animals as kin. Instead of one Rage, you get five — each tied to a different animal — and you choose which one to enter every time you Rage. Later levels add permanent animal Aspects and wilderness mobility.

Progression

LEVEL	FEATURE
3	Bestial Hearts, Speak with Animals
6	Aspect of the Beast
8	Land's Stride
10	Aspect of the Beast (second choice)

Level 3

Bestial Hearts You learn all five totem Rages and pick which one to use each time you enter a Rage. Each costs a Bonus Action and keeps Rage's own benefits — extra melee and thrown damage, Resistance to Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing, and Advantage on Strength Checks and Saving Throws — adding its own on top.

RAGE	WHAT IT ADDS
Bear Heart	Resistance to Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, Poison, and Thunder, plus Unrelenting Ferocity
Eagle Heart	Dash and Disengage as a Bonus Action, Diving Strike, and Disadvantage on opportunity attacks made against you
Elk Heart	+4.5m movement speed and Primal Stampede
Tiger Heart	Jump distance increased by half, plus Tiger's Bloodlust and Long Jump
Wolf Heart	A 2m aura giving your allies Advantage on attack rolls against enemies inside it, plus Inciting Howl

At Barbarian Level 9 each totem Rage upgrades to a stronger version, in step with the class's own Rage damage increase.

Speak with Animals You can comprehend and communicate with beasts.

Level 6

Aspect of the Beast Choose one permanent Aspect. Unlike the Rages, this one is always active and works outside of Rage entirely.

ASPECT	EFFECT
Bear	Carrying capacity doubled, Advantage on Strength checks
Chimpanzee	Resistance to Falling damage; thrown camp supplies Blind their target
Crocodile	Faster in water-based surfaces; Advantage on saves against being knocked Prone on slippery ground
Eagle	Darkvision and Advantage on Perception checks
Elk	Grants the Aspect of the Elk action, giving you and nearby allies extra movement
Stallion	Dashing in combat grants temporary hit points equal to twice your Barbarian level
Tiger	Add a second Strength modifier to attack rolls against Bleeding or Poisoned targets; Survival proficiency
Wolf	Stealth proficiency and the Aspect of the Wolf action
Wolverine	Attacking a Bleeding or Poisoned target also Maims it for 1 turn

Level 8

Land's Stride Difficult Terrain no longer slows you, hazardous plant surfaces no longer harm you, and you have Advantage on saving throws against plants magically created to impede movement.

Level 10

Aspect of the Beast Choose a second Aspect from the same list.

Playstyle Notes

The totem is chosen when you spend the Rage, not when you level up, so you can pick a different one for each fight without rebuilding.

Bear Heart is the defensive pick. Rage already covers Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing; Bear Heart adds Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, Poison, and Thunder on top. Force, Necrotic, Psychic, and Radiant are not covered.

Eagle and Elk cover mobility. Eagle's Bonus Action Dash and Disengage let you reposition without spending your Action, and opportunity attacks against you are made with Disadvantage. Elk's +4.5m stacks with Fast Movement.

Wolf Heart is the party-facing pick. The aura is only 2m, so it pays off when you are standing in the enemy line and the rest of the party is attacking into it — since it applies to attack rolls rather than melee attack rolls, ranged and spell attackers benefit too. Tiger Heart is the movement pick: Long Jump plus the half-again jump distance covers ground the party would otherwise walk around.

The Aspects work whether or not you are Raging. Bear's doubled carry capacity and Eagle's Darkvision are exploration features; Stallion's temporary hit points on Dash (in combat only) and Wolverine's Maim are combat features.

Note that this mod grants all five totem Rages outright at Level 3. In the unmodded game you also pick a Bestial Heart passive and can swap it on later level-ups; here the passive selection is gone and the Rages themselves carry the subclass.