So, after my initial foray into homebrewing stuff with my Duskblade went fairly well, I'm back at it, with an eye towards re-tuning the Frenzy path Barbarian of 5th. It's long been a point of contention at my table that, simply put, the Path of the Totem Barbarian's 3rd level "bear totem" feature made pretty much every other potential archetype for Barbarian pitiful by comparison. I've been thinking of finding a way to put some more offensive "oomph" into the frenzy Barb, with an eye towards what made the Frenzied Berzerker so awesome back in 3.5E. So, this is what I came up with. What do you think? Thanks for taking the time to read!
Barbarian – Path of the Berserker
1. Starting when you choose this path at 3rd level, you can go into a frenzy when you rage. Doing so confers the following benefits/penalties:
For the duration of your frenzy, you can make one additional melee weapon attack as a bonus action
The Rage Damage bonus listed on the Barbarian table in the Player’s Handbook is doubled for you for the duration of your frenzy.
You gain the ability to cleave through your enemies when defeating them while in a frenzy; if you drop an enemy to 0 hit points with a melee weapon attack, any damage left over that the target would have taken is transferred to another target within 5 feet of you, if the original attack roll would also hit the new target.
At the start of each of your turns while you are in a frenzy, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Constitution modifier + 1/2 your Barbarian level.
You lose the benefit of your Danger Sense feature while in a frenzy.
Once your frenzy ends, you gain one level of exhaustion.
2. Starting when you choose this path at 3rd level, you may choose to expend hit dice during a short rest to remove levels of exhaustion (instead of restoring hit points) that you gained due to using your frenzy. The number of hit dice required to remove a level of exhaustion this way equals (# of levels of exhaustion to be removed) + 1.
3. Beginning at 10th level, in addition to the Frightful Presence feature, you gain the ability to make a Whirlwind Attack as an Action on your turn while you are in a frenzy; you can make a melee attack against any number of creatures within 5 feet of you, with a separate attack roll for each creature.
4. Starting at 14th level, in addition to the Retaliation feature, you gain advantage on the saving throw made as part of your Relentless Rage feature while you are in a frenzy.
The overall idea here is that I felt like WotC really should have doubled down, so to speak, on the benefits of frenzying, to help shape it into a real class feature. A level of exhaustion is a HUGE price to pay for a bonus action attack, which you could (while not necessarily guarantee 100%, is still fairly likely to proc) achieve with the Great Weapon Mastery feat. I wanted to flesh the idea of a frenzying Barbarian out a bit, while taking a bit of the bite off of the 'level of exhaustion' penalty in a meaningful way without removing it completely, and also come up with another meaningful penalty to make up for the bevy of positives that frenzying affords you. In 3.5, a frenzied berserker would automatically fail any dexterity-based checks, so I thought that removing the Danger Sense feature during a frenzy was a fair and reasonable (both thematically and mechanically) trade-off.
Anywho, I'll shut up now. I'm hoping that I'll be able to coax one of my regular players to help me playtest this out, but I welcome this community's feedback. Cheers!
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"I saw her first. Go find your own genetic time-capsule or, so help me, I'll cut you."
One thing I just saw elsewhere that might be a neat-but-not-necessarily-powerful addition: allow a frenzy barbarian to rage as a reaction to taking damage. Fits conceptually and is potentially handy.
Hmm.... I like the concept, but I'm thinking there can/should be some common-sense limitations. What about this:
Short-Tempered Starting at 6th level, you gain the ability to enter a rage as a result of being attacked, even if it is not your turn. If you are the target of an attack by an enemy within 30 feet of you that you can see, you can use your reaction to enter a rage; you may choose to enter a frenzy as well when using this feature. You must be able to take a reaction to use this feature (i.e., you cannot use this feature during a round in which you are surprised). After using this feature, you must complete a short or long rest to use it again.
I think the real test will be in play in comparison to dps output of other classes or other barbarian builds to see if they match up. I will say I usually play 5e without feats so I actually don't hate the frenzied berserker it fits the role Mike Mearls describes in that they are great in big battles and decently effective otherwise. Adding in feats I would agree it feels underpowered but I think your best bet is playtest and see how it feels in comparison to others.
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Howdy everybody!
So, after my initial foray into homebrewing stuff with my Duskblade went fairly well, I'm back at it, with an eye towards re-tuning the Frenzy path Barbarian of 5th. It's long been a point of contention at my table that, simply put, the Path of the Totem Barbarian's 3rd level "bear totem" feature made pretty much every other potential archetype for Barbarian pitiful by comparison. I've been thinking of finding a way to put some more offensive "oomph" into the frenzy Barb, with an eye towards what made the Frenzied Berzerker so awesome back in 3.5E. So, this is what I came up with. What do you think? Thanks for taking the time to read!
Barbarian – Path of the Berserker
1. Starting when you choose this path at 3rd level, you can go into a frenzy when you rage. Doing so confers the following benefits/penalties:
2. Starting when you choose this path at 3rd level, you may choose to expend hit dice during a short rest to remove levels of exhaustion (instead of restoring hit points) that you gained due to using your frenzy. The number of hit dice required to remove a level of exhaustion this way equals (# of levels of exhaustion to be removed) + 1.
3. Beginning at 10th level, in addition to the Frightful Presence feature, you gain the ability to make a Whirlwind Attack as an Action on your turn while you are in a frenzy; you can make a melee attack against any number of creatures within 5 feet of you, with a separate attack roll for each creature.
4. Starting at 14th level, in addition to the Retaliation feature, you gain advantage on the saving throw made as part of your Relentless Rage feature while you are in a frenzy.
The overall idea here is that I felt like WotC really should have doubled down, so to speak, on the benefits of frenzying, to help shape it into a real class feature. A level of exhaustion is a HUGE price to pay for a bonus action attack, which you could (while not necessarily guarantee 100%, is still fairly likely to proc) achieve with the Great Weapon Mastery feat. I wanted to flesh the idea of a frenzying Barbarian out a bit, while taking a bit of the bite off of the 'level of exhaustion' penalty in a meaningful way without removing it completely, and also come up with another meaningful penalty to make up for the bevy of positives that frenzying affords you. In 3.5, a frenzied berserker would automatically fail any dexterity-based checks, so I thought that removing the Danger Sense feature during a frenzy was a fair and reasonable (both thematically and mechanically) trade-off.
Anywho, I'll shut up now. I'm hoping that I'll be able to coax one of my regular players to help me playtest this out, but I welcome this community's feedback. Cheers!
"I saw her first. Go find your own genetic time-capsule or, so help me, I'll cut you."
One thing I just saw elsewhere that might be a neat-but-not-necessarily-powerful addition: allow a frenzy barbarian to rage as a reaction to taking damage. Fits conceptually and is potentially handy.
Dave
Also, if we do a side campaign to our side campaign, I'd totally play one! I've been meaning to play a barbarian.
Dave
I'm with Hardvice on this. Let 'em rage as a reaction to taking damage, and I'd be keen to play one.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
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Hmm.... I like the concept, but I'm thinking there can/should be some common-sense limitations. What about this:
Short-Tempered
Starting at 6th level, you gain the ability to enter a rage as a result of being attacked, even if it is not your turn. If you are the target of an attack by an enemy within 30 feet of you that you can see, you can use your reaction to enter a rage; you may choose to enter a frenzy as well when using this feature. You must be able to take a reaction to use this feature (i.e., you cannot use this feature during a round in which you are surprised). After using this feature, you must complete a short or long rest to use it again.
"I saw her first. Go find your own genetic time-capsule or, so help me, I'll cut you."
I think the real test will be in play in comparison to dps output of other classes or other barbarian builds to see if they match up. I will say I usually play 5e without feats so I actually don't hate the frenzied berserker it fits the role Mike Mearls describes in that they are great in big battles and decently effective otherwise. Adding in feats I would agree it feels underpowered but I think your best bet is playtest and see how it feels in comparison to others.