An enrage like ability

[Marauder_POV]

Is there any berzerk like abilities that a character can have? I know there is a rage ability, what i want is an ability that raises strength and basically removed control(very similar to a cursed sword of berzerking from a popular CRPG)

One of my players characters is actually a half-dragon(the char doesn't know, but the player does) what i want is to make this trait manefest itself in an animalistic way, so that it would scare the pants of the char(loss of control, becoming a monster, might hurt their friends). but i'd like to do it with out breaking things too hard. So i was looking for a way to make her go berserk(out of control), but with a hefty strenght bonus(eg like strength of 24, but using unarmed attacks, or even bite atacks.

Any hints/tips/ideas?

 

[1of3]

I wouldn't change the ability scores like ever. Give him bonuses to attack and damage. That's easier to handle.

As for the "berzerking" you could have the character spent a minor action every turn, to keep calm. Otherwise there there are only limited ways to spend the move or standard action.

 

[dvvega]

Assuming that these manifestations of rage are rare, then just run it as a skill challenge during the scene. Let the whole party participate during the challenge to help subdue him and so forth. That way no one feels as if you are predefining what is going to happen.

If it is something that happens all of the time, simply give the character all the half-dragon statistics in this rage (i.e. have 2 character sheets for the player). That way you can ensure the level of both forms is the same, their powers are equal and so forth.

Of course if it is something that the player controls then perhaps treat it as an encounter or daily power and use the guidelines of damage/effect in the DMGs for designing such a power.

Otherwise you will be risking other players disliking what is happening since - "why does player X get cool stuff and risk killing us - why don't we just get rid of the character since he is a danger to our party".

D

 

[the Jester]

Oh God no don't do this.

Changing ability scores were one of the things that killed 3e for me. Having to recalculate and refigure things mid-fight... ugh.

You won't find ANY pc abilities that intentionally take their control away in 4e, either. Personally I think this is a good thing.

IMHO the way to approach this is by approaching the player and talking about roleplaying it. But it's the player's character, not yours. You should not control how he acts.

 

[Amaroq]

IMHO the way to approach this is by approaching the player and talking about roleplaying it. But it's the player's character, not yours. You should not control how he acts.

Echoed.

Whenever I've played, or had a player I'm DM'ing play, a character with a "dark side" or "undiscovered powers", we've always taken the "put the reigns in the player's hands" approach; the DM should never "run" a PC.

That said, back in 1e, we had great fun with a party barbarian whose "rage" abilities didn't stop until he was knocked unconscious, and demanded that he attack someone, anyone, while enraged. So, if he raged, the entire party was committed to a fight because he couldn't retreat; he would role-play the character as much less tactically savvy while raging; and, when the last bad guy fell, he'd turn on the party in full barbarian glory, and we'd play out knocking him unconscious (while he did his best to kill us).

We were teenagers then, and I doubt that even a once-a-day PvP scenario would entertain us nowadays, but your group might enjoy it.

dvvega's advice about running it as a skill challenge strikes me as more in tune with the way 4e is designed; I can imagine that being fun if done well: e.g., players describing trying to subdue with Athletics, keep her pinned with Endurance, talk her down with Diplomacy, etc.

Off the top of my head, you might need, say, 6 moderate successes or 4 hard successes to subdue her, while each "failure" consumes a healing surge from somebody in the party (possibly even the berserker). Not acting constitutes an automatic failure; the berserker gets a very difficult Insight check every round as some part of her tries to calm herself.

As others have noted, I'd rather apply it as modifiers than as ability score updates; if you do prefer the ability score version, I like the "two character sheets" concept as a way to pre-prep rather than recalculate on the fly.

 

[jester_gl]

Take a look at the werewolf's disease from the MM, Moon frenzy. I don't have the books with me, and the compendium is not helping much, but if I remember correctly the intermediate stage at the character making random melee basic attack on ally, and the final stage was a complete rage, treating allies as enemies.

I hope this can give you a little inspiration, but don't go overboard. (Almost) nobody likes to TPK their own party.

 

[Kablump]

Take a look at the werewolf's disease from the MM, Moon frenzy. I don't have the books with me, and the compendium is not helping much, but if I remember correctly the intermediate stage at the character making random melee basic attack on ally, and the final stage was a complete rage, treating allies as enemies.

I hope this can give you a little inspiration, but don't go overboard. (Almost) nobody likes to TPK their own party.

Lycanthrope :: d20srd.org

There,

maybe you can tweak the stat changes of the hybrid form of a werewolf, then allow for insanity for the first two encounters until the character learns to control it.

Heres an Idea, maybe it will only occur around some sort of magic at first... a trigger mechanism, and (To add on to what was said above) the first time he goes crazy, the second he still goes crazy but has a better grasp and stops himself from attacking an ally, from then on out he slowly becomes more sane but no longer attacks allies during this state

 

[Mengu]

What's the character's class/build/level? There are a few powers that might fit the bill.

Fighters have Battle Fury stance, which basically lets them do more damage, but lowers their defense. Simply using a power like Brash Strike could be described as such also.

A Bravura Warlord has lots of abilities that give the enemy some advantage against him, while he (or his allies) gain some benefit, which could easily be flavored as the way of a reckless warrior.

The Frenzied Berserker paragon path feature gives you a bonus while raging, but basically dictates you attack an adjacent enemy.

There are also some items that give such bonus/penalty pairs if only for one attack per encounter, such as reckless and bloodclaw, but that one attack could be described as the manifestation of the frenzy.

Give us a little more information about the build in question and we can probably help more.

 

[Marauder_POV]

Kablump: your sorta on the same wavelength. The idea is that she doesn't know whats happening(the pc) so the first time it happens she'll go nuts, then she will gradually become able to control it better, I don't think it should be a "power" as such, more of a story line.

Anyway the PC is a female half-elf bard lvl4 atm. Its supposed to come on when she is very stressed(i'm guessing like 5HP or something like that) and turn her into a very animalistic juggernaut. Lots of skull crushing and biting out throats.

I think i'm just looking for a way to bring it into the story with out wrecking all the other chars time. The skill challenge is a good one though...

 

[Squire James]

Perhaps something like this: +1 to attack rolls and 1W extra damage on all melee or thrown weapon attacks. At the start of each turn, roll a saving throw. If failed, the berserker must act to attack an ally this turn (and cannot hold back). If successful, she can act normally this round. If it's a natural 20, the rage ends for this encounter. Perhaps apply a -2 to defenses if the disadvantage doesn't seem bad enough.

As for the trigger: when first bloodied, or when she rolls a natural 1 for an attack roll.

With this, she can be a boon to the party as well as a problem, so the party may be more accepting of the character. Better yet, DM and player can blame everything on the dice if things go south!

As for eventual control, she might eventually gain a less random trigger. I suggest you keep the other effects the same, though, or it becomes unbalanced.