Barbarian swift charge issues

[On Puget Sound]

There is a barbarian in my game who is very frustrated with Swift Charge. Every time he drops an enemy, he glares through his red haze of rage to find the next foe to pummel. The guy next to him, who's been poking him in the back for the past 4 rounds? No, he can't hit him. How about the other one one space away? No, he's too close. No, to use his class feature he must ignore those enemies and find someone farther away to charge, taking hits from the nearby enemies. The result is that he hardly ever gets to use Swift Charge.

Is this my fault, for packing enemies around him? (The party of 4 has no Defender class, so he is the de facto tank). Or his, for not planning ahead and staying at the edge of the mob? (Again, he's kind of forced into the multiple-melee role by the group composition - archer ranger, Cha/Wis cleric, bard and him). Or are we missing something that will make this power more useful?

Would it break things badly if I changed Swift Charge's effect to read "you charge an enemy, or make a basic melee attack against an enemy "? This would still deny him Howling Strike and all his charge goodies when in the mob, but at least the class feature would do something.

 

[frankthedm]

Sounds like how an ability like that should go. It really needs allies pushing and pulling foes for optimum effect.

Would it break things badly if I changed Swift Charge's effect to read "you charge an enemy, or make a basic melee attack against an enemy "? This would still deny him Howling Strike and all his charge goodies when in the mob, but at least the class feature would do something.

Thing is, that class feature is not always supposed to do something. Sometimes the ability is useful, sometimes it is useful with risks, other times it has no use.

 

[DracoSuave]

Actually, it's more his fault for playing him like a thane or storm barbarian.

In this case, he shouldn't be taking on tons of enemies at once, he should be picking them apart one by one.

Why isn't the bard in there? Seems to me a valorous bard would be -essential- to your group. And if he's cunning, shouldn't he be moving enemies so that the barbarian can do his dirty work?

But, then, this isn't exactly an optimized party with two strikers and two leaders.

As a DM, you should be running roughshod over them. There's no legitimate reason they'd attack the barbarian anyways. Even -with- a defender, you should be able to threaten their backline. Without one, there's no excuse.

 

[Shin Okada]

Is this my fault, for packing enemies around him? (The party of 4 has no Defender class, so he is the de facto tank). Or his, for not planning ahead and staying at the edge of the mob? (Again, he's kind of forced into the multiple-melee role by the group composition - archer ranger, Cha/Wis cleric, bard and him). Or are we missing something that will make this power more useful?

Well, I say that is a result from a bad party composition. Charging barbarian works fine to wonderful in some party. Yet don't work well in some party.

Not just charging barbarian but some of the striker abilities don't work well when there are no defender and/or enough melee combatants.

If I were the DM, I will let him (and maybe other players also) rebuild his character, considering party composition in mind.

 

[Kingreaper]

How often is he in the mob? If it's pretty much every time it's probably worth considering changing the feature.
Or persuading him to change his build-choice. what about Rageblood Vigor is it the player really goes for?
Would a Thunderborn Wrath build suit the character?

If you choose to change the feature, personally, I would advise going for a trade-off, rather than a simple buff. Perhaps he'd be willing to trade the charge (that he can't use very often) for some form of "pull one square+melee basic" (which would play into his defender-esque role)

Or make it a feat "swift cleave" to be able to hit those next to you with your Swift Charge; maybe with some other benefit if you feel the character can't afford to spare a feat.

But, that's just me, I'm very reluctant to give something-for-nothing.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Or his, for not planning ahead and staying at the edge of the mob? (Again, he's kind of forced into the multiple-melee role by the group composition - archer ranger, Cha/Wis cleric, bard and him).

This. Although I have a 5-person group, I have a similar party makeup: barb, druid, monk, bard, avenger. The key, however, is for the barb to shift before striking, setting up the 10ft of space required for a charge. He also will intentionally provoke an OA, if necessary, just get in a good charge. Let's say he's got two bad guys next to him and one 10+ feet away. He takes one out and then swift charges the one further away provoking the OA. With the temp hps just gained from the kill even if the OA hits it won't likely damage him (at this level anyway, 3rd).

I strongly recommend that you NOT introduce house rules to compensate for bad party choices. That way lies madness. Next thing you know, the ranger is killed and his player creates a fighter and suddenly your house rule is broken. Big mistake. Tell the player to play his character more effectively or lament with him that the party makeup sucks ass.

 

[Ceramicwombat]

You could give out a Badge of the Berserker in the next batch of loot, or encourage the cleric to make him one. He would still have to charge away from the enemies he is currently engaging to Swift Charge, but at least he wouldn't be taking OAs for it.

 

[Pickles JG]

Unlike everyone else I would let him have basic attacks without prejudice to removing it in future. It's not really his fault the party make up does not suit him. Badge of the Berserker is the other obvious patch.

It is a slightly suspect power & Rageblood Barbarians are streaky - even moreso than the other ones with only Rampage & maybe a rage to proc.

You can help by adding in the odd minion to attack these easily set up both temps & swift charge & have a soft AO.

 

[MrMyth]

Yeah, not a problem with the system, just the natural result of him being the party tank. Badge of the Berserker could help. At Paragon, he could try to multiclass rogue for Roundabout Charge, which lets him potentially charge nearby enemies. Alternately, investing in a reach weapon - then he can be shifting a bit away from enemies before hitting them, and thus being free to charge elsewhere without eating OAs.

 

[UltimaGabe]

It's not really his fault the party make up does not suit him.

But it IS his fault that he doesn't suit the party.

No, it's not his choice that the party lacks a defender. Yes, he should have the freedom to pick whatever build he wants despite the rest of the party. But if he makes his choice without considering the consequences, why should you let him ignore the consequences?