Berserker Fury (Heroes of the Feywild)

[Oldtimer]

While reading up on the Berserker in Heroes of the Feywild, I noticed this sentence starting at the end of page 44:

Additionally, since you can use martial powers only when you are not under the influence of your Berserker Fury, you should consider multiclassing into one of the Strength- or Dexterity-based martial classes and picking up or swapping in a power from that class.

Two things...

One, I don't see anything under the class feature Berserker Fury that disallows the use of martial powers.

Two, if they are disallowed when raging, how would power swapping in other martial powers help?

Am I just being dense here?

 

[Dezarith]

Probably be Errated (Maybe, because its not a rule.)
Although I don't own HOTF I don't see any reason to multi-classs there.

 

[mneme]

Read the sentence again, this time keeping in mind the advice given (to get -more- martial powers)

It's not "you cannot use martial powers when you are under the influence of Berserker's Fury".

It's "you cannot use (your) non-martial powers when you are not under the influence of your Berserker's Fury".

It's very badly phrased (see the misreading above), but it's "you can use (martial powers only) when you are not under the influence of your Berserker Fury", not "you can use martial powers (only when) you are not under the influence of your Berserker Fury"

 

[Shadus]

*Opens up my copy that I got for Christmas*

...I have no idea. I guess it's for if you want to build up more the Defender role, but you could do the same by multiclassing into a Warden.

 

[keterys]

If you wanted more defender powers and you picked up Warden, the primal powers could cause you to lose your defender aura by going into berserk fury.

So, the more martial powers you have, the more options you have.

Though personally I think the answer is to just be a defender for a round, then fury away.

 

[Oldtimer]

Read the sentence again, this time keeping in mind the advice given (to get -more- martial powers)

It's not "you cannot use martial powers when you are under the influence of Berserker's Fury".

It's "you cannot use (your) non-martial powers when you are not under the influence of your Berserker's Fury".

It's very badly phrased (see the misreading above), but it's "you can use (martial powers only) when you are not under the influence of your Berserker Fury", not "you can use martial powers (only when) you are not under the influence of your Berserker Fury"

That doesn't make a lot of sense either, since one way of entering Berserker Fury is "When you use a barbarian primal attack power". If you can only use your primal powers when you are in Berserker Fury, how can you enter the fury by using a primal power?

 

[Rechan]

Tf you can only use your primal powers when you are in Berserker Fury, how can you enter the fury by using a primal power?

Using a primal power causes you to go into Berzerker Fury. Your defender powers are less useful when you're in Fury because you've lost your aura/etc.

Therefore, if you want to stick more to the Defender side of the Berzerker, pick more martial powers.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Its rather poorly phrased advice really, still confusing the way mneme rephrased it (which probably accounts for the original wording).

You can use a martial power at any time, but if you use a non-martial one you won't be a defender anymore. So, if you want to defend, they're advising you to pick up more martial powers.

I mostly agree with Keterys. You probably won't usually defend for more than a round. OTOH as a secondary defender the berserker is reasonably competent, especially if you pick up some of the more defenderish powers. I could see a build where say the party has another hybrid defender where you do a balanced build, filling in the rest of the defender role much of the time, switching right out to striker if the situation warrants, or sticking to defender for most of the fight (I'd think you'd rarely stick with it to the bitter end, cleanup is easier in striker mode).

 

[Oldtimer]

Using a primal power causes you to go into Berzerker Fury.

Yes, but mneme claimed that you can't use primal powers unless you're in Berserker Fury. So how can you use a primal power to get into Berserker Fury when you can't use a primal power unless you're already in Berserker Fury?

 

[Klaus]

Hmm...

I didn't write the Berserker, but you're right, there doesn't seem to be any restriction on using martial powers while in a fury.

Maybe what the sentence meant is that "you can't use your non-martial powers without entering a Berserker Rage", i.e. using a primal power triggers it. So if you use power-swaps to get more martial powers, you have a greater range of powers to use while keeping your Defender Aura up.