Barbarian Archetype: Wild Soul [PEACH]

MechaPilot said:

Can you please elaborate on what it is that you find not fun about the Breaking ability? Most of the people I've mentioned it to think it sounds really cool. I'd appreciate some honest feedback from someone with a different point of view on it.

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Consider what happens when it is used against PCs. It effectively disables the target for the rest of the combat. It's an "I win" button that can be pressed repeatedly.

Quartz said:

Consider what happens when it is used against PCs. It effectively disables the target for the rest of the combat. It's an "I win" button that can be pressed repeatedly.

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Hmm. That's fair. Against a single PC I could easily see it being just that. I mean, a paladin of second level or higher could heal it away (once every two levels), as could a Life Cleric using Channel Divinity: Preserve Life. A Cure Wounds spell can heal the injury (about 25% of the time at first level*, and about 60% of the time at second level*). So could a potion (about 6% of the time*. You'd have to roll two fours).

*If my math is right (and assuming an ability modifier on the cure wounds spells of +3).

That said, I agree those aren't great odds. What would you think if I changed it to have an HP threshold? Then, just like Sleep or other spells you wouldn't be able to use it on certain foes without whittling them down first.

I don't agree with your comparison, Wizards are versatile but need to:
1. Prepare the spell beforehand after their rest
2. Again, limited in resource per day

Your fighter can pretty much have access to every options, in every encounter, every time from round 2+ (unless he's missing all his attacks).

Anyway there's no need to ramble on, you got the gist of it. On another topic, I do agree that it'd be more interesting to make it a Barbarian sub-class - I don't think they have a sub-class with superiority dice mechanic, so it feels less in direct competition with Battle Master. Plus you could gate that power to "When Raging", which solves most of the issues mentioned above since you have a limited amount of rage per day - although I'd remove the AC buff option, you're here to break people when raging.

MechaPilot said:

That said, I agree those aren't great odds. What would you think if I changed it to have an HP threshold? Then, just like Sleep or other spells you wouldn't be able to use it on certain foes without whittling them down first.

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D&D abstracts injuries to HP, levels of exhaustion, and conditions, so I suggest you consider the latter two. Inflicting a level of exhaustion seems good. If that seems a little poor remember that you can keep inflicting them. Or you could inflict the Frightened condition.

I've edited the archetype in response to your feedback.

It's now a barbarian archetype, not a fighter archetype.

Accuracy was removed.

Parry no longer increases AC.

Throat Punch has been nerfed.

Breaking has been reflavored as an impairing strike and nerfed.

I've added the Unfettered Aggression ability.

I like this quite a lot. I like how it gives "superiority dice" to the barbarian in an interesting way. Assuming you attack roughly every round, and crit about as often as you spend a round not attacking, you basically can spent 1 momentum die per round. That's +1d4/1d6/1d8 damage per round, which seems about right, when compared to what Frenzied Berserkers can do with bonus attacks.

Some quick feedback:

For starters, you need at least 1 sentence of flavor-text at the beginning, to tell us what the archetype is about. Otherwise it's hard to know whether the game mechanics are doing justice to the story. I gather from the mechanics that this archetype is about bouncing around the battlefield smashing people super hard (which, mechanically, is one of my favorite archetypes) but it's unclear what kind of person would do this.

Also, if this class is meant to involve a certain amount of movement, I think it needs some way to avoid taking opportunity attacks, or reduce their damage. Consider a maneuver that said something like: "Until the end of your turn, whenever you hit an enemy with a melee attack, you may push them back a number of feet equal to the roll of the momentum dice you spent." As long as you roll a 5 (the average of 2d4), that's going to prevent OAs from most foes (you can push a target with an attack, then run over and hit someone else). You could actually combine this with one of the weaker maneuvers, like the one that gives you bonus movement speed (because if you are planning to zip around the battlefield you'll probably want to shove people out of your way to avoid OAs).

MechaPilot said:

Fearsome: ... On a failed saving throw, the foe becomes frightened for a number of rounds equal to the result of the momentum die spent.

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It would be nice for the size of the momentum die to matter, but in 5E, we don't typically count duration in "rounds." It's just too easy to lose track. "Wait, was that 4 rounds, or 5? I think I forgot to update my dice-counter last round."

MechaPilot said:

Parry: ... subtracting the result of those dice from the damage done.

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Barbarians already have a ton of ways to tank. They don't need one more. It also seems like it doesn't fit with the subclass design, which otherwise seems very focused on damaging, hurting, and mangling your opponents; I think it's fair to say a subclass that gets a bunch of extra offense doesn't need more defense, too

MechaPilot said:

Unfettered Aggression: When a creature enters the area you threaten, you can spend two momentum dice and your reaction to make an attack of opportunity against it. When you move close enough to an enemy to make a melee attack against it, you can spend two momentum dice and your bonus action to make one melee attack against it.

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This is cool, but it sounds like two separate maneuvers: one as a reaction, one as a bonus action. I also think I'd reduce the cost to 1 or more dice, and if you hit, you roll the dice and add to damage. (That's a bit worse than Brutality because if you miss you've spent the dice -- but it's substantially better because it gets you an extra attack as a bonus/reaction -- but it can only be used in certain circumstances.)

MechaPilot said:

Debilitating Strike: As an action, you can spend three momentum dice to make a single attack roll ... On a failed saving throw, you inflict an injury on the enemy that lasts until the end of its turn.
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This is very expensive, for an effect that only lasts until the end of the creature's next turn, and which will probably not work (you have to hit with an attack AND your foe has to fail a save). I'd consider combining this with Throat Punch. Maybe add Head Injury for some mental saves. One idea for making this cheaper/less complex: instead of expending momentum and requiring a saving throw, just make the injury automatic if you score a critical hit. Also look at the Open Hand monk's "Open Hand Technique" for a model; maybe the debilitation could be a rider on some other maneuver, like Brutality. (E.g., "When you use your Brutality maneuver, the victim must make a Con save, etc. etc.") Monk's Stunning Strike may also be a good model.

I guess my point is, at the cost of 3 momentum dice and your Extra Attack, this move only makes sense if you're setting up a spellcaster to put the whammy on your target with a Dex, Str, or Con save spell. That's pretty rare, and combined with the double chance to fail (miss attack and successful save) makes this ability very unattractive to me. Even if this cost 0 momentum dice I probably wouldn't use it.

I like this much better but I think you may have nerfed Debilitating Strike too far. Perhaps the duration could be until the target makes a save, and the target gets a save each round? Think of the classic scene where the warrior leaves a trail of wounded behind him.

I also still have problems with Throat Strike. First, you should be able to use it with the edge of a shield or the butt of a spear or polearm - i.e. without dropping your weapon. Secondly, you should be explicit about its effect on spellcasting: can a spellcaster still cast spells if they make their save? I would suggest that they can.

I agree with [MENTION=12377]77IM[/MENTION] about Parry.

I think it would make a good monster to throw at your party.
Remind me 4ed.

I like the change to barbarian. Especially limiting Momentum to during the rage, making it a sort of limited unlimited feature. It looks like it will create a very flavorful feel to a rage.

I also think the only way you'll be able to figure out how well balanced the class is now is through playtesting. Nice job.

I like this a lot. Fits well with a Barbarian.
I love that you are constantly building resources.
The flavor of this is, well partially what I feel the Berzerker should have been, but still stands on its own.

My only suggested change would be to remove the word Parry, from that ability, and instead call it like ignore pain or shrug off. That to me at least seems more in line with what this barbarian would be doing. Not taking the time to expertly parry a blow, but get stabbed or slashed or bludgeoned and keep coming anyway. I think about that from the thing it is fighting's perspective and I would find that disconcerting at best, and down right terrifying at worst. I think that meshes well with the ability to cause fear and the flavor as a whole.