Barbarian is up!!!

[LightPhoenix]

But it makes sense that it gives you the extra damage for the entire encounter...otherwise you blow an extra rage for one-hit.

You get it for one hit, per the power write-up. It's really of limited benefit until you get 9th level dailies, and then the damage from Rage Strike starts to exceed the damage of the Daily by a fair bit (the exception being 25th, where it's only +1[W]).

 

[I'm A Banana]

Wow. Some of those high-level rages are just... Wow

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Splatterlord.

I wonder if the target understands that if they make the attack, you do more damage.

I love the RP in an ability like this.

"Okay, you get a free shot. I'm here, I'm open, come on. Hit me. Hit me. HIT ME!" *whiff* "Aww, man, you should have hit me..."

It gets a little absurd with the 20th level Frenzied Berserker's Final Confrontation, which can continue a cycle of "hit me, now I hit you" for a long time. That might be a problem, because it means it's "get a soda" time for the rest of the players.

Nope, it took me a couple of readings, but it appears that Rage Strike is poorly worded. You have to have a daily power available for rage strike to work. Basically, you expend a daily power, you gain rage strike until the rage ends.

Bzzt.

At 1st level, it is useless.

"Your Daily Attack powers are known as Rages"

Rage Strike requirement: "You must be raging and have at least one unused rage power."

So at level 1, with one daily ability, you can go into a rage, but you won't have any more rages to use your Rage Strike with. And since you need to use a daily to enter rage before you can use a daily to Rage Strike...yeah, you need at least two dailies.

 

[Rechan]

That's a power I thought of when I was musing about martial controllers.

Stomping your foot and turning the ground into difficult terrain doesn't sound very "martial" to me.

 

[Rechan]

I love the RP in an ability like this.

"Okay, you get a free shot. I'm here, I'm open, come on. Hit me. Hit me. HIT ME!" *whiff* "Aww, man, you should have hit me..."

The text says "If the target makes the attack", you get the benefit.

I don't read "Make" as "hits with the attack". Merely, if they attacked at all. So if they miss, you still get it.

It gets a little absurd with the 20th level Frenzied Berserker's Final Confrontation

While I actually loved the idea of it...

That might be a problem, because it means it's "get a soda" time for the rest of the players.

This occurred to me too. Which does suck.

 

[JVisgaitis]

I think rage strike is neat in concept, but kinda dumb at 1st level. So do I get Rage Strike as 1 At-Will and I pick one more At-Will like the Warlock? If so, that sucks because I have one less At-Will then everyone else.

 

[chaotix42]

It gets a little absurd with the 20th level Frenzied Berserker's Final Confrontation, which can continue a cycle of "hit me, now I hit you" for a long time. That might be a problem, because it means it's "get a soda" time for the rest of the players.

I actually imagine that the barbarian going toe-to-toe, blow-for-blow with something like a dragon or giant would be an experience the whole group could enjoy. I know my PCs would be cheering the Barb on, at least.

 

[That One Guy]

So, first impression... barbarian'll be a great dip into class... still. I also like it a lot. A lot a lot. I liked the variants in 3.x where barbarians were more linked to spirits etc. So... that is a flavour I can dig.

Mechanics? Yes please, and more yes please. Half-elf brutal rogue MC barbarian. Wow. A rogue who breaks stealth with a charge. CRAZY. The MC could easily go the other way too. Also, all of those powers look mighty pretty. A bit too strong? Perhaps. But... I mean... that's the barbarian's thing, right? Go crazy. Rip things apart. I still like cold rage/whirling frenzy barbarians... and I think this works really well for that.

Rage Strike... at first I thought, "Meh." Then "Ew." Then "Ohhh... cool." It's like an uber-concentrated rage into one single strike. How is that not barbarian-tastic? It's for when one is outnumbered and going to die and dealing damage is a must. So rad.

"Thaneblood". Wonder what the hell that is (aside from the other build, obviously).

I think thane is a... google search away! "1: a free retainer of an Anglo-Saxon lord ; especially : one resembling a feudal baron by holding lands of and performing military service for the king2: a Scottish feudal lord" ...I rather like the implications of that in relationship to how my mind associates feudal societies with honour and dragonborn w/ honour.

 

[Rechan]

I think rage strike is neat in concept, but kinda dumb at 1st level. So do I get Rage Strike as 1 At-Will and I pick one more At-Will like the Warlock? If so, that sucks because I have one less At-Will then everyone else.

Class Features:
All Barbarians know Rage Strike, usable only during a rage.

Your Rageblood Vigor class feature grants you the use of the swift charge power.

 

[LightPhoenix]

So I thought I'd write through my understanding of Rage Strike, in case I've got it totally backwards.

First off, you need to be raging. Basically, Rages are stances but with a different keyword. Like a Stance, you use a Rage and are considered raging.

Next, you need to have additional unused Rages (aka Barbarian Daily powers), per the prequisites. As Rechan pointed out, you can't even use Rage Strike until 5th level.

Now, when you choose to use Rage Strike, the first thing you have to do is burn a Rage, per the effect. Now, I guess it's ambiguous as to whether you get the benefit of the Daily when you "expend a Rage." My guess is that the intention is no, but I could very well be wrong here.

The reason I think the intention is not to gain the effect of the Daily is so that you can continue using your Dailies but keep the effect of your current Rage. Fighter Stances are often Utilities, so that a Fighter can use most of his attacks with the Stance. Since the Rages are Daily abilities, if you choose the one you want, you kind of get screwed using your Dailies... except for with Rage Strike.

Finally, resolve the attack, with the damage based on the expended Rage. Note this damage is almost always higher than the damage the Rage would have normally done. The exception is 1st level, in which it is the same.

 

[Asmor]

You guys are kind of missing the point of rage strike. Barb dailies are different from most other dailies we've seen; they're not fire-and-forget effects, they last the entire fight. It also means that you're wasting a lot of potential if you use a second rage in an encounter.

Rage Strike gives the barb the same alpha strike capabilities that every other class enjoys.