D&D 5E Battlerager Reckless Abandon

[Burticusb]

So, since I'm still reviewing the Battlerager for my next character build, I wanted to get a consensus on how the community felt about the Reckless Abandon ability they gain at level 6.

You get temp HP equal to your Constitution modifier when you use the Reckless Attack ability and they last until you stop raging.

So, here is an example, my Dwarf has a 20 Constitution Score, so I have a +5 modifier.

That means the moment I use Reckless attack on my turn, I get +5 Temp HP that will last until my rage ends.

So, then a bad guy attacks me and I take 10 points of damage, well I'm raging so I resist half of that and only take 5 points.

My Temp HP's are gone!

Now, next turn, guess what, I Reckless Attack again, looks like I get those +5 Temp HP's again...

This creates a forever replenishing supply of Temp HP as long as I recklessly attack and I am raging...

Thoughts?

Personally, I think this is the Battlerager's most potent ability and makes him very tanky.

 

[feartheminotaur]

That's exactly my take on it. When you choose to use the Reckless Attack feature while raging you gain THP equal to your Con Mod.

 

[NotActuallyTim]

At higher levels enemies do a fair bit more than that. The combined resistance +Tempory HP was a nice idea, but it scales poorly as is. Should have been Con score, I think.

 

[Burticusb]

I dunno about that, maybe Con modifier + Class Level, this would get folks to want to be pure barb more as well.

 

[Blue]

Well, a fighter gets Second Wind to head for d10+Class level once per short rest, so let's say 3d10+3xclass level for a full day.

At 6th you have four rages, so if each of those is used in a four-round encounter with a Con of 18, that's up to 64 temp HP a day, though it will prevent up to 128 HPs of damage if the incoming damage is of a type you resist but realistically that will only be some of it. At 6th the Fighter would be getting 16.5+18=34.5, so it's roughly 2-3 times as good as Second Wind, more if combats last longer or if you get hit with P/B/S damage more than the average.

Second Wind continues to increase with Fighter level (so daily usage by ~3 HP per level). This will jump up 25% when Con gets to 20, and also jump up with every additional rage. A 17th level fighter would second wind three times for a total of 67.5, while a 17th level barb would be 6 rages times 4 rounds times 5 tHP for 120 tHP, which is again magnified by resistances.

This seems quite viable and much more than Second Wind, I think any attempt to increase it significantly would make the character completely out of line with what other melee characters can take.

 

[cheezitmojo]

I like this idea. Just looking at it, +Con modifier temp hp seems a low reward for granting advantage to enemy attacks, even with resistance to B/S/P.

 

[NotActuallyTim]

Hmm. I just worked out the damage a Stone Giant would do if it hit with both greatclub attacks every single turn. I'm beginning to think I may have misjudged the class feature.

Still not satisfied with the Battlerager. Need to work out some 'everybody stands still and punches eachother a lot' theoretical combats with a few example monsters.

 

[BookBarbarian]

I've noticed this too. The extra incentive to reckless attack makes the GWM feat even more appealing for a Battlerager, as if it was not already appealing for every Barbarian.

I feel like the Battlerager is the distilled version of the Barbarian. It doesn't get a lot of new features, just more incentive to use the existing Barbarian features. Kind of like a barbarian champion.

 

[Devilbass]

I'm with Blue, beefing up Reckless Abandon would be going too far. Sure, at high levels it's a fairly minor bump, but it's far from negligible. Besides, I doubt this ability is meant to be as much of a big game changer as granting CON score each round would be. Just comparing to the berserker and totem barb abilities should make that clear.

 

[Burticusb]

I think the only big thing to consider is crits, since with reckless attack it causes all enemies to have advantage against you. This literally doubles your chance to get crit'd against. This is why I want my battlerager to find a suit of Adamantine Spiked Armor. With having a lowish AC and every bad guy getting advantage it is no longer about getting hit, but more on getting hit for less.