D&D 5E (2014) Berserker Barbarian Fix?

[Raunalyn]

I don't really think the berserker is broken at all. I'm playing a dwarven berserker (mountain dwarf for the bonus to strength and con), and he is consistently a huge combat monster. When I hit level 4, I took the Great Weapon Master feat, which made him even more of a beast. Now, at level 5, he just runs into a group of monsters, rages, and goes to town. Reckless attack is very strong; yeah, you get hit a lot, but you're taking half damage from most attacks, and the advantage adds to your accuracy. Think of it as doubling your hit points; not only that, but healing is twice as effective while you are enraged.

If you notice that you are getting swarmed, go frenzy, and you will have 3 attacks at 5th level (more than any other class at this point). Yeah, the exhaustion can be bad, but one or two levels is manageable, and it is up to the player to manage when he goes frenzy to prevent himself from getting too exhausted. They added this feature so that they could prevent the berserker from going frenzy all the time...the player has to make the judgement call on when to go nuts. If I were going to change it (and I wouldn't), I would leave it as is, and only remove the exhaustion effect at higher levels.

Does the berserker have a lot of range outside of combat? Not really...but that's not what this subclass is built around.

tl:dr; Frenzy is not as bad as people think. In practice, the berserker barbarian is a very effective combat monster.

 

[hejtmane]

What makes you think it sucks? 1 extra attack per round for the most important fight of the day seems better than any of the Totem Spirit features at that level, and 1 level of exhaustion is hardly debilitating. Even level 2 exhaustion isn't so bad, since you get Fast Movement.

Resistance to all attacks (except Psionics) from bear totem while on the front line wielding a 2h weapon is down right nice for a front line attack class and if they can take a feat and go polearm Human Variant I take that of the Berserker any day.

With that in mind we can borrow from feats mind set
To balance it if you did not want exhaustion make the bonus attack 1d4 or 1d6 + modifiers (if they use dw without feat it is usually 1d6) that would prevent it from being over powered and no exhaustion to deal with.

 

[mellored]

Frenzy: When you take a bonus action to enter rage, you can also make a attack. In addition, you can spend a bonus action and expend a hit die to make an attack. If you do, you do not regain hit points, but instead deal extra damage equal to the hit die spent.

 

[mellored]

Frenzy: When you take damage, you can use your reaction to enter rage, possibly reducing damage from that attack. In addition, you can spend a hit die to when you hit with a melee attack while raging. If you do, you do not regain hit points, but instead deal extra damage equal to the hit die spent.

 

[Dausuul]

It's bizarre how everyone obsesses over the drawbacks of Frenzy while ignoring the best feature of the berserker: Mindless Rage. You're immune to charm and fear while raging, which means 90% of mind-control effects just roll right off you. Not only that, but if you get hit by such an effect and still have enough control to trigger rage, you bust free of it. That's huge.

I admit that Bear totem is a little too good, but the way to address that is to nerf the Bear totem, not the berserker path.

 

[Eejit]

I admit that Bear totem is a little too good, but the way to address that is to nerf the Bear totem, not the berserker path.

Even then Wolf Totem is very competitive with Bear, depending on overall group composition.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

The bear, while good is passive in its nature and against the most common type of danger not at all better as the standard rage.
I think giving frenzy the benefit of doing an attack when you start frenzy and maybe ignoring one level of exhaustion is enough to offset any problem.
The internet is totally freaking out too much about exhaustion and value great weapon mastery too high. Until you have raised STR to 20 Great weapon master is -6 to hit and only +9 to damage. Which is only a ratio of 1.5 instead of 2.
Also think about using your frenzy only in fights where it really counts. It is like wizards saving their heavy hitters only when needed. If every fight is so hard you need a frenzy, everyone will beed a long rest afterwards, so really exhaustion is no penalty at all.

 

[Kithas]

I am firmly in the camp that the Berserker path is just fine, very competitive and honestly for a full barbarian a better pick than totem. You are less tanky than a bear totem but you already have advantage on dex saves, proficiency in con saves and mindless rage, so for almost every spell you have something to combat it. By mid-late game you are way ahead. Fearful Presence and Retaliation are awesome, a consistent reaction for an attack is really hard to come by and this is pretty much the best(in some situations Giant slayer wins out but this is more universal). One subclass giving me a use for my bonus and reaction? sign me up!
As long as your barbarian is frugal with his frenzies he will definitely be fine.

 

[Grakarg]

I allow our frenzied berserker to spend a hit die during a short rest to remove a level of exhaustion (instead of waiting for a long rest). No HP are gained from spending a hit die in this manner.

 

[Xeviat]

I think the issue is simply that the design space for "Bonus Action" is rather crowded. There are racial features, class features, item features, feat features, and spells that all vie for your precious 1 bonus action per round. I appreciate that it's limited, but they had intended to make it "not required" to use a bonus action and failed spectacularly; everyone seeks a few somethings.

Since Frenzy isn't circumstantial round by round, but across combats, it makes those other bonus action attack options underwhelming.