To be honest, I wouldn't do anything. 41 points of damage at this level is pretty standard for an unoptimized straight ranger nevermind a barb multiclass. I like the m/c idea for the flavour. If you made it much weaker it wouldn't be worth doing especially with all the feat investment and the loss of a paragon path
Agreed, I like the flavor too. Ranger/Barbarian has a nice feel.
I'm level 6, and my rogue's average damage for an at-will that hits is 20 already. And I hit way more than this guy will.
100hps is LOW for a level 13 non-elite soldier. Strikers are SUPPOSED to kill them in 1-2 rounds. Otherwise an easy fight with 4 equal levelled soldiers would drag on for eons.
But the OP was concerned with how this character damage output was making the other players look weak. To compare his damage output against the monsters of the level is kind of specious.
If it is your position that a striker should be downing a creature in 1-2 rounds (I decline to agree or disagree) thats fine, but how is he going against other strikers in the group? If I read the OP right, they arent keeping up because this unique combo is pushing 1 character (1 in a group...its a group game) beyond everyone elses capabilities, what it means is...
- 1 person has a great old time
- Eveyone else is relegated to supporting him (or just getting killed because the monsters have to be tuned against that one character to have any point what-so-ever)
- DM is frustrated out of his brain because game design needs to constantly incorporate the fact that one player found an effective rule combination.
Balance is not just player to monster, it is also from player to player. If one player is so far ahead of everyone else (as the OP suggests), not through proper reward for good playing but through rule manipulation, its the GM's job to do something about that so the game stays enjoyable for
everyone involved, rather than just the one person.
Sometimes rule combinations will slip through the cracks that end up far too powerful(read the Hybrid test doco....
the designers admit this happens), s as a GM, I hold to the belief that it is our responbility to control this.
That is my position, others prefer RAW : more strength to them. Many disagree with what I would consider unbalanced, thats their privelege. But I know that my group is enjoying the game I have put together and thats good enough for us.
Good luck to all who have to tackle the thorny issue of game breaking character builds.