Frenzied Berserker

[spectre72]

I am working on creating a "Backup" character for our D&D campaign.

With the campaign rules that bases your "Backup" character on your main characters experience point total I am allowed to create a 7th level character.

We use a 32 point buy system for character generation.

Gold per the NPC chart in the DMG.

What are your experiences with the Frenzied Berserker?

What class would you suggest that I start at before migrating into Frenzied Berserker?

The goal would be to create a character that can stand in the front line bashing anything that comes his\her way.

What Stats would you suggest?

How would you spend the gold?

As always character survival is optional

Thanks
Scott

 

[DragonShadow]

Best class to come from to take Frenzied Berserker is Barbarian.

As such, your best stats should be Str (to kill things), Con (to take a lot of damage) and Dex (to not get hit).



As for spending the gold...just make sure you have a good weapon and the best possible armor you can afford, because you're going to be taking a lot of hits when you're Raging/Frenzied. On the plus side, you'll be able to kill things alot easier and take a lot of punishment.

Get yourself at least +2 armor, and depending on what kind of weapon you're going to be using, get the +1 or +2 shield.

Also, if you can afford it after buying magical arms/armor, grab a ring of protection. Front-line raging/frenzied madmen need lots of AC.

 

[Shadeus]

And something to increase your willpower save. If you can't get out of your frenzy, your companions will be just as dead as your enemies.

 

[drunkmoogle]

All it takes is one incident of "attack the party cleric" to anger your group. Be very careful with your character placement and make sure someone in the group has some spell to subdue you until your frenzy ends if you inadverdantly go Hulk on your party members (you can voluntarilly fail the Save).

If you want Improved Uncanny Dodge (which will help you more than you would imagine with your sub-par AC), go Barbarian5, Fighter 1. If you don't care for it, go Barbarian4, Fighter2.

Max strength, 2nd Con, get enough Dex to fill out the Max Dex bonus for your armor of choice, and for the party's sake get a good Will save.

Magical Armor is needed, as well other AC boosters. A magical weapon isn't really all that necessary, as most of your damage will come through your STR and power attack. If you don't care about character survival, just get gear as you would any other melee brute. Just don't let your self-destructive urges hurt the party too often.

Oh, and get armor spikes. Armor spikes are cool.

 

[Ripper-nk]

The best combo for FRB is:

Fgt 4 / Bbn 2

Aways use two-handed weapons, high STR, CON and WIS will help a lot.

 

[Ibram]

Frenzied Berserker is a dangerous class to take. I was in a group that had one and she nearly killed us all (fortunatly she was unable to get to the party wizard).

If you are going to play one then put some points into your wis, and take Iron Will. Those should help protect the party, but its not a sure fire fix (during combat stay away from the party Wizard).

 

[MacMathan]

To tag along on this post I too have wandered about playing a FB.

I was wondering how if anyone has a clever found a way to handle being exhausted after the rage/frenzy routine?

 

[PugioilAudacio]

I love this class! To take care of the exhaustion, just make sure you don't stop raging/frenzy until the end of the encounter. With a high Con (from rage and base) that shouldn't be a problem.

Also, when I play the FB, I never get AC stuff. It just doesn't help at higher levels. If you want to benefit from Barbarians fast movement you have to wear light armor anyway, and with the big penalties to AC from both rage/frenzy there really is not point.

If you're going to be playing a Frenzied Berserker, make sure someone always has Calm Emotions handy. Investing in a wand is not a bad idea. All ya need to do is turn the FB loose on the enemy, rely on Deathless Frenzy to keep him up, and slap a Heal/Calm Emotions on him at the end.

 

[spectre72]

My thoughts after reading some posts

The best combo for FRB is:

Fgt 4 / Bbn 2

Aways use two-handed weapons, high STR, CON and WIS will help a lot.

I was originally thinking Barbarian 6 / Frenzied Berserker 1 but unless you are human you don't have enough feats to do this combo.

I had rethought this and was going to go Barbarian 5 / Fighter 1 / Frenzied Berserker 1.

But now I am thinking another feat from fighter would be cool.

So maybe I will go...

Race : Desert Elf (based on the mini I am painting )
Class : Barbarian 4 / Fighter 2 / Frenzied Berserker 1

Stats would all be above average with preference to STR, CON, WIS, and DEX

I will post more as I work through the creation of the character.

Scott

 

[Kaihaku]

To tag along on this post I too have wandered about playing a FB.

I was wondering how if anyone has a clever found a way to handle being exhausted after the rage/frenzy routine?

Take a few levels of Holy Liberator.