D&D (2024) How to fix Path of the Berserker of the Barbarian?

[tetrasodium]

Slightly off-topic, but I was just reading the thread about One causing a divide, in which a poster made a mocking comment about how the 5e philosophy is “give players what they want.” It’s a pretty common sentiment.

I can’t remember who posts what, but I’d be kind of curious to see the Venn diagram between “5e caters to casuals” and “Frenzy is too punitive.”

There should be a third bubble in the venn diagram for something like "frenzy is poorly designed given how 5e works". There's never any real need for players to kick it into overdrive & pull out all the stops to blaze through a fight faster than autopilot on cruise control. Even though frenzy is a significant boon of a second or third attack for the barbarian, it's a significant but pointless boon with an actual cost. I like the new exhaustion mechanics but don't think that they are the right lever for frenzy. Link frenzy to hit dice or something instead of creating a reason to justify adding ways to mitigate & sideline exhaustion as a useful mechanic.

 

[Marandahir]

Slightly off-topic, but I was just reading the thread about One causing a divide, in which a poster made a mocking comment about how the 5e philosophy is “give players what they want.” It’s a pretty common sentiment.

I can’t remember who posts what, but I’d be kind of curious to see the Venn diagram between “5e caters to casuals” and “Frenzy is too punitive.”

I'm not sure where the Venn overlaps, but I'd like One D&D to have a bit of something for everyone. So if Berserker is the "basic" Barbarian subclass, it shouldn't be stuck with options-paralysis-inducing features. "Boring" is a feature, not a bug.

Meanwhile, "advanced" skill / decision tree builds should be more flavourful rather than generic. So Battle Master really should have a lot more flourish to give it character, or else it should be multiple different subclasses that all use Martial Superiority Dice (like the UAs originally had for Cavaliers and Samurai during playtesting ahead of Xanathar's).