How would you keep a Frenzied Beserker from killing the whole party?

[Jeremy]

Gonna have to whisper that command word. Can't have the barbarian hearing it and using it to unlock himself while he's screaming or, worse, a crony reporting it to a bad guy and having him and his men use it at inopportune times.

 

[mirzabah]

What kind of friends are you?

What kind of friend is he. Friends don't knowingly and voluntarily go down a path that could result in the death or severe injury of one of their companions and could conceivably drive a wedge into the party.

You're saying that you would abandon a trusted friend who lost control of his temper? I realize that he's coming at you with a blade, but it's not like you've never had that happen before.

Sooner or later wotsisname wigging out mid-adventure is going to get real boring for everyone else in the group.

He has temper problems, and is hard to calm down after a killing frenzy. You know this, he admits it, and you take steps to prevent it. What's the problem?

The problem is that it is so completely unnecessary - nobody is holding a gun to anyone's head saying "you must take a level of Frenzied Twink - I mean Berserker - or else." Why worry about solving a problem y.o.u d.o.n.t. n.e.e.d t.o c.r.e.a.t.e in the first place. At bbn3/ftr9 this character has a pretty long history that presumably doesn't involve attacking his buddies - why start now?

 

[mirzabah]

I think the difference is that he's a friend. A close friend who you've bonded with over a long period of time. He should warrant some consideration other than just killing him or abandoning him.

Don't the barbarian's friends warrant some consideration as well? Turning a well developed PC into an indiscriminate butcher overnight doesn't sound like the act of a "close friend."

I'm not saying that I wouldn't throw him out. But I would like to think I would try something else first.

I couldn't agree more. "Something" like talking him out of taking a level of Frenzied Berserker in the first place.

 

[Tyrion]

Buy or create a Wand of Summon Monster. Move the party away, and each round, summon a crappy monster for the Berserker to beat on, until the Frenzy has worn off.

As for the RP issues, it takes a certain type of party to travel with a Frenzied Berserker. They may realize he can't control himself after a Frenzy, and accept it, then work around it. Why? Not only because of friendship, but because they understand that it's a tradeoff for his huge combat ability...similar to a Wizard's need to waste time memorizing spells every day, although significantly more dangerous. Sure, a party member could be accidentally killed by the Frenzy, but party members could also be saved by the same ability turned against enemies.

 

[Lord Ben]

There are merits to just not taking that path. But the question was put before us - how do I deal with this situation? Obviously not going that route is one, but it doesn't add to his question.

If the barbarian likes them he could just not say that command word, another option is to say it in a language he doesn't know. If the enemy gets ahold of the word then that'sthe price they have to pay. Keeping distance is a good one, boots of striding and springing or flying or something for everyone but him. Keep your distance is another option, I think they only attack if you're X feet away but I could be wrong.

It's an interesting prestige class - and a character could well be on his way long before even finding the class. I have a PC that played his barbarian similiar to the discription before the book even came out, so it was a natural to him to take it. However he was already a bbn/rog/ tribal defender and close to the end of the temple of elemental evil so he never took the class but used disciptions as RPing pointers.

 

[Limper]

Wait till he goes to sleep and a monkey pile of Coup de Gras's with Scythes... sums up my opinion of whats to be done.

If you're adverse to whacking party members... even irresponsible ones who threaten by their choices then I'd recomend Subdual Substitution... the casters may now pound his no reflex save having butt with no remorse... after a few rounds of battle he wont have alot of hps left.

Subdual Damage is the same as real for most creatures... out cold easily equals dead.

 

[Crothian]

Why don't you just make or commission the creation of a magical item that works grants a +5 will save to get out of a frenzy only. Limit it's use to so many times per day, limit the alignment of who can use and place a class restriction on it to further make the item cheaper.

 

[Metalsmith]

Ok, now that so many of you have commented on how you would throw my character from the party....

Most of those posts were worthless anyway as they were avoiding the problem and not helping.

You've got a +9 Will save so once the bad guy's are down you got a 50% chance of going Postal on your friends. Thats not too bad. If you blow your DC 20 will save you have a few options ranging from Crazy to cheezy. and Hey you get another save next round!

Actions the Frenzied Bezerker can take:

1 Power Attack to the MAX. if your group generaly has a good AC you probably wont hit anyway. If you do hit at least it will be a clean death.

2 Fight Defensively! Hey an additional -4 to hit is great!

3 Carry a Towershield and attack your allies from nine tenths cover -10 to hit.

Better yet to all the above! a 10th level character with a +10 BAB doing all the above is -24 to hit that ought to do it.

4 You can choose to fail your save against the Calm Emotions Spell.

5 Another party member can use a wand of silent image on either a corpse or a tree to make it look like the "bad guys" are about to get up. Choose to fail your save.

6 Lie the hell down. -4 more to hit

7 Grapple them and Pin the next round.

8 Trip them

9 Bull Rush

All good "attacks" that will will not hurt your allies.

Metalsmith

 

[James McMurray]

If I were the DM, I would not allow the character to suddenly turn himself into a worthless fighter using power attac, tower shields, etc. And I don't think the posts advocating against it were pointless at all. They merely expressed some ideas as to why this person may not want to go that route. I have no idea what the social dynamics of his gaming group are, but most game groups don't enjoy a lot of irresponsible characters accidentally killing party members. If his group doesn't mind, then by all means go for it.

As for ideas, I would espouse the +5 to saves item, as it can be made fairly cheaply, even without tying lots of cheesy restrictions to it in order to lower the price (another thing I don't allow in my game, as makinga sword that only Lawful Goods can use is actually a benefit for a Lawful Good creator).

The bracers were another good idea.

 

[Limper]

His choice of character is detrimental to the group, his choice will result in someone elses good time ending, his choice is selfish to an extreme... I don't see why someone who is being this inconciderate to his fellow players should NOT have their inconciderate choice killed in its sleep.

Every choice hath its price. The choice of Frenzied Berserker is a huge liability to the group unless he chooses NOT to Frenzy. Nor should he EVER use that Inspire Frenzy unless the WHOLE party requests it... playing the Frenzied Berserker is a very rude choice for him to have made.

Even if they keep him its a drain on party resourses.... I'd be very upset to have to take feats or spells or make items to deal with a rabid jerk of a character.