ZombieRoboNinja
First Post
It's to be hoped that the barbarian will actually be introducing a new tactical approach, not just acting like a fighter with crappier armor and more damage output.
Now, both defenders and (melee) strikers do a significant amount of damage; the different is that the defender tries to draw enemy attacks, while the striker tries to avoid them. Maybe the barbarian could serve as a new kind of striker by de-emphasizing mobility and evasion to a degree and instead hitting back hard against anyone dumb enough to attack it in melee. Kind of like the 4e fighter penalizes nearby enemies who DON'T attack him, the barbarian could have lots of immediate-reaction counterattacks and "frenzy" abilities that get triggered when he takes damage. He could also receive benefits when he kills enemies, kind of like the warlock.
So in other words, when a fighter wades into melee, he screams out a challenge and the enemy hordes swarm over him. When the barbarian charges in, every enemy with half a brain scrambles for cover.
I'm thinking class abilities like the following:
Rage: You get a +2 bonus to hit and +1d6 damage versus any enemy who has dealt damage to you since your last turn.
Adrenal Fury: Whenever one of your healing surges is triggered, you deal an extra 1d6 damage with all melee attacks until the end of your next turn.
Blood Surge (Immediate reaction, Once per encounter): When you deal a deathblow against an enemy or are Bloodied, you receive +2 squares to your movement speed and +4 to all attacks until the end of your next turn.
Plus (of course) a whole bunch of groovy powers!
Now, both defenders and (melee) strikers do a significant amount of damage; the different is that the defender tries to draw enemy attacks, while the striker tries to avoid them. Maybe the barbarian could serve as a new kind of striker by de-emphasizing mobility and evasion to a degree and instead hitting back hard against anyone dumb enough to attack it in melee. Kind of like the 4e fighter penalizes nearby enemies who DON'T attack him, the barbarian could have lots of immediate-reaction counterattacks and "frenzy" abilities that get triggered when he takes damage. He could also receive benefits when he kills enemies, kind of like the warlock.
So in other words, when a fighter wades into melee, he screams out a challenge and the enemy hordes swarm over him. When the barbarian charges in, every enemy with half a brain scrambles for cover.
I'm thinking class abilities like the following:
Rage: You get a +2 bonus to hit and +1d6 damage versus any enemy who has dealt damage to you since your last turn.
Adrenal Fury: Whenever one of your healing surges is triggered, you deal an extra 1d6 damage with all melee attacks until the end of your next turn.
Blood Surge (Immediate reaction, Once per encounter): When you deal a deathblow against an enemy or are Bloodied, you receive +2 squares to your movement speed and +4 to all attacks until the end of your next turn.
Plus (of course) a whole bunch of groovy powers!
