The Frenzied Berserker: I'm Just Curious

[airwalkrr]

I've seen one in actual play. It was an NPC, and it was a long time ago, before any of us as players had even heard of it. The battle lasted all night since we were unaware that it could go forever and determined to beat the guy. We kept saying "that dwarf barbarian has got to go down sometime!" We nearly flayed the DM when we found out after a combat taking until 3 am. It was then that our group decided to never use the class ever again.

I've never actually seen it as a PC though. I hear horror stories about self-inflicted TPKs and PvP due to the class, but I wonder how often this actually happens. So with that in mind, I ask you, ENWorld, have you ever played with a Frenzied Berserker, and what was the result?

 

[Brakkart]

My group from my Rise of the Snakemen campaign featured a dwarven Frenzied Berserker by the name of Jebodiah Bugman. Once the characters got over their initial surprise at him turning on them at the end of combat (as while the players knew about this, their characters were genuinely quite shocked), the group simply incorporated that into their tactics, with the clerics memorising a Calm Emotions each and the wizard keeping a Hold Monster in memory. While the loss of those spell slots might have minorly inconvinienced those characters, the sheer carnage that Jeb was capable of, meant that few combats needed anything near those characters full repertoire of spells anyway.

Have a read through my story hour (whch I will complete one of these days I swear). Far from being a liability, Jeb was an integral part of the groups tactics in every fight. We did tweak the class a teeny bit, in having Frenzy being a choice to activate in the same manner that Rage is, but other than that the class was played as written and it worked just fine.

 

[Arkhandus]

I assume your DM forgot that Frenzy only lasts a number of rounds equal to 3 + Constitution modifier.

I've played alongside a frenzied berserker. He beat my monk to -9 HP repeatedly during frenzies because I was the closest thing the party had to a 2nd meat shield (the others were bards, rogues, wizards, druids, and clerics, of low HP/AC, and one fighter/ranger/deepwood sniper of mediocre HP and AC but even more obscene killing power than the frenzied berserker). The party's wizard barely managed to Suggestion the FB into going out into the woods to kill forest animals or something, just before my PC could die (rarely did his first attempt at Suggestion actually work), and the cleric would hastily Cure my monk just enough to stay alive or regain consciousness.

The FB eventually died when his player was absent for a session and the DM NPC'd him rather poorly (totally forgetting to rage/frenzy and go into melee as soon as the battle with several frost giants began). My monk continued to suck. The FB nearly killed the party's wizard once, I think (or maybe it was the cleric), but they have higher AC than my monk and narrowly survived long enough for me to attempt grappling and getting his attention (and them to start hurling Enchantments in desperation).

Frenzied Berserkers Do Not Play Well With Others.

They're as much a threat to allies as they are to enemies, yet only a few PCs have any chance of averting their frenzied wrath, and only with minor or moderate chances of success.

 

[Mortis]

I played one in a none too serious game.

It was a completely cheesy half-ogre barbarian/frenzied berzerker (later underwent a ritual that transformed him into a skullcrusher ogre barb/frbz).

Even though he had a low Will save he never failed to come out of frenzy before attacking other party members. That was just complete luck though - I wouldn't like to see one in a serious campaign.

Regards
Mortis

 

[airwalkrr]

I assume your DM forgot that Frenzy only lasts a number of rounds equal to 3 + Constitution modifier.

No, he just made the NPC a dwarf with a base 18 Con and an amulet of health. At 10th level, 11 rounds of combat can last many hours. We knew something was up when he fell on his own turn.

 

[Hussar]

No, he just made the NPC a dwarf with a base 18 Con and an amulet of health. At 10th level, 11 rounds of combat can last many hours. We knew something was up when he fell on his own turn.

Good grief? Really? Hours? With a single opponent? AN hour I could see, but hours? Dude.

 

[airwalkrr]

Good grief? Really? Hours? With a single opponent? AN hour I could see, but hours? Dude.

Contributing factors:
1) It was already late.
2) We required several bathroom breaks.
3) We spent a lot of time confused as hell and scattering around because we were unsure of how to deal with the BBEG.
4) The BBEG had lots of mooks that took a long time to do activations and a long time to kill (they were all barbarians).
5) We had a fairly large party (six characters) plus a cohort and animal companion.
6) Did I mention the dwarf was practically invincible for 11 rounds? If you assume 10 minutes per combat round (not unheard of) that is practically 2 hours already.

 

[pizzaboy_15]

Yeah, I played with one. He was named Jebodiah of the many deaths. He was in Brakkarts campaign, 'Rise of the Snakemen'. Go to the story hour and read up about him!
You'll have to go to the bottom & search using
Thread title
Beginning
D&D
Decending

then go to page three!
Read it! It's got really good feedback

 

[Darklone]

I had one as NPC ... but the PCs wasted him thorougly in ranged combat.

And it was too tempting to vote for option no.5!

 

[hagor]

In the 'city of the spider queen' campaign I'm playing in (at the moment temporarily on hold) our party contained one halforc barb/FB.

I voted for option nr 3: He behaved rather well... for a FB, mainly due to the following:
- he was the only tank we had and he liked to charge the enemy, while the other players usually attacked from a distance (a rogue/fighter/peerless archer (my PC), a sorcerer and a ranger/druid)
- the sorcerer had always a wall of force ready...
- he didn't have many levels in FB yet
- he didn't survive that long: he charged some drow guards in the barracks, while the other PCs couldn't give him support (due to some fear effect, or scouting elsewhere)

Of course, the end of any combat was usually as chaotic as the combat itself...

Hagor