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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Weathercock" data-source="post: 6751327" data-attributes="member: 6802523">Agreed, I like the functionality quite a bit more, and the extra numbers are (reasonable) icing on the cake.The problem with Polearm Mastery is that it plays so well with other feats like GWM and Sentinel. It doesn't just make PM mandatory for damage-optimized polearm builds, it makes it mandatory for any frontline build that wants to be damage optimized, so much so that it leaves very little value in the other great weapons (it wouldn't be such a big issue if other great weapons got feats that gave them something to differentiate them and reflect their own unique qualities, but they don't, so polearms are just better). Each point in PM alone would make it extremely potent in its own right, but both together tends to get on the side of ridiculous.From a conceptual perspective, it kind of sucks that even the most brutal and bloodthirsty of adventurers is still better off putting away their greataxe or greatsword and reckless charge, opting instead to stand off and poke away at a distance.One nice thing that I do like about the old Berserker is that its utilization of the bonus action pushes the archetype away from the dominance over every other archetype for every other frontliner that polearm mastery has. I feel that the ability to make AoO on enemies approaching your range, in addition to the increased melee range in general, are still solid reasons to consider taking a polearm/polearm mastery, even with the overlap. It's just one archetype where it isn't automatically the best option. For that reason, I do think that making optimized, economical use of the bonus action would be important for this archetype.Granted, that bonus action utilization doesn't necessarily have to be one more dose of "I hit the guy (and this is where I definitely get where you're coming from with the PM overlap)," but the PHB itself lends precious little to work with for the Berserker for inspiration on that front. Something with more nuance would be nice, but then comes the issue of the numbers game, which I feel is at a good place right now, and wouldn't want to disturb too much. With that in mind, I'm at a bit of a loss with how to continue beyond that.The overlap with TWF is definitely a problem, but TWF itself is just one big problem, as things currently are, and should be completely rethought from the ground up.It's difficult to calculate for Fighter, since it relies more on activation-based abilities for its damage, while Barbarian tends to be pretty hands free. Generally speaking, however, a Fighter that makes use of its action surges and archetype features should have little issue easily eclipsing my Berserker variant's damage output on earlier turns or shorter fights (~3 turns), with my Better Berserker catching up to a lower but more comparable level in longer encounters (Battlemaster might come up a bit lower, depending on how it decides to use its Maneuvers, while Champion and Eldritch Knight end up with complete blowouts).</blockquote>

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