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Weathercock's Better Berserker Barbarian
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<blockquote data-quote="Weathercock" data-source="post: 6755080" data-attributes="member: 6802523"><p><strong>Fighter 0-resource DPR with great weapon mastery (Halberd), polearm mastery</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>Level 5 v AC 13:</strong> 25.5/39.9 (Str +3) <-- 76.5/119.6 per 3 rounds, 178.6/279.1 per 7 rounds</p><p><strong>Level 11 v AC 15:</strong> 42.1/64.3 (Str +5) <-- 126.3/192.9 per 3 rounds, 294.6/450.1 per 7 rounds</p><p><strong>Level 20 v AC 19:</strong> 43.0/69.6 (Str +5) <-- 128.9/208.8 per 3 rounds, 300.8/487.3 per 7 rounds</p><p></p><p></p><p>Keep in mind that this simulation does not include damage from an attack of opportunity, which is very easy to get with Polearm Mastery. A fighter of any discipline should have no trouble keeping up with my Better Berserker (who does have to utilize a daily resource and does end up exposing itself to a lot of damage) if they are utilizing their resources.</p><p></p><p>Without feats, things should actually fall quite a bit further in the Fighter's favour, since their inability to force advantage or get higher than 20 strength for higher accuracy difference between Fighter and Barbarian is much less important, with the volume of attacks available cleanly overpowering what the Barbarian might offer.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Similarly, it's not particularly difficult to get Polearm Mastery or Sentinel's effects to trigger every round either. And neither effect requires you to lose HP to activate.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>With a Barbarian, the chance of the bonus action from GWM actually activating is around 19% on any given turn you can get your full attacks in with advantage, assuming you're not actually killing anything. Compared to the old <em>Frenzy</em>, which gave it unconditionally, mine now requires you to be using <em>Reckless Attack</em>. GWM's bonus attack potential can still have value when you would already have advantage and don't want to open yourself up to more damage, giving it its own niche still.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Where as mine has to compromise his defense if he wants his offensive bonuses, no matter the situation. That said, even without feats, I don't believe that the old <em>Frenzy</em>'s high cost can justify its use. In a no-feat fight that's 3 rounds long at level 20, a Berserker's <em>Frenzy</em> (including <em>Retaliation</em>) is going to get about as much damage over three turns as a Fighter with advantage using a single action surge. That just doesn't seem worth it at all for an ability that cripples you for the entire rest of an adventuring day.</p><p></p><p>That said, what my variant does offer might be a bit over the top at middle-to-higher levels in featless games, and feat-based campaigns are the ones which I've concentrated by balance considerations on. But what the original Berserker Barbarian offers was clearly never designed with any measure of scaleability in mind, let alone potential for the variant rules featured in the same rulebook. For that reason, I'd recommend caution in using my Better Berserker in featless games. But then again, I'd also recommend players be weary of using the original version too.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Weathercock, post: 6755080, member: 6802523"] [B]Fighter 0-resource DPR with great weapon mastery (Halberd), polearm mastery[/B] [B]Level 5 v AC 13:[/B] 25.5/39.9 (Str +3) <-- 76.5/119.6 per 3 rounds, 178.6/279.1 per 7 rounds [B]Level 11 v AC 15:[/B] 42.1/64.3 (Str +5) <-- 126.3/192.9 per 3 rounds, 294.6/450.1 per 7 rounds [B]Level 20 v AC 19:[/B] 43.0/69.6 (Str +5) <-- 128.9/208.8 per 3 rounds, 300.8/487.3 per 7 rounds Keep in mind that this simulation does not include damage from an attack of opportunity, which is very easy to get with Polearm Mastery. A fighter of any discipline should have no trouble keeping up with my Better Berserker (who does have to utilize a daily resource and does end up exposing itself to a lot of damage) if they are utilizing their resources. Without feats, things should actually fall quite a bit further in the Fighter's favour, since their inability to force advantage or get higher than 20 strength for higher accuracy difference between Fighter and Barbarian is much less important, with the volume of attacks available cleanly overpowering what the Barbarian might offer. Similarly, it's not particularly difficult to get Polearm Mastery or Sentinel's effects to trigger every round either. And neither effect requires you to lose HP to activate. With a Barbarian, the chance of the bonus action from GWM actually activating is around 19% on any given turn you can get your full attacks in with advantage, assuming you're not actually killing anything. Compared to the old [I]Frenzy[/I], which gave it unconditionally, mine now requires you to be using [I]Reckless Attack[/I]. GWM's bonus attack potential can still have value when you would already have advantage and don't want to open yourself up to more damage, giving it its own niche still. Where as mine has to compromise his defense if he wants his offensive bonuses, no matter the situation. That said, even without feats, I don't believe that the old [I]Frenzy[/I]'s high cost can justify its use. In a no-feat fight that's 3 rounds long at level 20, a Berserker's [I]Frenzy[/I] (including [I]Retaliation[/I]) is going to get about as much damage over three turns as a Fighter with advantage using a single action surge. That just doesn't seem worth it at all for an ability that cripples you for the entire rest of an adventuring day. That said, what my variant does offer might be a bit over the top at middle-to-higher levels in featless games, and feat-based campaigns are the ones which I've concentrated by balance considerations on. But what the original Berserker Barbarian offers was clearly never designed with any measure of scaleability in mind, let alone potential for the variant rules featured in the same rulebook. For that reason, I'd recommend caution in using my Better Berserker in featless games. But then again, I'd also recommend players be weary of using the original version too. [/QUOTE]
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