Whirling Frenzy from UA: Is it balanced?

[Ridley's Cohort]

The extra attack is too much. That is a big bonus that is unjustified by the downsides, on the balance.

Golly gee! The primary advantages of being both a THW and a TWF at the same time.

 

[Darklone]

Someone calculated long ago for a char with 3 and 4 iterative attacks how good your weapon damage has to be compared to Power Attack by the same amount...

Whirling Frenzy was better, but not soo much better than normal Rage (+PA).

 

[DungeonMaester]

I vote no because it does not upgrade. At 20th level you are stuck with a +2 ac bonus and one attack.

Its like the bully of the playground who hit puberty first so he was bigger then all the other kids, but never grew a inch being stuck at 5'6 the rest of his life.

---Rusty

 

[Felon]

Well, the frenzy won't last as long, since Con still determines duration. The bonus HP provided by standard rage are a bigger deal than folks give'em credit for.

But all the same, there's some gratuity here. I'd say drop Str bonus altogether and give it a flat melee weapon daamge bonus of +1 or +2.

 

[SlagMortar]

I would say it is definitely overpowered for a level 1 ability. There's no reason to make Barbarian 1 or Barbarian 2 an even more attractive dip.

 

[EditorBFG]

Since "broken" seems to be the consensus, and I don't want to sour the DM on variant class abilities or player suggestions, is there a suggested fix for Whirling Frenzy to make it balanced? I see a couple above, but I'm hoping for some kind of consensus ofn this too.

Ideally, just as Rage gives a -2 to AC, Whirling Frenzy could pick up some kind of penalty as well. But what?

 

[Thanee]

Complete Champion is my guess.

That seems likely. Don't have any of the newer books yet.

Bye
Thanee

 

[brehobit]

Since "broken" seems to be the consensus, and I don't want to sour the DM on variant class abilities or player suggestions, is there a suggested fix for Whirling Frenzy to make it balanced? I see a couple above, but I'm hoping for some kind of consensus ofn this too.

Ideally, just as Rage gives a -2 to AC, Whirling Frenzy could pick up some kind of penalty as well. But what?

I really do think requiring that each attack that round go against a different target hits the right balance. Or at least requiring that the "bonus" attack have a different target than the first attack. I think that significantly weakens the ability while keeping with the flavor and most of the mechanics.

Mark

 

[ThirdWizard]

I vote no because it does not upgrade. At 20th level you are stuck with a +2 ac bonus and one attack.

According to the OP, the AC bonus goes up to +4.


I'd find it balanced if it didn't have the extra attack.

 

[rgard]

According to the OP, the AC bonus goes up to +4.


I'd find it balanced if it didn't have the extra attack.

Yes, it does. And the strength bonus goes up to +8 at 20th level.

I'm fine with the variant as long as the extra attack only comes when the barbarian is in whirling frenzy mode and makes a full round attack.

Thanks,
Rich