Whirling Frenzy from UA: Is it balanced?

[Felon]

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

I don't think any kind of penalty is applicable here. Bringing the benefits back in line seems like the thing to do.

 

[Drowbane]

I say just leave it as is and enjoy. So "Joe-melee" gets a feather in his cap... he still has to compete with the likes of CoDzilla

 

[Arkhandus]

A little on the good side, but not too much. The lower duration is a crucial disadvantage, unless you have outrageous stats.

Not really if you take Extended Rage as a feat.

 

[EditorBFG]

So far it seems like the major fix options are:

A) The second attack cannot be made against the same target as the first
B) The second attack can only be gained with a full-round action (which, it seems, may be implicit in the existing rules)
C) All of the above

Any others?

 

[shilsen]

So far it seems like the major fix options are:

A) The second attack cannot be made against the same target as the first
B) The second attack can only be gained with a full-round action (which, it seems, may be implicit in the existing rules)
C) All of the above

Any others?

Don't use it ?

And no, I'm not just being facetious. I personally don't allow it in my game because I think it's not a cool enough option that its addition will make any real improvement to the game, and the barbarian is fine without it.

 

[EditorBFG]

Don't use it ?

And no, I'm not just being facetious. I personally don't allow it in my game because I think it's not a cool enough option that its addition will make any real improvement to the game, and the barbarian is fine without it.

Not an option. For the character concept the GM and I have conceived, Rage makes no sense. We were very happy when we found the variant, and badly want to make it work.

 

[Nifft]

Not an option. For the character concept the GM and I have conceived, Rage makes no sense.

Consider using a Warblade, with Iron Heart & Tiger Claw maneuvers that grant extra attacks.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Arkhandus]

....Hrm. If you really want to use the Whirling Frenzy, I'd suggest replacing the extra attack with Cleave as a virtual feat while in a Whirling Frenzy. Maybe reduce the AC bonus by 1 point as well, but I dunno, that might or might not be too much of a nerfing-for-balance.

Having Cleave as a virtual feat would mean they could take Great Cleave later, but it would only be useable while they're in a Whirling Frenzy (unless they chose to take Cleave as a normal feat).

 

[Jeff Wilder]

Drop the bonus to Strength by 4, and Whirling Frenzy is perfectly fine.

Forcing the player to take the extra attack against a different target is also a fair solution, but be ready for lots of questions. ("I get three attacks when Frenzying, at +12/+12/+7. I have two targets. Can I count the +7 as the 'extra attack,' so I can attack the higher-AC target twice at +12?" "What if I have three targets? How do I have to split the attacks?" And so on.)

Dropping the Strength bonus is both balanced and much simpler.

 

[Darklone]

I agree. Dropping the str bonus will certainly balance this ability even with extra attack.