Possible temporary frenzied berzerker fix?

[Immabozo]

So I was reviewing one of my favorite drugs in D&D for another thread, Luhix, when I noticed this little line.


While under the secondary effects of the drug, the user is immune to pain... the character takes damage normally, but may not react normally to that damage

Now, if you want your character to have that effect all day, Steadfast Determination and a fort save of at least 24 will make you auto succeed the overdose fort save DC 25 or die if you do the drug more than once per day.

And a friendly mage with the spell extract drug may be able to provide you access to the drug all the time for little cost

Now you only rage/frenzy when you want to, no more involuntary frenzy checks! No more danger of killing your friends without the enemy present!

[BizzaroStormy]

A natural 1 can still be rolled on save meaning there's still a 5% chance of freeing the beast on whatever is nearby. I mitigated it by carrying a merciful weapon.

[Immabozo]

A natural 1 can still be rolled on save meaning there's still a 5% chance of freeing the beast on whatever is nearby. I mitigated it by carrying a merciful weapon.

no. Steadfast determination means fort saves dont fail on a one, Luhix makes 1d2 hours that you cannot involuntarily be put in a rage/frenzy. No save is rolled.

if nothing is rolled, there is a 0% chance of failure

[Silentone98]

O.o I ban frenzied bezerker so... lol

[Immabozo]

O.o I ban frenzied bezerker so... lol

why? The downsides are so huge that they make the class nigh unplayable in the optimizer's eyes

[ddude987]

why? The downsides are so huge that they make the class nigh unplayable in the optimizer's eyes

Because some people have a problem with uberchargers. Doing enough damage to one shot things, whether its to your party or your enemies, is something some DMs would rather avoid than have to deal with. I personally remove Leap Attack from the game simply because its unhealthy. Then again, I also like a grittier fantasy story.

[Silentone98]

Because some people have a problem with uberchargers. Doing enough damage to one shot things, whether its to your party or your enemies, is something some DMs would rather avoid than have to deal with. I personally remove Leap Attack from the game simply because its unhealthy. Then again, I also like a grittier fantasy story.


^^

adding in more cheese negates some of this risk.
you could also add any level of feats ontop this, that do NOT add to, but rather multiply the absurdity of this prestige.
I have several test characters with varying builds on this prestige... there is good reason I won't allow it.


and a DM's only options against such a player shouldnt be
a.) Force a situation in which an entire party wipe by bezerker is possible
or b.) place in OP monsters that only the shear ridiculously and always guareenteed hit of a bezerker can possibly overcome(as would be needed for a challenge)
or c.) make the monster near immune to the bezerkers type attacks, which can/will likely negate half the parties potential, if not more.... hurray for sitting around useless!

EDIT: If the above arnt your only options, the bezerker build wasn't done right.

[ddude987]

The last option is just HP bloat the monsters, such that nobody but the ubercharger can really make an impact in terms of damage. Of course, there is a feat that allows you to ignore power attack damage, but as a DM if you do that then the bezerker is now useless.

Though, I will put this on record, I don't find multiplying power attack to ridiculous levels to be "cheese" per say. I find cheese in the dnd sense to be more circumventing existing rules, such as casting wish at level 1, and the like.

[Silentone98]

The last option is just HP bloat the monsters, such that nobody but the ubercharger can really make an impact in terms of damage. Of course, there is a feat that allows you to ignore power attack damage, but as a DM if you do that then the bezerker is now useless.

Though, I will put this on record, I don't find multiplying power attack to ridiculous levels to be "cheese" per say. I find cheese in the dnd sense to be more circumventing existing rules, such as casting wish at level 1, and the like.

forgive my misuse of the word.
I hope my point made it tho as you certainly seemed to know exactly what im talking about. :)

[Immabozo]

The last option is just HP bloat the monsters, such that nobody but the ubercharger can really make an impact in terms of damage. Of course, there is a feat that allows you to ignore power attack damage, but as a DM if you do that then the bezerker is now useless.

If your casters are doing hp damage, their builds are far from optimized. But yes, it is a strong class, but the possibility of just killing your party is a downside. A big one.

The entire purpose of my post is to propose a little fix to that downside.

[ddude987]

forgive my misuse of the word.
I hope my point made it tho as you certainly seemed to know exactly what im talking about. :)

hah, its not a misuse, that's just my playgroups accepted meaning of cheese. Every playgroup is different.


If your casters are doing hp damage, their builds are far from optimized. But yes, it is a strong class, but the possibility of just killing your party is a downside. A big one.

The entire purpose of my post is to propose a little fix to that downside.

There are more than BSFs and casters. The rogue might want to do damage, but with HP bloat is nearly ineffective. Also the mailman (http://community.wizards.com/forum/previous-editions-character-optimization/threads/1765181) is the optimized damage dealing caster build.