D&D's New Berserker Doesn't Suck

[@ggwp638BC]

I personally hated this change, and I'd much rather just keep running berserker with the hb rule that it doesn't stack exhaustion. Having another attack as a bonus action never felt overwhelming at my tables, specially given everyone already considers drawing two swords for dual wielding as one interaction. BG3 actually did this Path really great by removing the need of strength base weapons AND removing the constraint of the exhaustion (and I will certainly pitch that to my players the next time they are making characters). It might also feel more frustrating (specially for new players who gravitate towards easier martial classes) when their "big damage" first hit keeps missing and they feel like they aren't using all their potential. I also dislike how it forces a certain playstyle. Wizards made an effort to decouple certain classes from set worldviews, so players can experiment with different themes, but now berserker HAS to be the madman attacking wildly. I mean, this is all flavor, but just feels an unnecessary step back. Sure, it's nice they are trying, but c'mon man, just give them the one extra attack, fighters and monks are losing count of how many times they are attacking each turn and my barbarians can't count to 3.

[@threetatos5631]

As An Orky Berzerky Barbarian meselves. I honestly don't know what your Complainin about. I like bein a wild man and hitting fings hard, wid me axe. Plus More dice equals mor maths. Im like a rogue but betta

[@DB-ku7vu]

Berserkers are madmen attacking wildly, there the entire subclass fantasy

[@ggwp638BC]

@@DB-ku7vu That's kind of the problem, they AREN'T. The original berserkers were religious/cultist zealots who performed rituals to channel animal powers and fight furiously achieving supernatural strength and endurance. They would wear pelts of the animal they chose (usually bear, but boar and wolf were also recorded), and while they would fight in a trance, they were still fighting as proper warriors. Mad and super strong but not stupid. At least that's the historical and mythological basis. If anything, flavor wise, the Wild Heart path should be the berserker path. In Tolkien, berserkers can turn into beasts, at which point they do lose sanity, but that's also not really in line with DnD either. There is the Marvel version of "berserker rage", but it's more about Thor/whoever is in that state being so driven with rage they can't distinguish friend or foe, which also isn't part of DnD berserker. Famously we also have the Berserk manga, which is a lot closer to our version of the path, but Guts is not just swinging wildly at things, he is still a proper warrior. So, the berserker path is not the "berserker" fantasy. The Barbarian class is actually the "Berserker" class - you rage to channel magic powers to aid you in battle, tank a lot, deal a lo of damage. The berserker path is just a spin on it where instead of magic you enhance your body through sheet anger (ergo why thematically you'd get exhaustion from frenzy). Now, there is no problem with a berserker who loses all reason and keeps attacking and tanking like he doesn't care. No magic, just raw strength. That's a fantasy I feel a lot of people want to play. My problems with the change are: - Attacking less but doing more damage once is not delivering the idea of a ruthless beasts cleaving through the frontline. At least to me it feels way more interesting to be in frenzy delivering several blows with a big weapon, than swinging twice and passing. - Tying the path to this one particular fantasy (which is not true to the name and it's not even delivering that fantasy itself) is just less "freedom" to the player (it's DnD, we can all do whatever we want, but I'm specifically talking about what the book is incentivizing here, difference between "flavor how you want" and "this is the idea we are giving you"). The berserker path ends up even more diluted in concept with the barbarian class, while curbing other ways to imagine a berserker. As I said, Wizards are doing a lot to de-couple certain subclasses and classes from this pre-conceived fantasies. The idea is to allow the player a set background of abilities that they can apply their idea of a character onto. For example, they are pushing Monks away from being JUST religious south east based asian monks into more general martial artists. This isn't at the detriment of that fantasy, it's to more easily allow OTHER fantasies to coexist.

[@Sluxslol]

"Doesn't suck" really is the highest level of quality we expect from DnD now huh?