Weathercock's Better Berserker Barbarian | EN World Tabletop RPG News & Reviews
Frenzy, as presented here, invalidates Bloodlust. It's as if you don't have that feature anymore, which actually puts you behind the curve at that point, as well as making the archetype feel sparse.Making Bloodlust a BA seems counterproductive, for the reason above and for the conflicts with other options. (You can still replicate this with Polearm Master in a way, and average damage is probably better because PM actually does raise the damage ceiling, while Bloodlust doesn't). I would probably make Bloodlust a non-action, but limited to once per turn. This also keeps the ceiling but isn't so obstructive. It's basically super-advantage, but it feels more rage-y.
Also, level 14 is a long time to wait for a BA attack without taking any feats or dual-wielding or anything to get one. If you do take PM or Great Weapon Master in the mean time, the BA benefits of those are also made superfluous once you get this feature, so again, you essentially lose features. Not that a no-questions-asked full-fledged BA attack isn't better than the other BA attacks you'll get, but it would be tastier if there wasn't a direct conflict like that.
As I had noted in my first post, Frenzy is meant to function as an "Enhanced Bloodlust," just without such a derivative name, although I do understand the concern, and definitely have my own concerning the numbers game.
Where power is concerned, Polearm Master comes close on average, but not quite as high (outside of the clearly higher ceiling, and excluding how easy it is to get AoO with Polearm Mastery). That said, it's hard to balance anything to act as an alternative to Polearm Mastery without being ridiculous in its own right, especially at earlier levels, since the feat is so insanely powerful as it is. It's pretty safe to say that, without some extremely powerful bonus action feature (one far too powerful to allow at early levels, such as full bonus action attacks with heavy weapons at level 3...), Polearm Mastery is always going to be the best tool for any given job. I just want something that can at least keep up with it, without forcing players into that hole.
The problem with removing Bloodlust from the bonus action is that it ends up becoming quite powerful, increasing the Berserker's average damage potential to quite a high place once you hit level 14. My build kept the average damage output slightly lower(lower levels)/on par(higher levels) with the old Berserker in exchange for more reliability. If you make Bloodlust its own free action, it the later game damage output becomes quite scary. Here's some calculations (there might be some minor rounding errors, but the numbers should be mostly solid):
Weathercock's Better Berserker raging, reckless attack DPR with great weapon mastery
Level 5 v AC 13: 44.8 (Str +4) <-- 124.8 per 3 rounds, 304.0 per 7 rounds (1 turn setup) (Greatsword)
Level 11 v AC 15: 50.3 (Str +5) <-- 140.1 per 3 rounds, 341.3 per 7 rounds (1 turn setup) (Greatsword)
Level 11 v AC 15: 70.1 (Str +5) <-- 199.5 per 3 rounds, 479.1 per 7 rounds (1 turn setup) (Retaliation) (Greatsword)
Level 14 v AC 18: 52.7 (Str +5) <-- 140.6 per 3 rounds, 351.4 per 7 rounds (1 turn setup) (Greataxe)
Level 14 v AC 18: 70.3 (Str +5) <-- 193.3 per 3 rounds, 474.5 per 7 rounds (1 turn setup) (Retaliation) (Greataxe)
Level 20 v AC 19: 69.4 (Str +7) <-- 185.1 per 3 rounds, 462.6 per 7 rounds (1 turn setup) (Greataxe)
Level 20 v AC 19: 92.6 (Str +7) <-- 254.6 per 3 rounds, 625.0 per 7 rounds (1 turn setup) (Retaliation) (Greataxe)
Against
Weathercock's Better Berserker raging, reckless attack DPR with great weapon mastery (Free Bloodlust)
Level 5 v AC 13: 46.2 (Str +4) <-- 127.7 per 3 rounds, 312.4 per 7 rounds (1 turn setup) (Greatsword)
Level 11 v AC 15: 52.0 (Str +5) <-- 143.5 per 3 rounds, 351.5 per 7 rounds (1 turn setup) (Greatsword)
Level 11 v AC 15: 71.7 (Str +5) <-- 202.8 per 3 rounds, 489.5 per 7 rounds (1 turn setup) (Retaliation) (Greatsword)
Level 14 v AC 18: 63.2 (Str +5) <-- 161.6 per 3 rounds, 414.4 per 7 rounds (1 turn setup) (Greataxe)
Level 14 v AC 18: 80.8 (Str +5) <-- 214.3 per 3 rounds, 537.6 per 7 rounds (1 turn setup) (Retaliation) (Greataxe)
Level 20 v AC 19: 79.6 (Str +7) <-- 205.5 per 3 rounds, 523.9 per 7 rounds (1 turn setup) (Greataxe)
Level 20 v AC 19: 102.8 (Str +7) <-- 275.0 per 3 rounds, 686.3 per 7 rounds (1 turn setup) (Retaliation) (Greataxe)
For comparison, here's some calculations for a Totem Warrior Barbarian using a Polearm (with and without the easy AoO granted by Polearm Mastery).
Barbarian raging, reckless attack DPR with great weapon mastery (Halberd), polearm mastery
Level 5 v AC 13: 42.6 (Str +3) <-- 112.9 per 3 rounds, 283.4 per 7 rounds (1 turn setup)
Level 11 v AC 15: 48.1 (Str +4) <-- 129.7 per 3 rounds, 322.1 per 7 rounds (1 turn setup)
Level 20 v AC 19: 62.9 (Str +7) <-- 169.8 per 3 rounds, 421.4 per 7 rounds (1 turn setup)
Level 20 v AC 19: 66.1 (Str +7) <-- 176.2 per 3 rounds, 440.6 per 7 rounds (1 turn setup) (SCAG Tiger Totemic Attunement)
Barbarian raging, reckless attack DPR with great weapon mastery (Halberd), polearm mastery, reaction included
Level 5 v AC 13: 57.4 (Str +3) <-- 159.3 per 3 rounds, 388.9 per 7 rounds (1 turn setup)
Level 11 v AC 15: 64.9 (Str +4) <-- 180.2 per 3 rounds, 439.8 per 7 rounds (1 turn setup)
Level 20 v AC 19: 84.7 (Str +7) <-- 235.4 per 3 rounds, 574.3 per 7 rounds (1 turn setup)
Level 20 v AC 19: 88.1 (Str +7) <-- 242.2 per 3 rounds, 594.5 per 7 rounds (1 turn setup) (SCAG Tiger Totemic Attunement)
Overall, I'm not sure how I feel about that disparity. I want to avoid dragging this archetype into territory that could be considered OP (which is usually what a full-on arms race against Polearm Mastery can turn into), as I do want to keep things sensible (and, as much as I can, discourage reliance on Polearm Mastery, because it is ridiculous and its centralizing power limits flavour and diversity) On the other hand, your point is extremely valid, and now more than ever, because thanks to the buffs SCAG gave to Totem Warrior, with the right feat selection it can have a very easy time keeping up with what I've offered (if you include Tiger Totemic Attunement, a Polearm Mastery, GWM Totem Warrior past level 14 and on has about 4 less DPR than my Better Berserker), in addition to its own unique (and extremely potent) benefits. But does that warrant increasing the damage output? With this in mind, I'll append my original post to free Bloodlust from the bonus action entirely for now.
I wonder if taking some amount of damage to make an extra (non-BA) attack would work? IIRC the playtest had something like that.
This is something that I really don't want to work with. Self-damaging abilities are incredibly difficult to balance properly, and honestly, not worth the effort. Unless the game has systems built from the ground up to take such a resource system into account (which is something 5e doesn't, and probably why it was dumped from the playtest as it was), the output and the cost of such features can get out of hand in either direction very quickly.
Retaliation is already a feature that requires the loss of health to activate (...whereas Polearm Mastery, once again, can get that effect easily for free...). The last thing Berserker needs is more reasons to be a healing nightmare.
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