Barbarian rage

First I have to say that I really like the modifications to Barb rage on this server! I've played on plenty other servers where playing a Barb was somewhat pointless, since stats were able to be maxed in other ways than rage, and aside from that the rage does nothing (other than raised will save and lower AC). Since the patch that made terrifying rage blocked by mind immunity, even that little extra feature was removed.

After quickly trying a couple Barbs at various levels, I still think there could be some improvements. First I'll list off what I can see as the current mods:

1. Increased (significantly) AB
2. Addition of temporary HP
3. Stat increases scales with level
4. Addition of damage reduction
5. Minimal spell resistance.

At lower levels Barbs really seem to do great! However some things I think could be improved for mid- and high-level play. Here are a couple suggestions to get things going:

1. FIX the fact that Barb rage completely goes away after you lose the temporary HP (and sometimes a few more HP than that). This almost makes the rage useless in higher levels when you can easily take 200+ damage at the drop of a hat. And without the rage, playing a Barb is somewhat pointless...

2. The damage reduction seems to currently act as X/+Y reduction, meaning that some enemies with enough + to their weapons can bypass it, making it quite useless. I wouldn't get rid of this, but possibly make half that X/+Y reduction, and the other half X/- reduction that can't be bypassed. Barbs already suffer an AC loss while raging, might as well throw them a little bone to make up for it. For comparison, how would the pallys out there like it if their divine shield was bypassed by most monsters at high level

3. The AB addition is awesome... I wouldn't mind seeing a slight addition to damage (like bard song adds up to +3 damage or so). In fact, perhaps this would be a good use for the feat "Mighty Rage."

4. Nothing is quite as terrifying as seeing a Barb wield a 2-handed weapon. Perhaps a bonus while fighting with 2-handed weapons, like make power attack give double damage bonuses when going 2-handed (in fact this is the new D&D 3.5 rules for anyone using power attack). On a server where going 2-handed is already almost pointless, this might be one way to justify such a huge AC loss (and other useful mods) by not having a shield. Maybe the rage grants extra damage reduction when using a 2-handed weapon.

Ok, thanks for reading, and feedback is appreciated!

I think the problem with the current Barbarian rage script is that the temp HP effect is linked to the other effects. Once the temp HP is removed, so are the other effects if they're linked. The HP effect has to be separate from the others for it to be removed separately.

I agree that Barbarian Rage becomes less useful at higher lvl because of the temperary hit point issue and I have also found that taking Mighty Rage is totally useless because it only gives you 3 extra uses of your normal Barbarian rage. I think Mighty Rage should add more effects like bonus damage, better ab, maybe a little more Damage Reduction, and more temp hp so that it is really Mighty Rage instead of just Greater Rage.

I agree again since i play a barbarian shoulldn't the greater rage be greater? is it just me
Anyway can you fix the rage so when you use a restore pot it does not erase it

Greater rage is handled by the same script that creates the normal rage effects. Normal rage gets more powerful as you go up in barbarian level. Greater rage is treated as a level bonus, meaning it makes the rage more powerful.

I recently removed the negative AC effect of rage. This should stop restoration potions from destroying the rage effect (I hope).

Yes the rage goes on...

Very nice

I don't want the barbarian getting too overpowered. It looks like I'm pretty close the the right combination now. The rage (and other barbarian bonuses) are significant, but barbarians are going to take a lot of damage in melee. They can dish it out. They can take it, too. The question is who is going to come out of the blood fest alive. It should be close, but most of the time the barbarian should win. I'm always seeking to maintain that risk factor--the chance that the barbarian will indeed lose the combat occasionally or the expectation of dying if not played well.