Barbarians Still Need Help (An Analysis)

[trylobyte]

I was debating Barbarian vs. Fighter with a friend after realizing my barbarian didn't feel very satisfying to play and we both agreed that, despite the awesome Rage changes, they still need something.  Maybe I just suck at building and my friend isn't much better, but to both of us Fighter is still a much better choice.  And with rumors of a hak update being worked on, I would like to present this for consideration:  Make Barbarians a more attractive option.  First, let me compare the two classes.

Skills

A Fighter gets 2 fewer skillpoints than a Barbarian.  But what skills can they take?

Fighter:
Concentration (Only used to resist Taunt, which almost nothing uses)
Craft skills (Fluff only except for traps, and that's a rogue thing)
Discipline (Mandatory)
Heal (Not mandatory but very close)
Lore (Leave it to the mage)
Parry (Not that great unless you dedicate a whole build to it)
Ride (Does this skill even do anything?)

Barbarian:
Craft skills (See above)
Discipline (Still mandatory)
Heal (Still almost mandatory)
Intimidate (Fun for fluff, or for Terrifying Rage if you ever go epic)
Listen (Questionable usefulness mechanically, but good for quests)
Lore (Leave it to the smart guys)
Parry (Less useful than for fighters, and also against type)
Ride (Don't think this does anything)
Taunt (Explanation below)

A Word about Taunt

Taunt is a surprisingly useful skill, capable of granting 30% arcane spell failure and reducing an enemy's AC down by up to 6 points, making them easier to hit.  So why don't I consider it very useful on a PC?  Because, thanks to the design of NWN, it's not as useful ON a PC as it is AGAINST them.  Simply put, because of a choice in the NWN toolset, nearly every monster that has it available has max ranks in Concentration when they're created, meaning Taunt is likely to fail anyway.  Further, Taunt is a single-target full-round action - Most things will die in the round it takes to Taunt them, so it's a waste of time to use it.  And bosses, the things you really want to use it on?  Not only are they likely to outlevel you (and thus have more ranks in Concentration than you have Taunt) but they're also likely to have enormous Constitution scores, and Concentration is boosted by high Con.  This means that most attempts at Taunt are doomed to fail without items, and the only items that boost Taunt that I've run into are weapons.  Against PCs, though, it's very effective - The only people likely to have Concentration are mages because for most classes resisting Taunt is its only purpose.  Further, when you have 6-7 attackers one of them is more free to use a full-round action to Taunt than when it's 2 or 3, as it would be for players.

So, while the Barbarian does have more skills than the Fighter, they don't have any terribly good options for using those skillpoints to be better than the Fighter.  They have slightly better skill-dumping options should they multiclass (because they have more skillpoints) but Fighters get two different advantages in that field.

Feats

Barbarians get standard feat progression - A feat at level 1 and one every 3 levels after.  Fighters get special feat progression, getting bonus feats at level 1 and every even level after in addition to the standard progression.  This means that, by level 10, a barbarian will have 4 feats (1, 3, 6, 9) to a fighter's 9 (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 6, 8, 9, 10).  Barbarians try to make up for this by getting Fast Movement and Uncanny Dodge, neither of which is especially useful (unless, in the case of Uncanny Dodge, you have a high Dex bonus and get flat-footed a lot, or you set off a lot of traps).  So, continuing our level 10 comparison, fighters get 5 feats that they get to choose from an extensive list, a barbarian moves a little faster, gets to keep their probably-low Dex bonus (But not their larger Dodge bonus) when flat-footed, and gets +3 Reflex vs. traps.  Yes, Barbarians do get rage, which is lovely, but is that temporary, limited bonus really worth the same as 5 feats that a fighter always has all the time?  Or, even more, is it worth what Fighters can get by utilizing their strongest asset, their ability to multiclass?

Multiclassing

Barbarian is a class that is meant to stay Barbarian, while Fighter is a platform for multiclassing.  Because of this, Fighters simply have much better multiclassing options than barbarians do.  Their abundance of feats and lack of an ability tied to class level (whereas Barbarians have their Rage) ensures they can take a wide array of prestige classes without losing out on very much.  While most prestige classes will hinder a Barbarian only by not boosting their Rage, one of the best is closed off to them because of a lack of feats - Weaponmaster.  With SIX feats being required to take this class, the earliest even a human barbarian could take this class is level 13, assuming they devote all their feats to it.  Level 16 if your barbarian isn't human.  But for a fighter, they can easily take this class at level 7 (and race is irrelevant).  This means that, to get the full range of benefits from Weaponmaster (modified for CD) the barbarian needs to reach level 22/25 while the fighter only needs to reach level 16.  But the barbarian gets bonuses for Raging!  Yes, they do.  But it's hard to argue any of the benefits from rage make up for the bonus damage provided by Weaponmaster's wide array of critical hit improvements (except when fighting things immune to critical hits, anyway).

Further, Barbarians have no obvious prestige class of their own except for the race-restricted Battlerager while Fighters can easily transition into Weaponmaster or Spellsword, both very solid classes, or if they're elves they can go over to Bladesinger with its high feat requirements.  Before you say it, yes, I know Spellsword isn't hard for Barbarians to get, but they get a double penalty for doing so - Not only do they cut into their Rage by cross-classing but they have to take Heavy Armor Proficiency, which Fighters get free.  While it's certainly possible to take prestige classes with a barbarian, most of them are simply better if taken on a fighter, even benign ones like Hospitalier and Divine Champion, because again the Barbarian's only advantageous ability is tied to their class level.

ECL Races

Just a word about this here while I'm thinking of it.  Fighters also benefit far more than Barbarians from the relatively wide availability of the Half-Dragon template.  With a +8 Strength bonus they have the same Attack and Damage bonuses as a level 15 Barbarian's Rage and this Strength counts later on for purposes of Overwhelming and Devastating Critical, which other races have problems getting.  Further, these feats pair exceptionally well with Weaponmaster, which, again, Barbarians have a hard time taking.  While they lack the other bonuses their Fortitude saves will likely be high enough where they only need to worry about ones and their low Will saves can be mitigated with Remove Fear and the Emotion spells.  The mind immunity can be matched with Clarity potions or Lesser Mind Blank and the death immunity is provided by Death Ward, which is available in scroll and potion form.  The free attack and the 6d6 temporary hit points are the only things they can't get, and that's a very small price to pay for all the other advantages they have as a Fighter (or, indeed, any other melee class).  In short, a savvy half-dragon can get nearly every bonus of a barbarian's rage, at will, without actually taking the class.

So What Can Be Done?

There are a few things I could suggest to bring Barbarians up to par with Fighters and make them an attractive option again.  I wouldn't recommend using all of them at the same time, of course, but mix and match to suit.

1)  Give Barbarians Tumble as a class skill.  Barbarians are expected to be less-armored than their fighter kin, as evidenced by the fact they don't get Heavy Armor Proficiency, so the game expects them to have more dexterity and dodging ability than a fighter.  Tumble would make up for their shortcoming in the AC department and give them a very good skill to take that Fighters don't have access to without multiclassing.  Yes, they don't normally get Tumble in tabletop, but Tumble also doesn't give armor in tabletop unless you're doing something very specific.

2)  Add Barbarian-friendly prestige classes.  Yeah, I'm eyeing Frenzied Berserker and Runescarred Berserker.  Right now, Barbarians have no special prestige class options unless they're a dwarf.  Everything else either leans towards Fighters mechanically or thematically.  Further, taking any prestige class hinders the growth of their Rage ability, which is probably what they wanted from Barbarian in the first place.  Classes that keep their Rage growing more powerful, or change it in unique ways, would be greatly beneficial.

3)  Better Damage Reduction.  The other ability barbarians get is their universal damage reduction.  Why didn't I mention it?  Because it's nearly useless.  A level 20 barbarian gets DR 4/-, which is less than is offered by a number of items at that item tier and pales in comparison to widely-available magic like Stoneskin or Shadow Shield.  It's not even enough to soak damage from goblins let alone the 20-30 damage hits you'll be getting from trash mobs at that level.  A DR progression of 3-6-9 would be more useful and more meaningful as a level 20 reward, and could be easily achieved by using the Epic Damage Reduction feats.  It would also make for an alternate class that can DR tank, given that Dwarven Defender is racially restricted and Barbarians can't take it anyway due to alignment conflicts.  It would also feel like a meaningful decrease in damage to make up for the lost AC while Raging.

4)  Throw them some Bonus Feats.  Uncanny Dodge is...  not exactly useful.  It's good on the tabletop or in single-player where you don't know where all the traps are or where the ambushes come from, but in a persistent setting like ours, you do, so it's not.  Further, the nastiest traps, the dispelling ones, don't allow for saves anyway.  Why not give a few feats that mean something while maintaining that Conan flavor?  Things like Power Attack, Improved Power Attack, Cleave?  At higher levels you could even look into feats like Great Cleave, Armor Skin, and Overwhelming Critical.  Speaking of those...

5)  Lower their Feat Requirements.  Did you know Barbarians have three feats that make their rage better?  They do, but the requirements to take them are enormous.  All three of them require you to be epic level, something the majority of PCs on CD don't achieve.  Mighty Rage requires two stats to be 21 or above, something that a character starting with 18 in one and 16 in the other cannot attain until level 32 without using other epic feats, making it nearly impossible for most races to get.  Thundering Rage requires 25 Strength, the same as Devastating Critical, which is far more useful and has prerequisites most melee fighters want to take anyway.  And Terrifying Rage requires 25 ranks in Intimidate and thus is unavailable until level 24 (More accurately 22, but you don't get a feat until 24).  Lower the requirements on a few of these so they can be taken before epic level and it will go a long way to making pure-classed Barbarians who focus around their Rage all the better.

[thorien]

WM is reachable at level 6, regardless of race. I wish I could contribute more, but barbarian is sadly not a class I know enough. As for battlerager, I think that race restrictions were to be removed with hak update.

[trylobyte]

Jul 28, 2016 4:38:57 GMT -5 thorien said:

WM is reachable at level 6, regardless of race. I wish I could contribute more, but barbarian is sadly not a class I know enough. As for battlerager, I think that race restrictions were to be removed with hak update.

You can meet all the prereqs at 6 but you can't actually take it until level 7.  The only reason I did it this way is because this distinction matters for a point about a barbarian epic feat, where you meet the prereq at level 22 but can't take it until level 24.

[colpoj]

'Aight, Lets min/max some barbarian and fighter builds here. If 10 is our agreed level cap I'll stick to that. 


Fighter 10                     ; Barbarian 10
                              ;
Attributes                     ; Attributes
                              ;
Str - 18                       ; Str - 16
Dex - 12                       ; Dex - 12
Con - 16                       ; Con - 18
Wis - 10                       ; Wis - 10
Int - 12                       ; Int - 12
Cha - 10                       ; Cha - 10
                              ;
Skills                         ; Skills
                              ;
Heal   - 13                    ; Heal       - 13  
Disc   - 17                    ; Disc       - 16
                              ; Intimidate - 12
Feats                          ; Listen     - 13
                              ; Taunt      - 12
Power attack                   ;
Improved Power Attack          ; Feats
Cleave                         ;  
Great Cleave                   ; Armour Prof (Heavy)
KD                             ; Toughness
Weapon Proficiency             ; Knockdown
Weapon Specialisation          ; Weapon Prof Exotic
Improved Critical Hit          ; Improved Critical  
Toughness                      ;
Blindfight                     ; Combat Stats
Weapon Proficiency exotic      ;
                              ; HP - 149
Combat Stats                   ; AC - 11
                              ; AB - 13/8
HP     - 118                   ; Fort - 11  
AC     - 11                    ; Reflex - 4
AB     - 15/10                 ; Will - 3
Fort   - 10                    ; Damage - 1d10 + 3 (17-20 x 2)
Reflex - 4                     ;          1d12 + 4 (17-20 x 2)
Will   - 3                     ;

Damage - 1d10 + 6 (17-20 x 2)  ; Raged
        1d12 + 8 (17-20 x 2)  ; HP - 169
                              ; AC - 9
                              ; AB - 15/10
                              ; Fort - 13
                              ; Reflex - 4
                              ; Will - 5
                              ; Damage - 1d10 + 5 (17-20 x 2)
                              ;          1d12 + 7 (17-20 x 2)
Both are human (Obviously)
Both are relatively comparable. Significant HP edge on the barb, slight damage edge on the fighter (Edge can be given to the barb instead if the barb takes strength instead of constitution, I just like high hp barbs)
Slight save edge on the barb as expected.
Feats do favour the fighter, but really.. Improved power attack is for hitting doors, blindfight and great cleave are junk, you really start running out of options after a few feats anyway. 
You're all very happy with your weapon master build, but y'know what Mobility, spring attack and whirlwind attack all have in common? They're garbage. I lied, whirlwind attack is OP as fuck but y'know.. That's only if you want to go AFK for 20 minutes in a room full of sneaks.
Weapon master forces 13 Int 13 Dex, which drops either your strength or constitution. You've got pretty low hp as it is and don't touch my precious AB, I'm 20 rolling bosses already damnit. 
Improved multiplier and crit are OP, yeah sure. But that's because Dev Crit is broken. Shame you're not getting it in under 18 months of play time. Shame you'll be fighting undead and constructs from level 12-20. 

Giving barbarians tumble is kinda silly, because you know what both these builds need? A Rogue level! Because rogue dump levels are OP and until they're outright banned by the server team there's literally no reason ever to not take the free AC from tumble dumping and the MASSIVE power boost from because able to coat yourself in all those beautiful spell scrolls and mage items you get with UMD (I'm look at you shadowshield staff)

Earlier barbarian greater rages, I say bring it on. They're pretty fun. The whole 18 months of play time thing means they're basically forgotten about otherwise, and they're not really that strong. Terrifying is funny and all but you'll be hard pressed to get your intimidate much over 30, and fear immunity is all over the place anyway. 

Better DR - That's a horrible cough you've got there. I'm sure you meant rogue level to dump UMD. Why do you want DR 9 when you can have greater stoneskin, shadowshield and premonition scrolls.

Bonus feats -Sure, whatever, give them improved power attack. Goddamn door deserves it anyway.

Earlier requirements - *Holds up holy symbol* Stay away from me Dev Crit! Other than that, go nuts. 

[spamtastic1979]

Unless you are specifically making a WM and have levels of fighter, there is no way you are making WM at level 7 without it.

[thorien]

Jul 28, 2016 5:19:02 GMT -5 trylobyte said:

Jul 28, 2016 4:38:57 GMT -5 thorien said:

WM is reachable at level 6, regardless of race. I wish I could contribute more, but barbarian is sadly not a class I know enough. As for battlerager, I think that race restrictions were to be removed with hak update.

You can meet all the prereqs at 6 but you can't actually take it until level 7.  The only reason I did it this way is because this distinction matters for a point about a barbarian epic feat, where you meet the prereq at level 22 but can't take it until level 24.

Yeah, correct, I went for "You need 6 levels of fighter" logic.

[Fire Wraith]

Jul 28, 2016 9:16:14 GMT -5 colpoj said:

'Shame you're not getting it in under 18 months of play time. Shame you'll be fighting undead and constructs from level 12-20. 

Giving barbarians tumble is kinda silly, because you know what both these builds need? A Rogue level! Because rogue dump levels are OP and until they're outright banned by the server team there's literally no reason ever to not take the free AC from tumble dumping and the MASSIVE power boost from because able to coat yourself in all those beautiful spell scrolls and mage items you get with UMD (I'm look at you shadowshield staff)

Without getting into the original post's debate, to I'm going to politely note a few things.

One - If you think the only thing you can fight between 12 and 20 is undead and constructs, you need to explore more. There are a LOT of dungeons on CD, with a wide range of potential enemies.

Two - The difference between "tumble dumping" and not is approximately +3 AC, at 30th level, on CD. It's hardly a game-breaking thing.

Also, UMD on CD is a cross-class skill for everyone. You don't need to be a rogue to take it.

Third, and most importantly - CD is, by design, not about levels. Do we have them? Sure, because people like them, and they're not an unreasonable metric, but CD's focus has never been about them. There is ZERO expectation that someone will be level 20+, let alone maximum level. The point is the story, and the character arcs that accompany it. We firmly believe that a well-rounded, interesting, memorable character is more important than being high level, because that's what lingers. I couldn't tell you the name of every character that's ever gotten past level 20, but I can tell you the names of a lot of lower level characters that never 'made it' that far, but still made a far bigger impact on the server, its community, and its characters, simply by weight of the roleplaying.

[onivel]

Jul 28, 2016 15:46:03 GMT -5 Fire Wraith said:

I couldn't tell you the name of every character that's ever gotten past level 20, but I can tell you the names of a lot of lower level characters that never 'made it' that far, but still made a far bigger impact on the server, its community, and its characters, simply by weight of the roleplaying.

Amen  

[Fire Wraith]

And that's not to say levels, builds, etc are a bad thing. They're fun, or at least that's the goal, but they're a secondary aspect that shouldn't get in the way of the primary focus, which is character/stories/rp/etc.

[thorien]

Jul 28, 2016 16:00:32 GMT -5 Fire Wraith said:

And that's not to say levels, builds, etc are a bad thing. They're fun, or at least that's the goal, but they're a secondary aspect that shouldn't get in the way of the primary focus, which is character/stories/rp/etc.

That.

[kothoses]

Jul 28, 2016 16:00:32 GMT -5 Fire Wraith said:

And that's not to say levels, builds, etc are a bad thing. They're fun, or at least that's the goal, but they're a secondary aspect that shouldn't get in the way of the primary focus, which is character/stories/rp/etc.

I am sorry to do this.

I agree with you that levels should be an afterthought, but lets be realistic and avoid the nosebleeds that come with perching on top of that particular moral mountain. 

Human nature is thus, if you place a challenge infront of some one they will do one of 3 things

They will run away from it, go around it or they will run at it.

That is unfortunately a fact, levels matter because they gate content, and when you put that there you make the levels matter.  Levels also matter because there is a point to them, they are an approximation of power based on a system that measures literal experience.  So when you have a manifestation of power in a multiplayer environment the next thing people seek is a balance to it.  That is either in the form of "Everyone should be equally good" or "Everyone should have their niche".

Where CD manages to stop its self from becoming like an MMO is that most people understand that "Good enough, is good enough" if your build allows you to express your character and participate in content then people are happy, most will find a niche for any character.   Sure, you might have to wait a couple more levels before you can run Gnolls or Giants with people, but equally if you are high enough level its group based anyway.   So its not game breaking if some classes are not as powerful as their peers.

However, lets not kid our selves, people want to explore, and adventure and feel like they are contributing mechanically to their group.  Brushing off discussions of balance by saying "Well it shouldnt matter its all about the stories" Should be accompanied by removing every area except the towns and player houses.  Because why bother having dungeons?  Because its part of the setting, part of the fun, so yeah, theres no need to go all wow happy with balancing characters.  But I would respectfully (and believe it or not, this is respectful because I admire the vision you all have for this server and the way you stick to it) suggest that the purist RP overview in this case does not address the core point.  The core point being Barbarian as a class lacks tools when compared to the Fighter, I wouldnt compare it to the Paladin because of the RP restrictions around them, but in direct comparison to the fighter, its less effective at everything.  

Barbarians simply dont measure up to the other Front line fighter classes unless they multi class.  Now lets not make barbs op, but if they can be given a bit of flavour and pushed into a more "useful" spot within a group that too is great.

Anyway, honestly I am rambling, I dont really have an opinion on the proposed changes, I just personally find it a little harsh when mechanics discussions are shut down with the "Its all about the RP".  Yes, RP is important, but this is also a video game expression of that.  Its ok to treat it as such from time to time.

[Edge]

Jul 28, 2016 9:16:14 GMT -5 colpoj said:

blindfight and great cleave are junk

Actually Blindfight is really useful on CD, especially at high levels where almost every caster enemy spawns in with 50% concealment automatically. Unless you're dual-wielding, in which case you're already getting too many attacks at that level for NWN's engine to remember to make the Blindfight re-rolls, it's immensely helpful to have as it greatly reduces the number of hits that simply whiff from concealment effects.

Great Cleave is less useful I will admit... but it's a prereq for Overwhelming and Devastating Critical, which many Fighters and Barbarians are aiming for. So it will be on their lists to pick up, if for that reason alone.

[Fire Wraith]

Jul 28, 2016 19:30:56 GMT -5 kothoses said:

Jul 28, 2016 16:00:32 GMT -5 Fire Wraith said:

And that's not to say levels, builds, etc are a bad thing. They're fun, or at least that's the goal, but they're a secondary aspect that shouldn't get in the way of the primary focus, which is character/stories/rp/etc.

Barbarians simply dont measure up to the other Front line fighter classes unless they multi class.  Now lets not make barbs op, but if they can be given a bit of flavour and pushed into a more "useful" spot within a group that too is great.

Anyway, honestly I am rambling, I dont really have an opinion on the proposed changes, I just personally find it a little harsh when mechanics discussions are shut down with the "Its all about the RP".  Yes, RP is important, but this is also a video game expression of that.  Its ok to treat it as such from time to time.

I'm not suggesting that balance discussions be off the table, by any means, and as I said, I wanted to avoid wading fully into that discussion. What I more took issue with was the comment on "18 months of play time" - partly because I've seen many people race to 20th in far less time, but more that I've seen those people get bored and frustrated with their characters, simply because they feel like their progression has ground to an artificial halt, and they have nothing left to do.

Meanwhile, the people who concern themselves more with their story and character tend to not be bothered by being "stuck" artificially at any given level, or really even how fast or slow the progress is coming. They're a lot less likely to wind up setting aside the character. Do you see what I'm getting at? By all means build a strong character that can do cool things, but don't fixate too much on getting to that high level. CD is not an MMO that is solely about max level "endgame." It's about the entire character journey.

[trylobyte]

Jul 29, 2016 0:02:03 GMT -5 Fire Wraith said:

Jul 28, 2016 19:30:56 GMT -5 kothoses said:

Barbarians simply dont measure up to the other Front line fighter classes unless they multi class.  Now lets not make barbs op, but if they can be given a bit of flavour and pushed into a more "useful" spot within a group that too is great.

Anyway, honestly I am rambling, I dont really have an opinion on the proposed changes, I just personally find it a little harsh when mechanics discussions are shut down with the "Its all about the RP".  Yes, RP is important, but this is also a video game expression of that.  Its ok to treat it as such from time to time.

I'm not suggesting that balance discussions be off the table, by any means, and as I said, I wanted to avoid wading fully into that discussion. What I more took issue with was the comment on "18 months of play time" - partly because I've seen many people race to 20th in far less time, but more that I've seen those people get bored and frustrated with their characters, simply because they feel like their progression has ground to an artificial halt, and they have nothing left to do.

Meanwhile, the people who concern themselves more with their story and character tend to not be bothered by being "stuck" artificially at any given level, or really even how fast or slow the progress is coming. They're a lot less likely to wind up setting aside the character. Do you see what I'm getting at? By all means build a strong character that can do cool things, but don't fixate too much on getting to that high level. CD is not an MMO that is solely about max level "endgame." It's about the entire character journey.

This has gone a bit off-track, but even as I acknowledge that I'm going to reply to this anyway.  I know we've had this discussion before, but it's something I'd like to mention again - While it's admirable that you can place story above mechanics to such an extent, to a fair number of us (myself among them) Neverwinter Nights remains at its heart a video game.  And even as we go through telling our characters' stories we're constantly reminded that NWN is a video game.  There is a whole series of thought patterns you need to have your characters subscribe to in order to adjust the story around the hard-coded mechanical limits of the game engine, both those that come with the game and those that we have imposed ourselves.  The thief is not allowed to sneak through dungeons without alerting the monsters because there is a rule against that.  The young mage is not allowed to tag along on their friends' dungeon runs because there is a level restriction on the dungeon.  Tales of past magical feats are hard to take seriously because the spells were rebalanced and the things that happened back then don't work anymore.  Characters' abilities change due to rebuilds and relevels, leaving them unable to do things they could do easily before.  All these things have to be explained when they come up in an in-character context.  Just last night my character asked a mage why a seemingly obvious solution to a problem would not work, leaving him in the uncomfortable position of having to create an explanation both of us knew was a lie to explain a game engine restriction.  The story must bow to the mechanics because the story is flexible but the mechanics are not.

Some of us play NWN for both the story and the video game.  We like making characters and telling stories, but we also like testing new character concepts and running dungeons.  We like talking to people but we like collecting loot.  We like advancing our characters' plots just as much as we like advancing their levels.  We're not here to rush through the game in three months but we like the idea that as we play our characters grow, not just in our minds but also on paper.  We gain new abilities.  We gain new spells.  We fight better.  There are tangible signs of our character's growth and evolution that are reflected in the gameplay itself.  And so long as quests feature combat and DMs ask for skill checks this mechanical advancement goes hand in hand with story advancement.  And as Kothoses said, if the mechanics present an obstacle to a character's story people are either going to give up on the character, change the story to fit different mechanics, or simply try to push on through it.  The latter is rare because nobody likes being the party millstone, and that's completely understandable.  Everyone wants to be able to contribute.  If we open more mechanical avenues, such as by bolstering classes that are objectively weaker than their compatriots (Druid especially, Barbarian to a lesser extent) then we give people more diverse ways to tell their stories and the server as a whole benefits.

[trylobyte]

Back on track, I've heard a mention that Rage could be made a group thing instead of a single-person effect.  While this would be somewhat hard to explain in-character, it would make Rage into a very interesting type of party buff that offers a lot of benefits you can't get elsewhere and that, importantly, can't be dispelled.  Figured I'd put it out there for discussion as well, since it's an interesting idea if not necessarily a practical one.  It would make an excellent feat if it were coded as one.