Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Barbarian bonus action economy

In my opinion, Barbarians in BG3 would be much more fun to play if we fix their bonus action economy problem:

Scenario: You run into a cutscene, with a Barbarian follower lagging behind. Combat ensues.
The Barbarian is a bit behind. Being a strength based melee character, they have a good jump distance. They want to run and jump into combat, rage, and attack!

1. In BG3 for some reason jump requires a bonus action in addition to movement. If you had to jump into combat, you'll only rage on 2nd turn. (can be circumvented by switching to Barb during the cutscene and moving into position, but that's no fun! part of the barbarian power fantasy is just raging in and jumping!

2. Rage then requires a 2nd bonus action.

3. Then if you're a berserker, on the turn you raged, you cant get the extra attack, as that's yet another bonus action. So the berserker doesn't get that extra attack on that most important first(if you jumped, 2nd) turn of combat.

4. As a strength based character in melee range with enemies, the bonus action is really useful for shoving. Can't do that on the turn where you jumped in, raged or berserker extra attacked.

5. On hard fights, it's really helpful to attack with your action, then drink a healing potion on your bonus action. Can't do that on the turn where you jumped in, raged or berserker extra attacked.

So my suggestion for a fix is a buff for Barbarians in general and Berserkers in particular:

A. Make raging cost no bonus action. This is not what happens in dnd5e, but with other changes from 5e, this enables Barbarians to use the tools other classes can, making them feel less gimped on the first raging turn. Since it still consumes a rage charge, I see no problem with this.

B. Give Berserker an extra attack instead of a bonus-action attack. They'll get the extra attack while raging as part of their action and be able to use the bonus action for other fun stuff. Also if hasted they'll get to be super-powerful just like fighters and casters, instead of being left behind on the overpowered multiple action bonanza.

C. Remove the bonus action cost of jump. No need for it. Jump costs movement.

The only thing I agree with is changing jump to cost only movement as that is how it is in D&D 5e.

The rest of the suggestion are way too many deviations from 5e rules, so hard pass from me. This game needs to be closer to 5e, not deviate further.

Jump no bonus action - yes, please, but also don't let it increase your movement range like it currently does.

I think trading the extra attack for Shove and drink potion is reasonable. Flavourwise, if you are enraged you won't even remember to drink a potion.

As for, shoving: it needs to be a full action. It's annoyingly broken as it stands.

Rage also gives other boni besides the extra attack, so it's not as if it useless on the 1st turn.

The only thing I agree with here is removing the bonus action cost to jump.

Bonus action economy requires you to make strategic decisions across the board for most classes, unless you're a Thief Rogue who gets two Bonus actions for some reason. Most things require setup, and the point is to find the best order for the situation. When it comes to Extra attacks and all that jazz, Barbarians fall in line with other Martial classes except Fighter. That's because Fighters are meant to be the crazy multiattack class. That's their thing. Admittedly, Haste has turned that up to 11 by allowing the use of the Extra Attack feature with a Hastened Action, but Barbs benefit from that as well.

The Barbarian Rage mechanic is already really strong, especially if you're a Bear Totem. Even if you aren't and you're a Berserker instead, you still get increased damage while Raging, damage resistance, and the Bonus Action attack. Wanting to remove Bonus Action costs to things just seems silly to me. Yeah, Shove is useful, but it's situational.

Larian has already buffed Berserker to a good place from its 5e counterpart. Barbarians are fine.

A fighter can attack, then shove.
A Paladin can attack, then shove.
A barbarian rages, then attacks and can't shove.

That doesn't seem fair, nor appropriate to the fantasy of a barbarian, which is a more pushy kind of warrior than fighter or paladin.

I'm all for making shove a full action, or having it cost an attack like grapple, but that's a matter for a different thread. Given that shove is a bonus action, (and to a lesser extent potion drinking), the opportunity cost of bonus action is much greater than in 5e, and so Barbarians lose alot more due to spending their bonus action on rage. In 5e, spending that bonus action is pretty much a non-issue, as otherwise it'd just go to waste.

A Barbarian can Rage, then attack 2-3 times with higher damage, and have damage Resistance for the rest of the combat. A Fighter cannot.
When the next turn rolls around, Rage gives Barbarians advantage on Strength checks for Shoves. A Fighter doesn't get that.

Fair, not fair. It doesn't matter. They have different tools at their disposal. Yeah, the Fighter can use their Bonus Action to shove, but they also have a higher chance of failing the STR check compared to a Raging Barbarian.

The Fighter could also need to Second Wind because their HP is low. Does that mean Second Wind shouldn't be a Bonus Action because they can't shove?

A Paladin needs a Bonus Action to use Smite spells. So those shouldn't be Bonus Action because they can't shove?

This is the exact same problem a Dual Wielding Martial class would have. It doesn't mean Barbarians are suddenly left out in the cold. That's ridiculous.

Its fine as is, being able to jump beyond your movement range is by far the most useful thing a bonus action could do. Who cares that you can't rage, now you can hit things that you otherwise could not have. This system makes the barb stronger.