As with barbarians in previous editions, the D&D Next barbarian is built around rage. A beginning barbarian can rage twice per day, and must take a short rest between rages. The rage ends when the character falls unconscious, after 10 minutes, or if the character fails to attack during its turn. So far, so good. While in "rage mode," the character gets advantage on Strength-based attack rolls, saves, and checks, as well as a +2 (or higher, depending on the character's level) bonus to damage and resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.
Wow.
Even just getting advantage on attacks is a massive bonus, but the whole package is...incredible! Surely, then, with so many advantages, the rage mechanic must have severe drawbacks, right? Well, not so much. The drawback is that the character can't take reactions while raging. That's it. The way I see it, this class feature is utterly broken. I heard somewhere that the designers had considered a rule that gave advantage to enemies attacking a barbarian who was raging. That's a significant penalty, but perhaps would have brought this class feature back down to earth. They definitely need to do something to rein it in.
I'll write more tomorrow about the rest of the barbarian's ample supply of goodies.
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