Perk: Berserk. Your opinions?
 

Greetings, all!

Some GMs have seen players take the Berserk Disadvantage at SC(15) to use it only willingly and not fall into a rage due to the SC roll. OTOH, one could always add Temporary Disadvantage (Berserk) to some cheap combat advantage, like Striking ST, if semi-supernatural abilities are allowed. So, some GMs (including me and my GM so far) accept the use of a Berserker Perk, which gives the ability to enter the rage willingly, but doesn't activate on its own. What do you think about such a solution?

Thanks in advance!

Re: Perk: Berserk. Your opinions?
 

I'd allow it without reservation.

Berserk state is dangerous enough so that it's unlikely to be unbalancing in any way.

Heck, I'd allow someone to take Berserk as Quirk, representing a Disadvantage without a self-control roll. That would mean that the character had a choice when to enter a rage, but he had to role-play the Quirk somehow.

A person whose not prone to Berserk rages but can if she wants to enter such a state sounds like someone with your Perk.

Re: Perk: Berserk. Your opinions?
 

You will still need a self-control rating to roll against to snap out of the berserk state, or you'll need some other game-mechanic to determine when the 'zerker stops berserking.

Re: Perk: Berserk. Your opinions?
 

I'd think that the default was 15- if taken as a Quirk. Heck, as a Perk I'd allow him to decide when he stops raging. And in both cases I'd allow Will to be used instead of a SC as a Special Effect which has no effect on point cost.

Re: Perk: Berserk. Your opinions?
 

I'd just generalize this:

Perk: Switchable Disadvantage

You can affect the state of your mind, allowing you to temporarily "suffer" from a single mental disadvantage. Each disadvantage is its own perk and must be purchased separately. In all cases, use your Will as the self-control number, if any. There is no roll required to enter this state, but deactivating a disadvantage may require a Will roll in certain "trigger" situations (e.g., turning off Berserk in the middle of a fight or turning off Gluttony with tasty food present) at the GM's option.

Not all mental disadvantages are appropriate for this perk. The GM, as always, has the final say.

Re: Perk: Berserk. Your opinions?
 

Rev. I'm hard pressed to think of anything in the RAW your idea would work with other than "Berserk".
I can make myself terrified: phobia?
I can make myself unmotivated: lazy?
Just not seeing it.

Re: Perk: Berserk. Your opinions?
 

Callous or Bloodlust, for a normal human.

That might make this unbalanced, however, as Switchable Callous is much less dangerous to the PC when activated.

I'd only use it for Berserk, unless some other disadvantage was suggested and I didn't see any potential for abuse.

Re: Perk: Berserk. Your opinions?
 

Could you have switchable Honesty or Overconfident and still get the reaction modifier?

Re: Perk: Berserk. Your opinions?
 

Switchable Amnesia, for disavowing yourself when captured and interrogated.

Switchable Callous, for coming across as a cold-blooded sociopath.

Switchable Clueless, for better resisting Sex Appeal and the like.

Switchable Charitable, for not having to lie when convincing others that you are an incredibly caring, wonderful person.

Switchable Delusions, for living a double life where it'd help to have one side truly believe something the other didn't.

Switchable Easy to Read, for hustling people.

Switchable Obsession, to force yourself to stay on the right track.

Switchable Overconfidence, for impressing naive followers.

Switchable Split Personality, for a variety of useful reasons.

Switchable Supersensitive, for knowing if you're alone.

Switchable Weirdness Magnet, which is pretty much a perk the way most GMs seem to erroneously play it, but don't get me started on a rant...

Anyways, in addition to Berserk and the above examples, there will be times in many campaigns when it's useful to "fake" something without fail. Acting and Fast-Talk will both fall by the wayside under serious Interrogation or ridiculous levels of Detect Lies, but if you can actually give yourself the disadvantage in question, there's no doubt in anyone's mind that you have it. So Switchable Pacifism will leave someone walking away from you convinced that you cannot, will not, and would never kill a person, no matter how perceptive they are. Want to join those mystic monks, but they'd never let a jerk like you in? Switchable Disciplines of Faith will show them that you're every bit as pious as they are! And so on. There aren't many occasions where this will be a wonderful, amazing ability, but then again, it's a perk. It shouldn't be game breaking. :)

Re: Perk: Berserk. Your opinions?
 

I'ld call switchable callous almost normal for people. When one's life is truly in danger, it's amazing how much one suddenly doesn't care about others. Look at survivors' guilt and how badly they feel about crawling over the bodies of others trying to escape tragedy.
I wonder if it might be a subsection of combat reflexes. Drop all thoughts not absolutely necessary for survival. Feel crappy later.

Re: Perk: Berserk. Your opinions?
 

That's normal survival instincts. I think people with real switchable Callous won't feel guilt or crappy, but will still be normal well-adjusted human beings is normal situations.

I once heard that about 1% of the population is able to kill effectively in combat without hesitation or feeling bad about it. Of these, about half are real psychopaths who would also be able to kill people outside of combat, and are unable to see other people with a right to live, and the other half are what they called the "true heroes" or ideal soldiers, able to kill when necessary, but also able to feel compassion when necessary.

I think that's a bit what switchable Callous might be. Although I get the impression that it's actually a big and rare advantage, bigger than a perk.

Re: Perk: Berserk. Your opinions?
 

I think Perk (Berserk at Will) is fine. It's a bit more detailed than other Perks, but it's balanaced by the bad things that can happen once you go Berserk. In general I'd say any disadvantage becomes a Perk if it is switchable; e.g., Switchable Horizontal is a Perk that means you don't move any better on all fours, but unlike a man you don't slow down when you crawl. Switchable Deafness protects you against Rapier Wit, but you can't hear your buddies either, and of course you have to activate before the protagonist taunts you. -GEF

Re: Perk: Berserk. Your opinions?
 

The switchable part of callous means that when they turn it off they suffer the emotional repurcussions of their actions PAST and present.
I believe that your interpretation includes the lack of remorseful and empathy related disadvantages like pacifism and all its subsections.
I have painfully low empathy for humans, but a well developed sense of sympathy and honor, so I think I have a point of view that differs markedly from the mainstream.

Re: Perk: Berserk. Your opinions?
 

Yes I would think a Quirk version would be the best solution. Takes 1 turn of concetrate and you are in a berserk mode and require 1 turn of concetrate to calm down with out any will or self control roll required. I personaly would rule that the PC could not leave the Berserk mode unless he is not in direct combat with anyone at the moment he "leaves" his berserk rage.

Re: Perk: Berserk. Your opinions?
 

A pc who is Berserking cannot take Concentrate actions, so that doesn't work as an exit condition...

I find it highly dubious to allow a player to exit Berserk at will - otherwise he'd only activate it whenever he would make an all-out-attack anyways, and just turn it off when he's done. The benefits in this case seem to be worth more than a perk.

Re: Perk: Berserk. Your opinions?
 

What about the whole "don't go unconscious" thing? Wouldn't the player want to take advantage of that? Why would they only do it for all-out attacking...? o.O

Re: Perk: Berserk. Your opinions?
 

Okay, assuming a perky berserker has an effective SC number, how high would you set the snap-out SC for the Perk? 12? 15? 18 but reduceable by various factors as usual?

Re: Perk: Berserk. Your opinions?
 

If you're Berserking you must AoA. And that calls for unconsciousness checks. Just taking Do Nothing manoeuvres doesn't call for such checks.

Re: Perk: Berserk. Your opinions?
 

*ahem*

Of course, I'm SURE that there's no advantages to that at all. Nope. You'd only use berserk for all-out attacking, ayup. ;)

And yes, I know that you have to roll unconsciousness checks. You told me something I already know -- yay! :)

Re: Perk: Berserk. Your opinions?
 

That wasn't what he meant. He was stating that one could only perform All-out Attacks when one was Berserking.

Yes, that state came with some benefits, but it did demand that one always All-out Attacked and never defended.

Re: Perk: Berserk. Your opinions?
 

True enough, but my whole point was that there may be times where you want to *stay* berserked. Why immediately switch out if it leads to you dying? ;)

Re: Perk: Berserk. Your opinions?
 

Well, death yes. But not unconsciousness, normally, because merely Doing Nothing prevents it without a roll.

Re: Perk: Berserk. Your opinions?
 

And Berserk gives +4 on your roll, making it very very difficult to go unconscious. Which was entirely my point. This makes you combat-effective and provides a reason to stay berserk. Why are we still discussing this? >.>