
Duriel_Jones |

The powergamer in me makes me want to build a Wild rager barbarian that can be used without putting my party at risk.
Why I am even considering this is that there seems to be a way to bypass the uncontrollable rage disadvantage entirely. As written uncontrollable rage only occurs when you reduce a creature to 0 or fewer hit points. If I am correct in my thinking, using nonlethal damage (via bludgeoner or the Blade of mercy trait) to knock someone unconscious would not trigger uncontrollable rage.
The problem that will inevitably occur is when the GM throws monsters immune to nonlethal. When that happens is having a high will save, a negative charisma modifier, and hoping for the best the only option?
If I do fail my save what would be the best strategies be to incapacitate/remove my self from combat?

StreamOfTheSky |

The best way to use Wild Rager is to not actually be a barbarian for more than 1-2 levels. The DC scales scary fast and is based solely on barb level, not character level. You lose use of rage powers, which the dipper doesn't care about but the true barb is genuinely hurt by. And the only benefit in return for all the suck -- more rounds raging per day -- isn't really needed by a full barb anyway but is very nice to the dipper.
So, to answer your question, you should just be a Wild Rager Barb 1-2 / something else like Fighter X, and have charisma 7. The DC will be so low that by level 6ish, you can basically make it on anything but a 1. And since you can always choose to voluntarily fail a save, you then have almost total control over when to enable/end it to grab extra rage rounds.

David knott 242 |

Positioning is an important factor for a Wild Rager. If you have to move more than 5 feet to reach an enemy, it does not matter much whether you drop that enemy -- you will not get any more attacks that round. If you take a five foot step before attacking an adjacent enemy, you cannot be forced to take another one to reach an ally.
Use your movement to get closer to enemies and away from allies. Try to have more enemies than allies near you -- not only do you reduce the risk of having to attack an ally, but there is a good chance that one or more of those enemies will attack you so that you do not have to make that percentile roll for how you act when confused.
If you think an enemy is close to dropping, let an ally finish him off unless you can go from that enemy to another one.
If you multiclass, go for classes with good Will saves -- 2 levels in such a class can work wonders. The trick is to find such classes that do not make you take too much of a hit to your attack bonus.