Opinions on a Dragonrage houserule

[ChaosHarbinger]

Hello guys!

This is my first ever post, so please excuse me if i dumped my question in the wrong section. I wanted to ask more experienced DM's (and players) on their opinion on a bit of a homebrew I thought up.

Here's the thing: Things are going great with my first party, everybody is enjoying the story I wrote and I found out I love being a DM. I'm just not very experienced at all (All of my experience consists of 4 games as a player and about a dozen games as a DM). My game is very RP heavy, and I want to encourage this further by houseruling some cool special abilities into the mix, but I worry a bit about balance and scaling into the higher levels. So, I'm asking for your feedback/suggestions/ideas on the following:

One of my players, a 3rd level draconic bloodline sorcerer, has a backstory that allows for his powers being more dangerous than your average sorcerer. He has no idea what the hell is happening with his powers, since i'm running a low magic world, and I want to make him a bit more dangerous (and not just for enemies). The idea is him having some dormant power that can save his life in a pinch but can go haywire with disastrous results. Here is what I came up with:

Sarkas’ Dragonrage
Sarkas has access to a daily pool of control dice. This pool contains a number of inherent control dice (d3) equal to INT + WIS + Will, and can be increased by training.

Sarkas may attempt to voluntarily enter Dragonrage by making a Will check DC 20 as a standard action. He can also however start to rage against his will when presented with a dire situation that urges his instincts to take over. Whenever Sarkas’ health is reduced to ⅓ (7 at current level) or lower he must make an immediate Will save to prevent him from turning.
The save DC is 15 - current HP. He may opt to give in and not attempt to save, however doing so forfeits half his remaining control dice, rounding up.

Going into Dragonrage, Sarkas’ inherent powers surge and change his physical form slightly to more closely match his draconic heritage. His claws grow one step (from dealing 1d4 dmg to 1d6 at current level) and he gains the ability to use his breath weapon once per day while raging. His skin also changes to a tougher slightly scaled hide, granting a +2 natural armor bonus to AC. Note that the AC bonus is nullified by the more reckless fighting style that decreases AC by -2.

While in Dragonrage, Sarkas gains bonuses as if affected by the Rage spell: a +2 morale bonus to STR and CON, a +1 morale bonus on Will saves, and a -2 penalty to AC. Note that the AC penalty is nullified by the more prominent scales that increase AC by +2.

Each turn while raging, Sarkas can spend any number of dice from his control pool to make a control check. Not doing so will be treated as if the result was a 1. This check must be done hidden, however a DC 20 Sense motive check on Sarkas can determine his state of control (or lack thereof). People that know Sarkas and have had a chance to observe him control his rage will gain a +5 circumstance bonus to Sense motive for this check.

Control Check result:
1) Sarkas loses control completely, and will immediately try to kill/destroy the nearest target to the best of his abilities, even if the target is friendly. In case of a tie for ‘nearest target’, a random target must be selected. Sarkas will choose whatever means he has of dealing the most damage he can. If his breath weapon is his most damaging option, he will attempt to catch as many additional targets in the blaze as possible along with the closest target (friend or foe). In doing so. he will take no more than a 5-foot step if in melee. If not in melee, he will move in a straight line towards his closest target, only taking positioning into account for the last 5 feet.

2) Sarkas manages to direct his fury to a target of his choice within his reach. He is obliged to attempt an attack this turn but has a choice as to who is the target. If no enemies are within reach, a friendly target must be selected. A full round attack must be made if possible.

3+) Sarkas has full control of his rage this turn, and may act in any way he wishes. This includes using his willpower as a full round action that provokes attacks of opportunity to end the dragonrage.

Dragonrage lasts until either Sarkas is knocked unconscious, no further targets can be found, or Sarkas regains control with a Control Check. If the pool of control dice is empty, temporary dice can be added by another character with a DC 25 Diplomacy check or a DC 25 Perform check. If Sarkas is grappled, pinned, or otherwise incapable of moving this DC is reduced by 5. For each time the check is exceeded by 5 an extra die will be granted.

Coming out of a dragonrage will result in Sarkas being fatigued (-2 STR -2 DEX until 8 hours of complete rest have been had). However, using his breath weapon will exert such strain on Sarkas that ending a Dragonrage after using it will result in him being exhausted. (An exhausted character moves at half speed, cannot run or charge, and takes a –6 penalty to Strength and Dexterity. After 1 hour of complete rest, an exhausted character becomes fatigued.)

[Cyrad]

It honestly feels like he should be a bloodrager or have a level in bloodrager. Bloodrager is more appropriate for a low magic campaign anyway.

The abilities you propose are WAY more complicated then they need to be. Plus, the math is totally whacky and obviously not well thought out. For example, the dice pool is equal to his Intelligence score, Wisdom score, and (I think) Will saving throw bonus? So his Wisdom actually factors twice in this equation? What? Why is he making checks with d3 in a game where all checks are made using a d20?

Gameplay-wise, it's usually not fun when the GM takes control out of hands of a player during a section of the game the player usually has a lot of agency over (like combat). It's especially pretty awful that he attacks his own allies. This is also giving special treatment to a single player at the expense of all his allies. As one of the other players, I'd already feel left out not getting a cool ability like this, but it would be intolerable that the sorcerer's ability can potentially kill my character. That's not cool.

There's also yet another problem. You're trying to have this rage ability turn the sorcerer into a combat beast, but you're dealing with a 1/2 BAB character. A +2 to Strength and Constitution won't mean anything. And the higher level he becomes, the less effective he'll be at combat. Ontop of it, he can't cast spells while raging.

So, yeah, it's kind of a mess. It might be better to look towards a more simple solution.

[ChaosHarbinger]

@Cyrad
Thanks for the feedback! Never heard of the bloodrager, I'll look it up. This is where the inexperience comes in (My thinking was that FORT/REF/WILL came from the class levels, not from the stats. Completely forgot that wisdom buffed Will.)

The special treatment is not an issue though, everyone is getting a special rule. He's just my guineapig ;) Also, he was looking towards prestiging into dragon disciple, would that not align with the combatstyle?

Regarding the complexity, I'm really not worried. We are all massive boardgame geeks and Pathfinder is one of the simplest games on our agenda. Would you have a couple of suggestions for alterations to this framework (big or small) that would fix the math/balance/scaling? The taking away of the control was actually something I put in on his request, and it will not come up often. As I said, we are leaning heavily towards roleplaying over combat. His character is already one that does not want to be anywhere near the fighting. We want to implement a rule that heavily encourages everyone to keep him away from harm. As for the other players; he already has bodyguard/friend who protects him in combat, and we have implemented Hero points which are mostly used to prevent permanent character death. This mitigates the probability for serious consequences a bit.

Thanks in advance ;)

[Cyrad]

Will is a saving throw. It's a derived statistic with a very specific purpose. It is not a good idea to create another derived statistic from this derived statistic for a completely unrelated design purpose. Ability scores and ability modifiers, on the other hand, are specifically designed to create derived statistics from.

When I criticize the complexity, I do not only mean from a comprehension standpoint. The more complicated you make a game mechanic, the more points of failure you create. As I pointed out, you created a lot of them.

I'd redo the ability from scratch and find a better way to gate it. Perhaps only you can decide when it happens or he can only do it once per day with a duration that scales with level. Maybe something like this -- When the sorcerer dragonrages, he gains the effects of a draconic bloodrager's rage ability and temporarily replaces his sorcerer draconic bloodline with the bloodrager draconic bloodline. When dragonraging, he is compelled to attack the closest creature, prioritizing those he considers a threat if practical to do so.

From what I hear, the bloodrager is a good class for dragon disciple as long as the GM houserules that the bloodline abilities also work for bloodrager bloodlines.

[Freehold DM]

I think you're looking for bloodrager.

[Scud422]

This sounds similar to a house rule I made for a Barbarian's rage.
I wanted a rage that was more akin to the hard to control rage that takes you over that you see in most works of fantasy.
Feel free to steal this and/or modify it to work for your caster:

Alternate Rage:

A Barbarian can enter a rage a number of times per day equal to 2+level. Each rage can last for a number of rounds equal to Con mod+level. Any ability or feat that would increase the number of rounds a Barbarian can spend in rage can instead be used to increase the number of times she can enter into a rage each day. At 1st level, the Barbarian has to choose a number between 0 and 20 to represent how close she is to her rage. This will be known as her Rage Number. With each new level, a Barbarian can raise or lower her Rage Number by 1 or 2 with proper roleplay. A Barbarian’s Rage Check bonus is the higher of her Will save or Profession: Barbarian skill. While raging, the normal +2 bonus to will doesn’t boost Rage Checks. Whenever she wishes to enter into a rage, she has to make a Rage Check with a DC = to 20 + ½ level - Rage Number. Whenever an event would trigger her to go into rage, or she receives damage, she has to succeed at a Rage Check DC = to damage taken + Rage Number + ½ level, failure means that she has to go into a rage. She can not choose to fail this check. Someone can attempt to goad a barbarian into a rage by making a Bluff or Intimidate check, DC = 20 + Rage Check bonus - Rage Number. If a Barbarian wishes to end a rage prematurely, she must succeed at a check with a DC of Rage Number + number of remaining threats. While raging, a Barbarian must continue to fight, even if the only remaining targets are allies. All other aspects of a Barbarian’s rage remain unchanged.
Quick reference of DCs:
Enter Rage: ½ lvl + 20 - R#
Prevent Rage: ½ lvl + R# + dmg
Exit Rage: R# + # of threats