noticeable power boost?

[Dragzner]

I was wondering if there were any feats, magic effects, or class abilities that would give me the high-risk high-reward sorta feel when it comes to a temporary boost in physical attributes? I've looked through most the classes and feats and none of them really feel like they're that powerful and risky, some examples would be kaio ken from dragon ball z or the 8 gates from Naruto. any help would be appreciated.

[DoubleBubble]

I think the most high risk, high reward feats and class abilities would be barbarian go power attack, furious finish while raging with vital strike. Hit, you get full damage, missed, you have nothing. Wasted entire round not dealing damage is bad for Barbarian as a Hammer role.

[avr]

Burst of adrenaline gives you +8 to a physical attribute for one roll, then you're fatigued for a round afterwards.

Barbarian rage & bloodrager bloodrage leave you fatigued (& importantly, not raging) for longer following a furious finish.

There's less of a downside but a blood reservoir of physical prowess gives you a burst of power until the end of the user's next turn.

[Dragzner]

thx for the advice ill keep it in mind but if you can find something closer to the examples I provided that would be great. I actually didn't know about furious finish and will probably use it thx.

[Bob Bob Bob]

So at the most basic level, that's what Barbarian Rage is. A boost to physical stats, a penalty to AC. There are others that take that even further, for the most part they're awful. Wild Rager gives you an extra attack on a full attack for a -2 to attack and -4 to AC. Also your Rage Confuses you. Ragechemist is an alchemist with more Str who has to make a Will save or take a penalty to Int and Will saves. Higher levels give you slightly more bonuses and way more penalties! You knock yourself out with Int damage real fast.

Now, as for what you probably actually want, look at Kineticist. The class is designed around taking Burn (a form of unhealable nonlethal damage) to power yourself up. There's both an active element (take Burn to do this thing) and a passive element (as long as you have 3 Burn, this thing happens). So there's a careful balancing act on how much Burn you take. At higher levels you can probably pump enough into something to knock yourself out in a single round.

[Dragzner]

oh thx for telling me about burst of adrenaline im not a spellcaster but ill keep it in mind thats actually closer than i expected to get in the way of high risk high reward

[avr]

Can you say anything more about your examples? I'm not familiar with dragonball z (aside from knowing I hated the part of one episode I saw) or Naruto.

[Dragzner]

I'll look more into kineticist thx for telling me

[Dragzner]

Kaio ken: It is a technique that multiplies the user's ki for a "heart beat" - thus increasing their power and speed and enabling them to inflict serious damage to opponents who are considerably stronger than them with the use of the "godly ki". However, the downside of the Kaio-ken is that it takes a heavy toll on the user's body, making them more vulnerable to enemy attacks.

8 Gates: The Eight Gates are eight specific tenketsu on a person's Chakra Pathway System. They limit the overall flow of chakra within a person's body. The basis for the idea of the chakra gates comes from the body's limits on the functions within it. This makes the body much weaker, but it keeps the body from expiring too soon. By undergoing intense training, one can learn how to open these gates allowing the user to surpass their own physical limits at the cost of extreme damage to their own body.

[The Sideromancer]

I'm going to link the PF rules for the first seven gates.

[avr]

OK. A vicious weapon (or a vicious amulet of mighty fists for an unarmed combatant) sounds like it might suit you. Or a kineticist as Bob3 mentioned.

It's possible that abilities which allow you to fight at below zero HP would fit. The Broken, Not Beaten trait, or the Deathless ____ feat chain, or the Fight On or Ferocious Resolve feats.

Barbarians with the Reckless Abandon rage power or halflings with the Risky Striker feat (or both for halfling barbarians) take a penalty to AC for more offense.

Alternately meditation feats might fit better.

The Hellknight Obsession feat is weird but might fit.

[Dragzner]

thx ill look into all of these

[Chromantic Durgon <3]

Alchemists Mutagens and Cognotagens are sort of this way, but not quite in the same way as the barb thing works

[GM Rednal]

If you're willing to use third-party stuff, Spheres of Power has everything from casting traditions that add the chance of wild magic effects or stamina drain to a class (the Thaumaturge) that can use Forbidden Lore and increase their caster level at the risk of a backlash. Come to think of it, I believe Psionics has something similar, too...

[Oddman80]

The Kineticist class is literally what you are talking about.
it has a mechanic where you can take some time and gather power, so that you can unleash super powerful effects. If you get damaged during this "power up" period - the power explodes in your face and you take damage. Also - you can attempt to do the super powerful things without taking the time to gather power, but it will likely hurt you significantly if you do so. If you had been at full health before trying to unleash a nova blast - you would likely still be standing afterwards, but you'd be significantly damaged and it wouldn't take much to knock you out at that point. Similarly - if you have been taking damage in a battle, and were worried you might survive the encounter if it continued at the current pace, you can unleash the powerful nova blast - but you will likely straight up black out and faint after you letting 'er rip... with luck, you will have destroyed the enemy, and your allies will be free to revive you, and help get you back somewhere to rest and recover.

[Chess Pwn]

You're not going to find much, with the game being kinda rocket tag, having a high power ability has little drawbacks cause they'd be dead before the penalty kicks in. Thus if such a power boost existed you'd be seeing lots of people talk about it and pick it.