Barbarian Rage vs. Berserker Rage

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What's the difference between the two? I've been searching the forums, and ran into some conflicting info.

Does Barbarian Rage protect against Imprisonment?

Does Berserker Rage protect against Level Draining?

the only constant I can find between the two is that the Barbarian Rage grants +4 to STR and CON, while the Berserker Rage give a +2 to hit and damage.

 

Good question. Also, how do these differ from Minsc's Ranger Rage?

 

Well, HB, the big difference is that you don't lose control of Berserkers and Barbarians when you enter a Rage.

Besides that, I couldn't tell ya.

 

Well, what you found is correct, Barbarian grants +4 to str and con and Berserker gives +2 to hit and damage. Another difference is that the Barbarian gets a penalty of -2 to his ac while the berserker gets a bonus of +2 to his ac. The immunities are totally equal, but I'm not sure it they also apply to Minsc's rage. The last difference is that the Berserker gets winded after the rage ends, giving him (for some rounds) a -2 penalty to hit, damage and ac, while the barbarian doesn't suffer such a penalty.

 

I always thought Minsc went into a Berserker Rage. I've never lost control of Minsc when I've sent him into a rage -- I've never had him go into a rage on his own either.

Early in the game the barbarian rage is great -- unless you run into Kangaxx (and a few others...). By the time you have Crom Faeyr and enough hit points to qualify as a Panzer tank, the Berserker rage is more useful.

 

Well, I played both to a high level, and barbarians rage does not protect against imprisonment, while a berserkers does.

Berserkers are better if you're into immunities (although I'm not sure of all the specifics)

Barbarians are better if you're into damage, because they can reduce so much of it in BG2. Barbarians are also more versatile, since you can only get ** in any weapon.

 

Used to be that grandmastery in bg2 was bugged so it was not worth it getting 5 pips in a weapon proficiency anyway (as you did not get the extra attack), but if i recall correctly this was fixed in the enhanced edition, so it should now be actually useful to get ***** in your preferred weapon.
Another thing they fixed in the enhanced edition is the fact that a berserker's rage now actually protects from being stunned. (as it always should have, but a bug prevented it from working in the vanilla game.)

As far as i know these are all the differences between the 2 :

Barbarian :
+d12 hit dice.
+Gets +2 movement speed.
+Immune to backstab.
+Gains 10% resistance to slashing, piercing, crushing and missile damage at level 11, 15% at level 15, and 20% at level 19.
-Can't wear full of plate mail.
-Limited to 2 pips in any weapon specialization, except two weapon fighting.
Barbarian Rage :
-Lasts 5 rounds
+4 to Constitution
+4 to Strength
+2 to saves vs. magic
+Immune vs Charm, Hold, Fear, Maze, Stun, Sleep, Confusion and Level-drain, but not Imprisonment or Feeblemind.
-Gives a -2 armor class penalty

Berserker :
-d10 hit dice.
+Can get 5 pips (grandmastery) in melee weapon proficiencies.
-Can only put 1 pip in ranged weapon proficiencies.
+Able to wear all types of armor.
Berserker's Enrage :
+Lasts 10 rounds.
+2 bonus to damage.
+Bonus +2 to armor class.
+Bonus +2 to THAC0.
+ gains 15 temporary hit points. They also have immunity to Fear, Charm, Confusion, Feeblemind, Hold, Imprisonment, Level-drain, Maze, Stun and Sleep.
- Can fall unconscious if at 1 or lower HP when enrage ends and the 15 temporary hit points are lost.
-Is winded for a period after enrage ends, gets a -2 penalty to AC, THAC0, and Damage.