Pillars does a good job of breaking away from the traditional stat systems present in D&D derived crpgs, and I appreciate that it allows the use of a wider range of archetypes such as a muscly wizard or genius barbarian. However, Intelligence is so important for barbarians that playing one with dumped or even just mid-range Intelligence can be very unfulfilling. I want to be able to play dum-dum barbarian in a tolerable way, without having to constantly stop and cast class-defining self buffs such as Frenzy. This mod aims to broaden the options available to barbarians without disrupting existing builds, by adding 5 new passives to the Barbarian ability tree.

THIS MOD REQUIRES COMMUNITY PATCH AND BALANCE POLISHING MOD. DOWNLOAD THEM FIRST.



Mindless Rage
Tier 1 Barbarian Passive
The base duration of Frenzy is increased from 15 to 20 seconds, but it is no longer affected by Intellect or Power Level. Tooltips do not reflect this change, but this Barbarian can't read anyway.
Note: Only Frenzy self-effect durations are affected, not bleeds or stagger.

Mulish Persistence
Tier 5 Barbarian Passive
Requires Mindless Rage
The base duration of Frenzy is further increased from 20 to 25, but is still unaffected by scaling. Wild Sprint refunds 1 Rage on expiry. When Savage Defiance ends, the Barbarian heals for 100 and gains Steadfast (or Resolute for Stalwart Courage) until the end of combat. Tooltips do not reflect these changes, but this Barbarian can't read anyway.
Note: Only Frenzy self-effect durations are affected, not bleeds or stagger.

Cerebral Trauma
Tier 1 Barbarian Passive
The Barbarian's brain "structure" is hard for enemies to interfere with. Gain 15 Will and +35 defense to mental affliction attacks while Intellect is less than 5.

Narrow-Minded Carnage
Tier 1 Barbarian Passive
Requires Carnage
Carnage now strikes the target of the originating attack, but no others.

Thoughtless Carnage
Tier 4 Barbarian Passive
Requires Narrow-Minded Carnage
After dealing damage to the attack target, Carnage bounces to 3 other enemies within 2.5m.



Basically, you can now trade Ability Points for Attribute Points, and roleplay a dumb Barbarian with little consequence. This mod started out as a simple attempt to increase Frenzy duration at the cost of a few ability points, then I got carried away. Intellect focused Barbarians are probably still better, since yells require Int and are very powerful, as are the effects of Frenzy tornados, the higher level single-class Barbarian abilities, and so on, but this mod does not affect any of those. Multiclass abilities are also unaffected. I had thought about changing the explosion of Instrument of Boundless Rage into a beam attack, but wasn't sure where to slot it in, plus a beam feels too precise and not dumb enough. Maybe it would be good to add a whole new level 8/9 ability? Please provide ideas if you have any.



Installation

• Download and install Community Patch
• Download and install Balance Polishing Mod
• Download the main file for this mod
• Extract the archive into the Pillars Of Eternity II Deadfire/PillarsofEternityII_Data/override folder. If the "override" folder does not exist, create it and place 'Brain Damaged Barbarian' inside
• Launch game, check the mod manager to ensure that this mod is listed below the other two
  

My other mods
Comprehensive Leveling Improvement and EXP Reduction - Reduces EXP gain on a curve to keep early progression fast
Sigil of Balance - a Level Scaling Alternative - a buffer for the player being overpowered late in the game and weak early on
Quality Level Scaling for All Equipment - Scales unique equipment by level to avoid skipping ahead in progression


Praise be to Noque'Noque, warder of crashes, solver of problems, great provider of Apotheosis