Tantrums don't end with the dwarf's death . . . that's berserk madness.
Tantrums come in two flavors that I am aware of: Going Berserk and Melloncally (Heh spelled incorrectly)
Though there is a Martial Trance Berzerk as well.
Those aren't tantrums. Tantrums are when a dwarf starts blinking with a yellow exclamation, throws stuff, maybe fights a dwarf, and then goes back to normal, with some happy thoughts from throwing things and starting a fist fight. Caused by mild depression.
"Berserk" means the dwarf becomes hostile, will be represented by an @ sign, will flash with a
red exclamation mark, and will never go back to normal, so the only solution is to kill it. It is caused by extreme depression or failing to make an artifact. There is no disfigurement as described in the warp spasm.
"Melancholy" means it will wander around, doing nothing, not eating nor drinking, until it drowns itself, kills itself from falling off a cliff, or dying of thirst or hunger, which cannot be prevented; the dwarf is doomed, like with berserk dwarves. It will flash a
blue exclamation mark. Caused by extreme depression or failing an artifact.
"Enraged," the dwarf will flash a
dark read exclamation mark. I'm not too certain about cause or effects of it, but the dwarf will come out of it.
"Martial Trance" means the dwarf will flash
green and will charge enemies more willingly and ignore pain. The dwarf will come out of it. It is caused by being outnumbered by an opponent. Again, no disfigurement.
"Stark raving mad" means the dwarf will flash a
light blue exclamation mark. The dwarf will slowly remove all its clothes over a time in which it will neither eat nor drink. This ends only when the dwarf dies by any causes that might happen to melancholy dwarves.
There are only three among those that are irreversible statuses; berserk, stark raving mad, and melancholy. The others are reversible and non-harmful towards the dwarf (with the exception of the tantrum, in the event that the hammerer can reach the dwarf and the tantrumer actually did damage).
Creatures don't go berserk in combat; they either become enraged or go into a martial trance.
Finally, warp spasms wouldn't grant
some benifits . . . they'd grant a hell of a lot. Enough to take out large armies - and that would be
after champions are nerfed. They'd also only be triggered when a dwarf is A) surrounded by huge armies, and B) when the dwarf is depressed. You act like there is no way for Toady to prevent them from happening to hoary moarmots when a single unarmed dwarf shows up, which is quite obviously false. The code does not control what Toady does; Toady controls the code.