Berserker

Rage is a fire that burns in the heart of all living things. It is the raw, animalistic instinct to survive, to fight, and to dominate. Most spend their lives trying to tame this inner beast, burying it under layers of civility and law. The berserker is not most people. You have embraced this primal fury, forging it not into a shield of discipline, but into a relentless weapon. When you let your rage loose, you become an unstoppable force of nature, a tempest of pure, unadulterated instinct where pain is nothing and victory is everything.

The Fire Within

The berserker’s power comes from a deep, primal wellspring within. It is the raw, animalistic instinct that civilized folk spend their lives trying to tame, the survival-urge given form. To a berserker, this rage is not a loss of control but a perfect, terrible clarity. It is a state of pure instinct where pain is a dull roar, fear is a forgotten luxury, and all that matters is the shattering of the enemy in front of them. This rage is a fire that, once stoked, consumes all else.

Born of the Wild

Berserkers have always existed at the edges of the world, in the places where survival is a daily, bloody struggle. They are born from the unforgiving wilderness, from brutal arenas, and from wars so terrible they break the mind. Theirs is not the trained, disciplined path of the Knight or the Warrior; it is a violent awakening, a moment when the animal soul breaks its cage and refuses to be chained again. They are the living memory of the world's savage heart.

Creating a Berserker

When creating your berserker, consider the source of your incredible rage. Is it a sacred gift from a beast spirit, a curse you struggle to contain, or a simple, brutal fact of your life? Did you grow up in the unforgiving wilderness, where this fury was the only key to survival? Do you fight for a lost cause, a forgotten people, or simply for the sheer, bloody-minded joy of the battle itself?

Quick Build

You can make a berserker quickly by following these suggestions. Prioritize Strength as your highest ability, followed by Endurance. Choose the Outlander or Folk Hero background. For your Job, select Mercenary to represent your life as a brawler-for-hire, Woodsman to reflect your primal connection to the wild, or Blacksmith to embody a life of strength and hard labor.

Class Features

As a Berserker, you gain the following class features:

Health

Health Pool: 3

You add your Health Pool to your Health at level 1.

Vitality

Vitality Dice: 1d10 per Berserker level

Vitality at 1st Level: 10 + your Agility and Endurance

Vitality at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + your Endurance per Berserker level after 1st

Combat Skills

Weapons: Berserkers start with advanced weapon aptitude

Armor: Trained in the Unarmored, Light, and Medium armor skills

Defense: Trained in the Body skill

Skill Ranks at 1st Level: 3 combat skill ranks

Skill Ranks at Higher Levels: 1 combat skill rank per Berserker level after 1st

Skill Boosts at Higher Levels: 1 combat skill boost per Berserker level after 1st

Action Points: A Berserker uses Dexterity when rolling Action Points

Rage

When battle calls, you unleash your anger to fuel your abilities. When you take damage or hit an opponent in combat, you may generate rage. You gain two points of rage when you make a critical hit. You lose a point of rage if you do not attack or take damage in a round of combat. For each point of rage, you add one to the following:

• Additional damage per melee or thrown weapon attack

• To your Armored Defense

• To your Strength combat skills

• To your Body defense rolls

While enraged, you can use Strength for attack rolls as well as damage rolls with any melee weapons. If you are able to cast spells, you can’t cast them or concentrate on them while raging.

You can have a maximum number of rage equal to 1 + your Endurance.

Primal Defense

As long as you are not wearing armor, you may add your Endurance to your Armor. This applies even when your normal armor might not.

Reckless Attack

Starting at 2nd level, you can throw aside all concern for defense to attack with fierce desperation. When you make an attack on your turn, you can decide to attack recklessly. Doing so gives you advantage on weapon attack rolls using Strength until your next turn, but attack rolls against you have advantage until your next turn.

Indomitable Rage

You can spend your rage to ignore damage. As a reaction to an attack, you can spend 2 Action Points and 1 Rage to gain resistance to that attack. The damage type cannot be physic damage.

Primal Path

At 3rd level, you choose a Primal Path that shapes the nature of your rage from the list of available Primal Paths. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 6th, 10th, and 14th levels.

Talent

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you gain a Talent.

Efficient Attacks

At level 5, you become more adept with attacks. You reduce the cost of weapon attacks by 1 Action Point per attack.

Fast Movement

Starting at 5th level, your movement increases by 2 while you aren’t wearing heavy armor.

Feral Instincts

At 7th level, you have advantage when rolling for Action Points and your movement while in a rage costs 1 less Action Point.

Rampage

Starting at 9th level, you can spend 2 rage to add one additional weapon damage dice to your attack.

Relentless Rage

Starting at 11th level, your rage can keep you fighting despite grievous wounds. If you drop to 0 hit points and don’t die outright, you can spend 3 rage to make a target 10 Endurance roll. If you succeed, you drop to 1 health instead.

Each time you use this feature after the first, the target number increases by 5. When you finish a short or long rest, the target number resets to 10.

Improved Rampage

Starting at 13th level, you can spend 2 rage to add two additional weapon damage dice to your attack.

Persistent Rage

Starting at 15th level, your rage no longer degrades over time.

Relentless Rampage

At 17th level, your rampage never ends. You always add one additional dice of damage to your attacks, and you can spend 1 rage to add one more weapon damage dice to your attack. You may still spend 2 rage to add two additional weapon damage dice to your attack.

Primal Might

At 20th level, you embody the strength of rage. Your Strength and Endurance increase by 2. Your maximum for those attributes is now 7. Your maximum rage is now 2 times your Endurance and you generate 1 extra rage whenever your gain rage.