BERSERKERS
These barbarian warriors practice the art of the berserkergang, or battle trance. This state imparts great strength and fearlessness in battle, but makes it difficult to distinguish friend from foe.
The prime requisites for a berserker are Strength and Constitution. A berserker character whose Strength or Constitution score is 13 or higher will receive a 5% bonus on earned experience. Berserkers whose Strength and Constitution scores are 13 or higher will receive a 10% bonus to earned experience.
RESTRICTIONS: Berserkers use eight-sided dice (d8) to determine their hit points. They may use any type of weapon or shield, but they may not wear any armor more protective than leather.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: A berserker enters the berserkergang by spending a full round working himself up into frenzy. (Starting at 4th level the berserker may enter the trance state instantly.) In this state, he gains +2 to hit and damage, 2 additional hit points per hit die (which are lost when the frenzy ends), +1 to individual initiative and a 10’ bonus to his movement rate. However, he suffers a +2 penalty to AC, and he may take no actions when not in melee other than moving into melee. If a berserker engaged in melee finds that he has no opponents left but is in melee range of an ally, he must save vs. spells or attack an adjacent ally; this save may be repeated each round until it succeeds. Terminating the berserkergang before combat ends also requires a successful save vs. spells. Upon leaving the battle trance, the berserker is fatigued for the next hour, suffering a -2 penalty to hit and damage and a +2 penalty to AC.
SAVING THROWS: As dwarves.
ATTACK PROGRESSION: As fighters.
ADVANCEMENT: As per the fighter advancement table.
* * * * *
NOTE: The author recommends that any group which restricts PC-on-PC conflict should not use the Berserker class, as it may be seen as a tool for evading such restrictions.
Charlatan
Eric Minton
maldoor
Greengoat
David Wellington
James Nostack
tavisallison
The Mule Abides 
I look forward to gnawing my sheild and beating my head with the back of my axe!
1. How long does the bezerker frenzy last? Longer at later levels?
2. Does a higher level bezerker have a better chance of not attacking allies?
3. Historically, viking bezerkers were FREAKISHLY TERRIFYING. How about a penalty to opposing creatures’ morale upon first sighting and half killed, etc.? Historically, I believe they often fought naked, right? I recognize the armor deficiency, but a morale penalty would be fun.
It lasts until the end of the encounter.
Yes, insofar as a higher level berserker has a better saving throw vs. spells.
Thanks, I’d forgotten to include morale. I’d probably give opponents a +1 penalty to all morale checks while the berserkergang is in effect, or a +2 penalty if the berserker’s side wins surprise. Or something along those lines.
That appears to have been a historical error; they appear to have fought wearing clothing made from bear pelts. (I equate this with leather armor.)
4. Greater immunity to mind-altering/controlling effects? The berserker has given away his mind for the time being; how can it be controlled?
I can easily see that argument going either way — after all, one could say that without self-awareness the berserker is more vulnerable to psychic suggestion. But I don’t think it’s unbalanced to give a +4 to saves against sleep and charm while in the battle trance.
Love the idea but to me this class seems just a bit too good.
It’s only disadvantage compared to a fighter seems to be the inability to wear extra armour, and in return for this it recieves both the berserkergang power and dwarf saving throws.
As is, I think it’s a little overpowered to use the fighter XP chart. In particular, dwarven spell saves are so good that making the berserkergang related saves seems like it’s going to be pretty easy most of the time.
For balance, I’d kind of prefer to either have them save as fighters (maybe with a bonus against fear?) or to take a -10% XP hit compared to a fighter.
Theoretically, the negative effects of berserkergang should serve as a strong limiting factor: no archery or other non-melee activities, a good chance of attacking fellow PCs if you’re not careful, and if you’re forced to drop out of berserkergang you’re fatigued. And I suspect that the reduced armor is more significant than you suggest, especially factoring in the +2 penalty from berserkergang.
I gave them the dwarf’s saving throws because the class looked a bit underpowered in the initial draft. I’m not strongly attached to that, and if playtesting demonstrates that the class is too strong, they’ll drop back down to using the fighter’s saving throws.
This reminds me: I remember a really cool writeup for Berserkers, ninjas (save vs. damage), Anti-paladins, in Best of Dragon Vol. 2. Also, the blueprint for a Lich was awesome, as was the politics of hell. I think I read that issue about 50 times…
Best of The Dragon vols. 1 & 2 were awesome in every conceivable way.
Brilliant class. No gimmicks, just really nice details and straight forward abilities!
Thanks! It was the fastest of the RBW classes to go from idea to completion — just a couple of hours.
Great timing! We have a new “Northman” PC who eschews armor, and his player is psyched to convert him to the Berserker for his next session.
I can’t remember if I asked you this already, but are you using the Building the Perfect Class PDF/Spreadsheet (http://breeyark.org/node/112) to make these new classes?
Recently an RBV player asked for a ruling on a M-U wearing armor when out of spells, and it opened up a big can of worms about the relative capability of the M-U class. After reading that article, I’m seriously considering adjusting the xp requirements of the M-U and/or giving them more abilities to justify their by-the-book xp cost.
Anyway, the article has an analysis of the RC classes that is fascinating. Well worth a look.
Excellent, cr0m! Let us know how it goes. Consider yourselves playtesters!
I recommend scrapping the movement bonus, btw, and simply allow the Berserker to take a “run” action for free while in berserkergang without being fatigued.
Also, general rule: the Berserker cannot enter berserkergang while fatigued.
The negative needs to be greater to help balance out its strengths.
1) No raising dead or resurection. You die while in a battle trance and your dead. It explains the great saves and higher HP because if you die there is no save.
This is a great risk reward option.
P.S. An animate dead spell or necro spells will still effect the deceased berserker body/ skeleton though.
Nope. I’ve read many similar breakdowns over the years, and while I appreciate the effort that goes into them, I disagree with their underlying principles. I don’t think that the core classes are entirely balanced from the get-go (e.g. cleric vs. fighter), and many of their imbalances aren’t congruent with their development rates (e.g. the magic-user), so I feel that any system based on their relative power levels is doomed from the start.
The magic-user is very much the “hard mode” of OD&D. Magic-users start out too weak for their XP cost. This, however, is meant to balance out their power at higher levels, largely by winnowing their ranks at low levels. If you cut back on the magic-user’s XP requirements across the board, then they survive too easily and get too strong too quickly, and you have fifth-level casters tossing fireballs while the fighters are still only fourth level. To balance things out, you either need to completely restructure the M-U’s XP ladder to slow their progression down at high levels, or you need to neuter their high-level spells. (Or you can just accept that your game will be full of high-level M-Us.)
If a magic-user wants to wear armor while out of spells, I’d treat them as both heavily encumbered and fatigued. It may still be worth it, but they’re probably better off keeping their full movement rate and running from danger rather than trying to lumber away in armor they can’t use comfortably.
While I appreciate the desire to avoid an overpowered class, I remain unconvinced that being compelled to run into melee with a base AC 8 is an inadequate negative. Frankly, I don’t expect the playtest berserker in cr0m’s game to survive more than two sessions! But that’s what playtesting is for, and if the “Northman” in his game turns out to be a universally superior option to the fighter, then I’ll gladly rejigger the class.
I’m more likely to remove benefits than add further negatives. The dwarven saving throw is closest to the chopping block.
To clarify, the bonus HP aren’t 2e/3e “temporary hit points” that provide a buffer before the character’s actual hit points are touched. The bonus hit points are lost when the fight is over. Thus, they don’t greatly increase the character’s survivability; they mainly allow the berserker to keep fighting after he should be dead. (A cleric could heal the berserker mid-battle, but at the risk of being attacked by the berserker.)
Since the berserker is forced to keep fighting until melee is over, plus the AC penalty, I can imagine why Quendalon expects most of them to die pretty rapidly. I’m kind of seeing how this is a major disadvantage, not being able to fight tactically.
What is the mechanical effect of fatigue in RB?
-2 penalty to hit and damage and a +2 penalty to AC, as noted in the class description.
Thanks. I need to read more carefully.
We ALMOST had Naroia run one of these guys last night. But instead he just decided to play a suicidal fighter with a 2H sword.
The loss of control, AC penalty, and armor restriction are pretty daunting to anyone who’s spent any time in an old school dungeon. Doubly so when combined with the hour of fatigue. I wonder if bumping their armor up to chain (no shield) would mitigate this somewhat.
Personally, here’s how I’d do it:
BERSERKERS
RESTRICTIONS: Berserkers use eight-sided dice (d8) to determine their hit points. They may use any type of weapon or shield, but they may not wear any armor more protective than CHAIN.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: A berserker enters the berserkergang by spending a full round working himself up into frenzy. (Starting at 4th level the berserker may enter the trance state instantly.) In this state, he gains
+2 to hit and damage
+2 additional hit points per hit die (which are lost when the frenzy ends),
+2 to individual initiative
+10’ bonus to his movement rate.
+2 penalty to AC
He may take no actions when not in melee other than moving into melee. If a berserker engaged in melee finds that he has no opponents left but is in melee range of an ally, he must save vs. spells or attack an adjacent ally; this save may be repeated each round until it succeeds. Terminating the berserkergang before combat ends also requires a successful save vs. spells. Upon leaving the battle trance, the berserker is fatigued for the next hour, suffering a -2 penalty to hit and damage and a +2 penalty to AC.
SAVING THROWS: As FIGHTER.
ATTACK PROGRESSION: As fighters.
ADVANCEMENT: As per the fighter advancement table.