Berserker (my version)

[arkanis]

Berserker

Requirements: Nongood, Nonlawful, Rage 2/day, Power Attack, base attack bonus +6.

Hit Dice: d12.
Class Skills: Climb, Jump, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Listen, Ride, Survival, Swim.
Skill Points: 4 + Int.
{table="head"]Level| BAB| Fort| Ref| Wil| Special
1st| +1| +2| +0| +0| Barbarian Abilities, Frenzy
2nd| +2| +3| +0| +0| Diehard
3rd| +3| +3| +1| +1| Bloodlust
4th| +4| +4| +1| +1| Crazed Mind
5th| +5| +4| +1| +1| Deathless Frenzy
[/table]
Proficiencies: Berserkers are proficient with all martial melee weapons, light and medium armor, and shields (except tower shields).
Barbarian Abilities: Berserker levels stack with Barbarian levels for determining daily uses of Rage, Damage Reduction, and the attainment of Greater Rage, and Mighty Rage.
Frenzy: Unlike barbarians, a berserker cannot willingly end a rage and continues fighting until they are dead or their rage duration ends. If there are no enemies to fight, the berserker will attack the nearest creature regardless whether it is a friend, foe, or bystander. A berserker may attempt a Will save every round DC15 + berserker level to stop attacking for 1 round. The raging bonuses to Will saves do not apply to this Will save. The benefit of this mad frenzy is that the berserker gains an additional +2 Strength, +2 Constitution, and +1 bonus to Will saves and becomes temporarily immune to fear effects when they rage. A berserker who takes damage or is targeted by an Intimidate check or fear effect must immediately make this Will save to avoid berserking automatically (instead of the normal effects of the Intimidate check or fear effect taking place on the character). A berserker forced to rage without any more daily uses of Rage left takes 1d4 points of temporary Intelligence and Charisma damage and remains fatigued for the rest of the day after the duration ends. A berserker cannot be forced to berserk again while he is already berserking or while he is fatigued. If a character attempts to calm a berserker down with a Diplomacy check, the berserker gains a bonus to resist such attempts equal to their Will save bonus from raging.
Diehard: A berserker gains Diehard as a bonus feat even if he does not meet the prerequisites.
Bloodlust: While berserking, a berserker gains a +1 morale bonus to melee attack and damage rolls for each creature he downs, up to a maximum bonus equal to his berserker level. This bonus lasts until the end of his rage.
Crazed Mind: While berserking, a berserker gains an additional +4 bonus to resist all mind-affecting effects and Charisma-based skill checks. This does not apply to a berserker's Will save to avoid berserking or attacking while berserking.
Deathless Frenzy: While raging a berserker does not fall. Even if a berserker's hit points are reduced to -10 or lower or if his nonlethal damage has matched his current hit points, he does not die or fall unconscious. A berserker can only be killed or knocked unconscious after his rage has ended, he is dealt massive damage and fails his Fortitude save, or he fails his save against a death effect, destruction effect, or sleep effect.

[Stycotl]

interesting. i am not sure about balance, especially with the continuation of barbarian abilities, and deathless rage. but thematically it is very appealing. realistically though, eventually, he is going to kill either a party member, or a noncombatant, or at least allied npc, or, is going to get killed for attempting to kill one of the above.

in some campaigns, that is certainly going to add some drama and some memorable roleplay. in others, it is merely going to be interruptive and uncalled for. you might want to put a disclaimer in there about gamer and dm cooperation and the rp effects of this class.

[arkanis]

Deathless frenzy can definately be very powerful, but wouldn't make the berserker immortal. They inevitably die if reduced to -10 or less and they still become disabled according to Diehard (though they remain raging).

True. Going berserk often does pose a problem. A player losing control of their character for any reason always poses a problem. My disclaimer is, don't use it unless you're prepared for it and good luck. I personally wouldn't touch this one as a player but as a GM I'd gladly work with a player's berserker. If anyone has specific ideas on resolving that issue I'm open for suggestions.

[Stycotl]

i think that mostly it will just come down to roleplay. werewolf the apocalypse has a similar mechanic, but the difference is that anyone playing werewolf was expecting (and generally was part of a party of similarly frenzy-capable creatures) to have to control its rages, and eventually to lose one. it was a lot more focused on the roleplay consequences than the stats and stuff.

d&d on the other hand is a lot more control and rollplay oriented, and i am not sure that too many players, and even fewer dm's are prepared for something like this.

[Kizara]

Nice picture.

[Narmy]

Truly awesome, I love it all.

I'm unsure about balance, as I'm not a good judge of character for it.

But in my honest opinion, it seems damn well balanced right now to me.

Great work.

[Harperfan7]

I like it. I'm definetly adding this to my campaign world.

EDIT: What happens if they later change their alignment?