I was browsing the archtypes for barbarians and I had a thought, a dwarven racial archtype, dwarven battlerager. in 2nd ed it was a base class and fun to play so I created a dwarven archtype based off of 2nd edition and pathfinder. I would really appreciate reviews, thoughts, comments, changes, and suggestions. yes I know you can create a battlerager type from other archtypes, but none of them fit my character I made a long time ago. killing rage is weaker than rage, however your able to go longer in battle but with higher recovery time and additional drawbacks. changing of spells immune to while raging will be needed updating to pathfinder spells and such. thanks for any help and suggestions. this is a rough draft....
i modified brutal pugilist and armored hulk to make this archtype.
Dwarf archtype/dwarven battlerager, barbarian class
Weapon and Armor Proficiency
A dwarven battlerager gains proficiency in heavy armor.
Killing rage...... Replaces fast movement, rage, greater rage, mighty rage
killing rage: while in killing rage the battlerager gains the following abilities:
+2 to STR and CON
-2 AC while raging
+2 HP per level
Immunity to these wizard spells (no saving throw necessary) charm person, emotion, fear, friends, hypnotism, sleep, irritation, ray of enfeeblement, scare, geas; and these clerical spells command, charm person or mammal, enthrall, cloak of bravery, remove fear, symbol.
He gets a +4 saving throw bonus, on top of his dwarf bonus, against these wizard spells: blindness, Tasha's uncontrollable hideous laughter, hold person, charm monster, confusion; and against these clerical spells hold person, hold animal.
The finger of death spell kills a Battlerager instantly, if he fails to make a saving throw. If he makes his save, he doesn't suffer the 2d8+1 points of damage until his killing rage ends.
While in the rage, he is immune to KO results from the Punching and
Wrestling rules and takes only half damage from bare-hand attacks.
Killing Rage Disadvantages: A Battlerager suffers the following disadvantages while
enraged:
He is oblivious to pain. The DM takes note of the Battlerager's current hit points when the character first enters his killing rage, reducing them as he takes damage. The player is not told how many points of damage he takes from enemy attacks, or how many he
has left. He is only aware that he is enjoying himself tremendously. He is told how much damage his character has received when he falls over dead or the rage ends.
He must continue to fight each melee round until all opponents have been killed. He may attack any enemy within range of his weapon. If none are in range, or once he kills an opponent, he must attack the nearest enemy.
He cannot take cover from missile attacks.
If another character does something that he interprets as an attack, such as hitting him to move him out of the way, he must roll an Intelligence check. If successful, the Battlerager may ignore his friend. If he fails, his friend becomes his enemy, and is treated as an enemy until the fight is over and the rage has passed.
He is temporarily unaffected by the clerical spells bless, cure light wounds, aid, cure serious wounds, cure critical wounds, heal, regenerate, and wither. He only gains the benefits of these spells when he is not enraged.
The taunting is automatically successful and causes him to abandon his current enemy and rush to attack the taunter.
Once the rage is over, he loses all of its advantages, including the bonus hit points. This could cause him to die instantly, or collapse unconscious, if he has 0 or less hit points remaining.
After the rage subsides, you are exhausted.
at 5th level you gain advanced killing rage: instead of exhausted, you are fatigued 10 minutes per round of rage and bonus to STR and CON increase to +4.
at 10th level, advanced rage improves to: fatigued 1 minute per round, STR and CON increase to +6.
Resilience of Steel (Ex)
At 3rd level, a dwarven battlerager is able to use her armor to help avoid deadly hits. While wearing heavy armor, she gains a +1 bonus to AC that applies only on critical hit confirmation rolls. This bonus increases by +1 every 3 levels beyond 3rd (maximum +6 at 18th level).
This ability replaces trap sense.
Savage Grapple (Ex)
At 2nd level, the dwarven battlerager takes only half the normal penalties to Dexterity, attack rolls, and combat maneuver checks when she has the grappled condition. She can make an attack of opportunity against creatures trying to grapple her even if they possess the Improved Grapple feat or the grab special attack. If she hits with this attack of opportunity, she gains a +2 circumstance bonus to her CMD against the grapple attempt. he cannot make these attacks of opportunity once a grapple has succeeded.
This ability replaces uncanny dodge.
Improved Savage Grapple (Ex)
At 5th level, the dwarven battlerager takes no penalties to Dexterity, attack rolls, and combat maneuver checks when she has the grappled condition. She also is treated as one size larger than her actual size when determining whether she can grapple or be grappled by another creature.
This ability replaces improved uncanny dodge.
Rage Powers: The following rage powers complement the armored hulk archetype: boasting taunt, greater guarded life, guarded life, guarded stance, increased damage reduction, no escape, overbearing advance, overbearing onslaught, reflexive dodge, rolling dodge, and unexpected strike.
Rage Powers: The following rage powers complement the brutal pugilist archetype: animal fury*, brawler, greater brawler, knockback*, knockdown, overbearing advance, overbearing onslaught, and strength surge*.
The concept of a dwarven rager is great, but I'm not on board with your substitution for Rage. Your Killing Rage is way too complicated. I don't like the immunities to specific spells, handing over your HP total, or the things you must and must not do. If you wanted a 2nd edition feel, then I daresay you accomplished it, but Killing Rage has too much that is subjective. What exactly does "cannot take cover from missle attacks" mean? Does that mean he doesn't get a +4 to AC from cover, or does it mean he cannot drope prone or walk behind a wall to avoid being hit by arrows? Killing Rage doesn't make the dwarf a better killer either, just better at getting killed.
second edition role of the battlerager, also subject to change..
Role: He is believed to have been touched by a dwarven deity, and is held in reverence
and fear by his fellows. Madness and irrational behavior are commonly associated with
Battleragers. Many believe that, if killed in battle, Battleragers return to the earth, to be reborn
with more power. Therefore they have no fear of death.
While there is no Battlerager Guild, they tend to band together and occupy outlying sections
of strongholds. They are given to drinking, rowdy and boisterous singing, and drunken dancing.
Others prefer not to socialize with Battleragers if possible. They are quick to anger and will
avenge any insult with a battle axe.
In war Battleragers come into their own. Groups, and even individuals, will charge ahead of
the military to attack the enemy with no regard for their own safety.
In a campaign, Battleragers are dangerous not only to others but to themselves. Battleragers
players must be reckless, never weighing the odds. They are argumentative, coarse, and
definitely not diplomats! "If it moves, kill it!" is the likely response of a Battlerager. Most of them
live short, often glorious, lives.
The concept of a dwarven rager is great, but I'm not on board with your substitution for Rage. Your Killing Rage is way too complicated. I don't like the immunities to specific spells, handing over your HP total, or the things you must and must not do. If you wanted a 2nd edition feel, then I daresay you accomplished it, but Killing Rage has too much that is subjective. What exactly does "cannot take cover from missle attacks" mean? Does that mean he doesn't get a +4 to AC from cover, or does it mean he cannot drope prone or walk behind a wall to avoid being hit by arrows? Killing Rage doesn't make the dwarf a better killer either, just better at getting killed.
as far as "unable to take cover from missile attacks," he wouldn't be able to hide behind walls and such, if he has a shield he gets his normal ac bonus, but cant cower behind it, he is raging and that's a down side to the rage. dodging and rolling is not considered taking cover. deflect arrows would still work because he is not taking cover and what not. darn near everything I posted was from second edition, however I added the rage powers from pathfinder which may be removed or substituted for feats. as far as the spell immunities, they are subjective because this is just a draft, and I am open to changes to the whole thing. that's why I am posting this, to see if its even feesible, that's why its an archtype suggestion.
one person liking the idea and not being very helpful in fixing or making suggestions to make it work, need more input please. please help.
The write up is too long and too open to interpretation.
1) You lowered the bonus to ability scores. Or, are these in addition to the standard +4? Also, is the +2 hp per level because of the con bonus or are they in addition to it?
2) Immunities are a pretty big thing, particularly at 1st level. I notice that most of the spells are Will save. Does a bonus to will saves not cover these? The vulnerability to one specific spell has no place. And thematically I see no sense in giving a barbarian vulnerability to a fort based spell.
3) There are no punching and wrestling rules, nor are there KO rules. Perhaps you want a resistance of some kind to non-lethal damage?
4) DM control of hp. I say no primarily because I see no purpose in additional paperwork for the GM, and because I see it as unneeded GM control over a player's character.
5) He must attack an enemy whenever possible. What happens if he does not? Does the GM control him?
6) No cover from missile attacks. What happens if a low wall is between the barbarian and an archer? Is the attack penalty ignored? If you mean that he MAY not take cover from them, how is that enforced? is there a penalty? Does the Gm take control of the character?
7) Might attack allies. Too messy. This has been tried in the past. Nothing drives a group apart like in-party kills, and this is what you're asking for.
8) Delayed effect of healing spells. Hello dead, I'm here. As with the spell immunity, a save bonus would be more appropriate. Look at the barbarian's superstitious rage power. It might assist your intention.
9) What is a taunt? This is not a standard mechanic in pathfinder, but rather an ability available to specific characters and creatures.
Overall, it seems like the penalties vastly outweigh the benefits. This barbarian variant doesn't actually seem any better at killing things - just better at dying.
The write up is too long and too open to interpretation.
1) You lowered the bonus to ability scores. Or, are these in addition to the standard +4? Also, is the +2 hp per level because of the con bonus or are they in addition to it?
2) Immunities are a pretty big thing, particularly at 1st level. I notice that most of the spells are Will save. Does a bonus to will saves not cover these? The vulnerability to one specific spell has no place. And thematically I see no sense in giving a barbarian vulnerability to a fort based spell.
3) There are no punching and wrestling rules, nor are there KO rules. Perhaps you want a resistance of some kind to non-lethal damage?
4) DM control of hp. I say no primarily because I see no purpose in additional paperwork for the GM, and because I see it as unneeded GM control over a player's character.
5) He must attack an enemy whenever possible. What happens if he does not? Does the GM control him?
6) No cover from missile attacks. What happens if a low wall is between the barbarian and an archer? Is the attack penalty ignored? If you mean that he MAY not take cover from them, how is that enforced? is there a penalty? Does the Gm take control of the character?
7) Might attack allies. Too messy. This has been tried in the past. Nothing drives a group apart like in-party kills, and this is what you're asking for.
8) Delayed effect of healing spells. Hello dead, I'm here. As with the spell immunity, a save bonus would be more appropriate. Look at the barbarian's superstitious rage power. It might assist your intention.
9) What is a taunt? This is not a standard mechanic in pathfinder, but rather an ability available to specific characters and creatures.
Overall, it seems like the penalties vastly outweigh the benefits. This barbarian variant doesn't actually seem any better at killing things - just better at dying.
yes its long and yes open to interpretation, there has been a lot of talk on other boards about this type of character class, but no one has written up a class, so here is my attempt at it. I am not a power gamer and I want a balanced rager that is fun to play, but also a hinderance in some cases. I am not an expert in the rules as written or rules as intended.
1....the lowered ability scores were to off set the longer rage times, yes I know some encounters can last as short as 4 rounds, but I also have been in games where the encounters last for 20 or more rounds, a standard barbarian would run out of rages by that time, the battlerager wouldn't, but the recovery time would be a long time...2.... I can see a bonus to saves versus spells and what not, I do think that some types of spells would be a higher save bonus.
3.... punching and wrestling rules, yes that's 2nd and 3.X rules, so I guess that's out of the equation, changing damage from non leathal damage I can understand and agree with, however the grapple attempts, pinning and such, would I guess have a higher resistance or saves vs that type.
4.... the gm only controls the HP total, and amount of damage taken. the GM wouldn't control the PC in any other aspect.
5.... yes he must attack the nearest enemy, if not with in range, he must advance and attack the nearest enemy. the rager is an offensive character and in the description, you MUST be reckless (march 23 2013 0639 pm)
6.... cannot take cover from missle attacks... shield bonus still applies, dodge still applies, deflect arrows still applies, snatch arrow can apply, low walls, you gain concealment as applicable but you cannot take cover from missle attacks, example... your in melee attacking a creature in front of you and an archer rounds a corner and takes a shot at you, there is a low wall between you and the archer, you gain the bonus for being harder to hit because of the wall or the archer gets a miss chance because of the wall. the rager cannot cower behind the wall (RECKLESS) and when the creature in front of him falls, the rager hops the wall and charges the archer (RECKLESS).
7... might attack allies, the rager would get a save each round to come out of rage when attacking allies or something like that, more than one rager has been killed because he couldn't make his saves when attacking allies. hence he can be a hindrance rather than a benefit. part of the roleplaying and tactics of the rager.
8... delaying of healing powers and such, instead of cure critical wounds working on him during the heat of battle, he could gain fast healing X where X is the spell level {ie. cure light wounds = fast healing 1 for the total of healing, (1d8+1 lets just say max healing, fast healing 1 for 9 rounds, if he comes out of rage, either the remaining power hits right away or dissipates, still open for debate)}
9... taunting, what is it, is it a skill (BLUFF, intimidate), simple words spoken in the heat of the moment (you son of a half kobold), mooning a character to get his attention (BRAVEHEART), enemy allies taunt the rager to keep him away from their cleric or wizard, just a few off the top of my head.
overall, this class may seem to have more penalties than bonuses, but its like trying to play a kobold fighter, a -4 to STR is a major hindrance to the fighter class. doesn't mean it cant be a fun class to play, and try to develop. more help and maybe a rewrite to help it evolve.