So I found this book at my local Half Price Books, and if you aren't aware, its a book full of random tables that allow you to make backstories for characters and NPCs for GURPS and DnD (with some leeway in the wording) and I've made some interesting characters with it.
Since my friend has a new game coming up I want to draw up a class I don't normally play, Paladin and with his permission I used the book to roll up a random backstory and hoped to get a few quirks... and maybe some sweet bonuses. Here's what I got:
From a Noble family, -1 on survival checks
Born with a curse: Berserk Curse [see below]
At age 4: became apprentice to a bard: +2 to Perform (singing)
At age 5: Child is prodigy: +6 Craft(Paintings)
At age 8: learns an usual skill: Swordplay (interpreted as free sword proficiency)
Age 10: Apprentices as poet.
age 12: 2 Tragedies: character is banned from writing poems/painting in his home town and all his works are destroyed. Lost favorite item. (I haven't come up with the details of WHY this happened yet)
age 13: Character has a Religious Experience. He joins the Shelyn church. His level of faith is 'all-consuming' and begins the path of a paladin.
Here's the part that made me even consider posting this: The details of the berserk curse. I won't write it word for word, but here's the jist of it:
roll 1d100 vs a DC 1d10
Make the above check at:
-the start of combat,
-Each time you are injured,
-Each time a companion is wounded or killed
-Each time you or a companion is insulted in combat.
If you fail, you enter a berserk state and will actively engage all enemies present with these effects:
-Current HP is doubled (temporary)
-All damage is set aside for when the curse ends (wherein your HP returns to normal and you suffer all the damage received at once)
-Immune to all mind-affecting spells/effects
-All attacks increased by 1d4 +1
-30% chance to attack adjacent allies.
-Character will not use shields or dodging skills of any kind.
This state lasts for 1d6 rounds after all foes are dispatched.
Character is afterward depressed due his unnatural rage, all skill ranks reduced to 50% potency for 1d10 days.
Thankfully the book does state you do not intentionally attack allies, but I'd like to hear more veteran player's thoughts on these mechanics. The book is not strictly D20, and states it needs to be altered to fit the game mechanics of Pathfinder/DnD here and there. Maybe it should be tweaked?
Would this make a paladin of Shelyn completely unplayable?
Central casting is a system neutral book. What you ought to do is replace the suggested mechanics with the corresponding mechanics from the game system you play. In this case, rage.