Berserker

Melee combatant who utilizes rage to increase prowess

A massive wookiee hunter prowls through the forest, hefting his vibroaxe. With a roar he charges at the pair of trandoshans who dared poach his kin.

A gamorrean snarls at the latest challenger to his authority over their savage tribe, ready to break his neck with his bare hands as he did to the last six rivals.

Frothing at the mouth, a nikto slams his helmet into the face of his foe, then turns to drive his armored elbow into the gut of another.

These berserkers, different as they might be, are defined by their rage: unbridled, unquenchable, and unthinking fury. More than a mere emotion, their anger is the ferocity of a cornered predator, the unrelenting assault of a storm, the churning turmoil of the sea. For every berserker, rage is a power that fuels not just a battle frenzy but also uncanny reflexes, resilience, and feats of strength.

Primal Instinct

People of towns and cities take pride in how their civilized ways set them apart from animals, as if denying one's own nature was a mark of superiority. To a berserker, though, civilization is no virtue, but a sign of weakness. The strong embrace their animal nature keen instincts, primal physicality, and ferocious rage. Berserkers are uncomfortable when hedged in by walls and crowds. They thrive where the civilized don't.

Berserkers come alive in the chaos of combat. They can enter a berserk state where rage takes over, giving them superhuman strength and resilience. A berserker can draw on this reservoir of fury only a few times without resting, but those few rages are usually sufficient to defeat whatever threats arise.

A Life of Danger

Not every person deemed "berserkers" by scions of civilized society has the berserker class. A true berserker among these people is as uncommon as a skilled fighter in a town, and he or she plays a similar role as a protector of the people and a leader in times of war. Life in the wild places of the world is fraught with peril: rival tribes, deadly weather, and terrifying monsters. Berserkers charge headlong into that danger so that their people don't have to.

Their courage in the face of danger makes berserkers perfectly suited for adventuring. Wandering is often a way of life for their native tribes, and the rootless life of the adventurer is little hardship for a berserker. Some berserkers miss the close-knit family structures of the tribe, but eventually find them replaced by the bonds formed among the members of their adventuring parties.

Rage

Berserker: 1st level In battle, you fight with primal ferocity. On your turn, you can enter a rage as a bonus action if you aren't wearing heavy armor.

While raging, you gain the following benefits:

• You have advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws.
• When you make a melee weapon attack using Strength, you gain a bonus to the damage roll that increases as you gain levels as a berserker, as shown in the Rage Damage column of the berserker table.
• You have resistance to kinetic and energy damage.

If you are able to cast powers, you can't cast them or concentrate on them while raging.

Your rage lasts for 1 minute. It ends early if you are knocked unconscious, you don heavy armor, or if your turn ends and you haven't taken a hostile action or taken damage since your last turn. You can also end your rage on your turn as a bonus action.

You can enter a rage a number of times as shown in the Rages column of the berserker table. You regain all expended uses when you complete a long rest.

Unarmored Defense

Berserker: 1st level While you are not wearing any armor, your Armor Class equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Constitution modifier. You can use a shield and still gain this benefit.

Reckless Attack

Berserker: 2nd level You can throw aside all concern for defense to attack with fierce desperation. When you make your first attack on your turn, you can decide to attack recklessly. Doing so gives you advantage on melee weapon attack rolls using Strength during this turn, but attack rolls against you have advantage until your next turn.

Berserker Instincts

Berserker: 2nd level You've honed two instincts, as detailed at the end of the class description, and you hone more at higher levels, as shown in the Berserker Instincts column of the berserker table.

Danger Sense

Berserker: 3rd level You gain an uncanny sense of when things nearby aren't as they should be, giving you an edge when you dodge away from danger. You have advantage on Dexterity saving throws against effects that you can see, such as traps and powers. To gain this benefit, you can't be blinded, deafened, or incapacitated.

Berserker Approach

Berserker: 3rd, 6th, 10th, and 14th level You choose an approach that shapes the nature of your rage which is detailed at the end of the class description.

Ability Score Improvement

Berserker: 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level You can increase one ability score by 2, or you can increase two ability scores by 1. You can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Extra Attack

Berserker: 5th level You can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Feral Impulse

Berserker: 7th level Your instincts are so honed that you have advantage on initiative checks.

Additionally, if you are surprised at the start of combat and aren't incapacitated, you can act normally on your first turn, but only if you enter your rage before doing anything else on that turn.

Brutal Critical

Berserker: 9th, 13th, and 17th level You can roll one additional weapon damage die when determining the extra damage for a critical hit with a melee attack.

This increases to two additional dice at 13th level and three additional dice at 17th level.

Relentless Rage

Berserker: 11th level Your rage can keep you fighting despite grievous wounds. If you drop to 0 hit points while you're raging and don't die outright, you can make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. If you succeed, you drop to 1 hit point instead. Each time you use this feature after the first, the DC increases by 5. When you finish a short or long rest, the DC resets to 10.

Persistent Rage

Berserker: 15th level Your rage is so fierce that it ends early only if you fall unconscious or if you choose to end it.

Indomitable Might

Berserker: 18th level If your total for a Strength check is less than your Strength score, you can use that score in place of the total.

Primal Champion

Berserker: 20th level You embody the power of the wilds. Your Strength or Dexterity score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 2. Your maximum for those scores increases by 2.

Additionally, you can enter rage an unlimited number of times, and entering rage no longer requires your bonus action on your turn.

Berserker Instincts

The instincts are presented in alphabetical order.

Acklay's Instinct

While raging, you have advantage on Constitution saving throws.

Bantha's Instinct

Prerequisite: 7th level Your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift doubles. If it would already double, it instead triples. Additionally, you have advantage on Strength checks made to push, pull, lift, or break objects.

Blurrg's Instinct

Whether mounted or on foot, your travel pace is doubled, as is the travel pace of up to ten companions while they're within 60 feet of you and you're not incapacitated.

Boggdo's Instinct

Prerequisite: 13th level While raging you have a flying speed equal to your current walking speed, though you fall if you end your turn in the air and nothing else is holding you aloft.

Chirodactyl's Instinct

Prerequisite: 7th level While raging, you have blindsight to a range of 30 feet, and you have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sound, as long as you aren't deafened.

Dewback's Instinct

Choose three damage types other than true damage. While raging, you have resistance to the chosen damage types.

Fighter's Instinct

You adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the Fighting Style options, detailed in Chapter 6.

Fyrnock's Instinct

While raging, you can use your bonus action to leap up to 30 feet to an empty space you can see. When you land you deal kinetic damage equal to your Strength modifier to each creature within 5 feet of where you land. You can use this feature twice. You gain an additional use at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th level. You regain all expended uses when you complete a long rest.

Hawk's Instinct

Prerequisite: 7th level You can see up to 1 mile away with no difficulty. You are able to discern even fine details as though looking at something no more than 100 feet away from you. Additionally, dim light doesn't impose disadvantage on your Wisdom (Perception) checks.

Katarn's Instinct

You gain a climbing speed equal to your movement speed.

Loth-cat's Instinct

While you're raging, other creatures have disadvantage on opportunity attack rolls against you, and you can take the Dash action as a bonus action on your turn.

Predator's Instinct

Your speed increases by 10 feet.

Rancor's Instinct

Prerequisite: 13th level While you're raging any creature within 5 feet of you that's hostile to you has disadvantage on attack rolls against targets other than you or another character with this feature. An enemy is immune to this effect if it can't see or hear you or if it can't be frightened.

Tactician's Instinct

When you use your Reckless Attack feature, you can choose to not have advantage on your attack rolls this turn. If you do so, friendly creatures within 5 feet of a hostile creature that is within 5 feet of you have advantage on attack rolls against that creature.

Tracker's Instinct

Prerequisite: 7th level You can track other creatures while traveling at a fast pace, and you can move stealthily while traveling at a normal pace.

Terentatek's Instinct

Prerequisite: 13th level When you are forced to make a saving throw against a force power, you can immediately use your reaction to move up to half your speed towards the source power's caster. If you end this movement within 5 feet of the target, you can immediately make one melee weapon attack against the target as a part of that reaction.

Varactyl's Instinct

Prerequisite: 13th level While raging, you have advantage on Dexterity checks, your attack rolls can't suffer from disadvantage, and each slowed level only reduces your speed by 5 feet, unless it would reduce your speed to 0.

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