The Quintessential Barbarian
The Quintessential Barbarian cover
| Author | Robert Schwalb |
| Series | Quintessential Series |
| Publisher | Mongoose Publishing |
| Publish date | 2003 |
| Pages | 128 |
| ISBN | 1-903980-92-5 |
| OGL Section 15 | qbbn |
The material below is designated as Open Game Content
Dwarven Berserker
Few indeed are, or even seem, madder and more rabid than a dwarven berserker – these unwashed, greasy, frenzied barbarians are the antithesis of most dwarf clans. They are uncontrollable, irreverent and dangerous. On the other hand, they fight the fights others would decline. They hunt trolls, giants, ogres and other creatures of the giant variety. They spit in the faces of vampires and insanely laugh away the glowering dragon. To say these dwarves are fearless is an understatement. In fact, to call them anything short of raving admits ignorance.
Adventuring: Dwarven berserkers seek the life of combat as many seek respite from labour. These characters never operate with other berserkers, but will find themselves in the company of parties who are unafraid of a little blood and carnage. They see no value to arcane spell users and consider them cowards. Clerics and druids are misguided, but useful. Rogues represent what all berserkers despise: crafty fools having no honour. Bards serve to record the berserker’s deeds and fighters are simply upstarts who are so refined they never want to get their armour dirty.
Roleplaying: Brusque and biting, berserkers have a dark sense of humour. They laugh at death. They never admit pain. Berserkers are as hated as they are valued for their martial prowess. Unfortunately, it seems most do not know the meaning of retreat and consequently die very young.
Benefits: Berserkers are frighteningly violent combatants. As their anger is more accessible than even other barbarians, they may rage an additional time each day. In addition, they are masters of their weapon of choice and receive Weapon Focus as a bonus feat. Finally, in the heat of their rage, they are tougher, gaining an additional 5 temporary Hit Points every time they rage. These hit points are lost at the end of the rage and conform to the rules regarding temporary hit points in SRD.
Penalties: Dwarven berserkers never develop the skills of other barbarians and thus start with (2 + Int modifier) x 4 at first level and gain 2 + Int modifier at every succeeding level. In addition, they have access to only the following as class skills: Climb, Jump and Swim. Finally, Berserkers suffer a -4 competence penalty on Non-Player Character interactions for the purposes of modifying the target’s disposition.
