Non-Raging Barbarian/Berserker as Prestige Class

As a DM personally I find the berserking barbarian of the Player's handbook a bit of a cliche and ultimately fitting only a northman culture (and then only loosely because Berserks were a special class of warrior among the norse, not just barbarians). I just believe that the rage thing, if utilized in every babarian culture (with its warriors being barbarian-class barbarians) leads to a wierd sameness.

Following the class-logic to its ridiculous extreme would lead to Mongol-type, Celtic-type, Norseman-type, jungle savage-type barbarians all raging in battle. This might be fine for some DMs but for me and my players its a bit of a stretch into the ridiculous. This is especially true of situations and setting where there are no "northman" type barbarians but the class is still available in a given setting.

Does anyone have any suggestions that would allow me to replace a barbarian's raging ability with another useful ability that would leave the class equally powerful and distinct?

Plus, is anyone familiar with a berserker prestige class that would turn berserkers into what they were in Norse culture, a presigious society of warriors who where distinctly different from there barbarian kin?


Thanks,

Chris

Dieties and Demigods

There is a berserker class in the D&DG book back with the Norse Pantheon that might be what you are looking for.

I do agree with you that the barbarian in the PHB is a little norse-centric but hey, you can make up something on the fly easy.

Say the mongol type tribesmen all have the mounted archery feat, track and animal empathy with one rank per HD fror free (for horses only). Or, maybe take away the rage and make it an ability to focus thier aim while mounted just change the str bonus to a dex bonus and make the rest the same (minus the AC penaly of course).

Did you have a specific race/type of "barbarians" in mind for conversion? I'd say each one would be specificlly different.

IMC, we rebuilt the Barbarian class a bit to avoid just the problem you've mentioned. Basically, the primal rage sort of ability is just a bit too limiting. STR and CON are all well and good, but the basic Rage is just not a good choice for anyone other than the 2-handed sword brute-force fighter. It typecasts anyone who takes the Barbarian class, and it reduces the multiclass appeal. I'll see Wizard/Barbarian multiclasses, to take advantage of the 1st-level HP and speed increase, but they never use the Rage ability.

Instead, we created the Build-A-Rage System (tm), inspired by an old thread on this board. I think I've posted it here before. Essentially, the player built a "trance" that they could slip into several times a day for increased abilities. For one guy it could be the Barbarian-style "rage" (STR and CON, can't cast spells), for another it could be a Dwarven Defender-style "stance" (lots of physical boosts, can't move), for a third it could be a trance that gives good vision and Evasion but didn't allow you to attack. It fit really well into a shamanistic society; each fighter's trance would be different, and each would identify it with a totem creature.

You'd pick three minor abilities, two minor drawbacks, and one major drawback. The major drawback would never go away, and it'd be "can't cast spells", "can't attack", or "can't move".
Every three levels you'd get to add one new ability or remove one minor drawback, and higher levels unlock better choices for abilities. End result, an always-useful class ability that the player gets to design. IMC, we (the DMs) were very happy with the resulting balance, and the players liked the class a lot more.

You could try something like that. Keep the basic rage concept (short-term ability boost with a big drawback), but get away from the stereotype.

Well, the D&D barbarian class does represent a particular type of warrior that comes from a less civilized culture. That is not to say that all warrior-types from barbaric cultures should be of the barbarian class.

The celts, the norse, some other tribes worldwide could fall into the 'rage barbarian' archetype and thus, the barbarian class. Other, like the huns and the mongols, would be better represented by the ranger class. The universal warriors of most cultures would be, well, warriors or fighters.

Check out the Deadlands d20 Brave class for a different take on the barbarian.