A sort of Barbarian/Paladin homebrew, thoughts?

[Guilt Puppy]

Switched from DMing to playing recently as we started a new campaign... We went for a loosely Norse theme (though it's really a mix of a variety of time periods). I was interested in playing a Paladin (partially because the party was in need of a little extra healing), but we realized that the LG chilvalric hero really didn't fit the more Beowulf tradition we were looking for.

So, using the Barbarian as a base and the Paladin for ideas, this is what I've come up with... DM has approved it but I'd still like to see some thoughts here on balance issues, as well as flavor stuff. Character just hit 8th level, so changes to level 8 and beyond are preferable to ones made earlier.

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Righteous Berserker (totally tentative name... any better ideas?)

HD: d10
BAB: +1/level
Saves: Good Fort, Bad Refl, Bad Will
Skills: As Barbarian
Alignment: Must be chaotic good

Special Abilities by level (* = only applies during rage):
1 Rage 1/day, Lay on Hands
2 Fast Movement*
3
4 Holy Smite*
5 Aura of Courage*
6
7 Rage 2/day
8 Extend Rage +1
9 Smite Undead*
10 Righteous Aura*
11 Divine Grace*
12
13 Rage 3/day
14 Aura of Courage (when not raging)
15 Greater Righteous Aura
16 Extend Rage +2
17 Divine Grace (when not raging)
18
19 Rage 4/day
20 No longer winded after rage, Supreme Righteous Aura

Rage: +4 Str, -2 AC, no access to skills requiring concentration or Expertise. Lasts for 3 rounds + Constitution modifier. At level 8, it lasts for 4 rounds + Con. At level 16, 5 rounds + Con. Further, while raging the Berserker gains access to a variety of special abilities. Fatigue applies as in the Barbarian's Rage, until 20th level, when the Berserker is no longer fatigued.

Lay on Hands: As Paladin

Fast Movement: As Barbarian, except only applies while raging.

Holy Smite: Once per rage, the Berserker may attempt a holy smite. This is as the Paladin's Smite Evil ability, except that the bonus damage is equal to half the character's class level.

Aura of Courage: As Paladin, except only applies while raging. At 14th level, however, this limitation is lifted, and the effect applies at all times.

Smite Undead: While Raging, the Berserker adds his Cha modifier to all damage dealt by attacks upon Undead.

Righteous Aura: When the Berserker flies into a rage, he sends his enemies into a panic. At the start of a Berserker's rage, all evil creatures within 30 feet must make a Will save vs Fear, DC equal to the Berserker's class level plus his Charisma modifier, or become shaken. Mindless undead are still effected by this ability. Creatures with Hit Dice greater than or equal to the Berserker's class level are immune.

Divine Grace: As Paladin, except only applies while raging. At 17th level, however, this limitation is lifted, and the effect applies at all times.

Greater Righteous Aura: As Righteous Aura, except evil creatures of fewer Hit Dice than the Berserker's class level become panicked, and evil creatures of greater or equal Hit Dice are no longer immune, and become shaken.

Supreme Righteous Aura: As Righteous Aura, except creatures of any Hit Dice may be effected, and any creature which fails its save becomes panicked.

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As you can see, I tried to give it its own spin as much as possible (rather than arbitrarily borrowing paladin abilities -- although I did that, some). Biggest difference from Barbarian is that the rages are shorter (because of the missing +4 Con), fewer (times/day progression is slowed), and missing the Will Save bonus, countered by the fact that they open up other special abilities (as such, Greater Rage is not included). Biggest difference from the Paladin is that the various abilities (excepting lay on hands) generally only apply while raging.

Also implicit is a code of conduct equivalent to the Paladin's, although with less concern for law/chaos conflicts. Basically "Do no evil / allow no evil / ignore no evil." Those who fail to follow this code lose the ability to rage, for sure.

To give it its own flavor, though, things such as the Righteous Aura seemed appropriate -- however, it's always tough to gauge the impact of a new ability. Thoughts on this (and some comparison with existing fear effects) are very welcome.

Also, any good ideas for naming this class? (Probably a good term somewhere in Nordic history/mythology, even if we aren't striving for historical accuracy in any sense.)

 

[the Jester]

I like the name and the idea, but it seems a tad powerful. Hard to say. I'd make the code of conduct explicit, and I'm not sure about scaring undead. Also, a lot of the abilities seem to be balanced by being only usable in a rage, but these all seem to eventually overcome this restriction. I'd leave it in.

Remember, one of the paladin's biggest balancing factors comes from his code of conduct, and a LG code will always be more difficult to adhere to than a CG one.

 

[garyh]

Pardon me while I pimp a cool product: Bad Axe Games just released Heroes of High Favor: Half-Orcs. It features a PrC for multiclass brb/pal's called the Fervent Antagonist and is written by ENWorld's own Wulf Ratsbane. It might be worth checking out.

 

[Geoff Watson]

Have a look at the Sohei from Oriental Adventures. It combines some elements of Barbarians and Paladins.

Geoff.

 

[garyh]

Have a look at the Sohei from Oriental Adventures. It combines some elements of Barbarians and Paladins.

Geoff.

Good idea, Geoff, the Sohei could work well, too.

 

[SylverFlame]

Just a thought. I'd reduce the BAB progression a little. And with the Rightous Aura, why not make it like a one shot turn attempt for undead rather than making them shaken or panicked.

You could have the effect the same as turning except that it occurs only on the round the character first rages. It reduces the strength of the skill but doesn't make it useless against one of the classes main enemies since they are divine.

Also, a name suggestion: Spirit Walker.

You could say that the char opens to the spirits/gods when it rages and it adds a religious sort of flavour to the character. Also gives a basis for a code of conduct. "Spirits say its so" could even be a catch phrase.

 

[Guilt Puppy]

Just a thought. I'd reduce the BAB progression a little. And with the Rightous Aura, why not make it like a one shot turn attempt for undead rather than making them shaken or panicked.

You could have the effect the same as turning except that it occurs only on the round the character first rages. It reduces the strength of the skill but doesn't make it useless against one of the classes main enemies since they are divine.

I'd considered that, but it seems like turning undead is more powerful than the save versus Fear (note that the effect only takes place at the start of the Rage, not during).

You could say that the char opens to the spirits/gods when it rages and it adds a religious sort of flavour to the character. Also gives a basis for a code of conduct. "Spirits say its so" could even be a catch phrase.

That's the general idea of the character (it's short of flavor text, as I was mostly interested in getting the mechanics checked out.) Also considering (and will probably go for, as a balancing factor) requiring the character to pray for the ability to Rage at the start of each day. Gamewise it only means no rages in the morning, but for flavor I think it spices it up some (requiring a period of supplicant contemplation in exchange for a few moments of boundless fury, nifty )

I like the name and the idea, but it seems a tad powerful. Hard to say. I'd make the code of conduct explicit, and I'm not sure about scaring undead. Also, a lot of the abilities seem to be balanced by being only usable in a rage, but these all seem to eventually overcome this restriction. I'd leave it in.

Remember, one of the paladin's biggest balancing factors comes from his code of conduct, and a LG code will always be more difficult to adhere to than a CG one.

The scaring undead (and Smite Undead) was to give a bit of the undead-turning of the Paladin, without being quite as powerful...

As for the abilities being balanced by being only-useable-in-rage... Only two of them cease to do this, and they're what I'd consider the most minor ones. My reasoning behind opening them up was because the class was seeming really polarized -- during rage it was better than either the Barbarian or the Paladin by a notch, but outside of rage it's a slim notch about Warrior. The difference of course shows up most at higher levels, as power increases geometrically, so I figured I'd level it out a little more. Aura of Courage IMO is a pretty weak ability (you've got much bigger things than fear effects to worry about at 14th level), and while Divine Grace is admittedly pretty powerful, it's still proportionately small compared to your normal saves by that point.

As for Code of Conduct, I can definitely see the need for defining that more clearly. Probably won't call it "code of conduct" ("way of life" or something instead), as Chaotic characters don't adhere to codes. Will probably make it fairly strict, though (such that even so much as not giving chase to an enemy is enough to lose the abilities)... Considering even disallowing Resurrection for those who died in open battle (which is to say, character who accepts Resurrection loses class abilities until proper atonement, not character can never be resurrected.)

Will write up some changes when I have the time. Thanks for the suggestions, and if anyone has more, let them out!

 

[Tonguez]

Also, a name suggestion: Spirit Walker.

You could say that the char opens to the spirits/gods when it rages and it adds a religious sort of flavour to the character. Also gives a basis for a code of conduct. "Spirits say its so" could even be a catch phrase.

Hey this is how I explained my Paladins of a Barbarous culture too

The 'Spirit-Warrior' is the chosen vehicle of one of the Beast-spirits (Shark, Boar, Crocodile, Giant Eel) that serve as clan war-gods. The Beast-spirit imbues the Warrior with its power in return for which the warrior carries the Spirit into battle allowing it to feed upon the souls of fallen enemies (eg Smite is explained as the Beast-spirit making an attack on the enemies soul)