Path of the Battlerager revisited

Story of the Battlerager

Closest to the dark elves, Pwent lowered his head, with its long helmet spike, and impaled one elf through the chest, blasting through the fine mesh of drow armor easily and brutally. The second drow managed to deflect the next battlerager’s charge, turning the helmet spike aside with both his swords. But a mailed fist, the knuckles devilishly spiked with barbed points, caught the drow under the chin and tore a gaping hole in his throat. Fighting for breath, the drow managed to score two nasty hits on his opponent’s back, but those two strikes did little in the face of the flurry launched by the wild-eyed dwarf.

— R.A. Salvatore, Siege of Darkness

 

Description

The close-combat battlerager style meant that all dwarves who practiced it must be immensely strong and durable. Battleragers usually focused only on what they needed to fight and survive; this led to individuals with poor personal hygeine.

Battlerager armor was usually thick and spiked. This armor is incorporated into the fighting style of the battlerager. Most battleragers cover their entire bodies in tattoos and symbols, any skin left bare will be covered in war paint before battle.

Battleragers were known as kuldjargh in their native Dwarvish, which literally translated to axe idiot

Fighting Style

The infamous battlerager fighting style relied on individuals immersing themselves completely into battle, relying only on instinct and aggression.

Once in battle, these dwarves became almost animal-like, their eyes bulged, their teeth ground, and drool flicked from their mouths and beards. Battleragers were taught to use their whole bodies in combat, incorporating their spiked armor, which allowed them to deal fatal blows with a barge, kick, or even headbutt.

Some guilds of battleragers took to riding dire boars into battle.

Dwarven Upkeep

Dwarven Upkeep

At 3rd level, you learn the mending cantrip as barbarian cantrip. Constitution is your spellcasting ability for this cantrip.

Restriction: Dwarves Only

Only dwarves can follow the Path of the Battlerager. The battlerager fills a particular niche in dwarven society and culture.

Your DM can lift this restriction to better suit the campaign. The restriction exists for the Forgotten Realms. It might not apply to your DM’s setting or your DM’s version of the Realms.

Battlerager Armor

Battlerager Armor

At 3rd level, you gain the rare medium armor known as "Spiked Armor." You gain a special version of a chain shirt or scale mail that was modified into spiked armor. You are proficient in spiked armor as an exotic melee weapon. If you hit with your spiked armor, you deal 1d6 + your Strength modifier piercing damage to the target.

 

While raging in spiked armor, you can use your bonus action on each of your turns to make one attack with your spiked armor. In addition, any creatures you successfully grapple and creatures that successfully grapples you takes damage from your spiked armor equal to your Strength modifier.

 

Once per long rest, you can modify any medium armor to become spiked armor. You need 50 gp in raw materials and a skill check using Smith’s Tools. Any armor that becomes spiked armor causes it to weigh 5 pounds more. If the armor is magical, then the gold required is increased by 50 GP for each rarity level (common to legendary) , and the damage from your spiked armor becomes magical.

Reckless Abandon

Beginning at 6th level, when you use Reckless Attack while raging, you also gain temporary hit points equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1). They vanish if any of them are left when your rage ends.

Battlerager Charge

Beginning at 10th level, you can take the Dash action as a bonus action while you are raging.

Spiked Retribution

Starting at 14th level, when a creature within 5 feet of you hits you with a melee attack, the attacker takes 3 piercing damage if you are raging, aren’t incapacitated, and are wearing spiked armor.