War-FrenzySource:
https://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/stf/78 "Take this! My love! My anger! And all of my sorrow! HRAARGHH!"-Domon, war-frenzy of Fury
Every man alive knows the rush of emotion, the single moments in which nothing else seems to matter but oneself and the object of one's love, hate, or fear. To some cultures, these are the moments of exaltation, temporary shards of enlightenment in which everything is seen clearly, unobstructed by stray thoughts. In others, this purity of passion speaks of the divine, the sacred war-fury bestowed by the gods to their chosen. As with all things, there are those who take this to its extreme: warriors who intentionally work themselves into prolonged trances of such pristine emotion, a state of mind so intensely focused that all other thought processes are filtered through the looking-glass of the emotion in question.
To anyone else, such a state of mind is nothing but inconceivable madness. To the War-Frenzy, it is the most sublime enlightenment possible, an emotion of such strength that it actually physically and mentally empowers them far beyond the bounds of humanity.
MAKING A WAR-FRENZY War-Frenzies are, without exception, larger than life. They live and breathe their passion, leaving observers dumbfounded at their intensity and conviction. Each War-Frenzy internalizes an emotion, fanning it to tremendous heights, sufficient to seize the hearts and souls of their friends and foes alike. As warriors, they are natural field leaders, taking the fight to the enemy, with primal ferocity overruling strategies.
The War-Frenzy traditionally comes from cultures which glorify such fits of passion, most frequently from primitive cultures, but also as devotees of gods of war, fury and passion alike. Indeed, many particularly devoted knights also count War-Frenzies among their number. No formal training is required, only dedication, for the burning passions and terrors they rouse lie in the heart of every man and beast.
Abilities: The War-Frenzy is primarily a martial character, and thus has Strength or Dexterity as their primary ability score, depending on their choice of fighting style, as encouraged by their particular type of madness. Secondary ability scores are divided between Constitution and Charisma.
Constitution is important for hit points, as in addition to being likely to recieve damage as a frontliner, terminating a trance inflicts subdual damage upon the War-Frenzy, which makes it more convenient if they can avoid knocking themselves out.
Charisma, on the other hand, governs the War-Frenzy's save DCs, as well as their significant social skill access.
Races: Any. War-Frenzies infrequently stem from more straitlaced cultures, but anyone can tap into the madness within.
Alignment: Any, except those embracing the Madness of Chaos can't be Lawful, and Chaotic characters cannot choose the Madness of Order.
Starting Gold: 5d4x10(125 gp)
Starting Age: As Barbarian.
Class SkillsThe War-Frenzy's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Autohypnosis (Wis), Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (all) (Cha), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex)
Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + int)x4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + int
Hit Dice: d12
Level | Base Attack Bonus | Fort Save | Ref Save | Will Save | Special |
1st | +1 | +2 | +0 | +0 | Madness I |
2nd | +2 | +3 | +0 | +0 | Damage Reduction |
3rd | +3 | +4 | +1 | +1 | Beast Totem I |
4th | +4 | +4 | +1 | +1 | Hardy |
5th | +5 | +4 | +1 | +1 | Madness II |
6th | +6/+1 | +5 | +2 | +2 | Uncanny Dodge |
7th | +7/+2 | +5 | +2 | +2 | Beast Totem II |
8th | +8/+3 | +6 | +2 | +2 | Share Madness |
9th | +9/+4 | +6 | +3 | +3 | Madness III |
10th | +10/+5 | +7 | +3 | +3 | Mettle |
11th | +11/+6/+1 | +7 | +3 | +3 | Beast Totem III |
12th | +12/+7/+2 | +8 | +4 | +4 | Pure Mind |
13th | +13/+8/+3 | +8 | +4 | +4 | Madness IV |
14th | +14/+9/+4 | +9 | +4 | +4 | Improved Uncanny Dodge |
15th | +15/+10/+5 | +9 | +5 | +5 | Beast Totem IV |
16th | +16/+11/+6/+1 | +10 | +5 | +5 | Sanguine Vitality |
17th | +17/+12/+7/+2 | +10 | +5 | +5 | Madness V |
18th | +18/+13/+8/+3 | +11 | +6 | +6 | Desperate Surge |
19th | +19/+14/+9/+4 | +11 | +6 | +6 | Beast Totem V |
20th | +20/+15/+10/+5 | +12 | +6 | +6 | True Clarity |
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: The War-Frenzy is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, as well as light armor, medium armor and shields.
He is also proficient with one exotic weapon, exotic armor, exotic shield or improvised weapons. If he chooses improvised weapons, he never takes a nonproficiency penalty for using any improvised weapon.
His choice of additional proficiency is made at his first level of War-Frenzy, and cannot be changed.
Madness: As a swift action, a war-frenzy can work themselves into a trance that lasts until the end of the encounter if activated during an encounter, or for a number of minutes equal to her class level if activated outside of an encounter. At first level, choose one of the Madness types outlined below and in post 3; this choice cannot be changed later. While in a trance, the character gains access to all the bonuses and abilities appropriate to her Madness and level, but the intense focus of emotion necessary for entering and maintaining a trance prevents her from readying actions or delaying her turn (she can still make attacks of opportunity as normal). A trance can be ended at any point as a free action. At the end of any trance, the character takes nonlethal damage equal to her character level.
As a swift action, the war-frenzy can force her madness to surge out of control for one round. While in this state, referred to as a surge, all numerical bonuses the first-level Madness ability grants (such as bonuses to attack rolls or bonus attacks of opportunity, but not benefits of feats) are doubled. At the start of her next turn after entering a surge, the trance ends, and she suffers additional drawbacks (typically in the form of conditions), the effects of which are detailed in the individual Madness entries. These apply regardless of whether the trance ended normally at the start of the character's turn or was ended prematurely, voluntarily or involuntarily. Conditions acquired this way are self-inflicted and cannot be prevented by any means, not even immunity, though they can be cured as normal.
The available Madnesses are detailed in post 3 (
http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=5550.msg80188#msg80188). They are Desire, Despair, Duty, Fear, Fury, and Joy.
Damage Reduction (Ex): At level 2, a war-frenzy gains damage reduction 2/-.
Beast Totem: At level 3, choose a Totem from the list of Totems outlined below and in post 4. At the appropriate levels, the character gains the abilities granted by the totem.
The available Totems are detailed in post 4 (
http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=5550.msg80189#msg80189). They are Cat's Eye, Dragon, Horned Beast, Land Titan, Little Trickster, Pack Hunter, Storm Runner, and Winged Death.
Hardy (Ex): At level 4, a war-frenzy gains a +4 natural armor bonus to AC. This stacks with any extant natural armor she may have.
Uncanny Dodge (Ex): At 6th level, a war-frenzy gains Uncanny Dodge, as the
barbarian class feature.
Share Madness (Su): At 8th level, a war-frenzy gains the ability to mentally share her trance with her allies. While in a trance, willing allies within 30 feet of her gain half the numerical bonuses she gets from her first-level Madness ability as morale bonuses. At the end of the trance, affected allies take nonlethal damage equal to their respective hit dice. If the war-frenzy enters a surge, affected allies may choose to enter a surge as well, doubling the bonuses they gain just as she does, but if they do, they suffer the drawbacks as well when the trance ends. Allies that choose to not have their bonuses doubled lose those bonuses at the end of the trance as normal, but do not suffer from the drawbacks.
Mettle (Ex): At level 10, the war-frenzy gains the Mettle ability, as the crusader class feature.
Pure Mind (Ex): Starting at level 12, a war-frenzy gains a second chance against any enchantment spell that would affect her, as the
rogue special ability Slippery Mind.
Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex): At level 14, a war-frenzy gains the Improved Uncanny Dodge ability, as the
barbarian class feature.
Sanguine Vitality (Ex): Starting at level 16, the war-frenzy counts every minute in which she does not engage in strenuous activity as a full night's rest for purposes of healing hit point and ability damage and may recover one temporary negative level per minute without need for a Fort save. For purposes of this ability, strenuous activity is defined as any action that would cause a Disabled character to lose a hit point (including any standard action and some lesser actions). If the character actually rests (defined as sleeping or else refraining from any moderately demanding activity), she instead treats each minute as a full day of complete bed rest and may recover two negative levels per minute.
Desperate Surge (Ex): Once per day, when she would die or be reduced to -1 hit points or less, a war-frenzy of 18th level or higher can heal herself as if a Revivify spell and a Heal spell with caster level equal to her HD had been cast on her as an immediate action.
True Clarity: At level 20, the war-frenzy gains one final ability from her Madness. These are described in each individual Madness, under the header
True Clarity.
PLAYING A WAR-FRENZY War-Frenzies have two main class features that determine their specializations: a type of Madness and a Totem, which grant a burst of power and permanent enhancements respectively. Madnesses augment at least one skill each, in addition to bolstering a style of combat, while Totems further expand these capabilities.
Additionally, they possess an extensive list of class skills, though not many skill points or high Int to work with. Depending on their choice of Madness and Totem, they would be competent at several of movement skills, social skills or stealth.
The War-Frenzy is thus a primarily martial character, and would best solve problems by the application of force, but can bring a number of skills to bear, if not as broad a selection as skill-focused characters.
Combat: War-Frenzy tactics vary dramatically by their choice of Madness and Totem, as each promotes a particular combat style. However, universally, the War-Frenzy will enter a trance at the start of combat in order to take advantage of the class's primary feature. Below, each type of Trance and Totem is described.
Madness Despair - A defensive form, the Madness of Despair greatly augments your defensive metrics, whether against status effects or damage. This is also one of the riskier trances, as while you gain a large number of hit points, if there is insufficient healing available after combat, you are liable to die from damage. Tactically, you place yourself close to allies, and absorb much more attacks than they can, while passively depleting your enemies offense. It can be worthwhile to become proficient in heavier armors and/or wield a shield to take even more advantage of attack interception.
Duty - The Madness of Duty is all about teamwork, and attacks of opportunity. Surround and chip at enemies with strike after strike. It would be well to gather allies who can take advantage of flanking effectively, particularly rogues or even other frenzies of Duty.
Fear - The Madness of Fear works by attacking from ambush. You will rapidly mitigate the penalties for sniping enemies and inflict fear effects with missile attacks. As damage is derived off the base ranged attack and extra attacks, you would want to raise these as much as you can.
Fury - The archetypal barbarian, the Madness of Fury excels in hitting extremely hard, and taking advantage of combat maneuvers. This, of course, means favoring a large two-handed weapon, along with feats that improve a combat maneuver type of your choice, particularly tripping and grappling. Finally, the Surge for Fury grants an immense amount of strength, allowing for truly devastating finishing blows...if you hit, of course.
Joy - The Madness of Joy makes use of extreme mobility, using hit and run tactics to maximum effect. As such, a focus on Tumble and wielding reach weapons is invaluable in minmizing exposure to AoOs, while using lighter armors to maximize movement. Your base speed will be significantly greater than anyone not using magical enhancements, and you can thus make use of it to strike past the front line.
Totems Cat's Eye - Cats are ambush predators, and their capabilities reflect that. They make use of uneven visibility and mobility conditions to strike hard, fast and withdraw before the victim can react. Two-weapon fighting and natural weapons alike are preferred styles of felines.
Horned Beast - Bull-headed doesn't even begin to describe it. The Horned Beast is the quintessential charger, and with a sufficiently thick head, you don't even need a weapon to do it.
Land Titan - Large and in charge is the name of the game for the Land Titan; they fight by hitting harder than anyone, and withstanding more blows than anyone. They funnel enemies to them, the better to crush them more swiftly.
Little Trickster - The Little Trickster seeks victory through lies, illusion and misdirection. While lacking in direct offensive capabilities, the havoc caused by an abundance of illusions cannot be underestimated. As such, most Little Tricksters favor Madnesses which allow them to maintain a distance, taking maximum advantage of the resultant confusion.
Pack Hunter - Pack Hunters are team players, rewarding particularly varied skill sets to cover each others gaps, they tend to fight in close formations. It works particularly well with stealth tactics, ensuring that everyone has at least minimum competency rather than forcing one scout to strike out alone.
Storm Runner - Your steed is your brother and closest ally, so you fight as one. Archery and mounted charges are your primary talents, keeping away or closing the distance as you choose.
Winged Death - Death from the sky is their credo; Winged Deaths command the air, using a mixture of melee and close range missile combat to dominate. Whether you choose to take advantage of heightened mobility and remain out of reach, or take the melee to your foes wherever they go, this totem will support those capabilities.
Advancement: War-Frenzies have two main choices in their type of Madness and Totem; once determined, this sets the way for the rest of the class.
While most characters that choose this path will remain War-Frenzies all the way, the abilities granted are easily compatible with a variety of martial class types, especially martial adepts.
Additionally, prestige classes that improve Rage will also improve the benefits of a Trance (see post 5).
Resources: A lone War-Frenzy without a cultural or religious tradition backing him up has nothing to rely on but his wits and personal allies. Those belonging to a warrior caste, however, can expect free access to food and healing where available.
WAR-FRENZIES IN THE WORLD"Is he possessed?"-Spectator
War-Frenzies inspire awe and no small amount of unease in strangers. The idea of someone wholly hurling themselves to the depths of emotion scares those who cannot concieve of letting go of their restraint. They lead, as the ones who dare to strive beyond the possible.
In many cultures they hold respected positions as warriors and shock troops, striking first and foremost. Faiths of passion, war, vengeance or even devotion and honor count them among the faithful, those who take their deities' teachings beyond all reason.
They tend to be bound by their honor, powerfully passionate people who find it difficult to do otherwise. To openly lie or betray is to betray their burning conviction. This is not to say they are not without guile, for many are indeed nothing but trickery, but liars and traitors are rarely driven by such powerful passions.
Daily Life: Most War-Frenzies live like they fight, riding their emotions like a rampaging dinosaur. They infect their very mannerisms and actions with a large dose of grandstanding. Those of Fear and Despair instead withdraw inwards, dragging others into the same pits of gloom and doom. For anyone observing, it would not take long for their presence to become noticable.
A smaller number
master their emotions instead of letting them rampage freely. These rare ones understand full well the power of their passions, which is all the more reason they should choose and act dispassionately, unleashing the beast only after the course is set by a clear mind and soul. The dichotomy can cause them to be even more unnerving than their compatriots who wear their hearts on their sleeves. They are calm and tranquil like the open sea...only when you plumb the depths do you appreciate the forces beneath the surface.
Notables:
Lifaash Whitaris NG Human, Cat's Eye War-Frenzy of Joy 7. Heir to House Whitaris, Lifaash is a devotee of the goddess of celebration. She is best known socially for regularly throwing wild parties, but when the need arises, she stalks the night to take care of crime with another kind of celebration.
Jarl Garth Wyrmjaw CE Gnome, Land Titan War-Frenzy of Fury 11. Garth won his way from slavery into leading the frost giant tribe that took and abused him. He makes up for his natural size with sheer ferocity, infamously ripping off the previous leader's lower jaw as his weapon of choice and slaying all challengers, winning his epithet in the process. He leads this tribe in a bloody war against their own kind, in pursuit of revenge for his own fate.
Organizations: Few organizations are entirely dedicated to War-Frenzies, but many take advantage of their membership. Amongst these are the churches of Heironieous and Hextor, which contain a fair number in their lay followers, not entirely graced by the divine but making up for it and more with their devotion. Many of these come to their calling later in life, finding true loyalty and passion in times of hardship.
Gods of love, wrath, vengeance and other great passions also count War-Frenzies within their armed branches, or rather, worshippers who turned their devotion into a force of arms. These usually share similar types of madness, in which they find the sacred trance to motivate themselves.
Tribal warrior lodges also contain an overwhelming number of War-Frenzies, often grouped under common lodge totems. For them, it is a rite of passage to be inducted, and they are trained since youth to fall into the battle madness without losing themselves.
Finally, organized militaries, royalty and nobility tend to contain a fair number of War-Frenzies, particularly those with extremes of patriotism. These tend to form the centerpieces of specialized units, but less commonly used as ordinary foot, with the War-Frenzy finding it difficult to maintain formation while holding their passions at a riot.
NPC Reaction Mood swings, fits of wrath, mania. Civilized society finds such a loss of restraint and decorum, exposing their feelings for the world to see, barbaric yet strangely compelling. People wish they could be like you, acting on what they WANT to do rather than what they are expected to. Law enforcement gives you strange looks because you exhibit all the signs of a potential criminal, yet control your emotion like a chained lion, to strike where YOU choose rather than lash out randomly. You catch their eyes, steal their hearts, and upset the public order.
Elsewhere, in frontier lands and warrior cultures, your might and decisiveness earns you respect from others. Even enemies acknowledge your dedication, even as they fear and hate you. You are the one who would forge kingdoms out of the wilderness, to unite people who have never been.
WAR-FRENZIES IN THE GAME War-Frenzies add a large serving of front-line leadership to any group they are in. While they, and anyone they augment, may be limited in their ability to make effective use of adjusting initiative, they also make a variety of nonstandard fighting styles more applicable and a coordinated Surge can rip through enemy defenses in a high risk finishing move.
However, they make parties containig them value condition removal and post-combat healing more, due to the side effects of their trances, particularly when shared and surged.
Each War-Frenzy also helps supplement the party's skill expert, with capabilities in physical and social skills, whether to overcome physical obstacles, join in coordinated scouting, efforts, or sway people to their wills.
Adaptation: The War-Frenzy is inherently a flexible class, representing the Viking Berserkergang and the Japanese Samurai with similar ease. As such, it can natively fit into most settings without major changes.
Madnesses can be expanded to encompass more specific emotions than the broad sweeping ones used here.
The Totems of the War-Frenzy, while reflecting archetypical beasts, can also be renamed freely to match such things as the elements, weather, tools, environments or even gods, as appropriate to the setting.
Adding new Totems and Madnesses can also help them fit into particular roles in setting more easily, though care should be taken that each Madness describes a particular style of combat, and that they should adhere to the power scale and flexibility as defined by existing options. Totems and Madnesses should be internally synergistic, at least in part.
Madnesses have abilities at levels 5, 9, 13, 17, and a capstone at 20. Madness trances all apply to a specific, and often synergistic, way of fighting. For the capstone, you gain a permanent benefit or expand your Madness abilities further. Each trance also grants a scaling bonus to 2-3 combat statistics, and another scaling bonus to 1-2 non-combat options, which both double on a surge.
Totems, on the other hand, have more varied capabilities, with abilities at levels 3, 7, 11, 15, and 19. Generally, the abilities at 3rd and 11th have primarily noncombat applications, while 7th, 15ths and 19ths are combat oriented abilities.
Encounters:
Goblin Vengeance (EL 7) - A bad memory from past adventures resurface, as a Skinklespit, goblin Cat's Eye WF 7 of Fear emerges to dog the party's heels. Sniping and steadily costing nerves and wounds, the party must slay this last survivor of the goblin tribe or pay for the death of his father.
A matter of Honor (EL 10) - 3 Pack Hunter Totem War-Frenzies are after a party member due to offending their honor. The commanding officer is a WF 9 of Pride, accompanied by two WF 8 of Duty, armed with naginata and mounted on warhorses. They want satisfaction, one way or another.
Orcish Avalanche (EL 16) - A new warlord has risen to unite the orc tribes to war once more. As the party holds the mountain pass against the relentless horde, their leader, Gorgath of the Broken Mountains and his gang of 8 berserks(Land Titan WF 15 and 12 of Fury) emerge to break this deadlock wide open to ruin the lands beyond.
EPIC WAR-FRENZY Epic rules are provided for the purpose of completeness only. They are not recommended to be used straight.
Hit Die: d12
Skill Points: 4+Int mod
Madness: The epic War-Frenzy's trance duration and statistical bonuses continue to accrue at their existing rate.
Share Madness: The range of Share Madness increases by 30ft at level 21 and every three levels after.
Desperate Surge The epic War-Frenzy gains an additional use of this ability at level 22 and every 4 levels after.
Bonus Feats The epic War-Frenzy gains a bonus feat every 3 levels after 20th.