The Ecstatic Berserker
Yesterday, we introduced you to the troll-kin, a player character race of half-troll half-human creatures that can enter powerful berserk states and destroy their foes. Today, we provide additional support for our troll-descended friends in the form of a bloodrager archetype that allows you to make the most of your trollish blood.
New Bloodrager Archetype
Ecstatic Berserker
To trolls, and their troll-kin descendants, there is a certain transcendent bliss to the battlefield, and a kind of zen peace in dealing out terrible carnage to one’s foes. While it is rare to find a troll-kin whose lineage not only contains troll blood but also blood from a potent magical bloodline, the intermingling of the two can lead to some powerful results, awakening some of the troll-kin’s feral savagery, as well as the potent and legendary healing powers of his troll lineage, albeit at the cost of some of the benefits of his other extraordinary blood.
The following archetype is only available to troll-kin of the bloodrager class.
No Weak Spot (Ex): By 2nd level, an ecstatic berserker’s body is capable of taking a great deal of punishment, and even his most vulnerable areas are tough and difficult to damage. Whenever the ecstatic berserker would be affected by a critical hit or precision-based damage (including sneak attack), there is a 25% chance that the critical hit or precision-based damage is negated, and damage is instead rolled normally.
At 5th level, this increases to a 50% chance, and at 8th level, it increases to a 75% chance.
This ability replaces the uncanny dodge and improved uncanny dodge class features.
Savage Counterattack (Ex): Beginning at 3rd level, whenever an ecstatic berserker’s no weak spot class feature protects him from a critical hit (but not when it protects him from precision-based damage), he may make an attack of opportunity against the creature that scored the critical hit. If the ecstatic berserker is unable to make an attack of opportunity (such as because the target is out of range, or because the ecstatic berserker has already made an attack of opportunity that round), this ability is wasted.
This ability replaces the blood sanctuary class feature.
Primal Magic: An ecstatic berserker’s spellcasting is of a primal and natural sort. The ecstatic berserker is treated as a divine spellcaster, rather than an arcane spellcaster. Additionally, the ecstatic berserker uses his Wisdom modifier, rather than his Charisma modifier, for the purposes of determining the highest level spell he can cast, the saving throw DCs of spells that he casts, and any bonus spells per day that he may gain as a result of a high ability score.
This ability modifies the spellcasting class feature.
Limited Regeneration (Ex): Beginning at 8th level, as long as an ecstatic berserker is bloodraging, he gains an amount of fast healing equal to 1/2 his class level. If the ecstatic berserker suffered any amount of acid or fire damage since the beginning of his last turn, this fast healing does not function for this turn. Additionally, each round, when the ecstatic berserker is healed in this way, he can choose to expend an additional round of bloodrage to increase the amount of his fast healing for that turn to be equal to his class level, instead.
This ability replaces the bloodline power gained at 8th level. At 12th level, and any other time that the ecstatic berserker gains a bloodline power, he may choose to gain the bloodline power that he would have gained at a previous level, but did not gain, instead of the bloodline power that he would normally gain at that level (for example, at 12th level, the bloodrager could gain the bloodline power he would normally gain at 8th level, and at 16th level, he could gain the bloodline power that he would normally gain at 12th level, or he could gain the bloodline power he would normally gain at 16th level, instead).