Blood Rager (3.5e Prestige Class)

Blood Rager

“	I've seen barbarians rage before, but I've never seen anything like that blood covered monster screaming with the rage of a mad god.	”
—Some nameless guy in a bar

A Blood Rager is someone who's life is now all about the rage. His rage is fueled by his own pain making him more and more vulnerable and more and more berserk the closer to death he becomes. Just before the end he forgets about preserving his own life and so leaves himself completely vulnerable, but who in their right mind would get close enough to a mad berserker god to try and take advantage of the fact?

Becoming a Blood Rager

This class is for those who think that a raging barbarian is just a little too subtle. The price for that extra power is high, the closer to death a Blood Rager gets the quicker his life will drain. This is not the class for someone who wants an unkillable juggernaut, but rather for someone who enjoys the balance of life and death, taking risks, and hitting like a freight train at the cost of survivability.

Entry Requirements

Base Attack Bonus:	+4.
Feats:	Must be able to rage
Special:	Must have had a near death experience, ie: must have been below 0 hit points.

Table: The Blood Rager

Hit Die: d12

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+1	+2	+0	+0	Blood Rage, Rage, What doesn't kill you 4
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+0	Life Blow, What doesn't kill you 8
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+1	What doesn't kill you 12
4th	+4	+4	+1	+1	Building Rage, What doesn't kill you 16
5th	+5	+4	+1	+1	What doesn't kill you 20
6th	+6	+5	+2	+2	Howl of Terror, What doesn't kill you 24
7th	+7	+5	+2	+2	What doeasn't kill you 28
8th	+8	+6	+2	+2	Greater Life Blow, What doesn't kill you 32
9th	+9	+6	+3	+3	What doesn't kill you 36
10th	+10	+7	+3	+3	Eye for an Eye, What doesn't kill you 40
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level) Climb, Craft, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Jump, Listen, Ride, Survival, Swim

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Blood Rager.

Rage: If the Blood Rager's HP reaches 10 he enters Rage until he dies at -15

Blood Rage: "As the fight dragged on he became easier to hit, but his rage just continued to grow." Blood Rage Enables the player to become stronger at the cost of survivability the closer to death they become. For every 10 HP the player is missing his STR increases by 2, however for every 20 HP the player is missing his AC decreases by 1. This Strength bonus does NOT stack with any Strength enhancements from spells, it does however stack with rage and magic items.

What doesn't kill you: "What doesn't kill you... well you know the rest." A blood Rager is so used to pain and suffering that his body becomes enured to pain. He gains an extra 4 hp every level.

Life Blow: "In a fight to the death everyone pushes themselves to the limit, he either didn't know or didn't care about his limits." On your action before making an attack roll you may choose to sacrifice a portion of your health to increase your damage. A Blood Rager may sacrifice up to his Blood Rager class level in HP and add the same amount to his attack. This damage is not susceptible to being multiplied by a crit. The Blood Rager takes the damage immediately after his attack regardless of if he hit or not.

Building Rage: "He just stood there watching us fight, But I could feel his rage building as he did so." At any time the player can sacrifice one standard action in order to double his threat range until the next time he crits. After he crits his threat range returns to normal. This stacks with improved crit, or a keen weapon but remember it only increases it further by it's base crit range. ie: A keen Gratesword would have a threat range of 17-20, if the Blood Rager were to build his rage it would increase the threat range to 15-20, increasing the range by the original range of 2.

Howl of Terror: "We could tell he was almost dead, but he just stood there covered in his own blood screaming with a rage that would make even the gods take notice. We all ran, and you would have too." A Blood Rager can use his own pain to terrify his opponents. As a standard action he may use Howl of Terror. All creatures within a 30 foot radius of the Blood Rager must succeed a will save (DC= 10+(1 per 10 HP the Blood Rager is missing)) or become panicked (See the spell Fear for effects). The Blood Rager can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 1+ his Con modifier.

Greater Life Blow: "His attack hit with the fury of a god, cutting his opponent in two before our very eyes!" The effects of life blow are now subject to the effects of crit. ie: if wielding a great axe (x3 crit damage) and the blood rager had sacrificed 5 HP, on a crit he would add 15 damage to the attack while still only suffering 5 damage himself.

Eye for an eye: "We almost had him, but that was a mistake. He hit back returning every cut and every bruise we had done to him in one unimaginable blow." Once a day after a successful hit, but before any damage is rolled a Blood Rager may use eye for an eye. Instead of rolling for damage the Blood Rager does as much damage as he is missing in hp. ie: If the Blood Rager had a maximum of 87 hp, but was down to 10 hp, Eye for an eye would do 77 points of damage. This damage is not subject to critical hit multipliers, and cannot be added to in any way.

Ex-Blood Ragers

Death is the only end to a Blood Rager's rage.

Playing a Blood Rager

Combat: Melee DPS

Advancement: Blood Ragers commonly multiclass as barbarians, although occasionally one will select fighter or even in rare cases ranger.

Resources: The Blood Rager's rage is all he has, and who in his right mind would want to get close to enough to him to employ him anyway?

Blood Ragers in the World

“

GRAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!!!!! DIE, DIE, DIE!!!!

”

NPC Reactions: Most people familiar with a Blood Rager know to avoid angering him at almost any cost, the best way to deal with a Blood Rager is to redirect his rage, preferably toward some threat facing the village/city/kingdom/ect.

Blood Rager Lore

Characters with ranks in <-the appropriate skills-> can research <-insert prestige class name-> to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.

DC	Result
11	.
16	.
21	.
26	.

Blood Rager in the Game

Adaptation:

Sample Encounter:

EL whatever:

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