Review: Majestic Wilderlands 5e Berserker

I wanted to take a look at one more barbarian class out there - a 5th edition D&D berserker written by Robert Conley. I know there are other barbarian classes, and I may get to them sometime in the future.

Majestic Wilderlands Berserker

Written by Robert S. Conley
MSRP: Free!

The berserker is a class option for Lawful or Neutral human fighters in the Majestic Wilderlands.

Like most other barbarian classes, this berserker can track, go into a battle frenzy, and comes with a bunch of weapon, armor, and outdoor skill proficiencies. Most of these are granted right away, but the battle frenzy, skills, and some additional powers are added or improved as the berserker levels. This is much like the rest of 5e classes - every level is a significant improvement.

What I like about this class is that it is not just a frenzied warrior. Instead it's a holy warrior blessed by a specific god (Thor) and granted battle frenzy and special abilities because of that. This gives it a lot of focus that a more general barbarian or general berserker class lacks. These berserkers are giant-killers, basically - they got a lot of special perks for fighting larger foes.

Not only that, but it's a balanced barbarian type class - at least it seems so. The powers don't seem out of line for 5e, or what other classes would get. Unlike the "You get everything, but it costs a lot to level" approach of the UA or LL barbarians, this is an approach I think works better - you level like everyone else, and as you go up you gain new powers. A more monk-like approach, comparing it to earlier editions - every level you get more monk-like, instead of getting a big pile of abilities right away.

The supplement is well-written, attractively laid out, and tightly edited - as usual for Rob's books.

Overall: A nice class, and a good example of what you can do with the 5e framework with a specific type of barbarian in mind. Doesn't seem unbalanced with the official options, or with the rest of the MW classes.