Greetings, Warriors!

Today I want to tell you a little bit about one of the new heroes in Warriors & Writings: Fury of the Wild.

Let's talk about the Berserker. By the way, the art above is a segment from Fury of the Wild's cover art, drawn by the talented s0ulafein (Deviant Art page, Twitter, DriveThruRPG page). The Berserker is another tough melee fighter, like the Knight from Set 1, but what sets him apart is his growing rage. Near the top of his hero sheet, you'll find his core ability, which looks like this:

As you can see, as you take damage, you'll be marking spaces on your rage meter, increasing your rage as the damage piles up. With 0-2 damage, you have 1 rage. With 3-5 damage you have 2 rage. With 6-8 damage, you have 3 rage. And, finally, at 9 damage you have 4 rage.

Now, if you've played W&W before, you're likely familiar with the fact that the Knight and the Mage only have 3 health each, so you may be wondering how the Berserker can accumulate up to 9 damage without being defeated. For starters, the Berserker stands out by having 5 health, more than any other hero in the game. Also, when you heal damage by using a well or a potion, you do not clear that damage from your rage meter. So with careful planning, it is possible to safely max out your rage.

But, to what end? Rage on its own does nothing, but most of the Berserker's basic actions and talents do interact with it. For example, the Berserker's Charge action allows you to spend an action die to move up to a number of spaces equal to that die's value, plus the value of your rage. So, with a single action it is possible to move up to 10 spaces by spending an action die with a value of 6 and having 4 rage. Even at the very start of the game, before you've taken damage, you'll have the option of adding 1 space to every movement. The Berserker's attack action, Furious Blow, also deals damage equal to your rage. At maximum rage, you can topple even some of the toughest foes with a single blow.

The Berserker's talents also make good use of his rage. Kick in the Door lets you add your rage to the value of any action die spend to unlock and adjacent map object. This makes it easier to open doors and chests. Prodigious Leap lets you jump a distance equal to your rage, ignoring anything in the way except walls and locked objects. This can let you bypass enemies and traps you don't want to deal with, but it also allows you to leap over water terrain, which is a new feature on all three maps in Fury of the Wild. The Berserker has three more talents that also interact with your rage in various ways.

All of this adds up to a new hero that feels fast and furious in play. You do have to make some careful decision about when you'll intentionally take damage to increase your rage, and when you'll play it safe to avoid defeat. However, you will experience a satisfying escalation of your hero's abilities as the game progresses and your rage boils over.

-Nathan (Nice @ Dice)

Warriors & Writings: Fury of the Wild is currently funding on Kickstarter. You can click HERE to support the project.