The Berserker is a powerful fighting man with the strength to dispatch the largest monsters and humans and the speed to outmaneuver them. He is not fast enough to escape faster opponents, so against them he must rely on going berserk to survive and on his robust health to help him recover from his wounds.

Chits

Stats

Weight/Vulnerability: Heavy

Equipment: Great Axe, Helmet

Starting Gold Value: 23

Special: Robust (extra Rest phase), Berserk (special chit)

Start: Inn

Ally: none

Friendly: Lancers, Rogues, Shaman

Unfriendly: Patrol, Guard

Enemy: none

Strategy

The Berserker needs to get out straight away and start killing monsters. It is, after all, what he is good at. Take VPs in Fame and Notoriety (they will generally stay equal so put more in Fame than in Noto). A point in Great Treasures or Gold may be easy enough to achieve, so long as you don't wait until most of the treasures within range have already been Looted! Remember to use Alert phases to prepare the Berserk chit and axe. It's not much good when you're Berserk but can only play Move H6 and Fight H5. The great axe hits at Time 4 when Alerted, which is faster than most of the Berserker's fight chits (apart from the 2* ones). You can attack with T5* while manoeuvring with H5*. The Girtle of Energy helps a lot, since it allows him to expend more effort asterisks when fighting.

Other treasures which are useful are the Armour cards (Golden Crown, Bejewelled Dwarf Vest, etc.) and the various Potions, particularly the Gripping Dust, which allows him to keep the axe alerted (and hitting at Time 4) when it strikes. Also the treasures which decrease the number of asterisks he needs to spend. The Power Boots allow him to manoeuvre at time 4, and the Power Gauntlets allow him to attack at time 4, both without spending energy. The Berserker becomes quite scary if he manages to find the Crypt of the Knight.

It may be worth Hiring one or two Rogues at the beginning of the game. They are not very tough, but they are able to Lure monsters to get them off your sheet. Without a monster on your sheet there is nothing to stop you from going Berserk or alerting your axe in the Encounter step. The lower-order Rogues aren't very fast, but may be able to survive a round or two. It also allows you to expend your asterisks on your attack without having to manoeuvre.

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