General Prestige Class : Frostrager
Many barbarian tribes have members whose ferocity and rage impress and terrify even their fellow barbarians, and the tribes of the frostfell are no different. The frostragers are powerful and dangerous warriors believed by some to be gifted from (and others cursed by) the frost giant deity Thrym with an unstable but powerful supernatural battle rage. This terrible fury not only causes the frostrager to increase in size when he enters his battle rage, but infuses his fists and weapons with cold shards of ice. Those tribes that view a frostrager's prowess as a gift point to the fact that their skills in battle can be matched by few, while those that view these abilities as a curse point to the fact that while in a rage, frostragers tend to revel in destruction and slaughter a little too much to make them trustworthy. In truth, frostragers retain control of their actions while in a frostrage ... the simple fact is that most frostragers enjoy causing mayhem and destruction.
All frostragers are barbarians to some degree, although many are multiclass barbarian/druids. Stories of such characters who activate their frostrage and wild shape abilities in succession abound in the frostfell; a frostraging character in the shape of a dire bear is a terrible opponent indeed. Other barbarians pick up some levels of fighter or ranger to further focus their combat prowess before becoming frostragers, and a rare few barbarian/sorcerer frostragers exist in some tribes that embrace arcane magic, but other combinations are virtually unknown.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Frostrager, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Skills: Intimidate 4 ranks, Survival 4 ranks
- Feats: Frozen Berserker, Improved Unarmed Strike, Power Attack,
- Base Attack Bonus: +6
- Special: Rage as a class ability.
Special: The character must have been reduced to fewer than 0 hit points by cold damage (either from magical cold attacks or by taking enough damage from exposure to extreme cold environments). Whether or not this trauma is what allows the frostrage to take root in the character's soul, or if the trauma merely unhinges the character's mind enough that he decides to become a frostrager, is unknown.
Class Skills
The frostrager's class skills are Climb, Intimidate, Jump, Listen, Survival, and Swim.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All the following are class features of the frostrager prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Frostragers gain no proficiency with any weapon, armor, or shields.
Frostrage (Su): While raging, the character grows larger and more massive, and his freezing sweat forms icicles as it streams out of his pores, coating his body in a glittering crust of ice. The frostrager's actual size category does not change (nor does his space/reach), but he does gain a +4 natural armor bonus to Armor Class from the sheets of ice that form over his body. In addition, a frostrager's unarmed attacks deal 1d6 points of damage plus 1d4 points of cold damage on a successful hit. If the frostrager is Small, his unarmed attack deals 1d4 points of damage, and if the frostrager is Large, his unarmed attack deals ids points of damage.
Freezing Blood (Su): At 1st level, a frostrager's blood becomes freezing cold. His wounds instantly freeze over and stop bleeding; he is immune to attacks that cause wounding effects. If reduced to negative hit points, he automatically stabilizes. He still takes 1 point of damage if he takes any actions while at 0 or negative hit points, however.
One-Two Punch (Ex): At 2nd level, while making an unarmed attack, the frostrager may make one extra attack in a round at his highest base attack bonus, but each attack made in that round (the extra one and the normal ones) take a -2 penalty.
Absorb Cold (Su): At 3rd level, while raging, the frostrager not only gains immunity to cold, but it heals him. For every 2 points of cold damage that would have otherwise have been dealt by an attack, the frostrager heals 1 point of damage.
Improved Frostrage (Su): At 4th level while raging, the frostrager's natural armor bonus increases to +6. His unarmed attacks deal 1d8 points of damage plus 1d6 points of cold damage on a successful hit. If the frostrager is Small, his unarmed attack deals 1d6 points of damage, and if the frostrager is Large, his unarmed attack deals 2d6 points of damage.
Rend (Ex): At 5th level, a frostrager gains the ability to rend a target. In any round that the frostrager hits the same foe with two or more unarmed attacks, he immediately deals an additional 2d8 points of damage (plus 1-1/2 times his Strength bonus), plus an additional 1d6 points of cold damage. If he is Small, his rend deals 2d6 points of damage; if he is Large, his rend deals 3d8 points of damage.
| Frostrager | Hit Die: d12 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special |
| 1st | +1 | +2 | +0 | +0 | Frostrage, freezing blood |
| 2nd | +2 | +3 | +0 | +0 | One-two punch |
| 3rd | +3 | +3 | +1 | +1 | Absorb cold |
| 4th | +4 | +4 | +1 | +1 | Improved frostrage |
| 5th | +5 | +4 | +1 | +1 | Rend |
Source: Frostburn