#29 – Carrie Nation – Berserker

A tireless fighter for Prohibition, Carrie Nation was, to put it mildly, quite a character. Her big shtick was storming into bars with her hatchet and breaking the bar open — and keep in mind that at this point, she was already in her early fifties. She was arrested no less than 30 times for her vandalism — she called the attacks “hatchetations” — and fined a pretty hefty amount. If nothing else, Carrie had a massive flair for the dramatic. Heck, later in life she legally changed her name so that she could introduce herself as, and this is true, “Carry A. Nation.” Eventually she moved on to less violent means to spread her views, including a newspaper called “the Hatchet” and an abortive tour in Vaudeville, but she never lost that fire.

Similarly, the Berserker is the closest thing RPGs have to a single-minded class. Berserkers are traditionally a special brand of the Warrior class that sacrifices the ability to control the character in question in return for a massive boost in attack strength. Berserkers can be very useful, but the player usually needs a fair amount of luck, and the lack of control can make it difficult to strategize. Given that Carrie had one cause, and viewed everything in life through the lense of that cause, putting her in the Berserker class was an easy choice.

Category: 2011, Fantasy