Guidance on Battlerager Subclass

We hear at MacGuffins Ltd. have recognized that the Battlerager subclass of Barbarian is poorly supported in the RAW rules, and creates some unique difficulties interacting with systems on the server. Therefore, we have developed the special guidance and home-brew rulings detailed below to enable this unique subclass to function on the server.

Racial Restriction

Since Tasha's Cauldron of Everything the racial restrictions on Bladesinger were removed by WotC, however the same was not extended to the Battlerager. We believe this is against the spirit of the game that WotC is trying to make thus here at MacGuffins, any race/species can choose to follow the Path of the Battlerager. However, we encourage character choosing this route to have some kind of background connection to dwarves from whom they may have learned this unique subclass.

Magic Item Compatibility

The Battlerager subclass is built around wearing and using spiked armour as both protection and as a weapon in combat. However, RAW spiked armour is treated exclusively as armour which makes it impossible to upgrade the weapon attack associated with the spiked armour with magic items unlike all other weapons. Thus here at MacGuffins we have ruled:

The spikes of the "spiked armour" of the Battlerager subclass are treated as a 'melee weapon' for the purposes of magical items. Thus any magic item that can be any generic weapon - e.g. +1 weapon, +2 weapon, Dragon Wrath Weapon - can be used as spikes attached to the battlerager's armour. When such a magic item is attached, any bonus to damage rolls only affect attacks make with the spikes. Whereas only +1,+2, or +3 magic bonuses granted to the spikes affect the damage dealt to creatures grappled by the battlerager.

Note that: spikes of the spiked armour can be treated as weapons for the purposes of artificer infusions or casting spells.

This means that a +1 AC spiked armour can be obtained from Kronk at a cost of 1000gp+cost of spiked armour, +1 attack/damage spikes can be purchased from Kronk for an additional 1000gp.

Attacking with Spikes

To be consistent with our ruling that the spikes of the spiked armour are considered weapons, and in consideration of the relative weakness of the design of the Battlerager subclass, we have additionally ruled that the spikes of the spiked armour can be used to make attacks with your Action by characters with at least 6 levels of Battlerager while they are raging.