I think this subject is unfortunately, too often blown out of proportion. I do not believe berserkers/deathblow are overpowered. In fact, I think that out of any class/cabal combo in the entire game, they have it the "roughest" when it comes to pk.

Lets examine what it is to be a berserker, a lineup of Pros and Cons
(mind you, I have played plenty of village/non village in my time)

Cons:

Besides race/class inherent abilities they can not prep..ever period. This means, unless they have inherent flight, they can't even do that.

No magical transportation/no recall/teleport. Everywhere they go they have to "huff" it. This makes them extremely vulnerable to mv reducing skills Fatigue/Hamstring/Plague etc. And, you never have to worry about flee/quaff with them.

No healing, unless they are lucky enough to have a defender nearby (not usually the case) They cannot go anywhere to heal. The only healer they may use offers no direct healing, and only cures ailments. And, whatsmore that healer is in their Cabal.

They can't use magical gear. This means, no spiffy progging swords/prayer beads/blademasters gloves..half of the cool stuff in the game, nope. They must deliver beatdowns with crappy old iron/steal weaps.

Parity! they must give you an honorable fight, if they don't they are suspect to being kicked out of their cabal, and losing the only things that could possibly make such a sad sorry non magic using/prep using/non healing warrior worth a damn.

Pros:

They get detect invis

They get a fluctuating damage resist buff (up to 33% if the veil is thick, I beleive)

They get a _random_ (and I stress random) chance to deliver a deathblow, which scales with level. 90% of the time these deathblows can be parried/dodged/shield blocked. The occasional sweet parting blow deathblow being one of a few exceptions.

They get bloodthirst. Which is haste/immunity to strength loss/bleeding/disease for the duration (disease/bleed/str loss will still be there when they lose thirst) and some hit/dam boost. So, to counterbalance thirst as soon as they are done thirsting, they get fatigue which is no hp/mv regeneration, slowed, and -hit/dam. Not to mention, they hit everything you put in front of them while thirsted.

I have to say, I love ragers. Both when I am playing them (Its a fun ride) and when I am fighting them (I find them easy/predictable kills). In honest, I beleive the cons to being a berserker outweigh the pro's. Sure, you might "get lucky" with a deathblow and land a kill when you shouldn't...but hell the rest of the time you are getting pummeled. Look at it this way, a lot of people tag the fort as a noob cabal...how many fortress members do you see con dying at or under 200 hrs, vs how many villagers you see con die in that time?
Do some hard looking, and rethink how overpowered you beleive them to be.

-S