Pathfinder 1E Barbarian Rage and Unconscious

[TabletopAndroid]

The increase to Constitution grants the barbarian 2 hit points per Hit Dice, but these disappear when the rage ends and are not lost first like temporary hit points.

I wondered about this temporary hit points. It states 2 points per hit dice and the barbarian class has a hit dice of 12. So does that mean while in rage she/he get +6 temporary hit points? It doesn't seem like much when unconscious/death seems to be the payoff.


Sent using the defunct The Force, which can only be scientifically explained as medi-chlorians. :dry Damn you Tapatalk 2.. you too LG Spirit!

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

I wondered about this temporary hit points. It states 2 points per hit dice and the barbarian class has a hit dice of 12. So does that mean while in rage she/he get +6 temporary hit points? It doesn't seem like much when unconscious/death seems to be the payoff.


Sent using the defunct The Force, which can only be scientifically explained as medi-chlorians. :dry Damn you Tapatalk 2.. you too LG Spirit!

No. HD refers to how many levels you are. So if you are 5HD you are level 5, which would mean 2 points per HD * 5HD = 10 temporary hit points.

 

[Aluvial]

My group and I are now playing a hybrid game... FULL of house rules. I use Pathfinder classes, skills, feats, and combat; 3.5 spells, and a few trailblazer items. I have LOTS of house rules that are group fixes from 3.5 that still make sense for Pathfinder... and the a few that adjust Pathfinder. Death is at your CON modifier (in negatives) -10... so Con 16 is dead at -13. Dying and stabilization is from 4e. Then you get 1 more HP per 2 levels (for the example given, -14 at 2nd level, -15 at 4th level, etc.).

For the Barbarian rule... I guess I'm going with Pathfinder. It makes more sense for me. And that is the beauty of cherry picking (or making up) the rules. Works for us and makes me happy!

Aluvial

 

[Herzog]

Forgot about the changed negative hp in PF. See, this is why i stopped playing PF. I kept mixing up 3.5 and pf rules...

 

[Gfreak2x9]

As Barbarians enter rage and leave rage on their own personal wills, I would think that falling unconscious would force them to exit rage! Their body can only take so much, even if they are Barbarian. Its up to you and your players really. You can house rule that they don't if it suits you better. However due to the fact that they choose to enter and exit rage I would say they exit when they faint.

 

[Aluvial]

Some other fixes for this issue that I've seen are to make the Rage HP, temp HP. You take from these first... if you have any left when the rage ends, they go away. You wouldn't get to negatives (necessarily) without having spent your temp points anyway. I don't like this personally, but I've seen it as a fix.

The other way is to deal with this is just hand-wave the rule. Yes, you are unconscious; yes you are out of rage; yes you CON just dropped (and you are fatigued); NO, you don't die.... what could the penalty be then?

What if...

The barbarian drops out of rage when she becomes unconscious, losing 2 HP per level, likely killing her, but instead of dying, she doesn't lose the HP, she just loses one CON point. And let's make that Ability Drain, not just Ability Damage. Higher levels can deal with this... but at low level, the problem with "almost dying in a rage" is a strain on the body (almost) permanently.

What do you think of this?

Aluvial

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

If you are doing a home-brew with your own house rules then you can do whatever you like. I personally like the PF rules on Rage and keep them in my games, but each table is different.

 

[Aluvial]

If you are doing a home-brew with your own house rules then you can do whatever you like.

Do you use any House Rules?

Aluvial

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

Do you use any House Rules?

Aluvial

Only a few.

1) We play with Flaws using the 3.5 variant and the 3PP and get one extra feat (flaws need to be approved by DM though and you can only get 1 additional feat even if you take 10 flaws).
2) A free background feat is given out to everyone, but it has to be part of your character back-story.
3) And probably the biggest deviation from PF we do is the 4E rule for movement. We don't count the diagonal squares as 1.5, but rather as just 1. We've been using it for about a year and it doesn't break the game in any way so we are all happy with it.
4) Oh and we allow 3PP classes/races with DM approval. The one a couple of us like and is approved by the DM(s) is the Malefactor from TPK games.

Everything else, we go with PF RAW.

 

[Aluvial]

Only a few.

1) We play with Flaws using the 3.5 variant and the 3PP and get one extra feat (flaws need to be approved by DM though and you can only get 1 additional feat even if you take 10 flaws).
2) A free background feat is given out to everyone, but it has to be part of your character back-story.
3) And probably the biggest deviation from PF we do is the 4E rule for movement. We don't count the diagonal squares as 1.5, but rather as just 1. We've been using it for about a year and it doesn't break the game in any way so we are all happy with it.
4) Oh and we allow 3PP classes/races with DM approval. The one a couple of us like and is approved by the DM(s) is the Malefactor from TPK games.

Everything else, we go with PF RAW.

I use flaws and offset those with talents. Each character picks a flaw and a talent, although in the future, we will roll. I had a rule that said you could pick an additional flaw to get the extra feat. I'm giving each character a Trait as well...

I keep a few of the 3.5 rules. Like firing missile weapons into a grapple (25% to hit wrong target). I have a house rule that use an opposed roll for Tumble/Acrobatics. I used an opposed roll for Casting Defensively. If you fail these rolls, then the attacker rolls again for the AoO. I've tweaked a couple of spells/feats here and there.

I think the biggest thing is being flexible. I haven't found a rule system that I like yet, but I really dig CMB and CMD. Grapple is still complicated unfortunatley. I use a lot of computers while playing, so I'm really fast at looking up rulings.

This sounds funny, but I chart whether I make rulings correctly on the fly. If there is a rule we don't quite get, I rule on it, and then play continues. I'm at 94%. This REALLY cut down on rules debates at the table. It's easy to mark down the rule... and then look it up after the game. I usually email the ruling and the rule.. and then adjust my count. I do this every four or five sessions... but I've been consistantly in the mid-90's for rulings for the last 4 or 5 years I've done this.

Aluvial