D&D 5E Barbarian wants to damage himself to keep rage going

[Flamestrike]

https://www.sageadvice.eu/2017/05/27/could-a-barbarian-hurt-himself-to-maintain-rage/

@JeremyECrawford
''The Rage feature refers to the barbarian taking damage. The feature doesn't care how you take the damage: from someone else or yourself''

Bite your own lip for a point of damage. Rage away.

 

[Coroc]

Nah, it's not quite that bad. Rules say that you can continue raging if you take damage OR if you attack a hostile creature. The barbarian in question is attacking herself in order to take damage which prolongs the rage, not because the act of making the attack itself prolongs the rage.

Ah yes it seems it is not specified where the damage comes from so then I would allow it also, e.g. the barbarian bites in his lips or scratches his chest with his weapon. It seems that IRL Vikings sometimes scratched a rune to their skin so the pain keeps them angry at least I think I heard that somewhere.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Ah yes it seems it is not specified where the damage comes from so then I would allow it also, e.g. the barbarian bites in his lips or scratches his chest with his weapon. It seems that IRL Vikings sometimes scratched a rune to their skin so the pain keeps them angry at least I think I heard that somewhere.

Or bite their shields.

 

[Todd Roybark]

Exactly...or gnaw on one’s shield for a mouth full of splinters and the same effect.
Barbarians can use all the help they can get.

damn...Paul beat me to it

 

[Flamestrike]

Really the conditions for Rage to continue are more of a ribbon than anything else.

Its absurd that a Barbarian who uses his action to make a Strength Athletics check to escape a grapple drops out of rage afterwards.

The RAW is that he just needs to take damage. As long as he's happy with biting his shield for a point of damage each turn (no action required) then yeah, Im OK with that.

 

[Charlaquin]

Claiming you don't like yourself does not suffice as a justification in this case (Attacking a hostile creature),

I believe the attacking self strategy is meant to invoke the taking damage clause, not the attacking a hostile creature clause.

 

[Undrave]

Two options:

1- make a ranged weapon attack with a thrown weapon. I’ve seen barbarians toss javelins for the sake of rage. They’re cheap and a big guy could carry a few. Depending where the battle is set you could even go with an improvised weapon: throw a chair one handed, a bottle, a fallen enemy’s helm, a dead goblin, or even a big rock! Be creative!

2- People slap themselves to stay focused or awake at times, to stay pumped! No issue with a barbarian punching themselves in the face! Just don’t forget to take rage damage into account in your calculation! I guess you could also take damage by jumping off something (say, if the only enemies are below you and you think ladders are for wizards).,

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Pretty sure jumping onto your enemies heads from a great height counts as an attack.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Have you noticed that in action movies if a gun runs out of bullets the character throws the gun?

 

[cbwjm]

I'd suggest adding a clause that allows a constitution check to maintain the rage instead of damaging themselves, perhaps DC 15.