Barbarian Rage=Death?

[Darth Shoju]

OK, this seems like it should be really obvious but my DM and I are a little unsure about it. Here it is: when a barbarian falls unconcious (-1 to -9 hp) while in a rage, does the rage end as soon as they become unconcious? If so, it seems to me that as soon as a barbarian is high enough level to get a HP bonus of +10 (which would be 5th level if my math is right) then falling unconcious in battle is certain and instant death as they would instantly lose their HP bonus, dropping them below -10 HP.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

IIRC, nowhere does it say that unconsciousness ends a barbarian's rage. It is a subject that has come up multiple times on these boards...

AR

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Common sense says Rage would immediately end if unconscious. The rules as written do not. There is no rules problem here.

IMO, the real design problem is that HPs in the range of 0 to -10 are handled "coarsely" (sloppily). There are a number of corner cases that do not make much sense.

 

[shilsen]

Common sense says Rage would immediately end if unconscious.

Not necessarily. For example, one could consider barbarian rage as a huge adrenaline surge, the effects of which keep pumping through the body even when the character is knocked unconscious.

 

[Sejs]

Unconsciousness does not end Rage. It continues for its normal duration.

 

[molonel]

I believe this was answered by the Sage at some point. No, rage does not end when you are unconscious. Rage ends when the duration expires, or you choose to end it, or when some effect ends it directly and involuntarily, like the spell Calm Emotions.

 

[Darth Shoju]

Ahh ok. So Calm Emotions could be potentially deadly; my character is level 16 so he gets 32 HPs from Rage. I take it if he was at say...5 HP and was hit with Calm Emotions he would drop dead. But it is good to know about the rage v.s. unconciousness aspect. My character died from that last session. Thanks for the clarification folks!

 

[Egres]

Ahh ok. So Calm Emotions could be potentially deadly; my character is level 16 so he gets 32 HPs from Rage. I take it if he was at say...5 HP and was hit with Calm Emotions he would drop dead. But it is good to know about the rage v.s. unconciousness aspect. My character died from that last session. Thanks for the clarification folks!

If you are playing 3.5 you would get 48 HPs from Rage.

 

[shilsen]

If you are playing 3.5 you would get 48 HPs from Rage.

Only if his barbarian class level is 16th too (which he hasn't confirmed).

 

[Egres]

Only if his barbarian class level is 16th too (which he hasn't confirmed).

Right.

I didn't notice he simply wrote "my character is level 16".

Good catch!