D&D 5E Barbarian, Why Do You Rage?

Your barbarian sees his hated foe and rage fills him, fueling his upcoming attacks. What does that rage look like—out of control, cold, or emotionless? And why does he rage at all? Answer these questions to enhance roleplaying your angry character.

Picture courtesy of Pixabay.​

From D&D 3E forward, barbarians were rage filled fighting machines their time spent on wind swept savannas and misty jungles background only. If you decide to play a character driven by anger, you can further explore who that person is by deciding what the rage looks like when it bubbles up and why they are so murderously angry in the first place. Roleplaying a rage fueled character doesn’t just apply to barbarians. Any character could be driven by anger and so consumed by rage that it begins to define them.

If you want to start with how your character’s rage manifests here are five options. Rage may be expressed as: always angry, cold and emotionless, wild and out of control, focused and relentless, or just business.

• You might always be angry. Your rage is simply an extension of anger always bubbling under the surface. You come across like a dangerous wild creature, not fit to be among men.
• As the rage builds, your emotions cool until they disappear all together. When the rage infuses you, you fight without emotion or mercy grimly determined to end your opponent’s life.
• You seem calm, even happy most of the time. But when something trips that rage switch you become wild and out of control. You lash out, you may scream, and your entire physical appearance becomes rage: blood rushing to the surface, pulsing veins, bulging eyes, yelling, and lots of violence.
• When you see an enemy your demeanor changes to that of a stalking cat. Your world shrinks to just kill or be killed. You focus on foes and will not stop until they or you are dead.
• To you, rage is just business. You could be eating and your party leader says that guy is a threat and you calmly stab him to death with your knife. Then you continue eating. Anger and killing is just another job, something that has to be done. You likely scare people who are around you for any length of time.

There are many reasons a character might be filled with rage. She might be a former slave, seeking vengeance, inherited it from family, learned it as a fighting style, been born angry, or wants to stop but can’t or won’t.

• Someone who has endured slavery and escaped will harbor deep negative emotions and scars about the experience. You choose to focus on the rage you felt and use it to put enemies down. You are likely filled with the best battle rage when killing those who oppress others.
• You loved someone and a bad person killed them. This made you angry. You may even have killed the bad person. But the rage remains and you decided to hone it into a weapon. Your rage is all you have left and you may consider it the only real part of you.
• Your family raised you to grow up hard. They may or may not have been abusive, but they were physical and drove you to learn to protect yourself and lash out when someone tries to thwart your will or get in your way. You carry on the family tradition. Whether you are proud of this upbringing or ashamed or a bit of both may not be clear, even to you.
• Rage may be a chosen fighting style, a way to put down enemies. You focus on your anger when fighting and use it to fuel your attacks.
• You have always been angry. You solved problems with your teeth and fists as a child. Fighting is simply an extension of who you are and the greatest part of you is rage.
• Your anger scares you. You use rage to kill people after all. But you can’t or won’t stop. You may have an excuse or you may simply accept it. You might even secretly like it. You live with the rage like you would with a dangerous pit bull. You try to keep it on a leash and never turn your back on it. If it gets loose, you direct it toward an enemy. But you worry that someday it will turn around and tear you apart instead.

Any person constantly tapping into anger and rage is going to see that emotion become a focus in their life. Whether you are playing a barbarian or simply a character driven by rage, deciding how the rage manifests and why can enhance your roleplaying of what the rage does to your barbarian and deepen your understanding of your character. If you let your DM know where your character’s rage comes from she may be able to tie aspects of your rage into future adventures.

 

[Bacon Bits]

Because of the looks on the faces of the enemy when they've done 200 damage to an angry goblin in nothing but a loincloth, and the only change is that he seems a bit angrier.

 

[Kingreaper]

My barbarian took the 4e explanation fully to heart: Rage was unleashing the chained primal spirits within his soul.

This became more extreme once he multiclassed Runepriest, learning divine magic to reinforce the chains so that they would only slip when he chose to let them.

 

[Jay Verkuilen]

I think this is a really good question, and one that tugs at the balance of game vs. story in DnD. When I first read it, I thought about how there are so many class abilities that, without a reason within the story, are just mechanical means to flex muscle, sometimes figuratively, sometimes more literally.

Good point. It's a potential problem when abilities that are deeply connected with flavor text become important.

Then I thought about it this way: if Rage is a manifestation of some past trauma, a very harsh upbringing, conditioning to evoke and channel extreme aggression...could it be medicated away? Is there any arcane or divine Xanax to calm the beast? Of course, this would be used against a Barbarian by an opponent, but I think it's worth considering.

Well in a way yes there is, and indeed there are many possible ways to end a Rage, built right there into the text:

Your rage lasts for 1 minute. It ends early if you are knocked Unconscious or if Your Turn ends and you haven't attacked a Hostile creature since your last turn or taken damage since then. You can also end your rage on Your Turn as a Bonus Action.

So many spells that deny an attack are likely to do the trick. As an example, Banish works great, or Hold Person, as examples. The Berzerker gains some ability to sustain a Rage through debuffs at level 6, but other barbarians don't.

 

[Jay Verkuilen]

I rage because I do not want to go gentle into that good night.

Is your barbarian name Dylan?

 

[Don Durito]

He rages because he get's stereotyped as an angry guy just because he's from an outsider culture.

It makes him so angry.

 

[Jay Verkuilen]

I do think a ratfolk ex-prisoner named Billy would be a good barbarian.

 

[Shiroiken]

On barbarian I played walked the line between his civilized human heritage and his primal orcish blood. In the heat of battle, the orcish blood rises, sometimes filling my brain with hate. When that happens, I sometimes forget friend from foe, and turn my rage against everything (it was a 3E prestige class where I couldn't end my rage early). In theory, my friends were supposed to help figure out a way to help calm my mind... instead they kept finding ways to get away from me during combat!

 

[Son of the Serpent]

Because it's easier to rage than focus on my depression and alienation from the means of production caused by the economic class disparity inherent in the class struggle that placed my tribe into a state of impoverishment by the bourgeoisie.

Thats especially funny because thwre is a 99% chance that you are indeed yourself the bourgeoisie if you are posting on this wehsite with your pc or a public pc in your neighborhood or a family member or friends pc. Bahahahaha! I assume you said this in jest. I got a good laugh out of it.

 

[Eltab]

I rage because howling at the full moon in all good fun ... only stirs up something deeper, within me. (4e Shifter druid/barbarian)

4e Primal Power discussed this question also. I recommend it as a source of inspiration, not as if it was The Final Answer.

 

[Anoth]

I rage because if I don’t I will be to consumed by fear against the impossible monstrosities that stand before me. Better I rage in madness than tremble and die of fear.