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.
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.
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.
- 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.
