D&D 5E Barbarians: Why Rage per Day?
- Thread starter Xeviat
- Start date
I prefer rounds per day. It allows the player to expend rage for smaller battles as well as larger ones. It doesn't shoehorn the player into having to determine the perfect time to use rage. Given 5E battles are supposed to average 3 or 4 rounds, seems rages per day with each being a minute leaves a lot of wasted rounds of rage.
Per day is a vancian construct to compare power relative to spells. I would prefer a more granular system where any ability, including spells, worked off a shorter time frame of at-will, 30 minutes, hour, 8 hours, or 24. But then it would not be "classic D&D". So you get the odd mix of short rest and long rest mechanics in the system which tend to cause problems depending on how many combats per day you have.
I actually prefer other systems like GURPS that have a universal system for mana and/or fatigue.
I actually prefer other systems like GURPS that have a universal system for mana and/or fatigue.
I prefer "rages" per day.
My wish was that Rages would be used to both start "good rages" and stop "bad rages"
Basically, a barbarian would be able to Rage whenever they want.
If they use a "Rage resource", they get a normal controlled rage.
If they don't use a "Rage resource", they get a "blind rage"
Blind Rages give you a point of exhaustion or require reckless attacks or damage.
My wish was that Rages would be used to both start "good rages" and stop "bad rages"
Basically, a barbarian would be able to Rage whenever they want.
If they use a "Rage resource", they get a normal controlled rage.
If they don't use a "Rage resource", they get a "blind rage"
Blind Rages give you a point of exhaustion or require reckless attacks or damage.
The Myopic Sniper
Hero
I kind of wish Rages were based on short rest renewal. I realize that would be a buff at some tables and a nerf at others (maybe 1 rage per short rest at level 1, 2 per short rest at level 6 and 3 per short rest at level 13-14ish, unlimited at 18ish). As it is, it is fine, but the fact that they don't have to worry about short rests as much definitely discourages the party from taking short rests if the Barbarian has a rage left which disadvantages the other short rest classes.
TheCosmicKid
Hero
I suspect 5E doesn't go with rounds per day because it's more granular bookkeeping than WotC wants.
Marandahir
Crown-Forester (he/him)
It's also just a lot of weirdness.
How many people can exit a state of rage after only 6 seconds? That would be book-keeping that's even less in-line with the story implications of the Barbarian class.
pming
Legend
Hiya!
What about looking at it from the other side...a barbarian is a "berzerker", as per the old skool style of 'monster'. A dude that is constantly in a state of intense anger and violence. The only way for them to feel 'calm' is to start killing stuff and fighting; the "fight or flight" effect actually gives these poor souls something to focus on, allowing them, for just a few moments (the duration of the fight) to ignore all the 'mindless rage' bombarding their brains.
So... a "Barbarian" (in 5e terms), is a special person born (typically) to a barbarian tribe. These people (like albino's, or being born with a specific physical characteristic that isn't normal for your race, etc) are immediately trained to control their Rage. To control the "Sprit of Talzaar", or the "Soul of the Wolvereen", (or whatever you want to flavour it as for your campaign). Without this training, they would become near mindless killing machines, doomed to die a quick death. Some who are born with 'the mark' don't develop the Rage until later in life, usually after a traumatic event, but if you are born with 'the mark', you will loose control. When you do, without training, you become a "berzerker" and will die shortly there after (if not by violence, by stress on the body...usually within a few months to a year).
How about something like that? That would mean that a higher level barbarian has learned to control this better so that he can 'let it free' more often than others and not risk loosing control and becoming an NPC. This is sort of (mechanically) how I do 'rage barbarians'. I also added in that once a Barbarian enters Rage, he has to make a Wisdom save to come out of it (he can get bonuses from others helping him...dangerous though). If he fails to make his Save by a number of rounds after his rage 'ends', he becomes a berzerker NPC. After his rage ends, however, he is still 'raging' (e.g., he effectively has 2x the number listed in the PHB)...but any target, foe, animal or friend, is subject to attack). It's been the death of at least two other players characters, and one dwarven barbarian became "NPC status". Harsh, yes, but IMHO Rage is pretty freaking tough! (at least it was in 3.x/PF). With 5e, not quite so bad...but still rather powerful.
^_^
Paul L. Ming
What about looking at it from the other side...a barbarian is a "berzerker", as per the old skool style of 'monster'. A dude that is constantly in a state of intense anger and violence. The only way for them to feel 'calm' is to start killing stuff and fighting; the "fight or flight" effect actually gives these poor souls something to focus on, allowing them, for just a few moments (the duration of the fight) to ignore all the 'mindless rage' bombarding their brains.
So... a "Barbarian" (in 5e terms), is a special person born (typically) to a barbarian tribe. These people (like albino's, or being born with a specific physical characteristic that isn't normal for your race, etc) are immediately trained to control their Rage. To control the "Sprit of Talzaar", or the "Soul of the Wolvereen", (or whatever you want to flavour it as for your campaign). Without this training, they would become near mindless killing machines, doomed to die a quick death. Some who are born with 'the mark' don't develop the Rage until later in life, usually after a traumatic event, but if you are born with 'the mark', you will loose control. When you do, without training, you become a "berzerker" and will die shortly there after (if not by violence, by stress on the body...usually within a few months to a year).
How about something like that? That would mean that a higher level barbarian has learned to control this better so that he can 'let it free' more often than others and not risk loosing control and becoming an NPC. This is sort of (mechanically) how I do 'rage barbarians'. I also added in that once a Barbarian enters Rage, he has to make a Wisdom save to come out of it (he can get bonuses from others helping him...dangerous though). If he fails to make his Save by a number of rounds after his rage 'ends', he becomes a berzerker NPC. After his rage ends, however, he is still 'raging' (e.g., he effectively has 2x the number listed in the PHB)...but any target, foe, animal or friend, is subject to attack). It's been the death of at least two other players characters, and one dwarven barbarian became "NPC status". Harsh, yes, but IMHO Rage is pretty freaking tough! (at least it was in 3.x/PF). With 5e, not quite so bad...but still rather powerful.
^_^
Paul L. Ming
If you look at it this literally, your statement makes sense. Unfortunately your statement applies to a huge number of things in D&D like who can fire four arrows from a longbow accurately in six seconds. Who could swing accurately three times with a great axe in six seconds. Who could fire a heavy crossbow accurately multiple times in six seconds. Then there is spells. So kind of pointless to apply that kind of logic to raging.
Rounds are more flexible than per day. I could see someone raging for a round. Ever a watch a strong man competition? Some of those Scandinavian folk "rage" or get jacked up to lift something for a few seconds. What's the difference between that a guy getting jacked up to swing his sword hard for a few blows, then go back to normal? Absolutely nothing.
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