D&D 5E Brainstorming a new Rage mechanic

[Tales and Chronicles]

Maybe instead of thp, raise its current and max hp per 5 per tier ala Aid spell? Augment the rage duration to 10 minutes instead of 1 minute (do the same for the winded condition). So the barbarian could be healed for more when raging.

 

[Xeviat]

Second Wind doesnt not scale that well, and with the barbarian d12 HD + (lets say) 2d6 + level per rage, I dont think that SW would make that much of a difference. Fighting Style could be at worst a few more damage, so a player with 1 level of fighter (which delay extra attack) would no gain much.

Now, a fighter with an at-will rage thru a barb 1 level dip could be frustrating, but If we me make the thp and damage boost scale per barbarian level and not class level, it wouldnt be that much.

I always felt like second wind scaled really well. At low levels, its the equivalent of having a healing word per short rest. Over the course of 2 short rests and 1 long rest, it's more healing than Lay on Hands until 8th level.

As for the Rage penalties, I like AC penalties, but those are kind of fiddly for 5E's system. Forcing Reckless Attack while raging just balances itself out though. But, then again, a reworked barbarian might not need Reckless Attack to make them feel like a barbarian at all times since rage would be the new norm.

 

[Charlaquin]

I think my favorite incarnation of the Barbarian was the 4e Berserker, where they were a Martial Defender by default, but if you used any of their Primal powers they switched to being a Striker for the rest of the encounter. But something like that in 5e would require a complete overhaul of the class at least, if not the entire class system.

 

[Quickleaf]

"When the going gets tough, the tough get going." Make the barbarian's rage the player version of the monster trait Wounded Fury.

Whenever you are reduced to half hit points or fewer, or whenever you see a companion reduced to 0 hit points, you may use a bonus action to Rage.

 

[DND_Reborn]

An easier take:

As a bonus action, enter Rage. If you have an exhaustion level, you must make a Con check against a DC of 10+2 per exhaustion level to enter rage. While raging, you gain the following benefits:

• Gain 2d6+level THP
• Attacks with Str deal +2/4/6 damage
• Advantage on Str saves and checks
• Disadvantage on Wis/Cha/Int ability check.
• Cannot cast spell or maintain concentration on a spell or effect.
• last for 1 minutes or until you drop to 0 hp.

After the rage end, you are winded for 1 minute. While winded, your speed is halved, you have disadvantage on all ability checks and you cannot rage.

This makes me think it would be a good idea to have a condition between "normal" and "exhaustion", such as "winded". I have seen a lot of place where people want to use "exhaustion" as a penalty for a feature, but feel needing a long rest to remove it is too high a cost. Having a sort "minor" or "short-lived" exhaustion feature would be a nice idea. It is like how people have discussed a third sort of rest period in other threads.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

This makes me think it would be a good idea to have a condition between "normal" and "exhaustion", such as "winded". I have seen a lot of place where people want to use "exhaustion" as a penalty for a feature, but feel needing a long rest to remove it is too high a cost. Having a sort "minor" or "short-lived" exhaustion feature would be a nice idea. It is like how people have discussed a third sort of rest period in other threads.

There's always the corner case of Haste damaging the target with ''lethargy'' at the end of the spell.
''the target can't move or take actions until after its next turn, as a wave of lethargy sweeps over it. ''

You could do the same with different durations?

There's also one case of an effect that causes an Exhaustion level that can be cured on a short rest somewhere in the DMG, but I just cant remember where (somewhere in wilderness hazard?)

 

[OB1]

How about something as simple as, When you take damage from a hostile creature, you can enter a Rage as a reaction. Everything else stays the same.

 

[DND_Reborn]

How about something as simple as, When you take damage from a hostile creature, you can enter a Rage as a reaction. Everything else stays the same.

I like where the idea is coming from, but I don't know if I would allow it this way as it makes it really powerful. I have seen in our group where the barbarian holds off on raging, gets smashed for full damage, and really wished he had already decided to rage. Even if you make it before the damage is done, it is still a powerful bump to something that is already a very powerful feature IMO.

 

[GlassJaw]

Overall, I don't have too much of an issue with the barbarian but (having played a barbarian in 5E) I do agree that managing rages/rest is extremely important - and challenging. And much more so if the campaign runs closer to the expected number of encounters/rest.

Because so much of its power is tied to rage, the barbarian is really lacking when not raging. Interestingly enough, the barbarian feels it much more at lower levels because rages increase with level.

So I see two design goals: 1) mitigate the "all or nothing" feel of raging vs. not raging, and 2) mitigate the necessity to manage the rages/rest.

I do like the idea of making rage more of a "stance" that can be toggled on and off. I also like the idea of using different conditions to trigger various rage effects. Hmm...

Now I'm thinking of different types of "rages", each with different effects (positive/negative) that are triggered (either turned on or off) by different conditions. Different rages (stances) could be tied to the subclasses as well. Even better if the player can choose their rage "type" at level 1 (moving all path choices to level 1 has been one of my homebrew projects as well).

 

[Xeviat]

How about something as simple as, When you take damage from a hostile creature, you can enter a Rage as a reaction. Everything else stays the same.

This also takes away one of the exploration benefits of raging for the advantage on strength checks.

I just need to figure out how to nerf the defensive benefit of Rage to make it more comparable to the Fighter's Second Wind. As it stands, resistance to physical damage is nearly worth doubling the Barbarian's HP.