Does Barbarian rage end if Barb goes unconscious?

[green slime]

Breathing is a poor example. Your body has a specific mechanism to regulate breathing that is hard to overcome. If you were to try holding your breath, chances are your conscious decision would be overridden well before you passed out.

Nope. I've seen 5 year-olds hold their breath until they passed out, completely blue in the face. Absolutely terrifying experience for their parents.... but that is why the little horror was doing it in the first place....

A lot of these emotions flood the body system with adrenaline, endorphins, etc., producing physiological changes. Do these changes immediately subside when a person falls unconscious, or does it take a little time?

Well, laughter stops, tears stop, don't really know if they stop feeling morose or not....

Unless you're playing grim-and-gritty style rules, I do not feel this change would make for a better game. In short, and I don't mean to imply anything about your own gamings-style, I would never play a raging barbarian in your campaign. I don't think the added stress would be fun for me.

Yeah, I realise this.... Just means the Barbarian has to be a bit more picky about when he goes into rage, and needs to have the cleric nearby to paste him together before he falls apart...

 

[green slime]

While conscious, a barbarian can choose to end his rage. Once unconscious, he loses that option...

-Hyp.

Exactly! His body makes that decision for him.

 

[Thanee]

As some sort of pseudo-scientific explanation, rage could also mean, that you are able to get an overdose of adrenaline into your bloodstream (when you activate the rage), which would not immediately be gone, if you go unconscious.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Vurt]

Nope. I've seen 5 year-olds hold their breath until they passed out, completely blue in the face. Absolutely terrifying experience for their parents.... but that is why the little horror was doing it in the first place....

Well, I do know that I had tried, on several occasions, in my own childhood. And failed each and every time. But then maybe I didn't have the sheer determination of a five year old frustrated by their parents not giving in to their demands.

So quite possibly there's more to it than meets the eye.

Cheers,
Vurt

 

[moritheil]

Exactly! His body makes that decision for him.

OR, it's a physiological state that happens to be activated by his rage, and while he's able to exert some degree of mental control over it (turning it on or off), it's not only a mental thing. Therefore, Hyp means to imply that he continues to rage while KOed.

 

[Scion]

I dont make barbarian rage end early, nor do I make spell durations end early, or other type of effects. Basically everything runs its duration unless something that specifically can stop it, does.

Calm emotion tells the barbarian to end his rage, he doesnt get a choice. Just like failing a save vs sleep for some creatures will make them fall asleep, he doesnt get a choice.

However, making the barb stop raging when he falls unconscious is basically the same as saying that barbarians are not allowed in the campaign. It is simply too easy to die in such circumstances.

Really though, to me it sounds the same as saying, 'when you fall unconscious all of the spells you cast with durations end' or the infamous, 'when you die all spells you have ever cast with ongoing effects end'. Just makes players mad

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I dont make barbarian rage end early, nor do I make spell durations end early, or other type of effects. Basically everything runs its duration unless something that specifically can stop it, does.

Calm emotion tells the barbarian to end his rage, he doesnt get a choice. Just like failing a save vs sleep for some creatures will make them fall asleep, he doesnt get a choice.

However, making the barb stop raging when he falls unconscious is basically the same as saying that barbarians are not allowed in the campaign. It is simply too easy to die in such circumstances.

Really though, to me it sounds the same as saying, 'when you fall unconscious all of the spells you cast with durations end' or the infamous, 'when you die all spells you have ever cast with ongoing effects end'. Just makes players mad

The Arcane Evolved rules do explicitely state that spells end when their caster dies, provided the duration was less than 24 hours, but I can´t find a similar reference in the PHB 3.5.

Rage is an extraordinary ability. Most extraordinary abilities seem to work perfectly while a character is unconcious (like Fast Healing or Regeneration - Exceptions spell this out, IIRC), so that would be my way to reasoning that Rage doesn´t stop when the character becomes unconcious.

 

[DreamChaser]

of course through all of this:

by the RAW: unconsciousness does not end rage.

Green Slime stated from the beginning that his method was a house rule in his campaign.

Fairly straightforward.

DC

 

[Scion]

Arcane Evolved rules do explicitely state that spells end when their caster dies

So nonstandard rules that, to me, would be houserules? Same as making the barbarian rage end when it shouldnt

The core says one thing, houserules are of course always free to change that.

 

[MacMathan]

I agree with the RAW here. Also it makes being KO'd a death sentence for Barbs above level 4 which is harsh IMO as rage is their class defining ability.

IMC we use a houserule adapted from 2E that raging characters cannot be KO'd by damage, they still die at -10 but they keep going otherwise. Solves the problem and thematically works for me.