Has there ever been rules forbidding ranged attacks during Rage?

[Anabstercorian]

The question is in the subject. A friend and I are having a dispute. Who's right?

 

[Sejs]

Has there ever been rules forbidding ranged attacks during Rage?

Nope.

 

[Legildur]

From the 3.5 SRD:

While raging, a barbarian cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (except for Balance, Escape Artist, Intimidate, and Ride), the Concentration skill, or any abilities that require patience or concentration, nor can he cast spells or activate magic items that require a command word, a spell trigger (such as a wand), or spell completion (such as a scroll) to function. He can use any feat he has except Combat Expertise, item creation feats, and metamagic feats.

Nothing in there about ranged attacks.... And I can quite easily envisage a raging barbarian using throwing axes or javelins.

 

[Nyeshet]

From the 3.5 SRD: [snip]

Nothing in there about ranged attacks.... And I can quite easily envisage a raging barbarian using throwing axes or javelins.

Seconded. In fact, when I read the first post, an image of a running barbarian in rage, throwing a javelin, was the first thing that came to mind. Throwing ranged weapons is fine.

Now, for precision archery (projectile ranged attacks) . . .

Hmm, I wouldn't allow precision damage (such as SA), nor would I allow feats that seem to require such (such as Precise Shot, Ranged Pin, Ranged Disarm, etc). On the other hand, I might just allow Rapid Shot, as I can see a barbarian in a rage just trying to launch as many arrows as possible, perhaps not even caring (or noticing) that his precision is suffering as a result. Not sure about Far Shot or the extra point of damage and accuracy (+1 to attack) from Point Blank Shot . . . Hmm, is Penetrating Shot precision based? I tend to think it involves more force than focus, so I might consider allowing it . . .

 

[Lord Zardoz]

In any game I ran, I would allow the use of hand thrown weapons, but not of Crossbows or Bows. This particular situation has never come up, since most players I have had who used Barbarians never used any ranged weapons, instead optimizing for melee weapons.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[ValhallaGH]

Nothing in 3.0 or 3.5 has ever prevented a raging character from using ranged attacks of any sort.

Houserules, on the other hand ....

Personally, I see absolutely nothing wrong with a barbarian hacking down one warrior, picking up the dead guy's longsword, and hurling it into another warrior's kidneys despite the bush the second guy was behind (Improved Precise Shot and Sneak Attack).
But maybe your DM prefers wimpier barbarians.

 

[pawsplay]

I've seen barbarians that couldn't even draw their main bows without raging.

 

[Legildur]

I've considered on more than one occasion building a barbarian archer... imagine the strength bow bonuses... sure, you'd be at -2 attack penalty some of the time, but not when raging! Probably not really different to a specialised fighter in outcomes, but a bit more style to it.

 

[Brother MacLaren]

Has there ever been? Sort of.
IIRC, the 2nd edition dwarven battlerager could only use a thrown warhammer.

 

[Klaus]

Rage =/= barbarian foaming at the mouth, going "Krusk Smash!" The barbarian might very well be channelling his totem animal, or submerging his higher consciousness into the call of battle. He does not *think* of attacking, he simply does it. There's no cause and consequence, there's only action itself.

And, having shot a bow before, I must say there's something quite visceral about feeling the *twang* of a bow when you release the arrow.