Variant Rage, just a random thought.

[Jondor_Battlehammer]

A Barbarian's Rage grants a number of abilities, the most problematic being the temporary bonus to constitution. I had an idea to get rid of that without loosing the spirit of the Rage ability.


Rage

+4 to STR
+1 to all saves
CON in temporary HP.

Greater Rage

+6 to STR
+2 to all saves
CON x 2 in temporary HP.

Grant the Barbarian the Die Hard feat somewhere in his advancement as a bonus feat.

New Barbarian feats.

Resilient (level 5+)
Add one to your save modifier while in Rage.

Cast Iron Hide (level 5+)
Add one to your temporary HP multiplier while in Rage.

Deathless (requires Die Hard, level 5+)
You may fight to a number of negative HPs equal to 10 + your level.


The idea behind this is as follows. The bonus to Will saves stems from the idea that your enraged mind is either too strong or too non existent to control, and the bonus to Fort saves comes from the con boost. It seems to me that if your adrenaline is pumping that hard, adding a Ref save bonus isn't uncalled for, so just make it a flat save bonus. The idea that an enraged fighter can fight beyond death is simulated with the Die Hard feat, and its add on feat, Deathless. Finally, the bonus HPs being temporary HP cuts down on the headache of a temporary CON bonus. The bonus HPs would be a sight better than the old Rage at levels 1-4ish, but I think they work overall.

 

[evilbob]

Overall, I'd say it is a good idea. Giving a flat bonus to saves is a little bit different, and you might want to think about that one a bit more, but temp HP is certainly better than a boost to Con. It also keeps the math simpler.

I know you weren't asking for other ideas, but I had a thought about this recently, as well. I ditched the HP and the AC penalty, and made the math much, much easier:

Barbarian Rage gives a +2 (unnamed) bonus to attack and damage rolls, Fort saves, and Will saves. Greater Rage and Mighty Rage increase this bonus to +3 and +4, respectively.

The thing about giving a bonus to attack/damage instead of +strength is that you lose a little bit of power, but you gain a TON of easier math. It also works against 2-handers somewhat, but again, the math is so much easier it's worth it to me. Just a thought.

 

[Claudius Gaius]

Well, if you want a more general form, you can use the Berserker sequence from Eclipse: it lets you assign bonuses related to a particular type of action as you focus on it, so (for example) an egotistical mage's spells might become harder to resist when you taunt him.