Half-Orc Relentless Endurance and Barbarian Relentless Rage

Post/Author/DateTimePost
#1

basilbur

Aug 11, 2014 17:07:11

Ok, looking at the Relentless Endurance trait for half-orcs (pp.41 PHB) and Relentless Rage feature for barbarians (pp.49 PHB).  

 

It seems that the Relentless Rage (RR) feature is pretty much wasted for half-orcs.  Relentless Endurance (RE) is better than RR.  So, really, a half-orc barbarian gets nothing at level 11.   That makes me sad.  A half-orc barbarians in nearly an iconic feature.   He should not be penalized.  Perhaps allow the half-orc barbarians to use the RE after only a short rest rather than the long rest.

#2

Undrhil

Aug 11, 2014 17:52:46

I see no overlap here.

 

Half-orcs get Relentless Endurance, which allows them to flat-out *not* drop to 0 hit points once per long rest.  No saving throw, nothing.  Just, "Nope.  I'm at 1 hit point, thanks."

 

Barbarians get Relentless Rage at 11th level, which allows to make a CON save at DC 10 (+5 for each additional time they use the feature before taking a short or long rest) and drop to 1 hit point instead of 0 hit points.

 

So, the half-orc Barbarian has a nice little feature in her backpocket which lets her not fall unconcious if she failed a CON save from Relentless Rage.  Also, did I mention that Relentless Rage won't even come into play until 11th level?  No?  Well, Relentless Rage doesn't even come into play until 11th level Barbarian (in case they Multiclass.)

 

So, I see no waste for either feature of a half-orc Barbarian.

#3

2Chlorobutanal

Aug 11, 2014 18:01:10

I see the Half-Orc feature as an additive benefit to the Barbarian one.

 

Instead of being able to "resist death" X times per day on average, they can "resist death" roughly X+1 times, which is an improvement.

 

Note that the save DC for Relentless Rage only seems to increase if Relentless Rage is used, not if the Half-Orc is using Relentless Endurance instead.  Once RE has been used, the Barbarian has RR upon which to fall back.  These two features in tandem make a Half-Orc Barbarian more resilient than either a standard Half-Orc PC or a Barbarian of a different race.

#4

Psikerlord

Aug 11, 2014 23:49:01

2Chlorobutanal wrote:
#5

basilbur

Aug 12, 2014 15:18:22

 

I appreciate the thoughtful responses, thanks!!

#6

Patron1972

May 08, 2015 11:07:06

basilbur wrote:
#7

Tempest_Stormwind

May 08, 2015 11:26:45

As has been said, yes, they're tracked separately, which is what makes them work together. Note that Relentless (the half-orc ability) also doesn't require you to be in a rage, so if you happen to be killed at a time when you can't enter a rage for whatever reason, it can work, while Relentless Rage cannot - but if you are raging, Relentless Rage can be used over and over, even across multiple encounters, which Relentlss cannot.

 

 

However, I would hope you're not going to be in a situation where you have to consider this - barbarians have a lot of hit points and damage resistances, and if something sends you to 0 that frequently during a battle, I'd hope you'd consider running.

#8

Horwath

May 10, 2015 11:36:23

Or you could use barbarian power and if you fail use racial that is automatic.