Rage is a buff with a duration

[Dalebert]

I ended up changing my position on a Facebook thread and was just curious what folks here thought.

So it seemed intuitively obvious that if a raging barbarian gets polymorphed, he's no longer raging because you lose your class features as your entire stat block gets replaced by the creature's, including the ability to rage.

Here's the thing that occurred to me after re-reading it. A barbarian's class feature is to "enter a rage". It has a duration of 1 minute and there are several things that can cause it to end early, e.g. unconscious, didn't attack since last turn or take dmg since last turn. You can also spend a bonus action to end it. It's fairly self-perpetuating. I don't see why the barbarian getting polymorphed would end it as long as he stayed in combat.

One analogy I took into considerating was casting a self-only buff spell like Sanctuary. If you cast that on yourself and then get polymorphed, that effect continues even though you've lost the spellcasting feature. All the spells you cast while you had the ability to cast spells would continue even though you can no longer cast spells. Now a barbarian can't enter into a new rage just as a spellcaster can't cast new spells but his existing rage is still in effect.

[solidork]

Sanctuary isn't concentration* or self only, but if you Polymorph yourself you can obviously keep concentrating/be affected by Polymorph.

Personally, I'd let them keep raging and cite Rule of Cool, unless they got turned into something that was explicitly called out as not feeling emotions for some reason.

*You didn't actually say it was. Whoops!

[Ralanr]

Possibly unrelated, but I've been starting to view rage as a concentration spell that doesn't say it's concentration and instead just prevents you from casting spells.

[mgshamster]

I like the idea of rage being considered just a buff, because then it's easier to refluff it away from the concept of anger.

[GlenSmash!]

I like the idea of rage being considered just a buff, because then it's easier to refluff it away from the concept of anger.

Me too. I've been refluffing it as more of a Primal Survival Power for years now.

[Zene]

Rage should be a condition, and if I were houseruling it, I would run it that way. Conditions don't end unless their ending criteria is met.

RAW, unfortunately, it's not; it's a weirdly-acting class feature. Class features, unfortunately, are ended by polymorph. :(

[MaxWilson]

Possibly unrelated, but I've been starting to view rage as a concentration spell that doesn't say it's concentration and instead just prevents you from casting spells.

Those are two very, very different things.

* No concentration saves to maintain a rage
* Custom ending condition (when you haven't attacked or taken damage), unlike concentration
* Can't cast non-concentration spells either (like Shield)
* Still works in anti-magic fields [this point might be controversial]
* Takes a bonus action on your turn to end voluntarily (unlike a concentration spell, which can be ended at any time with no action cost)
* Despite being a bonus action, does not prevent you from casting other spells on the same turn

They're different enough that I struggle to see the value in thinking of rage as a kind of (heavily-variant) concentration-spell-that-doesn't-say-it's-concentration at all.

[Hrugner]

RAW, unfortunately, it's not; it's a weirdly-acting class feature. Class features, unfortunately, are ended by polymorph. :(

I'm having trouble finding this particular rule. Do you recall where it is?

[Zene]

I'm having trouble finding this particular rule. Do you recall where it is?

The bit about polymorph ending class features? I'll admit it's a bit pf an extrapolation (though I think it's a reasonable one). It's based on this part of the Polymorph spell description: "The target’s game statistics, including mental ability scores, are replaced by the statistics of the chosen beast. It retains its alignment and personality."

[Garresh]

The bit about polymorph ending class features? I'll admit it's a bit pf an extrapolation (though I think it's a reasonable one). It's based on this part of the Polymorph spell description: "The target’s game statistics, including mental ability scores, are replaced by the statistics of the chosen beast. It retains its alignment and personality."

The issue is that the extrapolation, as you say, can be read either way. I don't see your interpretation as outlandish or anything, but it might be comparable to, say, casting longstrider on yourself them being polymorphed. Does removing the source feature retroactively undo the effects of the ability once it is used?

I see it as a sort of quantum paradox, as either the ability exists even if the creature is no longer capable, OR it doesn't exist because the source was retroactively removed. Really, take your pick, but it's not clear cut.

[MaxWilson]

The issue is that the extrapolation, as you say, can be read either way. I don't see your interpretation as outlandish or anything, but it might be comparable to, say, casting longstrider on yourself them being polymorphed. Does removing the source feature retroactively undo the effects of the ability once it is used?

I see it as a sort of quantum paradox, as either the ability exists even if the creature is no longer capable, OR it doesn't exist because the source was retroactively removed. Really, take your pick, but it's not clear cut.

If being polymorphed retroactively eliminated your ability to cast spells, then it would be impossible to cast Polymorph on yourself, which among other things would make a certain Transmuter feature worthless/of no effect. So, clearly polymorphed creatures can still concentrate on pre-cast spells, even though they explicitly cannot cast any more spells while polymorphed.

One does wonder why Polymorph bothers to explicitly call out that spellcasting is impossible. Does that imply that other class abilities are still usable while Polymorphed? Here's an Enworld survey on the topic: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?460092-Poll-Polymorph-Shenanigans From that survey, we find that at least 40% of DMs would allow at least some class abilities to be retained while Polymorphed.

[Drackolus]

I think it's clear enough that you can't activate it AFTER being polymorphed.
I think you would be unable to since rage as a whole depends on game statistics.
I'd probably allow it anyway though.