How Rage Works in 5e

Rage is the Barbarian's level 1 feature. You enter it as a Bonus Action while not wearing Heavy armor. While it lasts you take half damage from Bludgeoning, Piercing and Slashing, add +2 (rising to +4) to damage on Strength attacks, and have Advantage on Strength checks and saves, but you can't cast spells or hold Concentration. It lasts until the end of your next turn and you keep it going by attacking, forcing a save, or spending a Bonus Action, up to 10 minutes. You get two Rages at level 1. Below: the rule quoted, the uses table, and what Rage does against an Ogre.

The rule

You can enter it as a Bonus Action if you aren't wearing Heavy armor.

While it is active, five things are true:

Damage Resistance. You have Resistance to Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing damage.

Rage Damage. When you make an attack using Strength—with either a weapon or an Unarmed Strike—and deal damage to the target, you gain a bonus to the damage that increases as you gain levels as a Barbarian.

Strength Advantage. You have Advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws.

No Concentration or Spells. You can't maintain Concentration, and you can't cast spells.

The fifth is how long it lasts:

The Rage lasts until the end of your next turn, and it ends early if you don Heavy armor or have the Incapacitated condition.

Three details catch people.

• Strength, not melee. A Dexterity attack with a Rapier gets no Rage Damage. A thrown Handaxe uses Strength, so it does.
• Resistance only covers three types. Fire, Poison and spells that deal Force damage hit as hard as ever. Resistance, Vulnerability and Immunity covers the halving and rounding.
• Concentration ends. A spell you were concentrating on stops the moment you rage. Concentration explains what that loses you.

Keeping it going

If the Rage is still active on your next turn, one of these extends it another round:

• Make an attack roll against an enemy. • Force an enemy to make a saving throw. • Take a Bonus Action to extend your Rage.

The cap is 10 minutes, 100 rounds. A turn spent running to the next fight costs the Bonus Action; a turn spent attacking costs nothing. At level 15, Persistent Rage removes the upkeep: the Rage lasts the full 10 minutes and ends early only on the Unconscious condition or Heavy armor.

How many, how hard

You regain one expended use when you finish a Short Rest, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.

At level 1 that means two fights, three with a Short Rest between them. Short and Long Rests covers the timing.

What it does against an Ogre

A level 1 Barbarian with Strength 16, Dexterity 14 and Constitution 14 has 14 Hit Points and Unarmored Defense AC 14. The SRD Ogre swings a Greatclub at +6 for 13 (2d8 + 4) Bludgeoning damage, so it hits AC 14 on an 8 or better: 65% of the time.

Without Rage, 43.75% of Ogre hits deal 14 or more and drop the Barbarian in one blow. Raging, a hit averages 6.25 after halving and rounding down, so no single hit can do it and two hits leave the Barbarian up two times in three. Rage roughly doubles the hits it takes to go down.

The other side: a Greataxe at 1d12 + 3 averages 9.5; with Rage Damage, 11.5, a fifth more per hit. Add Reckless Attack at level 2 and every swing has Advantage, but the Ogre's chance to hit jumps from 65% to 87.75%. Resistance is what makes that trade affordable.

Relentless Rage

At level 11, dropping to 0 Hit Points while raging, without dying outright, lets you make a DC 10 Constitution save. Succeed and your Hit Points become twice your Barbarian level. Each use after the first adds 5 to the DC until a Short or Long Rest. Barbarians have proficiency in Constitution saves, so with Constitution 14 the bonus at level 11 is +6:

Death Saving Throws covers what happens when the save fails.

Every Rage starts with a Bonus Action and ends at the Ogre's damage dice. The Book of Dice covers the d12 in Part I, The Object. The odds here are computed exactly from the dice above.

This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 ("SRD 5.2.1") by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.