Hey! I'm planning to take the unarmed fighting style with my fighter/barbarian/druid multiclass. Unarmed fighting says that, among other things, "At the start of each of your turns, you can deal 1d4 bludgeoning damage to one creature grappled by you." I know that rage ends if you haven't attacked an enemy or taken damage, but that was also written pre Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. Do you think that dealing the damage from the Unarmed Fighting Style would maintain my rage?
(In my head, the damage is from crushing the enemy which may be like an attack? But a freebie since I have them grappled?)
On one hand, I feel like it's obviously the equivalent of an attack. My initial reaction was 'of course it should!' The restrictions on maintaining rage (and thus making use of 80% of your class/subclass features) can be incredibly inconvenient for encounters that vary from "all your enemies are in a group 20 feet away from you." So I try to be lenient in my ways to allow rage to continue when it makes sense.
On the other hand it takes no action to deal the damage, so to lose rage you would have to not use your action to attack the enemy you have in a headlock. And I know you can because you're using a fighting style that doesn't let you carry a shield or weapon in the other hand. Maybe if you had two guys grappled you'd have a problem, but any DM who wouldn't let you use your action to bonk their heads together would be missing out on a great opportunity.
So I think most of the time it shouldn't matter. And if you're holding an enemy and deciding to use your action to make a skill check or something, it kinda seems like you're not being very ragey anymore. And if you're trying to drag him somewhere, it seems appropriate that you'd want to stop every few seconds and punch him in the face again because RAGE. So I'm thinking RAW actually follows RAI in this case.
Hey! I'm planning to take the unarmed fighting style with my fighter/barbarian/druid multiclass. Unarmed fighting says that, among other things, "At the start of each of your turns, you can deal 1d4 bludgeoning damage to one creature grappled by you." I know that rage ends if you haven't attacked an enemy or taken damage, but that was also written pre Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. Do you think that dealing the damage from the Unarmed Fighting Style would maintain my rage?
(In my head, the damage is from crushing the enemy which may be like an attack? But a freebie since I have them grappled?)
By RAW I would think not since it is not an attack. But I would think some DM’s would be fine with it maintaining rage. Ask your DM
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
On one hand, I feel like it's obviously the equivalent of an attack. My initial reaction was 'of course it should!' The restrictions on maintaining rage (and thus making use of 80% of your class/subclass features) can be incredibly inconvenient for encounters that vary from "all your enemies are in a group 20 feet away from you." So I try to be lenient in my ways to allow rage to continue when it makes sense.
On the other hand it takes no action to deal the damage, so to lose rage you would have to not use your action to attack the enemy you have in a headlock. And I know you can because you're using a fighting style that doesn't let you carry a shield or weapon in the other hand. Maybe if you had two guys grappled you'd have a problem, but any DM who wouldn't let you use your action to bonk their heads together would be missing out on a great opportunity.
So I think most of the time it shouldn't matter. And if you're holding an enemy and deciding to use your action to make a skill check or something, it kinda seems like you're not being very ragey anymore. And if you're trying to drag him somewhere, it seems appropriate that you'd want to stop every few seconds and punch him in the face again because RAGE. So I'm thinking RAW actually follows RAI in this case.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm