Two limited-use features; I'd assume that you pick which one to use. And no, you don't get the benefits of Strength Before Death when you use Relentless Endurance.
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Two limited-use features; I'd assume that you pick which one to use. And no, you don't get the benefits of Strength Before Death when you use Relentless Endurance.
Why not? You've provided an opinion, but not an explanation of how you arrived at it.
The only reason I see that these two features should not be allowed to be used at the same time is this: Strength Before Death states a specific timing - you immediately take an extra turn as a reaction to dropping to 0 hit points and not being killed outright - so if you use it, then you are already at 0 hit points by the time you are done so you've not had the opportunity to be at 1 hit point instead. And if you were to use Relentless Endurance to drop to 1 hit point instead of 0 before you react and take an immediate turn, you wouldn't actually be at the 0 hit points required of that particular reaction.
However, I will say that I don't see a balance issue arising from allowing the two features to effectively combine into a once per long rest drop to 1 hit point instead of 0 and also get an extra turn feature because A) at 18th level that's not actually that big of a deal, and B) 1 hit point is not likely going to be the difference between being 1 more hit away from being dropped out of the fight for a while, or being 2 more hits away.
The way I see it, this involves a couple of possibly unintended, certainly tricky interactions that remind me of advanced Magic the Gathering rulings...
Both of those traits can trigger at the same time. Since both are optional, you can decide to use only one of them; that's easy.
If you do choose to use both, there's a situation of simultaneous effects. According to the shiny new rule on simultaneous effects on Xanathar's Guide to Everything, the player/DM whose current turn it is decides which order they'll resolve in.
Does the order matter? Perhaps. The trigger is "when you fall to 0 hp". If we consider the effects evaluating this condition on the triggering event alone, it doesn't, so who controls the turn is irrelevant - both resolve, you get your death-adrenaline extra turn and you remain at 1 hp, end of story. If we assume that the effects evaluate the condition on resolution as well, then resolving Relentless Endurance first invalidates the condition for Strength before Death, since your hp are now 1, while resolving Strength before Death first does not invalidate Relentless Endurance, since your hp remain at 0. In which case, assuming you didn't get the fatal damage by yourself or an ally, your opponent would likely choose the former resolution.
Tricky, for certain, and likely not very important for non-official play - I'd just bring the issue to my DM beforehand and have them make a ruling to keep in mind in case it is needed.
Personally, I see no issue with both abilities resolving at once - it exemplifies the natural resilience of a non-human race that follows the advice of Hagakure ("Even if one's head were to be suddenly cut off, he should be able to do one more action with certainty." - it doesn't work when you're killed outright, in D&D, but still :p ), and both abilities are Long Rest ones, so it may be a better strategic option to keep them for separate events than spend both at once.
I'd just bring the issue to my DM beforehand and have them make a ruling to keep in mind in case it is needed.
Well, I'm the DM for two groups, sometimes three. But I like to have clarity and depth of understanding on rules as RAW as well as seeing how they operate in play before I start tinkering or modifying anything.
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I can't find any clarification on how Relentless Endurance and the Samurai feature Strength before Death interact. Can you benefit from both or is it one or the other?
Two limited-use features; I'd assume that you pick which one to use. And no, you don't get the benefits of Strength Before Death when you use Relentless Endurance.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
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The only reason I see that these two features should not be allowed to be used at the same time is this: Strength Before Death states a specific timing - you immediately take an extra turn as a reaction to dropping to 0 hit points and not being killed outright - so if you use it, then you are already at 0 hit points by the time you are done so you've not had the opportunity to be at 1 hit point instead. And if you were to use Relentless Endurance to drop to 1 hit point instead of 0 before you react and take an immediate turn, you wouldn't actually be at the 0 hit points required of that particular reaction.
However, I will say that I don't see a balance issue arising from allowing the two features to effectively combine into a once per long rest drop to 1 hit point instead of 0 and also get an extra turn feature because A) at 18th level that's not actually that big of a deal, and B) 1 hit point is not likely going to be the difference between being 1 more hit away from being dropped out of the fight for a while, or being 2 more hits away.
The way I see it, this involves a couple of possibly unintended, certainly tricky interactions that remind me of advanced Magic the Gathering rulings...
Both of those traits can trigger at the same time. Since both are optional, you can decide to use only one of them; that's easy.
If you do choose to use both, there's a situation of simultaneous effects. According to the shiny new rule on simultaneous effects on Xanathar's Guide to Everything, the player/DM whose current turn it is decides which order they'll resolve in.
Does the order matter? Perhaps. The trigger is "when you fall to 0 hp". If we consider the effects evaluating this condition on the triggering event alone, it doesn't, so who controls the turn is irrelevant - both resolve, you get your death-adrenaline extra turn and you remain at 1 hp, end of story. If we assume that the effects evaluate the condition on resolution as well, then resolving Relentless Endurance first invalidates the condition for Strength before Death, since your hp are now 1, while resolving Strength before Death first does not invalidate Relentless Endurance, since your hp remain at 0. In which case, assuming you didn't get the fatal damage by yourself or an ally, your opponent would likely choose the former resolution.
Tricky, for certain, and likely not very important for non-official play - I'd just bring the issue to my DM beforehand and have them make a ruling to keep in mind in case it is needed.
Personally, I see no issue with both abilities resolving at once - it exemplifies the natural resilience of a non-human race that follows the advice of Hagakure ("Even if one's head were to be suddenly cut off, he should be able to do one more action with certainty." - it doesn't work when you're killed outright, in D&D, but still :p ), and both abilities are Long Rest ones, so it may be a better strategic option to keep them for separate events than spend both at once.