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While raging as a barbarian:

You have advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws.

Some beasts have the ability to knock the target prone or cause it to become grappled as part of another attack (which normally as a PC would involve contested checks). For example:

  • The Dire Wolf's Bite action, on a hit, forces a DC 13 Strength save to avoid being knocked prone.
  • The Giant Octopus' Tentacles action causes the hit creature to become grappled (and restrained while grappled), with an escape DC of
  • The Giant Toad's Bite action also causes the target to become grappled (and restrained while grappled), with an escape DC of 13.

If my multiclassed character (barbarian 1/druid 2) was raging while Wild Shaped into a creature with such an ability, does the DC increase, does it change to the player raging required to roll for the DC (with advantage), or would it stay the original DC?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Who is wildshaped in this scenario and who is raging? \$\endgroup\$ Jul 17, 2018 at 17:34
  • \$\begingroup\$ Same person, multiclass, 1 lvl Barbarian, 2 lvl Druid (we will say Circle of the Moon) - Modified to hope make more sense. \$\endgroup\$
    – James
    Jul 17, 2018 at 17:38

1 Answer 1

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By RAW, No. The DC does not change.

tl;dr Rage has no provision for changing the DC of a check nor do the stat blocks of beasts have provision for changing the DC of the abilities.

A druid transforming using wild shape into the beast and gets the stat block and abilities of the beast form (except for legendary and lair actions).

The raging character is not making saving throws or checks.

Rage gives the character advantage when they roll checks or saving throws, but in the cases of these abilities, the target is making the check. Rage simply does not apply.

The special grapple abilities of the beast are not the same mechanics as the grapple action.

Rage applies to the opposed checks resulting from a character replacing one of their attacks from the Attack action with a grappling attempt. However, the abilities of the giant toad or octopus are not the grapple action. For example, the giant octopus' Tentacles action, on a hit, results in a grappled condition that also causes the target to be restrained.

The mechanics to break this special grapple are different than the character's regular grapple action, and are written as a static DC check to break. As it is not an opposed check, the rage status of the giant octopus does not apply here.

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    \$\begingroup\$ "No. The DC does not change." — why do you think so? Is that said in the rules? Which ones? "The druid transforms into the creature and gets its stat block and abilities as written" — as written where? What exactly is written there? \$\endgroup\$
    – enkryptor
    Jul 17, 2018 at 19:23
  • \$\begingroup\$ @enkryptor Added a link to wildshape. Technically, the abilities are listed in the stat block in the MM. \$\endgroup\$
    – GcL
    Jul 17, 2018 at 19:25
  • \$\begingroup\$ @enkryptor It's difficult to cite text for the absence of text. I've added a tl;dr explicitly pointing out the lack of provisions for altering the DC. \$\endgroup\$
    – GcL
    Jul 17, 2018 at 19:30
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    \$\begingroup\$ It is important to note that saving throws are calculated the same way for monsters as they are for PCs. It is also worth mentioning that the statistics block of the creature in question are an average example of their species. So an extraordinary creature should/could have higher DCs. You can easily extrapolate which ability modifier is used for each feature in most cases. DMG p278. So Rage doesn't change the DCs but an increase in strength for some reason would increase, say a Dire Wolf's trip DC because it is based on strength 8 + 2(PB) + 3(Str) = 13. \$\endgroup\$
    – Slagmoth
    Jul 17, 2018 at 23:14
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Slagmoth that is an interesting point especially for wildshape. Altering the stat block of a beast should change the CR calculation as well. If the druid originally favored a creature of 1/4 CR, at L4 they could stay with that creature, but the GM could generate a slightly beefier version to bring it to 1/2 CR. \$\endgroup\$
    – GcL
    Jul 18, 2018 at 15:07

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