Can a Zealot Barbarian use Rage Beyond Death, kill all the enemies (while at 0 HP) and then use Relentless Rage (or Relentless Endurance) to go back to 1 HP and thus avoid death?
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2\$\begingroup\$ Welcome to the site! It's important to remember that there are thousands of RPGs out there; can you tell us which game & edition you're asking about? \$\endgroup\$– Oblivious Sage ♦Commented Jul 18, 2021 at 16:40
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1\$\begingroup\$ @ObliviousSage Sorry about that! Thanks for letting me know! \$\endgroup\$– Andy NguyenCommented Jul 18, 2021 at 16:41
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1\$\begingroup\$ Related: "What happens when you cast Death Ward on a raging level 14 Zealot Barbarian who is at 0 HP?" \$\endgroup\$– Exempt-MedicCommented Jul 18, 2021 at 17:32
1 Answer
This does not work
Both Relentless Endurance and Relentless Rage include the following bits:
[...] If you drop to 0 hit points [...]
[...] When you are reduced to 0 hit points [...]
These are both features that activate precisely when you hit 0 HP, thus, when you would first fall to 0 HP you can choose to use these features instead of dropping to 0 HP. If you choose not to use them, taking damage while at 0 HP does not cause you to then drop back to 0 or be reduced again to 0 and thus does not allow you to use these features. These features both only activate when going from a positive number of hit points down to zero and thus cannot activate during Rage Beyond Death.
This is similar to the following question:
It asks about death ward which states, similar to Relentless Rage and Relentless Endurance:
[...] The first time the target would drop to 0 hit points as a result of taking damage, the target instead drops to 1 hit point [...]
The answers there explain that this effect is not triggered by taking damage while already at 0 HP:
[...] The first trigger only kicks in when the barbarian takes damage that would drop them to 0 hit points for the first time. Since they are already at 0 hit points [...] this trigger does not occur at any point during Rage Beyond Death [...]
[...] If they're at 0 hp, and they would take damage, they instead gain a failed death saving throw. Death Ward doesn't prevent that; it would only stop damage from reducing the creature to 0 hp. [...]