#5e dnd

[homebrew-a-la-traumaverse]

The Wildcard Rogue - Homebrew Rogue Subclass

It's hard for your enemies to pin you down when even you don't know what's coming. When you want to roll the dice and feel the fear in your DM's eyes, this is the subclass for you.

[glutenfreehimbo]

Stat a D&D Character

How it will work: After the results of the poll is done, I’ll rank the stats with the most votes and match then to the appropriate the D&D 5e standard stat array number (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8)

If this gets popular enough I might start a side blog where we make a D&D character 100% based on polls, but for now… enjoy.

Please reblog to increase sample size.

[dice-sociation]

AP Review: Reckless Attack - Main Campaign

Listen Here: https://www.recklessattack.com/episodes/

Quick info:

Audio Quality: High Quality and Edited, Effects, Music. Vibes: Lord of the Rings, Ghibli, Never Ending Story, Avatar the Last Airbender, Frogs Extras: Discord and Patreon rewards. System: 5e DnD Average Episode time: 1 hour Uploads 1 Episode per week. Campaign/ Show Length: Long Term Campaign Platforms: Podcast, Audio Only. Accessibility: Content Warnings Language available: English Diversity: AAPI/BIPOC Number of Episodes Review is based on: 100 (This is my first review so I decided to start with a Podcast I’m already caught up on) ** If you want the TLDR, scroll to the bottom of the post **

Why Reckless Attack?

I honestly believe that part of the draw of listening to people play a TTRPG is not just the story telling but an assurance that adults can somehow actually and consistently come together, in person, to pull off a full long term game. Reckless Attack is one such podcast. They are a small indie podcast with excellent audio quality and editing. 

But, why should you listen to another high fantasy podcast? Well, have you ever wanted to see what a post-apocalyptic High Fantasy world would look like? The deeper you delve into Reckless Attack, the deeper the lore gets, and we have barely scratched the surface a hundred episodes in. You’ll join the players as they explore a world recovering from an apocalyptic event, ripe with magic and unstable artifacts, an undead army, and frogs.

Starting The Pod

Right out the gate, the listeners are greeted by a Lord of the Rings style opening monologue, giving relevant history and context to the kind of place the characters live in. I personally get the feeling a lot of the world was established in a previous game or between the DM and players prior to the start of this campaign. If, as a listener, it feels like you're missing something, don't worry; you'll get a lot more context down the road, especially once the players make it to the city of Agmar (Episode 15). The first 15 episodes are a nice slow build up. 

Conveniently, the first recap episode covers Episode 1-14! (Though I really enjoyed the first 14 episodes, I know not everyone has the amount of listening time I have). If you are so inclined to start from the first episode, you'll get nicely eased into the characters and their relationships with one another before a lot of the bigger world building really starts to soar.

(My one caveat is that I listen to this podcast at 1.3-1.4 speed since the players and Nathan speak with a good amount of pauses, and that can be a little too slow for me.)

About the Team

Nathan, the DM for the main campaign, paints some amazing pictures of his homebrew world. He has a real talent for creating larger than life NPCs and Big Baddies for his players to interact with. They all have clear motivations, flaws, and personalities that truly rounds out the overall story. When it comes to plot, Nathan kept me on my toes with plot twists that would literally snap me out of whatever multitasking I was doing. And I must recognize how often Nathan opens the floor for the players to build parts of the story and describe longer stretches of downtime. Those moments are like the equivalent of cinematic montages to represent the passing of time.

The players, Sophie, Steve, David, and Jonathan, deliver wonderful descriptions and leave plenty of space for each other to speak, balanced with just the right amount of crosstalk. Each character has a very unique voice which is helpful for listeners (especially because David and Jonathan are twins and have similar voices).

Sophie plays Valeska Carter, the Human * Cleric. "Valeska is a young woman in search of answers. Like, compulsively."* I quickly fell in love with Val, an exhausted nerd who can never have enough notes and organization. If you're the kind of person who is always rescuing animals, you will love her too. 

Steve plays Selv Asterlin, the Dragonborn Monk. "Selv’s years at his town’s icy mountain monastery has trained not just his body, but also his mind and emotions. The large dragonborn seeks to be a peacemaker in conflicts, exuding strength, calm and serenity while straying away from violence and lethal force when possible."* But don't be fooled, Selv is often one for the occasional good prank, and I always appreciate Steve's references even when the rest of the group don't understand them. (I got you Steve) 

David plays Kascorin "Kass" Brightmane, the Dwarven Warlock. "Tomorrow (Kass leaves) this city for the Golden Tree adventuring guild, and in leaving this city, (He leaves his) friends, (his) family, and (his) comfortable life behind."* Kass is very grounded, serious, and focused, until he runs into tasty dried meats. Kass has all the charm of a warlock and the grit of a soldier. 

Jonathan plays Checkers, the Gung Druid, with his trusty pals Mango and Junior. "Joining the Golden Tree adventuring guild on a dare, Checkers and his frog pal Mango are here to prove that it’s better to find your own path than to follow someone else’s. After all, where’s the fun in looking before you leap?"* Checkers is a lot like the characters I personally play. Someone who doesn't stand around for too much planning and prefers to "leap" into action. In my very humble opinion, every group needs an instigator. 

I have also come to really admire the level of trust and respect the group has for one another. They handle both wonderful whimsical beats as well as solemn moments with great care (Episode 108 was magnificent.)

*Quoted from the official Reckless Attack website. You can find this and more at their website www.recklessattack.com. (Be aware, reading the available character sheets may contain spoilers)

About the World

Ryxia is built on a world where long ago, the Gods walked among mortals, but one day they left. As if in consequence, magic in this world seems to ebb and flow, and monsters roam the wilds. Until, the "second of Ryxia’s twin suns disappeared from the sky, the Ultragiants appeared, and the Pentarchy’s great capital city of Narhasur was turned into a smoldering crater." *

You can think of the Ultra Giants as the Titans of this world, being elemental and colossal. These Ultra Giants terrorized mortals until one day, the mortals managed to kill one " wielding their city’s Object of Focus… The object was destroyed, as was much of the army. But strangely, within days, the Ultragiants no longer stalked Ryxia."*

As the mortals re-emerged, they started to rebuild despite the incredible amount of monsters who now roam the lands. 

*Quoted from the official Reckless Attack website. You can find this and more at their website www.recklessattack.com. (Be aware, reading the available character sheets may contain spoilers)

Extras

Aside from the main campaign Nathan has his own series called Reckless A-Talk. This series Nathan or others on the team interview incredible people from all over the TTRPG space. Nathan's style of interviewing is mostly allowing his guest to speak more than he does, followed by the wonderful lightning round questions. I highly recommend listening to these (as a little treat) if you are interested in learning other perspectives and other aspects of the industry. 

Bonus one shots are another part of Reckless Attack, allowing the players to take the reigns.  They serve as fun filler for when you just can't wait for the next episode to drop. 

And if that's still not enough content for you, you can always subscribe to their Patreon for even more content, including the very relaxed Reckless A-Snack.

TLDR

High Fantasy world rebuilding the world after mortals were nearly wiped out.

Listeners will get a good feel of the world within the first 14 episodes. (IMO, the pacing starts to pick up after Episode 14)

Here are "Tale Til Now," recap episodes for those who want to catch up faster. (Episodes 1-14, 14-42, 42-66, 67-84)

Non Player Characters are larger than life, with clear motives and personalities.

The Dungeon Master and Players share a lot of world building and you can feel the love and trust they have for each other.

Recommended listening at 1.3x-1.5x speed if you are one of those people (you know who you are).

Find more details about the world and characters at www.recklessattack.com.

Lots of extra content for those who just need more, including; interviews, one-shots run by the players, and patreon bonus content. https://www.patreon.com/recklessattack/home

Do you have ideas or suggestions? Please feel free to comment!

Special thanks to Artax of Who's Taking Watch for helping with editing!

No Context Spoilers:

[foundry-fabrications]

Hey folks! It took WAY too long to get this out, but it's finally done. Well, technically it isn't done, but I'll get to that in a bit. One weird thing that needs explanation at a time.

So, as one can tell, I didn't just make statblocks for the behemoths, write some lore, and call it a day. I've discovered that I really don't like making statblocks and dealing with all the nonsense that comes with it (CR is a joke, and I'm not laughing). So, in typical Foundry fashion, I tried doing something weird that requires more work and ultimately still required me to make statblocks anyway. Yeah, I'm not smart. 

So I made them templates instead. And while I was tempted to give up and just do the obvious thing since I was just going to end up with stats anyway, making them templates makes a certain amount of sense from a lore perspective and I genuinely think is an interesting idea worth pursuing. Quick lore tidbit, behemoths are likely the result of normal creatures becoming mutated by aether (it's not certain, but there are signs of this origin from what I've read), so a template makes logical sense. So, as long as I pick appropriate creatures for the template examples, the end result will get you pretty close to the behemoths in game. Sure, they're not perfect, but it would be easy to tweak them to better suit your game.

So the other behemoth in the room is there are only 3 behemoths here. I had intended on releasing them all at once. Turns out there's like 30+ behemoths AND 5 basically legendary behemoths. So, I'm splitting them up into their elemental categories, and the legendaries by themselves. I already have the Blaze behemoths written out, so those won't take nearly as long. As I complete each category, I'll update this post and make y'all aware of the additions. By the end, I'll have one document with all of them in it, a brew to rival Flesh & Bone. 

But for now, a quick break to work on something else my ADHD has compelled me to rework. Stay tuned for that. Anyway, stay safe, don't forget to love each other, and I'll see you next time.

Enjoy my work? Consider leaving me a Tip or supporting me on Patreon! Patrons gain access to high quality PDFs for all of my content, weekly updates, early access, and more!

[jaypea00101010]

Druidic Circle: Circle of Ruin

I just put out an update to my Circle of Ruin!

Ever wanted to play a stone based druid, or a druidic knight, well here's the subclass for you!

A front-line warrior druid that lets you make stone armour, grants martial weapon proficiencies, and just lets you grapple and pummel your enemies if you really want!

If you grab the PDF from the link above, you also get 'Lady Ethel of Scarwood' a CR6 NPC statblock with lore and tips on how to run in combat!

[dreorcaul]

its my take on the gal! saw her old face and she looks so hot!

[dungeonmalcontent]

Okay folks.

Happy spooky month.

Happy open your ribcage and devour a victim month.

Happy best time of the year.

Happy Grimdark.

Grimdark & Dangerous 50% off for the entire month of October. Just use this link.

Grimdark & Dangerous 50% off for the entire month of October. Just use this link.

Grimdark & Dangerous 50% off for the entire month of October. Just use this link.

Don't know what Grimdark & Dangerous is? You must be new here. It's my magnum opus of 5e homebrew. Normally it costs $19.99. This month, if you use this link, it costs $9.99. I'll give you a second to wipe up that water you just spit out of your mouth using your excellent comedic timing skills you glorious potential Grimdark player.

Reader for the kicker?

This month, Grimdark & Dangerous gets it's first milestone expansion. Currently we are poised at 49 copies sold (as of writing). The next person that buys a copy triggers a file update. After 50 copies sold, all past and future buyers of G&D get an extra G&D expansion book for free as part of buying G&D. Grimdark & Dangerous: The Living Grimoire Expansion is a whole thing in and of itself, and if I were going to put a price on it, that price would be $8.99. On its own. Buy G&D, get the second book free. In fact, the only way to get The Living Grimoire is as a free expansion. This is content I've never shared before or published elsewhere. And if you wait, after this month, the price goes back up to $19.99.

Is this clicking for you yet? In the spirit of the month of October, I am slashing the price of a massive homebrew book in half so you can play as a horrible dark fantasy monster in your Halloween game. Not planning on doing a Halloween oneshot or mini campaign? Do one anyway, the amount of content in this book could write multiple distinct campaign outlines just from mixing and matching descriptive text.

You do not know how much self control is has taken me not to start this post with a Destiel meme, this is that big of a deal.

→ If it wasn't clear already, this is one of the very few posts of mine that you need to reblog.

[axolotldice]

FIREHEART - 8 piece set

This set is inspired by Aelin Ashryver Galathynius from the book series Throne of Glass

[eightfoldpaper]

[homebrew-a-la-traumaverse]

Subclasseptember Day 30

Let's say you could make a wish to change one thing about Dungeons and Dragons.

Not the culture surrounding it, not the business practices of the company that owns it, not the various tweets that have become immortalized over the years. The game itself. The rules and mechanics that define the game you're playing.

For myself, a few years ago, it would have been that there was no way to really unify the things I wanted out of a character. You can cast a spell, or you can hit the enemy with a sword; those are two separate actions, Smites and Scagtrips notwithstanding.

If you're a Paladin, you can choose to smite your enemies, or you can choose to heal your friends. Your support abilities and your martial abilities are contained away in neat little boxes that never mix.

What if you supported your allies in the process of attacking?

Well. You might get something a lot like the Magical Girl.

(featuring: Like 10 more pages of material that didn't fit here, 4 subclasses, a level of customization similar to the Warlock, and ethically-sourced Creative Commons art with absolutely zero AI input.)

Link below in the reblogs.

[dice-sociation]

Girls Who Don’t DnD

Quick Info

Audio Quality: High-Quality Audio, Effects, Music. (Occasional fan-submitted recordings)

Vibes: Throne of Glass, Doctor Who, Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Princess and the Pauper

Extras: Patreon rewards, Discord Community with Book Club, and more!

System: 5e DnD

Campaign/ Show Length: Long Term Campaign

Average Episode time: 1.5 Hours (varies a bit)

Uploads 1 episode a month. 

Diversity: Majority Women

Platforms: Podcast, Audio Only. 

Number of Episodes This Review is based on: 30+ 

** If you want the TLDR, scroll to the bottom of the post **

Why Girls Who Don’t DnD?

How often have you said to yourself, “Man, I wish I could experience that for the first time again?” While we can’t reset your brain, you can live vicariously through the Girls Who Don’t D&D podcast. 

If you're looking for a podcast with relaxed gameplay, fantastic humor, great editing, and effects, you should read on to learn more. This wonderful adventure showcases the beautiful experience of watching three girls fall in love with Dungeons and Dragons (D&D). 

Starting the Pod

The podcast starts with Cory, the Dungeon Master (DM), explaining that he has invited three girls, Indy, Alana, and Stacey, who have never played D&D, into his world of Kalee with premade characters. If you, the listener, haven’t played before, you’ll learn a lot just from listening. Cory purposely doesn’t edit out explanations of how to play. I’m confident my experience was better because I was still learning to play the game myself as I started listening.

Right from the start you will hear how much work Cory puts into editing and pre-recording. He recruits people to voice-act for non-player characters (NPCs) or to play out memories or scenes. Some additions are just for the listeners, giving us a little extra information about the lore of the world. This includes the origin of magical artifacts, gods, and sometimes an NPC’s perspective that the players don’t get to hear.  It feels like listening to an audiobook and honestly, I think “booktok” would love Girls Who Don’t DnD. 

We learn that the three player characters, Freya, Kaa'Riin, and Morrigan, have lost their memories and need to recover them. The story and the discovery of who the player characters are and what happened to them work in tandem with the players themselves learning the game in a beautiful way. 

Power gamers and hardcore strategy? We don’t need that here. (Tosses book over shoulder). This group is made of story-tellers who usually choose to progress the narrative over strategy. At first, it's like watching Without A Recipe or the British Bake Off challenge where they have no clue what they are supposed to be making. This makes it all the more special when the players get more comfortable with the gameplay and more grounded in their characters. 

About the Team

Cory, "(who owns all the books but hasn't read them)"* completely absorbs the chaos the girls bring to the table and somehow also keeps them immersed in the story. He holds onto the rules of D&D loosely, letting his players use their abilities in different and unique ways. You still get full epic fights with no pulled punches, yet they feel more cinematic than the usual D&D grind. Outside of combat, Cory introduces challenging puzzles and encounters that present more opportunities for his players to think outside the mechanics of the game.

I adore Alana, Indy, and Stacy. I have some difficulty with telling their voices apart, but I never felt like that took away from my enjoyment of the show. Over time they develop their characters and have different play styles. They all have so much personality and bring their own flavor to the table. 

Indy, playing Freya the Rogue, has to be the most classic of first-time players, starting a little hack-and-slash happy, but eventually, she gets really into the strategy of the game. Freya is a cheeky scamp of a character and Indy leans naturally into the rogue class.  

Alana, playing Morrigan the Sorcerer, is usually the most sensible of the group. She is a leader in a way. There is so much more I want to say but I can't think of anything that isn't a big spoiler. Playing a sorcerer for your first time playing D&D is never easy, but Cory was able to ease her into the role and she runs with it.

Stacey, playing Kaa'Riin the Bearbarian (Druid with some Barbarian), has some epic combat moments. She can change from one animal to another without reverting to humanoid form, which deviates from traditional Druid rules. This decision, as well as other tweaks of the rules, help the pacing of the overall production. 

And sure, you're probably thinking their whole schtick is that they don't know D&D, so wouldn't it lose its charm after they get better? Absolutely not. Not even a little bit. This table is casual, silly, charming, and gripping. They make me feel like I am with my best friends playing our chaos gremlins together. 

A special shout to Mia Stegner (https://www.miastegner.com/) who composed and performed the opening and closing songs. It’s the cherry on top of this podcast sunday.

*Referenced from the Podcast Description. https://www.girlswhodontdnd.com/ 

About the world

“There is a saying among the good people of Kalee, when you know what is right, do what is right, and then deliver it all into the endless sea” From Episode 1: Throw it Into the Sea, Aug 16, 2021.

Cory presents a world both complex and informed by the player's choices and features some of the more bizarre parts of typical High Fantasy settings. 

There is just something so satisfying about learning the characters' backstories and how their stories are expertly baked in the many-layered cake that makes the world. Flavors include; wild magic, strange and whimsical characters, Evil Queens, “timey-wimey” stuff, super cute plans, snails, Gods, magic crystals, trapped souls, and Alan (the real star of the later episodes).

Extras

There are so many Patreon perks! You get behind-the-scenes talks, recipes from Indy, DMing tips, Lana's book reviews, and more! You can also join their Discord server where Cory is pretty active and they encourage community gaming and have a book club.

TL;DR: 

This podcast is about girls learning to play D&D using premade characters with amnesia. The girls learning to play parallels the story’s progression as they regain memories. 

Reliving the experience of learning to play for the first time all over again. 

Loosely follows the rules of 5e to keep the pacing up.

DM Cory recruits people to voice act for NPCs or to play out memories or scenes. Some additions are just for the listeners, giving us a little extra information about the lore of the world.

It's a little hard to tell the girls apart, but I don’t think it takes away from my enjoyment at all. 

Wild magic, strange and whimsical characters, Evil Queens, “timey-wimey” stuff, super cute plans, snails, Gods, magic crystals, trapped souls, and Alan. 

DM Cory presents a world both complex and informed by the player's choices and features some of the more bizarre parts of typical High Fantasy settings.

Special thanks to Artax of Who's Taking Watch for helping with editing!

No Context Gifs:

[foundry-fabrications]

Hey folks! Been sitting on this one for two weeks, done and ready, not wanting to release so close to the Behemoths and just reveling in the fact that for once I have a small stockpile of brews that are done/close to done. It's nice to take a break and not worry about what's next.

Anyway, this is a complete rework of my Transformation Cog item I did a few years back. For those not familiar with the source material or just need a refresher, the Transformation Cog, or T-Cog, is from Transformers and is the organ that allows a Cybertronian to transform into (and scan in later continuities) an alternate mode.

The original version was a reworked version of the Druid's Wildshape feature, with a focus on beast forms rather than vehicular ones. This time, I've gone the other direction and made various types of vehicular alt mode, each for a different purpose and giving you related benefits. A focus of this new version was, as with most of my reworks, refinement of the old idea and simplifying its mechanics to be easier to use. I think I've accomplished that goal, but we'll see how she plays.

I pulled a lot from the Shifter race from Ebberon, as well as the official Transformers RPG by Renegade Games, which is a pretty robust RPG in its own right, though a touch complicated for my tastes (maybe worth a System Spotlight in the future). Eventually, I would love to use this new version as a base for a beast mode T-Cog, and make a Cybertronian lineage that incorporates perhaps an even more simplified version of what I have now. Something to think about.

Anyway, that's it from me, hope y'all like the update! Stay safe, don't forget to love each other, and I'll see you next time.

Enjoy my work? Consider supporting me on Patreon! Patrons gain access to high quality PDFs for all of my content, weekly updates, early access, and more!

[monicole-art]

ok, wait I NEVER posted this here?! My lock screen the past year - peak art I've done.. I never posted?

A crime

[drowsylock]

Intro!

Drowsy aka Drowsylock ♦ he/him ♦ 20-something

Warlock of the Eternal GM-ship Patron, armed with a crippling caffeine addiction, I’m here to share "How to Guides" for fellow GMs and Players, maps, worldbuilding ideas, TTRPG stories, and anything else you may need. 

I also post short stories on my main account: @wylanzahn

(masterlist links COMING SOON)

I hope y'all enjoy my work as much as I do, and remember whenever you need a friend you can just call upon ol... ol... uh... Ol' Drowsy... Drowsylock... Zzzz... Zzz...

[dungeonmalcontent]

Man I really love making weird loot tables.

[jaypea00101010]

Rage Reworked

Rage is a really fun class feature, but it could be better.

With the 2024 player's handbook, Wizards of the Coast have been moving towards rage being an 'always on' feature. Sure you've still got limited uses, but not only can you use a bonus action to keep it up (so you don't need to just hit or be hit) and use it more out of combat, you get an extra use back on a short rest, and most importantly, it now lasts for 10 minutes.

10 minutes.

With a bonus action, it seems clear to me that the intent is for barbarians to sneak around a dungeon while raging, which doesn't really feel thematic for me. In fact I know that's the intent because a later feature lets barbarians use strength for stealth while raging.

Generally this just seems to me that the intent is to make sure barbarians never run out of rages, and in that case, why still have limited uses? It doesn't make sense for me that a barbarian could just, not get angry when they've gotten angry twice today. Combining this with my other rage tweaks, I propose a solution, I propose:

Frenzy

1st-level barbarian feature, which optionally replaces the Rage feature

In battle, you fight with primal ferocity. On your turn, you can enter a frenzy as a bonus action.

While in frenzy and not wearing heavy armor, you gain the following benefits:

You have advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws.

You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity, the weight you can push, drag, or lift, and creatures you can push or grapple.

When you make a melee weapon attack using Strength, you gain a +2 bonus to the damage roll. This bonus increases as you level.

You have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. 

At  11th level, you also have resistance to force damage.

You ignore the Fatigued condition

You are unable to cast or concentrate on spells while in frenzy, except for any free casts of leveled spells you have gained through your race.

Your frenzy lasts for 1 minute. It ends early if you are knocked unconscious or if your turn ends and you haven't attacked a hostile creature, taken damage, cast a spell, or made a strength check since your last turn.

When you end a frenzy, you gain the fatigued condition. Finishing a short rest removes 1 of your levels of fatigue, and finishing a long rest removes a number of levels of fatigue equal to your constitution modifier (minimum 1).

Fatigued

While you are subjected to the Fatigued condition you experience the following effects:

Levels of Fatigue. This Condition is cumulative. Each time you receive it, you gain 1 level of fatigue. You die if your fatigue level exceeds 10.

d20 Rolls Affected. When you make a d20 Test, you subtract your fatigue level from the d20 roll.

Spell Save DCs Affected. Subtract your fatigue level from the Spell save DC of any Spell you cast.

Speed Affected. Your movement speed is reduced by 5 feet for every two fatigue levels you have.

Ending the Condition. Finishing a Long Rest removes 1 of your levels of fatigue. When your fatigue level reaches 0, you are no longer fatigued.

Technically this isn't completely resourceless, you're still having to track your fatigue, but Frenzy feels a lot more thematic to me. So what are the changes and why?

Fatigue vs Limited Uses. I've already mentioned feeling that limited uses doesn't feel right for a barbarian, but the idea of fatigue, where pushing yourself into rage has physical rammifications (that you can ignore while raging) feels thematic, and while yes it's technically limited by the death level for fatigue, pushing yourself so far that you literally die from anger feels more thematic than just, not being able to rage any more. Also 'extra uses' being losing fatigue from resting also just feels like it makes sense for a barbarian.

Force Resistance. For reasons I've discussed a few times before, I feel with the move in high CR monster design away from B/P/S damage, barbarians absolutely need force resistance at later levels so they can keep being the tank they're meant to.

Spells and Strength. Playing a barbarian genasi or tiefling just feels bad, they're really fun combinations (just look at the love Karlach's gotten), but you can't cast spells in rage, so what's the point in having them, well, letting racial spells be cast in frenzy (and continue it) makes those combinations feel a lot better. Additionally, rage continuing from Strength checks lets you use your rage to push and grapple in combat, or move things around outside it without having to worry about it ending early (DMs could rule that raging them pulling something is only one strength check, I'd say you're still making them after the first, but they're low enough you'd automatically pass, your milage may vary)

No Bonus Action to End. Rage ending as a bonus action also always felt weird to me thematically and I've never seen it come up, so Frenzy... doesn't. if you want to stop your fury, you have to take time to calm down, you can't just stop easily.

Counting as Larger. This is another thing where it just feels like barbarians should already get it, you're a raging juggernaut, you should be able to grapple T-Rexes and push away adult dragons!