D&D 5E Doing More with Exhaustion

[phantomK9]

I will be starting a 5e game this weekend and in preparation I asked my players if there were any rules that thought needed changing (as we are all playing under a different DM).

One of my players offered that he didn't like the concentration rules for spells and suggested a rule that he found on the internet that allowed for a set number of free additional concentration spells. I quickly chose not to go with that because it just seemed too lenient on allowing multiple concentration spells at a time.

However, I came up with an alternative where a caster could choose to have multiple concentration spells going at one time, but they automatically take a level of exhaustion at the end of the round for each spell they are concentrating on past the first.

This then sent me down a bit of a wormhole.
Why are there so few rules dealing with Exhaustion?
Does anyone else have any similar rules that add Exhaustion effects?
Are there more things that can be done with Exhaustion?

I've thought of a few things like allowing players to take extra actions for automatic exhaustion levels, but I was wondering if anyone else had done this mental gymnastics already.

 

[Taronkov]

This is a homebrew idea I've been bouncing around and was looking for feedback on a while back. I got a total of one response in the homebrew section of the forum.

Exhaustive Casting:
For casters I'm thinking of allowing for casters to cast spells once they are out of spell slots, suffering a level of exhaustion per spell level of the spell they want to cast. Some limitations on this would be if you reach the final two levels of exhaustion(5&6) you can't be resurrected short of a Wish or True Resurrection spell as the magic coursing through you destroys your body. Casting a spell of 7th level or higher would prevent even a Wish or Resurrection spell from bringing you back. To me this represents a caster drawing on their own life to cast a spell in a desperate or critical situation, even unto death if need be.Potentially making a noble sacrifice to ensure their comrades survival. There are several examples of this throughout various fantasy literature and I really like the idea of how it could completely change the tide of things in a desperate and critical moment.

Problems I foresee with this rule or actually fairly minor. I feel it wouldn't be abused too often as exhaustion is a pretty inhibiting factor and by taking this course of action it could quickly lead to the characters death anyway. The limitation for not being able to resurrect easily is put in place to stop players from simply spamming a spell in a boss fight knowing the party can simply take them back to the temple after and bring that back as only a minor inconvenience.

The purpose of this rule is to create a more cinematic game again and I really feel it could help promote that idea of the desperate hero reaching into themselves for that last bit of power they can muster before they potentially die, especially if it could save everyone else.

Read more: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?448425-Need-feedback-(5E)#ixzz3csIhRnIs

Edit: Thought I should add... I've since amended it to two level of exhaustion per spell cast at level 7 and above and 1 level at 6 and lower. Similar to what Salorn suggested in my thread.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Doing MORE with exhaustion! I find that when I'm exhausted I usually end up doing LESS. That's how it normally works right?

 

[Fion]

Mixing spellcasting or concentration with exhaustion is an interesting idea. High levels of exhaustion are extremely punishing and take nearly a week to wear off so that may need to be tweaked but it's a good option for a wizard or what not to get that nuke out in a last ditch effort or something.

Speaking of concentration, below is my homebrew house rule for concentration. I find concentration - while limiting - helps balance magic against melee/ranged. However I still felt it could be expanded slightly to give magic users a little more wiggle room, and thus came up with this magical item.

Ring of Concentration
Ring, varies, requires attunement.
These rings are extremely popular amongst Wizards and other spell-casters, most are made of electrum and inlayed with dark obsidian, they are warm to the touch and vibrate in the presence of magical energy. Wearers report feeling like their mind has split in parts, allowing them to focus on several things at once. These rings come in three increasingly powerful varieties.
A Ring of Concentration grants the wielding spell-caster the ability to cast one extra concentration spell beyond a first. This comes with one downside however, if a spell-caster wearing this ring looses concentration from - for example - taking damage, both active concentration spells are lost. Each ring grants a bonus concentration 'slot' for spells of a certain range. 9th level spells are so powerful, these rings have no effect on them.

Ring Rarity Spell Levels
Lesser Ring of Concentration Uncommon 1st - 3rd level spells
Ring of Concentration Rare 4th - 6th level spells
Greater Ring of Concentration Very Rare 7th - 8th level spells

 

[Jaelommiss]

I love the exhaustion mechanic. A rule I've been using since October is adding a level of exhaustion when reduced to 0HP. It ends the game of whack-a-mole that the regular rules create. So far it hasn't been too game changing other than making my players far more careful about fights. I also allow players to remove two level of exhaustion if they spend an entire day resting in bed at a safe location, such as an inn.

Having a second concentration spell at the cost of a level of exhaustion seems like it could work well, though making it stack at the end of each round seems pretty severe. It takes a day to drop a level of exhaustion, so it could take a number of days to recover after a single fight where a caster uses two spells. Perhaps a DC 10 + sum of spells' levels Con save at the end of each turn or suffer a level of exhaustion, or gain one level of exhaustion when the second spell is cast and impose disadvantage on concentration checks until one of the spells is dismissed.

Keep in mind that exhaustion works best when the players are under some form of time limit. If your table does a single day adventure before returning to town for a week then it'll be different to a table where they are adventuring for weeks without a break.

 

[phantomK9]

Exhaustive Casting:
For casters I'm thinking of allowing for casters to cast spells once they are out of spell slots, suffering a level of exhaustion per spell level of the spell they want to cast.

That's a neat idea, I might just use that.

Having a second concentration spell at the cost of a level of exhaustion seems like it could work well, though making it stack at the end of each round seems pretty severe. It takes a day to drop a level of exhaustion, so it could take a number of days to recover after a single fight where a caster uses two spells. Perhaps a DC 10 + sum of spells' levels Con save at the end of each turn or suffer a level of exhaustion, or gain one level of exhaustion when the second spell is cast and impose disadvantage on concentration checks until one of the spells is dismissed.

That's a good point. For some reason I thought that exhaustion was completely removed after a long rest, not one level per long rest. In that case I think that making a save at the end of each round would be better. With the difficulty starting at 10 + spell level, possibly going up by +1 per each round maintaining more than one spell ...not sure about that last one, might require more book-keeping than I or my players are willing to do.

 

[Jaelommiss]

With the difficulty starting at 10 + spell level, possibly going up by +1 per each round maintaining more than one spell ...not sure about that last one, might require more book-keeping than I or my players are willing to do.

That might work if you're willing to keep track of the increasing DC. Don't forget that a third level of exhaustion imposes disadvantage on saving throws. That'll make it extremely hard to succeed on the save, especially if it's steadily increasing as well.

I'm thinking about replacing the con save to focus on both spells with the underused intelligence saving throw. Regular concentration checks are generally shrugging off distractions from pain, making constitution ideal. Grappling with two spells at once seems to be a mostly mental process. It would make wizards better at holding control over two spells at once (makes sense), and also druids (being in tune with nature gives them mastery over their mind, perhaps?). I'm not going to try to justify why it makes rogues better. Con saves would favour eldritch knights and sorcerers, not to mention making the Resilient (Constitution) feat even more important for casters.

 

[Zaruthustran]

I think this a neat idea. One thing I always liked about the Dragonlance books was that Raistlin's spellcasting was so physical. I'm thinking specifically of when he was captured by the black dragon, and was preparing one last spell that would damage the dragon, but probably kill him.

D&D doesn't have anything like that. Maybe it should. Where magic comes from within, and you can go beyond your class's limit if you pay a personal price. Gives more flexibility and autonomy to casters.

I'd want to limit it to arcane casters, though. Clerics and paladins get their spells from EXTERNAL sources; the spells are granted by a supernatural entity. This'd be something special just for self-powered casters.

Like, allow refresh of spell slots at a cost of 1 level of exhaustion per level of spell slot refreshed. That's simple, and cool. The double-concentration thing is good, too.

Neat idea.

 

[Rod Staffwand]

Exhaustion doesn't seem to be too troubling for full casters. Does disadvantage on ability checks or half speed really impair a wizard?

And only level 6 "death" directly impairs spellcasting. I'd think if you're speed was reduced to 0 from exhaustion you'd at least have trouble concentrating on stuff.

 

[phantomK9]

Thanks everyone for the input. I think I have the rule worked out.

You can concentrate on more than one "concentration" spell at a time. At the end of a turn in which you are concentrating on more than one spell, make a Concentration check equal to 10 + the highest level of the spell (spell slot used, not level of spell). Success means you can maintain concentration with no issues. Failure gives one level of Exhaustion. You can maintain a number of concentration spells in this way equal to your casting attribute bonus.