D&D 5E Exhaustion how often / unfair?

[iserith]

I basically agree. It is good to have in reserve as a threat - "ok you can stay awake all night - if you want to take A LEVEL OF EXHAUSTION, MUA HA HA!"

But the effects are so harsh I almost never force it on the pcs. At worst they might need a low DC CON save to avoid it.

This actually came up in my last session. The PCs are on an airship and their goal is to capture a villain hiding out somewhere on the ship before it reaches the next port in 2 days. We broke down the days basically into 4-hour increments, so you had 4 phases in which each PC could do a notable thing to get after your goals plus 2 phases to sleep/long rest. You could opt out of the sleep/long rest phases to gain +2 more "things" you could do, but you took a level of exhaustion if you're the sort of creature that sleeps.

The warforged fighter and the kalashtar cleric (who is a stoner) both decided to forego sleep to try to improve the airship crew's attitude toward the party and try to pick up useful contacts among the quirky cagey passengers. The cleric is the party's "face" and has Psychic Glamour which gives him advantage on Persuasion checks. As a result, he really didn't care about exhaustion since even with exhaustion he'd be making a straight roll to party with the crew all night and beyond. It was pretty awesome.

I kind of lost the point of where I was going with this, but I guess it has something to do with the idea that as long as the players know the risks ahead of time, then it's fair. They can choose whether it's worth the risk or not, based on what they have to offset the potential penalties.

 

[BigBadDM]

As a DM here is what I like as exhaustion levels.

1) It gives viability to the Ranger class. Characters lost their take-for-granted-Ranger, now they know what Wilderness Survival is all about.
2) It a good way to mix up some dungeons/environments (from time-to-time)
3) It can make the players make 'hard' choices.
4) It can be great for time-sensitive challenges/adventures

So usually I wrap exhaustion around an adventure or environment. Meaning during 'this' game-session you might experience various exhaustion levels because of x,y,z. However normally it does not come into game play for 'most' sessions. Exhaustion is a great mechanic when like everything else it is used in doses.

 

[Nebulous]

I love the exhaustion rules in 5e. Where hit points are so easily cured with magic and a nap, the downward spiral threat of exhaustion to the point of death is a whole other beast to deal with. I use it sparingly, but i did house rule in my new campaign that dropping to zero hp gains you 1 level of exhaustion.

 

[Quartz]

Playing through the Oota campaign our dungeon master loves to apply exhaustion levels for all sorts of stuff:

Is this making the game Not Fun? Because if so you need to tell the DM and ask her to change her ways.

 

[Gadget]

Exhaustion is an example of 5e trying to have its cake and eat it too. It's there to apply penalties to players for exerting themselves too much; or really to add a little 'grittiness' in a game that has very little of such in it. It is harder to overcome than death (Revivify is only a third level spell, while it takes a fifth level Greater Restoration to remove just one level of exhaustion), and as such there are few things in the game that apply exhaustion. It would be a perfect condition for some of the weaker Necromancy spells to apply, but it is more punishing to PCs than to monsters because monsters typically do not have to worry about more than one encounter and the penalties to skill checks are usually not as detrimental to them as PCs, who have to put up with it for the rest of the 'day' at least. In this manner, it is similar to hit point limits on spells (Sleep, Power Word Blank), in that they don't really take into account the dichotomy between monster HP and PC HP, particularly as levels rise.

 

[Ristamar]

It is harder to overcome than death (Revivify is only a third level spell, while it takes a fifth level Greater Restoration to remove just one level of exhaustion), and as such there are few things in the game that apply exhaustion.

To be fair, you can't make death go away with a long rest.

 

[77IM]

Does your DM allow a Con check or Con save to avoid the exhaustion? That would reward high-Con characters, but more importantly, it would make it less likely that the entire party is exhausted at the same time. If you can't take a long rest, you might talk the DM into allowing a Con check to remove a level of exhaustion after several short rests.

Also, why are you unable to take long rests? I feel like that's your real problem. If you're starving and sleep-deprived and traveling hard, then that's exactly when you should suffer exhaustion, and it should suck. The long-term solution is to find a place that is safe enough to take a breather and recuperate. If you have no idea how to do that, then I can see how it would be frustrating and un-fun. Talk to your DM about somehow giving the PCs and the players a glimmer of hope. OotA is an adventure where you are supposed to start at rock bottom (ha ha) and work your way up, but that's only fun if you are actually moving up, not just treading water.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I go back and forth on exhaustion. Exhaustion can be useful as consequences for poor choices and failed checks during exploration. But I also tend to be pretty sparing with exhaustion, as it can really turn a game into a drag. Back on the other hand, if a PC is going to do things like sleep in plate mail all the time, it’s very appropriate to use it. I guess it depends how simulationist you want your games to be.

 

[not-so-newguy]

Toying with a condition for PCs that drop to 0hp, then make their death save:

SHAKEN A character adds a level of exhaustion. This condition that can be removed with a short rest.

eta yes exhaustion can be pretty severe, but (in this case) the condition is removed as soon as the group finds a safe place.

 

[the Jester]

From the looks of things, I am on the more-exhaustion end of the posters in this thread. I have used it a bunch, often with a save or Con (Survival) check to avoid gaining it. For instance, climbing a severe mountain during a heavy blizzard caused levels of exhaustion; extended swimming for hours on end; going for several days without sleep; marching for days without a break; fighting for hours without a break. I've given exhaustion for all of those.

I also have had multiple instances of monsters with exhaustion. In one dungeon, there was a starving ironmaw with 3 levels of exhaustion; pcs once encountered a group of exhausted humanoids, I think gnolls, who were on the run from a big battle; rescued captives who later turned coat on the pcs had exhaustion when initially found; etc.