House rule for Going below 0 hp and get up again with a good berry or a healing

[AtomicPope]

what happen if they go down again ? 1 more Exhaustion ?

Yes. Exhaustion acts like a Wound Track where injuries seem almost permanent. Typically what happens 5e combat when a PC is reduced to 0 hit points is a 1st level Healing Word is cast, then they pop back up. Grievous Wounds encourages the players to invest resources healing otherwise they're sending a party member off to certain death. In a few Boss fights the PCs hobbled away with a couple levels of Exhaustion adding a little drama to the game. Getting one level of Exhaustion isn't too bad since a long rest will remove it and the PC is just a little sluggish. Getting two or three levels is crippling. If you have four levels of Exhaustion you're on Death's Door. The first time they'll let it slide until the full weight of their injuries sets in. Once experience several "injuries" they'll be more vigilant.

My campaign has been going strong for a little over 3 years. The Grievous Wounds house rule has been in effect since day one. It's important the players get familiar with the rules so there are no surprises. I remind the players that Exhaustion Levels will impose Disadvantage on Saving Throws, that includes Death Saves. I remember one particular adventure where several of the PCs failed save after save and the AOE damage spread quickly. Everyone but the Ranger dropped to 0 hit points. She used Cure Words to bring back the Cleric and her Eagle pet used its action to heal another PC with a potion. The Cleric was dropped again, then brought back up. All told the Rogue was dropped three times, the Cleric twice (maybe thrice but I don't remember), and the Ranger and Fighter once. When the Ranger dropped they just had to try and kill the monster before she died since her pet was obliterated in the AOE. They were in a cavern full of Ghouls and Ghasts, and even though they were 10th level their Exhaustion Levels made them think twice about hacking and slashing their way out. They found a small crevasse and hid inside to rest while the Elven Ranger stood watch.

 

[5ekyu]

*if* I were going to go down this route (I think it's not good play myself) I would not key it to going to zero (random evrnt) but to failing a second death save FDS2.

FDS2 requires that time pass and a roll get failed which will typically mean there us a high pressure short window of time for others to intervene. That creates drama and choices.

Putting some penalties to occur immediately on zero just makes getting the unlucky crit to zero worse but doesn't shift drama at all beyond starting a death spiral that's likely to lead to more PC death or more "rests".

My preference are things which make for "hot tag" moments in the longer fights where a small mini-struggle can ensue.

It's kind of like a fumble in football (US) or an onside kick. A very short skirmish to get the ball is exciting. So would be the need to avoid the FDS penalty.

but a penalty that happens at zero would be like a NFL rule that when you fumbled as soon as it hit the ground it was end of play turnover.

You could make it happen on one failed death save FDS1 but init order might screw that drams.

 

[Sadras]

*if* I were going to go down this route (I think it's not good play myself) I would not key it to going to zero (random evrnt) but to failing a second death save FDS2.

FDS2 requires that time pass and a roll get failed which will typically mean there us a high pressure short window of time for others to intervene. That creates drama and choices.

Putting some penalties to occur immediately on zero just makes getting the unlucky crit to zero worse but doesn't shift drama at all beyond starting a death spiral that's likely to lead to more PC death or more "rests".

My preference are things which make for "hot tag" moments in the longer fights where a small mini-struggle can ensue.

It's kind of like a fumble in football (US) or an onside kick. A very short skirmish to get the ball is exciting. So would be the need to avoid the FDS penalty.

but a penalty that happens at zero would be like a NFL rule that when you fumbled as soon as it hit the ground it was end of play turnover.

You could make it happen on one failed death save FDS1 but init order might screw that drams.

The mini-game should be trying to not fall to 0hp - dodging, using cover, disengaging, healing...etc
After 0hp you auto rack up an exhaustion - that is your penalty.

You should not roll your death saves on your turn as that defeats the drama.
You roll them all when someone comes to check you out - so there is no meta knowledge.

 

[Stalker0]

I also use the 1 exhaustion if you go below 0. Fixed all of my concerns, and super simple to implement

 

[Blue]

Hello fellow Dms and Players i like you advice on if any have any good advice on a house rule. When a player goes below 0 hp. what i mean is i think it is wrong a player don't have any Restrictions if below 0 hp and get a heal . he can just stand up fight like nothing have happened. i have thought about it give 1 Exhaustion

like to get as many ides if you have any

Thanks

Exhaustion is a punitive measure. It only goes away at one level per day. So someone like a front-liner who drops more than once in a day will start accumulating them, building up.

The very first level of exhaustion gives disadvantage on all ability checks (which includes all skill checks). In all the other pillars of play outside combat, these are the primary mechanical interaction. So the penalty for dropping on combat just once is that the character will suck at everything that isn't combat for at the very least for the entire rest of the day.

A second level of exhaustion halves your speed - a particularly nasty thing to do to the characters that get attacked the most, the front liners. They now have a big impediment for combat as well, that will last, at minimum, for the rest of the day. For tanky type characters, this may also mean less blocking so that the more fragile characters getting attacked more by foes, leading to them also hitting zero more.

The third level of exhaustion is reallu hard. All of your attacks have disadvantage, which is important if your teammates save you. Because with disadvantage to all saves - including death saves that you're making right now because you hit zero - you're much more likely bleed out.

(Some similar house rules linked it to failing death saves - that's a real death spiral since once you hit this point your death saves have disadvantage so it's more likely to fail, leading to more exhaustion and, ultimately, death.)

And from there these just stick around longer, and add in more penalties.

And these go away slowly, lend themselves to getting more so they'll come back quicker, are very hard to remove outside rest (Greater Restoration, a 5th level spell, only removes one).

So combat has heavily punitive status effects, and if a character has even a single level then they have disadvantage on basically everything non-combat.

I don't see how that as a bit of verisimilitude increases fun.

There are plenty of other options for penalties for hitting zero, but exhaustion is such a harsh and slow to remove penalty I don't suggest it.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I like rolling all at once if you get healed or at least checked if you are at 0hp. Onky problem though: a 20 would have restored 1 hp already.

 

[5ekyu]

The mini-game should be trying to not fall to 0hp - dodging, using cover, disengaging, healing...etc
After 0hp you auto rack up an exhaustion - that is your penalty.

You should not roll your death saves on your turn as that defeats the drama.
You roll them all when someone comes to check you out - so there is no meta knowledge.

I get that but unless you have constantly small combats with minimal risk (nobody gets pushed beyong half hp) then in my experience one can play the "never get so close two npcs crits can drop me" game but that basically is constant from start of fight - not a moment of drama... SOP.

Most of the time i have seen PCs drop to zero in even moderately well played teams after say 2nd level, its bern from combos - one hit from a failed save spell and a different attacker crits before you can dodge or the healer gets in. More fluke than tactic or drama.

One fight, the two front liners went in and the three enemy brutes rolled six attacks for four crits and two hits... both front liners dropped to less than a dozen hp round one.

Had this whacky set happened turn 2, would have dropped one or both.

Went into full cover mode with healings dodges etc and some serious rush in and distract efforts so nobody got dropped but its a fluke this did not happen a turn later in the combat **or** that the four crits were not 3-on-one-pc.

So, to me, going to zero is something you strive for avoiding sure but its more often a fluke result even with good tactics.

I dont want to slam PCs with pile on effects for flukes... but have no problem with high intensity scrambles when flukes occur...

But thats me... And my players.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

I think the 'poisoned' condition has the best 'disability' for someone who went down. (disadvantage to attacks and ability checks) Just like someone mentioned, it's like the boxer who goes down and is slowly regaining his senses. Just call it "Punch Drunk" or something instead of poisoned.

When they get up, every round, at the end of their turn, have them do another death-save. If they succeed, they can act normally, if they fail, they still suffer the consequences of the Condition.

This way, the effects are temporary but last at least one round after they are conscious.

 

[Shiroiken]

I haven't felt the need to implement anything, but if I were, I'd do one of the following (depending on the style of game).

A character that is healed from Dying (not stabilized) has Disadvantage on all attacks and checks for 1 minute. They may make a Constitution Save DC 15 at the end of each of their turns to end this effect. This can cause a death spiral, but only for the current encounter.

A character that is knocked to 0 HP for the second (or more) time within 1 minute takes a lingering wound. This will make healing people from 0 a dangerous proposition, because lingering wounds have a tendency to ruin characters over time. Healed characters will likely try to remove themselves from the combat, or possibly play dead.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

You should not roll your death saves on your turn as that defeats the drama.
You roll them all when someone comes to check you out - so there is no meta knowledge.

The easiest thing to do is to make the rolls secretly. In 3.5, you had to roll every round to stabilize or lose another hp. You died at -10 (or negative you CON as our houserule). We were never allowed to tell other people our hps or how close we were to death unless another player made a healing/medicine check. Worked well enough and we lost several characters like that.

That said, there's probably more drama if everyone knows you are one roll away from death, forcing people to scramble and make sacrifices to get to you before you die.