Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
Oh gods, please google the half dozen threads where this exact idea has already been discussed to death.
1. The first thing exhaustion does is make you have disadvantage on skill rolls. Skill roles are the #1 mechanical interface for every other pillar of play besides combat. So dropping in combat will make you want to solve more things with combat, because you now suck at everything else for the rest of the day.
Solutions seen:
A. Don't use exhaustion.
B. Redo the exhaustion chart to be longer and have less effect-everything options first.
C. Have that specific type of exhaustion go away with a short rest.
2. Exhaustion is really hard to get rid of. You will suck for the rest of the day with just one, but once you have more it gets even uglier. Multiple days down, and you still have the chance to get more. Heck, in a battle with area of effects going off, the worst thing a character could do would be to heal you, since you'll go down again soon and then have two levels of exhaustion.
Solutions seen:
A. Don't use exhaustion.
B. Give more ways to recover exhaustion during the day & recover more exhaustion with a long rest.
3. Some characters specifically put themselves at more risk for the good of the party. Consider the melee fighter vs. the archer fighter. Both based on the same chassis, but the one trying to be a front line so the glass cannons don't get squished is more likely to go down. You you're providing a dis-intensive to playing certain types of characters.
Solution:
A. Don't penalize characters for taking one for the team in the first place.
B. Grant buffs to certain types of characters to offset the nerfs. Alternately allow those characters to ignore the first X levels of penalty. Note that this is not by class, so figuring out whom to grant is non-trivial.
4. D&D is a team game, and a game with randomness. Going down is usually not the sole fault of player who's character goes down. A giant with a crit, a healer who picks the wrong target to heal, a tank out of position so your wizard gets closed with. Yet the penalty is that the single character will suck at all skill checks for the rest of the day.
Solutions:
A. Recognize that characters will go down outside their control and don't de-buff them for the rest of the day *at least) for it.
The easiest solution that fits all of these is to give some other penalty that only lasts for the combat they went down in.
1. The first thing exhaustion does is make you have disadvantage on skill rolls. Skill roles are the #1 mechanical interface for every other pillar of play besides combat. So dropping in combat will make you want to solve more things with combat, because you now suck at everything else for the rest of the day.
Solutions seen:
A. Don't use exhaustion.
B. Redo the exhaustion chart to be longer and have less effect-everything options first.
C. Have that specific type of exhaustion go away with a short rest.
2. Exhaustion is really hard to get rid of. You will suck for the rest of the day with just one, but once you have more it gets even uglier. Multiple days down, and you still have the chance to get more. Heck, in a battle with area of effects going off, the worst thing a character could do would be to heal you, since you'll go down again soon and then have two levels of exhaustion.
Solutions seen:
A. Don't use exhaustion.
B. Give more ways to recover exhaustion during the day & recover more exhaustion with a long rest.
3. Some characters specifically put themselves at more risk for the good of the party. Consider the melee fighter vs. the archer fighter. Both based on the same chassis, but the one trying to be a front line so the glass cannons don't get squished is more likely to go down. You you're providing a dis-intensive to playing certain types of characters.
Solution:
A. Don't penalize characters for taking one for the team in the first place.
B. Grant buffs to certain types of characters to offset the nerfs. Alternately allow those characters to ignore the first X levels of penalty. Note that this is not by class, so figuring out whom to grant is non-trivial.
4. D&D is a team game, and a game with randomness. Going down is usually not the sole fault of player who's character goes down. A giant with a crit, a healer who picks the wrong target to heal, a tank out of position so your wizard gets closed with. Yet the penalty is that the single character will suck at all skill checks for the rest of the day.
Solutions:
A. Recognize that characters will go down outside their control and don't de-buff them for the rest of the day *at least) for it.
The easiest solution that fits all of these is to give some other penalty that only lasts for the combat they went down in.