D&D 5E Expanding Exhaustion

[keynup]

Has anyone done anything on expanding Exhaustion?

 

[Li Shenron]

Not really, but recently there have been several threads about it so I have been planning about it...

Mostly, I think the exhaustion rules have great potential to be applied not only for proper exhaustion cases, but also as (1) alternative rules for dropping to 0hp, and (2) special monsters attacks/abilities effects.

I am particularly interested in (1), because generally I don't like very much seeing my players' PCs die and typically I offer the players a choice to replace death with a mid-term negative condition, and I think exhaustion levels would work very well for that purpose since the recovery is slower than HP damage.

At the same time, having exhaustion levels kick in every time you drop to 0hp would also introduce a representation of (semi)lingering wounds to the game, but without making them too frequent (as is the case when a DM decides to add lingering wounds rules to criticals).

However I would rather randomize the exhaustion levels effect, instead of applying them in order, so that a player cannot plan accordingly and there is room for more effects to be added to the list.

 

[Sadras]

Has anyone done anything on expanding Exhaustion?

Expanding a little on @Li Shenron's post.

1) PC earning a level of exhaustion for dropping to 0hp;
2) PC earning a level of exhaustion for each failed Death Saving Throw;
3) Special monsters attack/abilities effect;
4) PCs earning x levels of exhaustion for a ability/power Recovery system;
5) PCs not earning HD until removal of the exhaustion condition;
6) I have previously seen online posters fiddling with the order of the various effects of each of the exhaustion levels. Changing them around effectively;

 

[dave2008]

I have not but in addition to @Sadras 's ideas you could:

7) Apply a level of exhaustion on a critical hit
8) Allow a character to gain a level(s) of exhaustion to regain a short(long) rest ability. I like the idea of a fighter gaining a level of exhaustion to gain another use of action surge. Oops! I see this is basically #4 above.

 

[Nebulous]

Mostly, I think the exhaustion rules have great potential to be applied not only for proper exhaustion cases, but also as (1) alternative rules for dropping to 0hp, and (2) special monsters attacks/abilities effects.

I am particularly interested in (1), because generally I don't like very much seeing my players' PCs die and typically I offer the players a choice to replace death with a mid-term negative condition, and I think exhaustion levels would work very well for that purpose since the recovery is slower than HP damage.

Agreed. I've been using a level of Exhaustion at 0 hp for a few months and it works well (when I remember to enforce it; after years of not using that mechanic I sometimes forget). Also having monsters use it is something scary because exhaustion can't be waved away easily. The Kobold Press monster books (Tome of Beasts and Creature Codex) I believe use Exhaustion a good extent in their monster write ups. Not overly so though.

 

[Shiroiken]

I think Exaustion is a pretty good mechanic, but because of how hard it is to remove it, expanding it's uses has not worked out well IME. If you expand Exhaustion, I'd have Lesser Restoration remove 1 level of it, and Greater Restoration remove 3 levels of it.

 

[dave2008]

I think Exaustion is a pretty good mechanic, but because of how hard it is to remove it, expanding it's uses has not worked out well IME. If you expand Exhaustion, I'd have Lesser Restoration remove 1 level of it, and Greater Restoration remove 3 levels of it.

A long rest removes 1 level of exhaustion. That is free and only costs time. I don't think it is much of a big deal, but YMMV.

 

[Salthorae]

I don't think I've ever actually seen Exhaustion applied in a game I've played, so I'd love to have more reasons to apply it because I think it's a nice mechanic.

1) PC earning a level of exhaustion for dropping to 0hp;
2) PC earning a level of exhaustion for each failed Death Saving Throw;
3) Special monsters attack/abilities effect;
4) PCs earning x levels of exhaustion for a ability/power Recovery system;
5) PCs not earning HD until removal of the exhaustion condition;

7) Apply a level of exhaustion on a critical hit

I like #1 and #2 from @Sadras' post. I REALLY like #5 as well.

@dave2008 - your #7 seems like piling on the already bad things a crit can bring to me a bit.

I also like to use the Lingering injuries table for Crits though so... maybe that's just my game.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I use the Exhaustion Table instead of the 3 Failed Death Saves. My special rules for them are as follows:

- When you drop to 0 HP you stat making Death Saving Throws. On each failure you gain a level of Exhaustion. 6 failed rolls and you die (you hit Level 6 Exhaustion, which is death).

- Unlike failed death saves after you gain at least 1 hit point, Exhaustion levels do not reset. If you have an Exhaustion level and then are healed some HP and then later drop to 0 HP again... your next failed save drops you to Level 2 Exhaustion. And this continues on until you take a long rest.

- During the very first long rest following you gaining an Exhaustion level, you can 1 or more back. You gain 1 level back for just taking a long rest. You can gain two levels back if a fellow PC spends their long rest doing nothing but nursing you during those 8 hours (accompanied by a DC 10 Medicine check.) You can gain 3 levels back if you take a long rest, a fellow PC nurses you during that time, plus someone casts Lesser Restoration on you during those 8 hours.

- I rewrote my Exhaustion table to be as follows:

Level 1: Speed halved
Level 2: Max HP halves
Level 3: Disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws
Level 4: Disadvantage on ability checks
Level 5: Speed drops to 0.
Level 6: Death

I found that starting with disadvantage on ability checks for level 1 was kind of counter-intuitive... you're completely exhausted, but for some reason can still move at normal speed and attack normally, and yet you have a harder time remembering arcane or religious trivia or noticing things (for example). So I moved things around to decentivize people from fighting when they are exhausted but still allow them to participate in the other two pillars of the game.

 

[dave2008]

@dave2008 - your #7 seems like piling on the already bad things a crit can bring to me a bit.

I also like to use the Lingering injuries table for Crits though so... maybe that's just my game.

I agree, it is not something I do, just something that could be done.