D&D 5E "Combat exhaustion" at 0 hp?

[DND_Reborn]

Then again, I also play with negative HP. So a PC with 6hp who takes 12dmg is at -6hp, not 0hp. A healing spell may not get them back to 1hp.

Yeah, I miss negative HP. So, having damage overflow into another mechanic (Vitality, Wounds, Exhaustion, whatever....) is a good alternative IMO.

 

[Flamestrike]

So my table looked like this:

Level 1: Movement speed halved
Level 2: Hit Point Maximum halved
Level 3: Disadvantage on attack rolls, saving throws, and STR ability checks
Level 4: Disadvantage on all other ability checks
Level 5: Movement speed zero
Level 6: Death

At what point is spellcasting affected?

 

[Flamestrike]

You know... there's always the possibility that all the other tables don't run combat the way yours does.

Using the rules?

 

[embee]

At what point is spellcasting affected?

Maybe take away concentration at Level 2. Or require a Con save for it not to fail.

 

[DND_Reborn]

@toucanbuzz

FWIW, another option is that any failed death saves do NOT recover when you have HP again, but instead only on a long rest.

So, think of this: PC goes down, rolls death saves, fails one, and is healing. Later on, the PC goes down again, that one failed death save is STILL there and they suffer another before being healed. Now, they have two failures accumulated. Finally, they get in a long rest in and recover the two failed death saves.

 

[Flamestrike]

Maybe take away concentration at Level 2. Or require a Con save for it not to fail.

DC 15 spellcasting ability check or the spell fails (and the slot is wasted).

Personally any rule that encourages falling back to long rest (and discourages advancing the adventure, the quest, and heroically pushing on) really needs to be scrutinized heavily, and in general - rejected.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Using the rules?

Uh... yeah! There's a thing... I dunno if you've heard of it, it's really rare... called 'house rules'. Believe it or not... and I know this is whacko crazy talk... but not everyone plays D&D combat strictly by the rules interpretation you use for how D&D combat is run. And not everyone has the same make-up of players and/or characters that your table does. So how combat might run for you... as amazing as it might seem... might just not be the way someone else's table runs.

And thus the "house rules" that @toucanbuzz is trying to work out might actually work for his table, even if they are an anathema to yours.

 

[DEFCON 1]

At what point is spellcasting affected?

It's not. Just like the standard Exhaustion table.

 

[Dausuul]

I note that the people who've actually played with this house rule say it's fine, and everyone warning of problems appears to be white-room theorizing.

 

[Gadget]

It seems that the Devs never really thought through the whole Exhaustion mechanic much. While it appears in the rules system, it is under utilized, there just aren't many places where it comes up. It also is somewhat baffling that it is a harsher condition to recover from in some ways than death (3rd level Revivify versus the 5th level Greater Restoration). I once considered having some of the underutilized necromancy spells apply the condition on a failed save, but the wonky ordering of what is penalized as the condition progresses seemed to really only matter to PCs most of the time.

It would be better, imho, if the condition progression for Exhaustion were modified in some way to make the earlier levels more even while having Lesser Restoration remove a level. This would allow the mechanic to be used more often and in more ways.

As for the Exhaustion for a death save mechanic, I suppose it depends on the play style and table mostly. Some will find it enhances the game, others will see it lead to the dreaded 5MW and such.