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Dropping to 0 HP - Alternate Rule
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<blockquote data-quote="Blue" data-source="post: 7443291" data-attributes="member: 20564"><p>[MENTION=205]TwoSix[/MENTION] said better than I can about how the best way to make the party look for non-combat solutions is to encourage those solutions, instead of making combat less fun / making players ultra-cautious.</p><p></p><p>Even if exhaustion recovered completely every night, I don't think it's the mechanism for what you want - because the mechanics that support non-combat are ability/skill checks, and <em>the very first thing</em> that exhaustion does is heavily penalize them. You get to the point where a failed death save may make someone unable to make needed stealth checks, or needed athletic checks, or whatever is needed for the non-combat activities are going on. At that point, the characters are disadvantaged on everything ... except combat. So combat can be their go-to solution.</p><p></p><p>I'd suggest completely detaching gaining XP from combat, putting it to milestones. Try to do as much as you can for treasure as well - think of it more like 4e's treasure packet. When you take away the mechanical incentives for combat, you now open up other options.</p><p></p><p>From there, there are options which don't decrease the fun of combat but do make it something to think twice about. One suggestion (of many, which may not fit your table's style) is to change up when rests happen. Adventures in Middle Earth only allows a long rest at the end of an adventure, or if you are at a friendly sanctuary (think Elrond's Half-Way House from LotR). Combine that with short rests happening overnight, and players will be a lot less likely to jump into combat simply because they want to reserve their resources.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Blue, post: 7443291, member: 20564"] [MENTION=205]TwoSix[/MENTION] said better than I can about how the best way to make the party look for non-combat solutions is to encourage those solutions, instead of making combat less fun / making players ultra-cautious. Even if exhaustion recovered completely every night, I don't think it's the mechanism for what you want - beca[B][/B]use the mechanics that support non-combat are ability/skill checks, and [I]the very first thing[/I] that exhaustion does is heavily penalize them. You get to the point where a failed death save may make someone unable to make needed stealth checks, or needed athletic checks, or whatever is needed for the non-combat activities are going on. At that point, the characters are disadvantaged on everything ... except combat. So combat can be their go-to solution. I'd suggest completely detaching gaining XP from combat, putting it to milestones. Try to do as much as you can for treasure as well - think of it more like 4e's treasure packet. When you take away the mechanical incentives for combat, you now open up other options. From there, there are options which don't decrease the fun of combat but do make it something to think twice about. One suggestion (of many, which may not fit your table's style) is to change up when rests happen. Adventures in Middle Earth only allows a long rest at the end of an adventure, or if you are at a friendly sanctuary (think Elrond's Half-Way House from LotR). Combine that with short rests happening overnight, and players will be a lot less likely to jump into combat simply because they want to reserve their resources. [/QUOTE]
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Dropping to 0 HP - Alternate Rule
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