D&D 5E Exhaustion for old 1e undead level drain

[Casimir Liber]

Came across this here - fantastic idea - makes undead scary again....

so in my campaign in my game, wights and spectres incur one level exhaustion, while wraiths and vampires incur TWO levels of exhaustion. Exhaustion is treatable with Lesser Restoration initially, but if a victim loses more than two levels of exhaustion, they’ll need a Greater Restoration to be cured.

 

[Lyxen]

It's not a bad idea, undeads are not that scary in 5e, and at the same time exhaustion is really bad, while no-one wants to go back to real level drain. Honestly, the temporary drain of 3e was not a bad solution, the main problem were the computations, as usual with that edition.

 

[AtomicPope]

If you're looking to add more danger, suspense, and a touch of realism, the exhaustion track is a good substitute for long term damage or crippling effects. However, it does change the nature of the game. Having run a campaign for several years where exhaustion was a regular occurrence, exhaustion is nothing to trifle with. PCs can quickly find themselves on Death's Door with no way to run. In my own campaign, any creature dropping to 0 hp gained a level of exhaustion. Part of it was to make combat a little more deadly, (healing word was practically useless in my campaign). If you were dropped a few times then you'd be rolling Death Saves with disadvantage. When you reach level 6 exhaustion you die. It's easier to roll a natural '1' when you're rolling with disadvantage.

 

[Flamestrike]

Exhaustion only really hurts the martials. Remember that.

Like most house rules really.

 

[Lyxen]

Exhaustion only really hurts the martials. Remember that.

Like most house rules really.

It's a really good point, however the level drain was the same, and so very unfair because of that in AD&D.

 

[Lanefan]

It's a really good point, however the level drain was the same, and so very unfair because of that in AD&D.

Why would true level drain hurt martials any more than it would casters?

 

[Lyxen]

Why would true level drain hurt martials any more than it would casters?

Because they were all melee attacks, so casters were affected way less often. I know, it's a bit of a shortcut, but it was AD&D and more or less Martial equated to Melee and Ranged equated to Caster.

 

[AtomicPope]

Exhaustion only really hurts the martials. Remember that.

Like most house rules really.

And that is an inverse of Level Drain, which disproportionately hurt casters more, and the entire party as a result. Often a Drained Cleric couldn't cast the spell to remove the effects.

 

[Helldritch]

Why not have the part where "maximum HP is reduced" be not subjected to a save to avoid? A hit from a wight would drain HP from the maximum HP of a character, heal the wight for the same amount and it will not be detrimental, at first to the character being hit. Be the character a martial or caster, the result will be the same, less HP, but other problems beside the possible cumulative effects. Also at the end of a rest, a save is required to see if the effect lingers on for another day. If you feel nasty, make that HP are recovered, if the save is made, only by spending HD.

This keeps undead relatively scary as the players know that where there is one undead, more are to come. The cumulative effects is what will scare the players. Their combat "offensiveness" is not affected, but their defense is. That is scary as it ups the danger level. That is what I do in my games. It works.

 

[Lyxen]

Why not have the part where "maximum HP is reduced" be not subjected to a save to avoid?

It's what a number of monsters do, nightwalker with enervating touch, bite of a vampire and spawn, wraith life drain, wight, etc. coincidentally all the Level Draining monsters from AD&D. Maybe not scary enough ?