Has anyone done anything on expanding Exhaustion?
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.
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.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.
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