D&D (2024) Fun new use for exhaustion?

[Lojaan]

What do you folks think of this idea?

If you miss your attack roll by 1, you can take a point of exhaustion to increase that attack roll by 1

The idea being that you push yourself hard to get the attack just over the line. I like the idea that you only get the opportunity to do it if you miss by 1 so it's not a common decision point.

 

[Clint_L]

Hmmm...it's a cool idea that has potential as an optional rule; you should playtest it. I would need to think on it further, but my gut reaction is that I wouldn't want it in my game. Because I really like it when players come REALLY close but still fail. That's where a ton of great story beats happen. And this would basically remove those situations.

 

[BookTenTiger]

I like it! I've often thought of allowing characters to spend hit points in order to add 1 to a hit.

I could see your house rule coming up a lot when a player thinks they are about to deliver the final blow, which, flavor wise, is definitely appropriate.

 

[rules.mechanic]

We've been doing something similar for a while now - spend a Hit Die to add to a roll or spend an Exhaustion level to re-roll a roll. It works really well

 

[DEFCON 1]

I agree that it is a rule that you should playtest for yourself to see if it is effective for your table. Any cool new options a DM can add in to their table to make the game more fun and exciting for their players is awesome in my book.

I do know though that personally it wouldn't find much benefit at my table, because rare is the situation where a single hit or miss is so imperative that changing a miss to a hit is going to be worth the time of tracking the penalties. It's the same thinking which made me embrace the decision of 5E to eliminate all the small +1 and +2 bonuses and penalties and just switch over to Advantage/Disadvantage. I don't find the combat rules so engaging that I want to get further into their weeds by adding back in all these little nitpicky additions and subtractions in an effort to make the combat more "strategic". I play other games like Twilight Imperium or Terraforming Mars if I need to scratch that "tactics and strategy" itch. I save D&D for the performance art.

 

[mellored]

When you fall to 0, you gain 1 exhaustion. Also add +Con to your death saves.

Probably the biggest thing I never liked about this edition was the 0hp rules. This makes it so you can't just drop multiple times in a row, pop a few healing words (or worse, goodberry) and be fine. But it's still not overly punishing if you do fall occasionally.

 

[Sir Brennen]

We've been doing something similar for a while now - spend a Hit Die to add to a roll or spend an Exhaustion level to re-roll a roll. It works really well

View attachment 266581

Woah. I really like this. At once per short rest, Heroic Effort seems pretty balanced. Martial classes have a bit of niche protection when it comes to attack/defense by virtue of their bigger Hit Die. It addresses one of the biggest complaints about the Monk and Sorcerer, namely their small point pools. Giving additional uses of other class/subclass specific abilities is great, too.

I’m actually not much of a fan of the 5e Exhaustion system, with the varying levels, and even though these house rules dip into them, I still really like it.

I think the 1D&D design team has mentioned introducing new uses for expending Hit Dice. Here’s hoping it’s something along the lines of this.

 

[Horwath]

When you fall to 0, you gain 1 exhaustion. Also add +Con to your death saves.

Probably the biggest thing I never liked about this edition was the 0hp rules. This makes it so you can't just drop multiple times in a row, pop a few healing words (or worse, goodberry) and be fine. But it's still not overly punishing if you do fall occasionally.

Personally, I would not add exhaustion levels to dropping to "0".
That is kind of build in 5E mechanics that it will happen on regular basis.

But, adding exhaustion level on every failed death save might be enough.

If your are lucky or have fast team, or both, you will not suffer exhaustion levels.
If you are not in direct danger when down, your team might calculate you getting a failed death save or two for attacking and faster defeating enemy.

having exhaustion levels on every drop to "0" might encourage delaying healing until you fail two death saves in order to prevent more exhaustion levels due to whack-a-mole effect on low HP newly healed ally that might drop from next attack. That would possible lead to being out for 2 or 3 rounds. Not fun from players perspective.

 

[rules.mechanic]

Woah. I really like this. At once per short rest, Heroic Effort seems pretty balanced. Martial classes have a bit of niche protection when it comes to attack/defense by virtue of their bigger Hit Die. It addresses one of the biggest complaints about the Monk and Sorcerer, namely their small point pools. Giving additional uses of other class/subclass specific abilities is great, too.

I’m actually not much of a fan of the 5e Exhaustion system, with the varying levels, and even though these house rules dip into them, I still really like it.

I think the 1D&D design team has mentioned introducing new uses for expending Hit Dice. Here’s hoping it’s something along the lines of this.

Thanks Practically, it usually plays out as plot armour, but at a cost, and with an in-game explanation. Which I've appreciated when DMing: no need or temptation to water down encounters or fudge rolls.

 

[rules.mechanic]

But, adding exhaustion level on every failed death save might be enough

This works well for us - although I'll admit that dropping to 0hp (well, below 0hp, the way we play it) also leads to an exhaustion level for us