D&D (2024) Gain 1 exhaustion when dropping to 0hp?

[mellored]

The players would then know because they (or an ally) were hit one or more times & can make some estimations based on that along with how the GM describes the attack.

That requires experience for the players and GM. Which is not really a newbie friendly approach to learn by killing characters.
Nor really a good role playing either to use players knowledge.

Squishy characters like a wizard were by extension squishy

I was a rogue. Still wouldn't want to be one-shot as a wizard either.

Again. I am aiming for losing the mission, not the character.

 

[tetrasodium]

That requires experience for the players and GM. Which is not really a newbie friendly approach to learn by killing characters.
Nor really a good role playing either to use players knowledge.

You do know that people play games other than one off one shots right? For example, my current campaign has been going over a year & that's pretty average for me.

I was a rogue. Still wouldn't want to be one-shot as a wizard either.

The gameplay benefit is not in getting one shot, the gameplay benefit lies in players being proactive to avoid risks when they know they are squishy due to low HP or character build choices that make them squishier than others.

Again. I am aiming for losing the mission, not the character.

So no options should be discussed or exist for anyone to use in their game if those options do not meet the desires of @mellored specifically? Does this extend beyond games you play in to cover games that anyone else might run even when those games do not include you?

 

[mellored]

You do know that people play games other than one off one shots right?

Of course.
but you do know that eveyone start as a new player right?

The gameplay benefit is not in getting one shot, the gameplay benefit lies in players being proactive to avoid risks when they know they are squishy due to low HP or character build choices that make them squishier than others.

-10 does both. Makes low HP scary, and can have characters die in one shot.

Current 5e doesn't care about low HP, but can't be one shoted.

Exhaustion cares about low HP, but can't be one shot.

So no options should be discussed or exist for anyone to use in their game if those options do not meet the desires of @mellored specifically?

We have been discussing it. Am I not allowed to tell you the goals behind my suggestion, or point out issues I have with previous versions?

If you have a better way to make 0HP scary, but not risk one shot, then please go ahead and post it.

 

[Yaarel]

The effects of exhaustion need better − more versatile − effects. But yeah. Zero hit points incurs an Exhaustion level.

 

[aco175]

I like the idea in certain campaigns. The published books run at a speed that a PC cannot take a few days off to recover each week without the BBEG finishing his plan over the world. Unless the game only runs at the speed of plot. I can see it in more gritty games or episodic games where you have a new mission each game and could rest days before that mission started. Of course, that may take some of the fear out of it.

Would this punish fighter-types more? I can see people arguing that fighters now suck and need a boost. It takes away from the hero PC and makes them more mortal- like a farmhand I was before I became 1st level.

 

[mellored]

Would this punish fighter-types more?

I could certainly see some classes getting a bonus vs exhaustion.

I.e. proficiency times per long rest, when you use second wind, you remove a level of exhaustion.
Or Berserkers might ignore the exhaustion penalty to attack rolls.
The test ranges get to remove 1 exhaustion per short rest

The published books run at a speed that a PC cannot take a few days off to recover each week

Best avoid falling to 0 repeatedly then.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Combined with the recover 1 per long rest and we're back to the 'wonderful' days of wasting for-freaking-ever convalescing to avoid the unnecessary death spiral.

 

[payn]

So, basically the PF2 system. It's a fine option with the exception that it doesn't make death saves more difficult.

 

[Blue]

I picked Other.

It's No, but it's not "No, one more annoying thing to keep track of". It's "No, because it's a bad idea".

D&D is a team game. A character going down is rarely their sole fault, it's a team failure. A tank that was too good at their job of blocking all the foes and took too many hits so they go down. Or a tank that wasn't as good and let a foe get to a low AC & HP member of the party. A cleric that prioritized healing one party member over another and it was the wrong choice. Or just bad luck on getting critted or some failed saves. Having some sort of detriment to whack-a-mole healing (which is intentional in 5e) I can see. But having it last all day (or multiple days) affecting one player when they may not have had a lot to do with them going down is punitive.

But more importantly, front line is a valid and needed niche. Being willing to get hit and be in the fray, even if it's a heavily armored cleric who isn't using melee, is a definite thing in D&D. But, as the ones getting attacked the most they are the ones most likely go down to when luck runs poorly. You most often are punishing a player for making a choice to play a character that protects others. The melee battlemaster and the archer battlemaster are just as resilient, but one will be targeted a heck of a lot more. So you are handing out a penalty that discourages selfless play - that's the exact opposite of what I want to encourage at my table.

TL;DR: this is a bad rule that can target the wrong person, lasts punitively long, and works to make the table act less like I want it to. It's not just a "No, it's annoying to track", it's a "Heck No, it's a Red Flag about the DM".

 

[Yaarel]

The effects of exhaustion need better − more versatile − effects. But yeah. Zero hit points incurs an Exhaustion level.

I realize the new rules for Exhaustion in the 1dd Expert playtest solves the problem.

The "Exhausted condition" simply impairs all d20 tests and spell DCs.

It makes narrative sense for a character that is recovering from reaching zero hit points thus incurring a lifethreatening injury, to incur the Exhausted condition.