D&D 5E House Rule Idea: conscious but Exhausted at 0 HP

[DND_Reborn]

Please do! I've used Exhaution in place of death saves in the past as well, and have thought about adding onto the system in ways like it sounds you did. So I'd love to see your full write-up on your additions! Thanks!

I couldn't find it, but here it is:

Death Saves are not used.

Endurance. You have a measure of endurance equal to your Constitution modifier. Your endurance grants you the ability to ignore levels of endurance, in essence they are "free". Once your endurance is exceeded, you suffer the effects of further levels of exhaustion normally.

This means you can suffer a total number of levels of exhaustion equal to 5 + your Constitution modifier before dying, but one more and you die.

Ex. You have a CON 14 and two levels of Endurance. You can suffer two levels of exhaustion for "free" without any effects.

When you go to 0 HP, the following occurs:

1. You gain one level of exhaustion.
2. You must make a Constitution saving throw to remain conscious. The DC is equal to half the damage of the attack or 10, whichever is higher (as with the normal Concentration check mechanic).

If you remain conscious while at 0 HP, the following occurs:

1. You can only take an action, move, or a bonus action on your turn. You cannot take reactions.
2. If you are concentrating on a spell, you must make a concentration check (DC 10) to maintain concentration on the spell at the start of each of your turns (while you are at 0 HP, that is).
3. Each time you take damage, you must make another Concentration check to remain conscious.

While at 0 HP, the following occurs:

1. If you take any damage, you gain another level of exhaustion.
2. If the damage was from a critical hit, you gain two levels of exhaustion instead.

Gaining HP so you are no longer at 0 HP prevents you from further levels of exhaustion (unless you go to 0 HP again, of course) and allows you to act normally. You are still subject to any of the effects of exhaustion that have exceeded your endurance. Recovering exhaustion is done through the normal means: a long rest or by magical means.

Note. If you have a Constitution 8, with a -1 modifier, means if you take a level of exhaustion you immediately jump to the second level effects (half speed as well as disadvantage on ability checks). This also means that 5 levels of exhaustion, not 6, will kill you.

That's pretty much it. FWIW, we still use Endurance as part of our Frostmaiden game, which with the effects of the cold weather giving exhaustion as well, it has worked well.

 

[Flamestrike]

I just kind of narrate the occasional 0 Hit Point creature as being conscious (and unable to do anything other than crawl slowly a few feet, or moan incoherently).

Heck, sometimes I let them scream out for a healer as they hold in their guts from spilling out unable to do anything else other than making death saves.

 

[DEFCON 1]

If you remain conscious while at 0 HP, the following occurs:

1. You can only take an action, move, or a bonus action on your turn. You cannot take reactions.
2. If you are concentrating on a spell, you must make a concentration check (DC 10) to maintain concentration on the spell at the start of each of your turns (while you are at 0 HP, that is).

If you are unconscious while at 0 HP, the following occurs:

1. If you are hit by an attack or fail a saving throw that results in taking damage, you gain another level of exhaustion.
2. If the attack was a critical hit, you gain two levels of exhaustion instead.

It wasn't mentioned here, but I presume that when you are at 0 HP and conscious you still gain levels of Exhaustion every time you are hit, yes (and 2 levels on crits?)

Or do you run it that while you are conscious and at 0 HP, every hit you take (or save you'd have to make) doesn't cause a level of Exhaustion, but does trigger another Concentration check to remain conscious?

I really like this system you've put together here and might adopt it for my next campaign (since I already intended on making some changes like this.) I suspect if I did, I would make it such that every hit you take at 0 HP (conscious or not) causes a level of Exhaustion. I like the idea of remaining conscious while at 0 HP and using your one action to keep enemies engaged while still fighting as you slowly are hit towards your death.

 

[DND_Reborn]

It wasn't mentioned here, but I presume that when you are at 0 HP and conscious you still gain levels of Exhaustion every time you are hit, yes (and 2 levels on crits?)

Or do you run it that while you are conscious and at 0 HP, every hit you take (or save you'd have to make) doesn't cause a level of Exhaustion, but does trigger another Concentration check to remain conscious?

I really like this system you've put together here and might adopt it for my next campaign (since I already intended on making some changes like this.) I suspect if I did, I would make it such that every hit you take at 0 HP (conscious or not) causes a level of Exhaustion. I like the idea of remaining conscious while at 0 HP and using your one action to keep enemies engaged while still fighting as you slowly are hit towards your death.

Yes, I updated the post. While at 0 HP, any hit results in a level of exhaustion (crits are two) whether you are conscious or not. That was intended.

And yes, each time you are hit another check to remain conscious is also required. I forgot this but it was part of the system so I am glad you mentioned it.

So, it is both.

I'm glad you like it. As I said it worked very well IMO but only if the style of play is to your tastes. I hope you enjoy it and find it fun--we did.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Thank you! I did the Exhaustion table instead of 3 death saves swap for my Curse of Strahd games but didn't have any buffer before the levels. And it was still unconscious at 0 HP.

It worked for CoS that way, but I think your changes plus remaining conscious would be a really nice addition for my Theros game.

 

[Dragonsbane]

No, I mean that going down to 0 HP just three times (which can certainly happen, especially in the span of several encounters) basically makes the PC a liability, until they take several long rests.

Maybe going to zero HP -should- have a game effect more than just resting an hour? Our table uses some house rules like this, and the game is MUCH more fun (at least at our table).

Dropping to zero = 1 lv of exhaustion
Hit with a crit = 1 lv of exhaustion (for monsters too of course)

and viola! no more ping-ponging of a PC drops to zero, back up for a round, drops, back up for a round, etc.

 

[loverdrive]

Maybe going to zero HP -should- have a game effect more than just resting an hour? Our table uses some house rules like this, and the game is MUCH more fun (at least at our table).

Dropping to zero = 1 lv of exhaustion
Hit with a crit = 1 lv of exhaustion (for monsters too of course)

and viola! no more ping-ponging of a PC drops to zero, back up for a round, drops, back up for a round, etc.

Maybe that could seemingly work, if the party doesn't have enough encounters per long rest (six, as DMG suggests), but that's kind of another can of worms with overpowered long-rest based classes and all the other jazz. (and if they have enough encounters, then losing HP is already a consequence enough -- hit dice ain't infinite).

Or, such system would need adjustment of healing abilities, so dropping to 0 hp would be rarer, but then we run into healbot problem.

Hit with a crit = 1 lv of exhaustion (for monsters too of course)

And this sounds like super weird. Fights against single enemy already work weird in 5e, but this... 6 critical hits, which at Tier 2 with a party of 4-5 people can happen in a span of a one-two rounds = dead dragon.


What's fun for you is fun for you, of course, but these rules sound a bit of broken.

 

[Necrozius]

I was toying this this sort of thing myself (hating the whole "whack-a-mole" concept too).

But I always felt that the game got too complex. Instead, I took a page from games like Fate:

• When a character is reduced to below half their HP total (not current score, but normal maximum), I tell the player that they are Injured
• Injured is just a "tag", meaning that mechanically it doesn't do anything at all, but their character has a nasty cut, burn or whatever. This is treated like a character Flaw.
• When someone is Injured, the player can choose to take Disadvantage to an ability check or Saving throw due to their injury. When they do this, they take a point of Inspiration. GM gets to veto this, however, as the dice roll has to matter (dramatically or otherwise) and can't be negated with use of Inspiration or other mechanics that would counter it.
• Conversely, the GM can grant Advantage to an enemy Ability check or saving throw by "tagging" that PC's injury. The PC then gets a point of Inspiration.

As for dropping to zero HP, regardless of magical healing (instant or otherwise) the character gets a scar each and every time, or if they're playing "whack-a-mole", getting raised over and over again in a single battle, it is only a single Scar but is much more severe. The scar is permanent (perhaps only removable by high powered magic). The player has input on the nature of the scar and it gets added to their Character Flaws, which can be "tagged" to cause complications and problems later (also as a source for gaining Inspiration).

I've only tried this out a little, but my players have liked it a lot. Plenty of roleplaying opportunities, that's for sure.

 

[Laurefindel]

I came up with this House Rule idea the other day. What do you think of it?

Purpose: This house rule is meant to replace the Unconscious condition that occurs for characters at 0 hp. This house rule is meant to keep the players of "dying" characters involved in combat, while also introducing long-term consequences of falling to 0 hit points. Note that this rule would only apply to characters, not necessarily monsters or NPCs.

New condition: Staggered.

When a character reached 0 hit points, they are considered Staggered. A Staggered character suffers the following:

• The character immediately takes on one level of Exhaustion.
• At the start of each of the character's turns, the character takes another level of Exhaustion.
• When the character takes damage, they suffer a level of Exhaustion. Critical hits result in two levels of Exhaustion.
• Attack rolls against the character gain advantage.
• The character has disadvantage on Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution Saving Throws.

The Staggered condition ends whenever the character gains hit points. However, any levels of Exhaustion remain. The character may reduce their level of Exhaustion through Long Rests or other means, as normal.


In my mind (having not playtested this at all), this house rule would result in some of the following changes:

• Characters at 0 hp would still be the targets of attacks.
• Characters at 0 hp would have more strategic choices to make, rather than just a death saving throw.
• Characters would still "bounce back" from 0 hit points, but gain the ongoing consequence of Exhaustion.

What do you think?

My experience with this is that « strategic options » is mostly an illusion; characters are forced to go « all in » with increasingly debilitating penalties, resulting in more penalties, and a quicker death than anticipated. Your basic penalties are pretty harsh as they are, but stacking them with exhaustion might be too crippling.

character takes hit, drop to 0hp, receives exhaustion level.
Baddies might be tempted to take another swing if the character is still up and a potential treat, with advantage (or against save made with disadvantage), resulting in another exhaustion level or two.

so character starts their turn with disadvantage on ability checks and saving throws, half speed, only one action, no reaction, and are attacked with advantage. If they were hit by a baddie before their first turn, they also have disadvantage on attack rolls and remaining saves. If they don’t play dead, they’ll be attacked again with advantage, taking, say, another exhaustion level, plus another one at the beginning of its turn. Character now has half hp and a speed of 0. They better do something fast because at the beginning of the next round, they die. Even if they somehow regained hp in the meantime, they’ll need several nights to back to full health.

not to say that the death spiral principle isn’t fun, and taking a few nights to heal injuries is still stupid fast, but it’s a long way from standard D&D.

my suggestions:

• leave design room for unconscious characters
• leave design room for hurt but stable characters.
• let character play their turn before next level of penalties plays in, or don’t give first exhaustion level right off (to avoid the double exhaustion effect of first round.

 

[GMMichael]

I came up with this House Rule idea the other day. What do you think of it?

Purpose: This house rule is meant to replace the Unconscious condition that occurs for characters at 0 hp. This house rule is meant to keep the players of "dying" characters involved in combat, while also introducing long-term consequences of falling to 0 hit points. Note that this rule would only apply to characters, not necessarily monsters or NPCs.

New condition: Staggered.

When a character reached 0 hit points, they are considered Staggered. A Staggered character suffers the following:

• The character immediately takes on one level of Exhaustion.
• At the start of each of the character's turns, the character takes another level of Exhaustion.
• When the character takes damage, they suffer a level of Exhaustion. Critical hits result in two levels of Exhaustion.
• Attack rolls against the character gain advantage.
• The character has disadvantage on Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution Saving Throws.

The Staggered condition ends whenever the character gains hit points. However, any levels of Exhaustion remain. The character may reduce their level of Exhaustion through Long Rests or other means, as normal.


In my mind (having not playtested this at all), this house rule would result in some of the following changes:

• Characters at 0 hp would still be the targets of attacks.
• Characters at 0 hp would have more strategic choices to make, rather than just a death saving throw.
• Characters would still "bounce back" from 0 hit points, but gain the ongoing consequence of Exhaustion.

What do you think?

The added complexity is a great motivator to avoid running out of hit points! I'd rather just make the death saves. If you really like the staggered visual though - just tell PCs they're "staggering" when they lose 50% of their hit points. No crunch penalties, just fluff.

On paper, this looks like it would very quickly result in a death spiral. Though, that might or might not be an acceptable or even desirable result.

I’ve experimented with similar house rules. Generally, I have characters at 0 hp have to concentrate (as if concentrating on a spell) to remain conscious. If you take damage while at 0 HP, you take death save failures as normal, and have to save to maintain concentration. This way, it is a strategic decision whether to concentrate on staying conscious, remaining a target for your opponents but giving yourself an opportunity to take action to protect yourself such as fleeing, drinking a potion, etc. or to simply allow yourself to be removed from the combat.

Just like birds, death spirals don't exist.

I don't see the strategic decision here - keep living or die?

My experience with this is that « strategic options » is mostly an illusion; characters are forced to go « all in » with increasingly debilitating penalties, resulting in more penalties, and a quicker death than anticipated.

Who's forcing characters to go all in?