Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Reorganized Exhaustion Chart?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 7342777" data-attributes="member: 7006"><p>For my two <em>Curse of Strahd</em> games I ran in order to make combat a bit grittier, I replaced the '3 Death Saves' chart with the Exhaustion Chart instead. When you reached 0 HP, your death saves were giving you levels of exhaustion. So while it took longer for characters to die (since they had to fail 6 saves to reach Level 6 exhaustion and death), there was stiffer consequences for dropping to 0 HP-- the various effects of the Exhaustion chart.</p><p></p><p>While it ended up working okay in practice... I found that the current order of effects of the chart felt a little off to me and my players. This was mainly due to the Level 1 effect-- the disadvantage on all ability checks. Because I tied the Exhaustion chart directly to combat, it ended up feeling very weird that as a result of being hurt in combat, they got worse at things like History checks or Insight. Combat didn't reduce combat skill, combat reduced mental acumen instead. Obviously I can justify it to a certain extent... when you are tired your brain slows down... but there did feel to be a disconnect that even though the brain was slowing down, the body also wasn't at the same time. At least not right away. </p><p></p><p>Obviously because I tied Exhaustion directly TO combat (which is not ordinarily the case), the disconnect was worse for me than it might be for others... but based on what seems to be an issue many players have with the Frenzy Barbarian, that Level 1 of Exhaustion seems to be a greater penalty than perhaps it should be? At least at Level 1?</p><p></p><p>So my thinking is that perhaps a re-ordering of the Exhaustion chart might be in order? Where some of (what appear to me to be) the harsher penalties dropped down the chart and less penalizing ones moved up? Admittedly, every DM is probably going to find different parts of the chart to be more or less harsh for their own game, so I have no doubt that some will look at my change and say it is an attempt at an unneeded fix-- which is fine. But for those of you who might agree with my assessment-- that the disadvantage on ability checks is too harsh and a bit misplaced to deserve the Level 1 effect on the chart (before some of the physical penalties show up)-- how does this re-ordering work for you, and what changes might you make based on what you think is actually a more accurate step up in penalty? Especially if you are a DM or player who has seen the Frenzy Barbarian in action and know what those consequences result in?</p><p></p><p>Level 1: Speed halved</p><p>Level 2: Disadvantage on STR, DEX, CON ability checks</p><p>Level 3: Disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws</p><p>Level 4: Hit point maximum halved and disadvantage on INT, WIS, CHA ability checks</p><p>Level 5: Speed reduced to 0</p><p>Level 6: Death </p><p></p><p>I should also point out that part of my reasoning for re-ordering is because I do like using the Exhaustion chart in place of the '3 Death Saves' chart because I do like having consequences for dropping to 0 HP and want to use the format again in my next campaign. I just don't like non-combat disadvantages to come in before penalties and disadvantage on more physical activities.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DEFCON 1, post: 7342777, member: 7006"] For my two [I]Curse of Strahd[/I] games I ran in order to make combat a bit grittier, I replaced the '3 Death Saves' chart with the Exhaustion Chart instead. When you reached 0 HP, your death saves were giving you levels of exhaustion. So while it took longer for characters to die (since they had to fail 6 saves to reach Level 6 exhaustion and death), there was stiffer consequences for dropping to 0 HP-- the various effects of the Exhaustion chart. While it ended up working okay in practice... I found that the current order of effects of the chart felt a little off to me and my players. This was mainly due to the Level 1 effect-- the disadvantage on all ability checks. Because I tied the Exhaustion chart directly to combat, it ended up feeling very weird that as a result of being hurt in combat, they got worse at things like History checks or Insight. Combat didn't reduce combat skill, combat reduced mental acumen instead. Obviously I can justify it to a certain extent... when you are tired your brain slows down... but there did feel to be a disconnect that even though the brain was slowing down, the body also wasn't at the same time. At least not right away. Obviously because I tied Exhaustion directly TO combat (which is not ordinarily the case), the disconnect was worse for me than it might be for others... but based on what seems to be an issue many players have with the Frenzy Barbarian, that Level 1 of Exhaustion seems to be a greater penalty than perhaps it should be? At least at Level 1? So my thinking is that perhaps a re-ordering of the Exhaustion chart might be in order? Where some of (what appear to me to be) the harsher penalties dropped down the chart and less penalizing ones moved up? Admittedly, every DM is probably going to find different parts of the chart to be more or less harsh for their own game, so I have no doubt that some will look at my change and say it is an attempt at an unneeded fix-- which is fine. But for those of you who might agree with my assessment-- that the disadvantage on ability checks is too harsh and a bit misplaced to deserve the Level 1 effect on the chart (before some of the physical penalties show up)-- how does this re-ordering work for you, and what changes might you make based on what you think is actually a more accurate step up in penalty? Especially if you are a DM or player who has seen the Frenzy Barbarian in action and know what those consequences result in? Level 1: Speed halved Level 2: Disadvantage on STR, DEX, CON ability checks Level 3: Disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws Level 4: Hit point maximum halved and disadvantage on INT, WIS, CHA ability checks Level 5: Speed reduced to 0 Level 6: Death I should also point out that part of my reasoning for re-ordering is because I do like using the Exhaustion chart in place of the '3 Death Saves' chart because I do like having consequences for dropping to 0 HP and want to use the format again in my next campaign. I just don't like non-combat disadvantages to come in before penalties and disadvantage on more physical activities. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Reorganized Exhaustion Chart?
Top