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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gadget" data-source="post: 8685907" data-attributes="member: 23716">The option is not as cut and dried as the OP makes it out.  Sure, this particular option from social media may not be the best, but I've seen multiple experienced gamers implement a similar House Rule with Exhaustion, with varying levels of success.  Here are a few issues:<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">In combat healing in 5e is, by design, supposed to be so-so and not really keep up with incoming damage; this prevents the perceived need for the healing and the ever popular refrain of "Whose going to play the cleric?" at the beginning of the campaign.  This is somewhat mitigated by very robust default out of combat healing in 5e.  Unfortunately, it leads to the yo-yo healing effect in 5e, where the relatively meager in combat healing is best applied after a subject has dropped to 0 hp to maximize healing affect.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The Exhaustion system can be a good way to incentivize players to not drop to 0 hp; but it is unfortunately somewhat half-baked, as pointed out up thread.  Unlike 5e's rather robust and forgiving out of combat healing/recovery, it is long lasting, debilitating and hard to recover from.  This is probably why the devs have made little use of it in 5e.  I think a few tweaks to exhaustion can help mitigate this, as I've always found it strange that it is easier to recover from death (via Revivify at 3rd level) than Exhaustion (Greater Restoration at 5th level).  A nice solution would be to have Lesser Restoration recover a level of Exhaustion, with the Greater version removing two levels (or more).  Perhaps a long rest could restore more as well, depending on how gritty a game one wants.  </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">As to the six to eight encounter pattern being disrupted, hasn't the D&D community argued about the validity of that pattern for years now?  With the whole short rest vs long rest class balance debate, I think it is safe to say that many groups (though certainly not all) do not follow that pattern at all, outside of maybe running Tomb of Horrors or some such.</li> </ol>So that said, it is not beyond the pale to make us the the Exhaustion system in a similar way, with the caveat that it could: a) unduly punish front line fighters, who will take the brunt of the damage; and b) cause more of a 5 minute work day, as players will want to stop and do a long rest whenever Exhaustion rears its ugly head.  But for groups that have few encounters per day anyway, and spread the damage around more, it could be a very viable style of play.</blockquote>

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