I'd like to see some other causes of exhaustion, such as Suffocation. (Presuming OneD&D Exhausted condition rules, I'd think each round Holding Breath could require a DC 3 Con save, on a fail choosing to stop Holding Breath or suffer 1 level of Exhaustion; all removed after 1 full round breathing?)
Suffocating A creature can hold its breath for a number of minutes equal to 1 + its Constitution modifier (minimum of 30 seconds). When a creature runs out of breath or is choking, it can survive for a number of rounds equal to its Constitution modifier (minimum of 1 round). At the start of its next turn, it drops to 0 hit points and is dying, and it can't regain hit points or be stabilized until it can breathe again. For example, a creature with a Constitution of 14 can hold its breath for 3 minutes. If it starts suffocating, it has 2 rounds to reach air before it drops to 0 hit points.
Right. I'd add the Exhaustion effect to the current rules for Suffocating \ Holding Breath. (Currently, holding breath is: no debuff; no debuff; no debuff; dying. Adding OneD&D exhaustion levels while Holding Breath, would introduce cumulative debuffs prior to death.) (edit: punctuation & typo)
What people are after is something usable in two scenarios, 1st is normal play and the 2nd is gritty realism. The new rules are definitely far easier to remember, I can't really say I ever saw exhaustion used in normal play because party gunna party, late into the night and then get drunk and wake up after a long rest. I assume for gritty realism people will homebrew around these rules tho, they are less extreme than the old ones. Since generally exhaustion doesn't kill in 6 days, which was the weirdest part, the only thing that kills that quickly in regards to exhaustion is dehydration. 10 days is more reasonable for sure if we are accounting for not drinking, eating and sleeping.
Please explain to me how your character stays awake for 10 days straight? If I’m your DM I’m making you make Con checks to not doze off after 48 hours. Also if we are getting into gritty realism sleep would need a whole new rule set. Oh and the original 5e rules not long resting didn’t cause exhaustion. That was errata to stop the infinite short rest groups. You know the party that doesn’t have anyone that needs a long rest to get features and spells back. Or the party that lets their fighter handle all the night watches because he only needs a short rest and can do that on guard duty.
Incremental speed reduction is easy enough. At 5th point of exhaustion -5 feet. At 7th or 8th point, -10 feet. If you change it so that 10th point is not necessarily fatal, then -10 feet at 10th point of exhaustion is even easier to remember.
However, I predict that players will still almost never suffer multiple levels exhaustion. As soon as they have even one, they simply head for the nearest safe place or cast Tiny Hut and wait until they are at full health and 0-exhaustion before pursuing the adventure. The BBEG could be destroying the whole world and they will still rather wait and get back for full health, spell slots, etc. before chancing another encounter.
I was originally very anti the change, but having trialled it in my games it works very well as a mechanism for making PCs care about the environment and exploration.
It did require me to make them more common and easily gained. The key areas being:
- When a PC drops to 0hp (and every round they're Bleeding Out/Unconscious). This also cut out the whack-a-mole approach to healing.
- Monster abilities, especially Undead.
- Exploration, especially skill check failures.
The Frenzy Barbarian is a lot happier now and the Ranger loves their Tireless ability to push themselves when exploring.
I have also houseruled that Lesser Restoration can remove a level of Exhaustion. A 2nd level spell seemed a fair cost.
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Right. I'd add the Exhaustion effect to the current rules for Suffocating \ Holding Breath. (Currently, holding breath is: no debuff; no debuff; no debuff; dying. Adding OneD&D exhaustion levels while Holding Breath, would introduce cumulative debuffs prior to death.)
(edit: punctuation & typo)
Please explain to me how your character stays awake for 10 days straight? If I’m your DM I’m making you make Con checks to not doze off after 48 hours. Also if we are getting into gritty realism sleep would need a whole new rule set. Oh and the original 5e rules not long resting didn’t cause exhaustion. That was errata to stop the infinite short rest groups. You know the party that doesn’t have anyone that needs a long rest to get features and spells back. Or the party that lets their fighter handle all the night watches because he only needs a short rest and can do that on guard duty.
Incremental speed reduction is easy enough.
At 5th point of exhaustion -5 feet.
At 7th or 8th point, -10 feet.
If you change it so that 10th point is not necessarily fatal, then -10 feet at 10th point of exhaustion is even easier to remember.
However, I predict that players will still almost never suffer multiple levels exhaustion. As soon as they have even one, they simply head for the nearest safe place or cast Tiny Hut and wait until they are at full health and 0-exhaustion before pursuing the adventure. The BBEG could be destroying the whole world and they will still rather wait and get back for full health, spell slots, etc. before chancing another encounter.
I was originally very anti the change, but having trialled it in my games it works very well as a mechanism for making PCs care about the environment and exploration.
It did require me to make them more common and easily gained. The key areas being:
- When a PC drops to 0hp (and every round they're Bleeding Out/Unconscious). This also cut out the whack-a-mole approach to healing.
- Monster abilities, especially Undead.
- Exploration, especially skill check failures.
The Frenzy Barbarian is a lot happier now and the Ranger loves their Tireless ability to push themselves when exploring.
I have also houseruled that Lesser Restoration can remove a level of Exhaustion. A 2nd level spell seemed a fair cost.