Expanded Rules: Exhaustion

Lore
Written By Kevin Frank

In the Expanded Rules feature, we will explore adaptations of existing rules: tweaks or additions to add flavor to your Taluma (or any other) campaign. In this entry, we will take a look at expanding the use of Exhaustion.

Hit Points (HP) are the primary delineator of a character’s physical health with the exception of Conditions. Hit Points represent the character’s durability and the will to live. HP are used mostly in combat to represent injuries or wounds from attacks whether they be weapon (bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage), elemental (acid, cold, fire, force, lightning, poison, thunder), or even mental or spiritual (necrotic, psychic, radiant). Conditions are used to represent the effects of being injured. There is one Condition that can be used complementary to Hit Points to represent a creature’s health: Exhaustion. 

Exhaustion is a Condition that represents the toll of activity or external effects on the character’s stamina or energy level. While you have the Exhaustion condition, you experience the following effects.

Exhaustion Levels. This condition is cumulative.

Each time you receive it, you gain 1 Exhaustion level. You die if your Exhaustion level is 6.

D20 Tests Affected. When you make a D20 Test, the roll is reduced by 2 times your Exhaustion level.

Speed Reduced. Your Speed is reduced by a number of feet equal to 5 times your Exhaustion level.

Removing Exhaustion Levels. Finishing a Long Rest removes 1 of your Exhaustion levels. When your Exhaustion level reaches 0, the condition ends.

Expanded Rules

Adventures in the land of Taluma expand ways to not only suffer or cause a level of Exhaustion, but also for a player to choose to expend Exhaustion for benefits for their characters. The benefits are meant to show that the character is exerting energy into an action to try to succeed or to recover one of their abilities.  Here are ways that it can be integrated more into the game for not only negative, but even beneficiary effects for a creature.

You can download a PDF of the expanded Rules here.

Gaining Exhaustion

Creatures (both characters and monsters) can gain one to five levels of the Exhaustion Condition through various ways. If they ever get a sixth level of Exhaustion they are dead (in the same way as getting to 0 Hit Points) and must follow the Death Saving Throw rules.

New Causes

The list above is a small number of causes. There are many opportunities to expand the usage of Exhaustion without overcomplicating things or changing the balance of the game. 

  • When a Critical Hit is scored, the attacker can opt to skip the extra damage and instead cause one level of Exhaustion to their target.

  • When a creature gains the Bloodied condition (has taken half or more of their hit points) they gain one level of Exhaustion.

  • When a creature is reduced to 0 Hit Points they gain a level of Exhaustion. (If they are not yet bloodied and an attack does enough to take them to 0 Hit Points they would suffer 2 levels of Exhaustion as they both became bloodied and went to 0 in the same attack)

  • Magic Items

    • Staff of Withering: replace “On a failed save, the target has Disadvantage for 1 hour on any ability check or saving throw that uses Strength or Constitution.” with “On a failed save, the target gains one level of Exhaustion”

Expending Exhaustion

In addition to things that can cause the Exhaustion Condition, Exhaustion can also be used purposefully by the player to show their character is exerting energy to accomplish something, pushing themselves beyond their normal limits physically or mentally.

Players can choose to give their character a level of Exhaustion to gain benefits. They can only expend one Exhaustion per turn and it does not cause any type of Action to do so, it is a Free Action. When they choose to gain an Exhaustion level, they can:

  • Reroll an Attack Roll, Saving Throw, or Ability Check.

  • Increase the DC for an opponent to resist an Action by 5 (spell DC, grapple escape, etc.)

  • Get an extra Bonus Action or Reaction for the round (you cannot gain an extra Action).

  • Maintain Concentration on a spell when you lost the Saving Throw

Recovering or Resisting Exhaustion

With more ways to suffer from Exhaustion, there are similarly expanded ways to recover. In addition to the standard rule allowing recovery of one exhaustion level during a Long Rest, and a few core rule ways to remove a level of Exhaustion, these are new, additional ways to remove or even resist levels of Exhaustion:

  • Any ability that allows you to expend Hit Dice to recover Hit Points can be used to remove one level of Exhaustion instead of regaining the Hit Points. Only one level of Exhaustion can be removed in each manner per Long Rest.

    • Short Rest

    • Fighter’s Second Wind

  • A creature that gained a level of Exhaustion from becoming Bloodied will recover that level if the condition is removed (they are healed to more than half their Hit Points).

  • Magic Items

    • Elixir of Health will remove one Exhaustion Level

    • Periapt of Health you can choose to remove one Exhaustion level instead of regaining Hit Points.

    • Ring of Free Action you do not gain Exhaustion from Extended Travel

    • Ring of Warmth you do not gain Exhaustion from Extreme Cold

Kevin Frank
Next

Expanded Rules: Heroic Inspiration