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  1. - Top - End - #1
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    Default houserule on fighting fitness.

    This may be an idea that's already used by a lot of people, but I'm not sure how and where to look for it, and I would like to know what your opinion is on my idea..
    Spoiler: I haven't fleshed it out completely just yet... but this is the gist of it.

    When a character reaches the last 10 % of their hitpoints during a fight, he can keep fighting but with at least a couple of points of exhaustion... I'm thinking 3 (but that's debatable). The idea being that if you've lost most of your hitpoints you're probably seriously wounded and unable to do half the stuff you'd do at peak form.
    An idea to avoid this/mitigate it, would be to allow, at the beginning of the round, the player to roll a morale check, on his strongest stat, but at a disadvantage.
    If he makes it he grits his teeth, rallies his last energies and can act normally for the rest of the round, if not, he loses the round completely.
    It would be the player's choice whether to just take the disadvantages/exhaustion or try for a morale check.

    Likewise, intelligent oppontents/enemies/monsters, would get the same treatment, with an option to surrender or flee, especially if they fail morale.

    I'd have non intelligent monsters who reach their last 10% of hitpoints automatically fail morale, stop fighting and try to flee to the best of their ability... unless they were cornered, in which case they'd get the same exhaustion treatment.

    EDIT FOR COMPLETENESS: the exhaustion would go away at the end of the encounter

    opinions? variations? have you tried something similar in games you ran? how'd it go? is this going to screw over the players?
    Last edited by dehro; 2018-06-25 at 08:24 AM.
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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    Question: how does this affect the party members not losing HP a lot of the time compared to those that do? That is to say tanks and flankers vs casters and archers.
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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    Kinda seems like some extra dice rolls just for the sake of extra dice rolls, and would just muddy things up without adding much to the fun. Hit points are already abstract; the first ones you lose just represent fatigue and bumps and bruises, and the hit that knocks you to 0 being the serious injury. The "morale" roll is kinda already built in, with some race and class features allowing an automatic success, like the half-orc "Relentless Endurance."

    Also, monsters and NPCs can already flee or surrender at any time, they don't need a hard-coded hit point trigger to do it. The DM shouldn't be running every enemy like it's on a suicide mission against the player characters.
    Last edited by kraitmarais; 2018-06-25 at 07:46 AM.
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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    Hit points are a pretty abstract thing... you risk conceptualizing them as ‘meat’ this way

    Also, there are some strange results at the extreme ends... a low level wizard can fight fine until literally their last hit point, whereas a max level Barbarian may suffer penalties for 40+ HP?

    And how does this interact with existing exhaustion rules? Does it make frenzy Barbarians even more prone to dropping over dead? Or make Sickening Radiance notably more fatal?

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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    Quote Originally Posted by Naanomi View Post
    Also, there are some strange results at the extreme ends... a low level wizard can fight fine until literally their last hit point, whereas a max level Barbarian may suffer penalties for 40+ HP?
    I don't see it.. wizards too would suffer penalties under this system.. ?
    I can see your point about the max levels.. then maybe a fixed number of HP representative of you being on your last legs? though it strikes me this would be unfair to starting PCs?... I don't know.. anything in that direction?
    Quote Originally Posted by Naanomi View Post
    And how does this interact with existing exhaustion rules? Does it make frenzy Barbarians even more prone to dropping over dead? Or make Sickening Radiance notably more fatal?
    I'd forgotten to write this in the OP.. the exhaustion would end at the end of combat.. and no, I have not really thought about barbarians or other outlier situations. Then again, if I were to run a lap at a the tracks and got to the finish line out of breath, being kicked in the legs afterwards would compound my status of "not feeling too good"

    Anyhow, I'm spitballing here.. The main idea being that I dislike the videogame approach where you can move and act up to your last hit point as if you were fresh out of the gate and wanted to bring a minor degree of realism to things. I'm absolutely open to alternative suggestions.
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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    Quote Originally Posted by kraitmarais View Post
    Also, monsters and NPCs can already flee or surrender at any time, they don't need a hard-coded hit point trigger to do it. The DM shouldn't be running every enemy like it's on a suicide mission against the player characters.
    yes..that would mostly be a guideline so that the players don't feel treaten unfarily
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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    More than one level of exhaustion is the same as saying "you can't play these next few adventuring days." Past the first rank, it's brutal. So one bad roll at low level and you're out for several days. In my mind, as a player, that's worse than a character dying. Because at least that way you can come back in.
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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    Quote Originally Posted by PhoenixPhyre View Post
    More than one level of exhaustion is the same as saying "you can't play these next few adventuring days." Past the first rank, it's brutal. So one bad roll at low level and you're out for several days. In my mind, as a player, that's worse than a character dying. Because at least that way you can come back in.
    I shall edit it for completeness.. the exhaustion would go away after the fight (unless otherwise procured).. but if you think 1 level would be enough, that could work too.. I'm trying out the concept here.
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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    I've considered similar - to the point that I reworked exhaustion.

    I think, if you were to adopt this, I would suggest keeping the exhaustion levels the same, but rename it. You're looking for the mechanical effect of a Wounds/Vitality system, where you've run out of most of your hit points, and are down to "wounds." Which is fine, but calling the effect exhaustion just leads to confusion, and overexplaining what you mean.

    Creating a new name for the temporary effect would alleviate most of the confusion.

    I'd suggest something like 'On death's door', or 'Battered'... Could even use the old 'Bloodied' nomenclature for being at or below half hit points to let people know you're getting close.
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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    makes a lot of sense.
    Did you give it a try? how did it go?
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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    Quote Originally Posted by dehro View Post
    I don't see it.. wizards too would suffer penalties under this system.. ?
    A level 1 wizard with 14 CON would have 8 HP... so would never suffer your penalties (bottom 10% would be 0)

    A magical ‘rolled perfect HP’ hill Dwarf Barbarian with 30 CON and the tough feat would suffer the penalty for 50 HP

    It isn’t a bad thing, per se, but it can be a weird thing

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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    Quick rule I've seen used:

    dropping to zero hitpoints sets your exhaustion level to 1 (if it isn't already higher)
    failing a death save sets your exhaustion level to 2(if it isn't already higher)
    failing a second death save sets you exhaustion level to 3(if it isn't already higher)

    You clear one level of exhaustion on a short rest.

    All levels on a long rest.

    Obviously this encourages the otherwise somewhat silly back-to-back short rests. But it's as good as anything I've seen. Your rules don't look horrible either, with the edit you put in there.
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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    Before I criticize or make suggestions, I want to understand: what is the purpose of this rule? What do you want it to accomplish? What does it add to the game, or what problem does it solve that you've been facing?

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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    Quote Originally Posted by Segev View Post
    Before I criticize or make suggestions, I want to understand: what is the purpose of this rule? What do you want it to accomplish? What does it add to the game, or what problem does it solve that you've been facing?
    Probably the constant yo-yo-ing between 0 and "100% fighting strength" that the game enforces, which is pretty gamist and a little silly.
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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    Quote Originally Posted by strangebloke View Post
    Probably the constant yo-yo-ing between 0 and "100% fighting strength" that the game enforces, which is pretty gamist and a little silly.
    That's one possibility. I asked the OP because my suggestions will vary based on what his purpose is.

    My response to your suggested concern:

    It's not really silly if you consider hp not to be physical damage and only physical damage, but rather if you consider it to represent your reserves. Ability not to get hit seriously. Sure, it's a scratch, or a knick, or even a worrisome bruised muscle or bone, but as long as you have hp, you aren't taking life-threatening wounds. It might slow you down, but only in a real combat-sense that means you're more and more likely to mess up and fail to dodge and take that final, debilitating blow (the one that brings you to 0 hp).

    As long as you're able to rest and recover, a lot of the "hp damage" will go away with a short rest as you just regain your energy. Add in magic, and it gets even less silly.

    It's only silly if you consider 0 hp to really not be that much more hurt than 1 hp, and that a level 20 fighter taking 20 points of damage from a sword is surviving the bisection that 20 points of damage would represent on a level 1 wizard. If, instead, you consider the fighter's "20 hp" to be due to his skill and prowess allowing him to take the blow as a glancing scrape across his shoulder, while the inept-at-fighting wizard took it from shoulder to crotch, it makes a lot more sense.

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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    Quote Originally Posted by Segev View Post
    That's one possibility. I asked the OP because my suggestions will vary based on what his purpose is.

    My response to your suggested concern:

    It's not really silly if you consider hp not to be physical damage and only physical damage, but rather if you consider it to represent your reserves. Ability not to get hit seriously. Sure, it's a scratch, or a knick, or even a worrisome bruised muscle or bone, but as long as you have hp, you aren't taking life-threatening wounds. It might slow you down, but only in a real combat-sense that means you're more and more likely to mess up and fail to dodge and take that final, debilitating blow (the one that brings you to 0 hp).

    As long as you're able to rest and recover, a lot of the "hp damage" will go away with a short rest as you just regain your energy. Add in magic, and it gets even less silly.

    It's only silly if you consider 0 hp to really not be that much more hurt than 1 hp, and that a level 20 fighter taking 20 points of damage from a sword is surviving the bisection that 20 points of damage would represent on a level 1 wizard. If, instead, you consider the fighter's "20 hp" to be due to his skill and prowess allowing him to take the blow as a glancing scrape across his shoulder, while the inept-at-fighting wizard took it from shoulder to crotch, it makes a lot more sense.
    Yeah, yeah, I know, the only blow that really hits you solidly is the one that drops you to zero, and of course death saving throws.

    What's silly is the 100% fighting capacity or 0%, with no grades of difference. What's silly is 'healing up to 1' naturally and regaining all function instantly. Like if the blow that drops you to zero does hit you hard enough to knock you out, shouldn't that impose some kind of penalty?
    Last edited by strangebloke; 2018-06-25 at 10:36 AM.
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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    It leads to a death spiral. The closer you are to death the worse you become at combat statistics. You can't fight at your capacity, so you take more injury increasing your penalties and then die. To prevent this from happening someone must do nothing but healing. While spellcasters and other range attackers do get damaged, melee focused warriors will disproportionally suffer the consequences because it is their job to take the hits so others don't. That is why they have the highest ACs and hit points. Their reason to exist becomes a fatal flaw.
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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    Quote Originally Posted by strangebloke View Post
    What's silly is the 100% fighting capacity or 0%, with no grades of difference. What's silly is 'healing up to 1' naturally and regaining all function instantly. Like if the blow that drops you to zero does hit you hard enough to knock you out, shouldn't that impose some kind of penalty?
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pex View Post
    It leads to a death spiral. The closer you are to death the worse you become at combat statistics. You can't fight at your capacity, so you take more injury increasing your penalties and then die. To prevent this from happening someone must do nothing but healing. While spellcasters and other range attackers do get damaged, melee focused warriors will disproportionally suffer the consequences because it is their job to take the hits so others don't. That is why they have the highest ACs and hit points. Their reason to exist becomes a fatal flaw.
    isn't that why armies have combat medics? isn't it true that if you've been repeatedly punched in the face you're going to have trouble seeing the next blows coming or being able to not get dazed by a well placed further punch? isn't it true that if you have a serious injury in your foot you can still serve as a shooter from your trench but you can't really go over the breach and charge at the enemy?
    Every fight is a death spiral. The better, hardier or luckier fighter survives.
    The dynamic of 100% operational capacity Vs sudden total incapacity is what I find a bit counter-intuitive. I don't aim to bring total "realism" into d&d because that would be both silly and impossible to do, but a little bit of a sensible approach to combat doesn't seem unwarranted.
    Being basically all but mortally wounded (you have 2 HP left on a 150 max hitpoints, to make an example), you shouldn't be able to run at full speed, do a flip, deliver a whole range of attacks as you would do if you were fresh on the field of battle.

    My idea of how to solve it is probably not the best out there (for one, I don't know how to solve the issue of the first level magician).. which is why I bring it here, to see if you've come up with something better, or if we can refine it together.
    If you're perfectly happy with leaving things as they are and not use a houserule, more power to you.. I myself am doing exactly the same and squeezing every action I can out of all of my hitpoints.. but it's a concept I'd like to bring to the table with my party if I should decide to DM.. and maybe other people on this forum have the same pet peeve and found a solution to it.
    Last edited by dehro; 2018-06-25 at 12:19 PM.
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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    Quote Originally Posted by Segev View Post
    Before I criticize or make suggestions, I want to understand: what is the purpose of this rule? What do you want it to accomplish? What does it add to the game, or what problem does it solve that you've been facing?
    I realised I didn't reply to you directly... it's what strangebloke says.. I'm not entirely satisfied by the notion of full operational capability for a character that's been put down or is on his last breath.

    On a sidenote, actually having to keep track of their injuries in a more significant way might help "my players" be a bit more descriptive and "roleplaying" in their encounters, rather than becoming dice-rollers who are only challenged to roleplay in the sense that they must make tactical gaming decisions.
    Last edited by dehro; 2018-06-25 at 12:29 PM.
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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    Quote Originally Posted by dehro View Post
    I realised I didn't reply to you directly... it's what strangebloke says.. I'm not entirely satisfied by the notion of full operational capability for a character that's been put down or is on his last breath.
    Then I suggest, actually, having a status condition that kicks in after recovering from 0 hp up to 1, and persists until magical healing or a long rest. Call it "Injured." While Injured, a character is at Disadvantage on Attack Rolls, Strength Checks, and Dexterity Checks, and takes 1 hp of damage every time he makes one.

    Tying it to being knocked to 0 hp and then getting back up is better than tying it to 10% hp because it doesn't effectively reduce the fighting endurance of creatures and characters by 10%. It also doesn't provide a second number-threshold to track.

    Quote Originally Posted by dehro View Post
    On a sidenote, actually having to keep track of their injuries in a more significant way might help "my players" be a bit more descriptive and "roleplaying" in their encounters, rather than becoming dice-rollers who are only challenged to roleplay in the sense that they must make tactical gaming decisions.
    Insisting that the only way to "roleplay" an encounter is to pretend to be in agonizing pain and debilitated is rather lame, in my opinion. The death spiral, described above, is real and is not something to encourage in a game about heroic fantasy. It leads to a snowball effect, where small early advantages become insurmountable late leads, and often can lead to unfun experiences where the players are just wondering why the GM hasn't killed them already rather than making them play out the inevitable TPK to the bitter end.

    Roleplay is about much more than amateur acting skill. It's about making decisions in character. I do applaud wanting to make the mechanics cooperate with what you feel is appropriate RP. But I challenge you to rethink your expectations of what the mechanics represent before deciding they're too outlandish to permit and houseruling them.

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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    Appreciate your feedback and I like your suggestion.
    I am actually considering my first DMing experience, and am fully aware that the experience might not really take the shape I would ideally want it to take, for me or my players (even though I have known most of them for 5+ years now).
    I am trying to get into it with the least amount of expectations and with the purpose of having fun with my friends.
    My aim is not necessarily to see them get on stage and improv act out injuries or something like that. I'm merely trying to look for options that might lead one or two people to consider "ok.. I've been fighting toe to toe with this guy/creature and it's not working.. soon I'll be out of breath.. is there anything I can do differently other than just trading blows/trying to beat his spell resistance?"
    maybe it won't work, maybe it will.. maybe congealing that thought into a "ruled" dynamic is the wrong approach. I don't know yet.


    to clarify, the above (a potential and minor shift in game-style) is more a consequence that might (or might not) spring from me tackling my insatisfaction with the 100% VS 0% thing.. not my primary concern.. just something that came up as I was thinking the main thing over.
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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    Even excluding all the other things: with those rules, Petruck the lvl 1 Fighter with 10 CON can keep fighting as if nothing happened until he gets 1 HP. Meanwhile, Gonzagus the lvl 20 Fighter with 20 CON get penalized if he ever get under 23 HPs.

    Why would the lvl 1 guy with no CON bonus be able to handle being lower on HPs than the lvl 20 with +5 CON bonus can ?

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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    While I agree that getting beat up would realistically lower ones combat ability, I generally play for heroic fantasy, not realism. Having played in game systems that lessen abilities as you get hurt I find it to be less enjoyable to play. The reason is it virtually eliminates the possibility of the heroic comeback. That is a common trope in stories. Think of Rocky or Die Hard. If they have multiple penalties because they have taken some blows, it essentially guarantees the outcome. Early advantages in a fight become insurmountable and the dramatic tension goes away.

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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    Quote Originally Posted by dehro View Post
    I am actually considering my first DMing experience, and am fully aware that the experience might not really take the shape I would ideally want it to take, for me or my players (even though I have known most of them for 5+ years now).
    I am trying to get into it with the least amount of expectations and with the purpose of having fun with my friends.
    Then I strongly recommend not house-ruling things where you don't need to. Just run it as-is, and rule where gaps come up. With your first experience DMing, I do not recommend toying with game (re)design.


    Quote Originally Posted by dehro View Post
    I'm merely trying to look for options that might lead one or two people to consider "ok.. I've been fighting toe to toe with this guy/creature and it's not working.. soon I'll be out of breath.. is there anything I can do differently other than just trading blows/trying to beat his spell resistance?"
    maybe it won't work, maybe it will.. maybe congealing that thought into a "ruled" dynamic is the wrong approach. I don't know yet.


    to clarify, the above (a potential and minor shift in game-style) is more a consequence that might (or might not) spring from me tackling my insatisfaction with the 100% VS 0% thing.. not my primary concern.. just something that came up as I was thinking the main thing over.
    I think you'll find that this happens as people get low in hp anyway. They know how much damage they're taking per hit, and how many hp they have left, and therefore how many more hits they can take.



    Oh, and as a recommendation for RP-encouraging mechanics, take a look at the rules for Inspiration. Players respond a lot better to rules that reward them rather than rules which threaten/punish them.

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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    Quote Originally Posted by Unoriginal View Post
    Even excluding all the other things: with those rules, Petruck the lvl 1 Fighter with 10 CON can keep fighting as if nothing happened until he gets 1 HP. Meanwhile, Gonzagus the lvl 20 Fighter with 20 CON get penalized if he ever get under 23 HPs.

    Why would the lvl 1 guy with no CON bonus be able to handle being lower on HPs than the lvl 20 with +5 CON bonus can ?
    I don't know..and I don't know how to solve that particular situation. Help to find a way around that one would be appreciated (then again, Segev's alternative solution seems to hold up better than my initial post... so maybe we have solved it?)
    Quote Originally Posted by Mellack View Post
    While I agree that getting beat up would realistically lower ones combat ability, I generally play for heroic fantasy, not realism. Having played in game systems that lessen abilities as you get hurt I find it to be less enjoyable to play. The reason is it virtually eliminates the possibility of the heroic comeback. That is a common trope in stories. Think of Rocky or Die Hard. If they have multiple penalties because they have taken some blows, it essentially guarantees the outcome. Early advantages in a fight become insurmountable and the dramatic tension goes away.
    I defer to your experience.. if you say it's less fun to play I can do nothing but believe you because I don't have any direct experience to the opposite.
    I would however point out that the heroic comeback would be possible, according to my OP. It's actually provided by the option of, instead of taking the disadvantage, trying to beat a morale check using one's strongest stat..which makes sense in terms of "extraordinary people getting extraordinary bang for buck out of their extraordinary stats".. if you follow me. Basically, the comeback is brought into reality by the hero focusing on his strongest attributes and rallying his energies around it.. in full keeping with pretty much every depiction of the trope across the board.
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    ElfWarriorGuy

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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    Quote Originally Posted by strangebloke View Post
    Quick rule I've seen used:

    dropping to zero hitpoints sets your exhaustion level to 1 (if it isn't already higher)
    failing a death save sets your exhaustion level to 2(if it isn't already higher)
    failing a second death save sets you exhaustion level to 3(if it isn't already higher)

    You clear one level of exhaustion on a short rest.

    All levels on a long rest.

    Obviously this encourages the otherwise somewhat silly back-to-back short rests. But it's as good as anything I've seen. Your rules don't look horrible either, with the edit you put in there.
    When I DM, the whole whack-a-mole style that can develop late in fights is really annoying ("Down to 0 and dying! Back to 3 hp and fully functional! Hit again, back to 0 hp and dying! Healed back to 7 hp and fully functional!").

    Two reasons: One, it makes healing people who are injured, but not down to 0, feel like a waste.

    Two: it makes bigger heals less useful. If the fighter is getting beaten on by something that hits hard, but not so hard that it can knock him or her down to -MAX (which very, very few things can do), then there's almost no difference in healing them for 1 hp vs healing them for 25 hp. The Fire Giant or whatever can knock off 25 hp as easily as 1 hp, and if the fighter has 75, there's genuinely no difference between the Fire Giant hitting for 25 (or 1, in the case of 1 hp) vs hitting for 70. Literally, the result is identical.

    To resolve it, I impose a stacking penalty of 1 level of exhaustion every time someone is knocked to 0 hp and then healed back up. Nothing additional for failing death checks, I figure having a chance of death is penalty enough.

    It encourages the players to prevent people from getting knocked to 0 in the first place. And, yes, I'm totally fine with someone dying after getting knocked to 0 hp and then healed back up for the 6th time in a fight. If it happens to you 6 times, you're doing something really wrong.

    But to lessen the blow a bit (and to reduce the penalty on Berserkers), I say that you get back 1 level of Exhaustion per short rest and 2 from a long rest. Seems to work out.
    Last edited by Crusher; 2018-06-25 at 01:45 PM.
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    Daemon

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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    I strongly second waiting until it's an actual problem, not a theoretical one. Feel how it plays with a particular group, then go from there.

    In my experience, only jaded people (or AL) actually play like it's no big deal being bounced from 0 to 1 and back a few times. My players (who are all new) start getting wild-eyed and taking precautions at about half health. Because they're actually thinking like their characters are real, not like they're playing pieces that interact only mechanically.

    Death spirals are anti-player, because monsters are supposed to die much more frequently than PCs are. So a given monster might last a scene, while a PC is supposed to last a campaign. This means that the probability of an un-fair death caused by a fluke roll is exponentially worse on a PC than on a monster. Monsters might make 1 total roll at low HP. PCs make dozens, spread out over a campaign. Or more.
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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    Quote Originally Posted by PhoenixPhyre View Post
    I strongly second waiting until it's an actual problem, not a theoretical one. Feel how it plays with a particular group, then go from there.

    In my experience, only jaded people (or AL) actually play like it's no big deal being bounced from 0 to 1 and back a few times.
    I've known my players for a while now; even though we're very new to 5e, I think I have a fairly clear idea of how they treat the subject.. there is a fair amount of whack-a-moleing, more often than not. Now, since it's not something that's in the book and I'm not very good at improvising when it comes to numbers and rules, I'm trying to be prepared, should the circumstance occur.

    I'm also thinking ahead, about limiting (by worldbuilding imposed limitations) spells such as teleportation or resurrection.. which are subjects entirely too soon to tackle, because we'd be starting at 1st or 2nd level tops.
    In that respect, I feel like introducing the critical role style of ritual aspect to resurrections might be interesting to play.. but, as I said, way too soon to be concerned about that.
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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    If you want to disincentivize the whack-a-mole effect a common houserule is +1 exhaustion when you hit 0.

    If you want an actual Death Spiral a possibility is 1 Exhaustion when you drop to 75% HP, 2 at 50% and 3 at 25%. Just make sure that this doesn't stack with spells and other effects that influence Exhaustion. It's a fair chunk of extra bookwork though, be warned.

    Edit: Another possible death spiral is manipulating prof bonus as you lose HP. For example Half Prof after you're down 1/3 your HP, no prof at 25% HP or less.
    Last edited by Kane0; 2018-06-25 at 04:39 PM.
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    Default Re: houserule on fighting fitness.

    Quote Originally Posted by Kane0 View Post
    If you want to disincentivize the whack-a-mole effect a common houserule is +1 exhaustion when you hit 0.

    If you want an actual Death Spiral a possibility is 1 Exhaustion when you drop to 75% HP, 2 at 50% and 3 at 25%. Just make sure that this doesn't stack with spells and other effects that influence Exhaustion. It's a fair chunk of extra bookwork though, be warned.

    Edit: Another possible death spiral is manipulating prof bonus as you lose HP. For example Half Prof after you're down 1/3 your HP, no prof at 25% HP or less.
    Another option is to add a DC (probably Constitution Saving Throw) to prevent Exhaustion -- adds a little uncertainty, and helps to make it so melee combatants (who tend to have decent Con and/or Con S. T. Proficiency) won't be as crippled. The party will generally also end up with spells to remove levels of Exhaustion, in which case they also have a bonus strategic decision to make (is it worth the spell slot to remove a level?). There's also some flexibility here, since you can choose the DC. Maybe you make it based on the damage taken by the last blow, but 15 seems to be a good start (maybe +5 if the last blow was a Crit and you want that to feel more impressive).

    One big advantage of using Exhaustion is that even a single failure isn't likely to be that crippling in battle (barring someone whose sole and entire schtick is grappling or shoving): a single level only affects Ability Checks. A second level could be noticeable depending on the character (Speed reduction), and starting at the third level it tends to get more obvious.

    Depending on your desired feel, there's also the advantage that not all levels of Exhaustion are immediately wiped out with a single (Long) Rest. Of course, you may also decide you want more ways to remove or temporarily ignore levels of Exhaustion to compensate, if the Characters still go down a lot.

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