D&D (2024) Life drain needs to be replaced with Exhaustion

In the Wight thread I propose this.
life drain should be replaced with exhaustion.
wight Constitution Saving Throw: DC 13, one creature within 5 feet. Failure: 6 (1d8 + 2) Necrotic damage, and gain a level of exhaustion

vampire Bite (Bat or Vampire Form Only). Constitution Saving Throw: DC 17, one creature within 5 feet that is willing or that has the Grappled, Incapacitated, or Restrained condition. Failure: 6 (1d4 + 4) Piercing damage plus 13 (3d8) Necrotic damage. and gain 2 levels of exhaustion. .

So what monsters should exhaustion damage, and we are using the 2024 exhaustion.

I've been thinking about a similar mechanic. Let's call it Drain. It has levels like Exhaustion, and stacks with 2024 Exhaustion levels. However, it has its own more complicated little subsystem, which I developed to achieve the following: (a) I don't want Drain levels to accumulate too quickly, or an encounter with multiple monsters that inflict Drain and some bad rolls could kill a PC; and (b) I want to discourage the tactic of waiting for a PC to reach 0 hp before healing them. Drain makes it more expensive to do so.

Bloodied is already defined in 2024, but I want two more definitions of hp levels. Let's say a PC who has 75% of their hp or fewer remaining is Scratched and a PC who has 25% of their hp or fewer remaining is Battered.

A PC who is not Scratched can have at most 1 level of Drain.
A PC who is not Bloodied can have at most 2 levels of Drain.
A PC who is not Battered can have at most 3 levels of Drain.

A PC with any levels of Drain has Healing Reduction equal to 5 times the level of Drain. Healing Reduction is deducted from any healing the PC receives. Hence, if a PC has 1 level of Drain and receives 10 hp of healing, the PC only regains 5 hp.

In addition, a PC with 3 or more levels of Drain has Healing Resistance, which halves the amount of healing received by the PC after Healing Reduction is applied. Hence, if a PC has 3 levels of Drain and receives 25 hp of healing, Healing Reduction cuts it to 10 hp and Healing Resistance further cuts it to 5 hp.

More than 1 level of Drain also affects your hp maximum.
A PC who has 2 levels of Drain has their hp maximum reduced by 25%.
A PC who has 3 levels of Drain has their hp maximum reduced by 50%.
A PC who has 4 levels of Drain has their hp maximum reduced by 75%.

One level of Drain can be removed with 5 hp of healing. Healing Resistance applies, so 30 hp of healing is required to reduce 4 levels of Drain to 3 levels of Drain.

However, the PC's hp needs to be at a minimum level to further reduce Drain. It is the reverse of the PC not gaining more levels of Drain until their hp are reduced.
To reduce 3 levels of Drain to 2 levels of Drain, the PC must not be Battered.
To reduce 2 levels of Drain to 1 level of Drain, the PC must not be Bloodied.
To completely remove Drain, the PC must not be Scratched.

While a PC has any levels of Drain, they do not recover any hp from a Long Rest. They do regain Hit Dice, which they can spend to recover hp and reduce Drain.

I like this idea a lot. Though, it does mean 6 cumulative hits from such undead is guaranteed lethal.

Charlaquin said:

I like this idea a lot. Though, it does mean 6 cumulative hits from such undead is guaranteed lethal.

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It’s certainly a much more lethal approach, and not just for that reason; the death spiral to combat effectiveness would also be very pronounced.

Each level would mean a cumulative -2 to all attacks, saves, checks and a cumulative -5 penalty to speed (making escape all the more unlikely).

Since the OP’s example vampire bite deals 2 levels per hit, that would mean each deals -4 to rolls, -10 feet to speed, and death automatically happens on the third hit. Assuming the character didn’t already have more than 1 level of exhaustion.

Rune said:

It’s certainly a much more lethal approach, and not just for that reason; the death spiral to combat effectiveness would also be very pronounced.

Each level would mean a cumulative -2 to all attacks, saves, checks and a cumulative -5 penalty to speed (making escape all the more unlikely).

Since the OP’s example vampire bite deals 2 levels per hit, that would mean each deals -4 to rolls, -10 feet to speed, and death automatically happens on the third hit. Assuming the character didn’t already have more than 1 level of exhaustion.

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Yeah, 2 levels on a vampire bite is a lot. I would stick to 1. But the death spiral effect does kind of imitate the feel of level drain in a way that the reduction of maximum hit points doesn’t.

Charlaquin said:

Yeah, 2 levels on a vampire bite is a lot. I would stick to 1. But the death spiral effect does kind of imitate the feel of level drain in a way that the reduction of maximum hit points doesn’t.

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I’d personally reserve it for a boss. Save the super-scary tool for the right moment. Especially if that boss is the Wraith King and uses hit-and-run tactics. (And traditionally kills a PC every time he shows up.)

I thought about something like this, and it was to replace levels of exhaustion for levels of health like in Storytelling system. The levels of exhaustion would be in the same pool but it would be faster or easier to be recovered.

Charlaquin said:

I like this idea a lot. Though, it does mean 6 cumulative hits from such undead is guaranteed lethal.

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It might still work for energy drain that's just based on a save, like the wight. But, you're right, it would be terrible to be applied by an attack that could possibly double the effect on a critical hit.

billd91 said:

It might still work for energy drain that's just based on a save, like the wight. But, you're right, it would be terrible to be applied by an attack that could possibly double the effect on a critical hit.

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Honestly, I think the removal of two-stage effect application in 2024 was a change for the worse. This is a situation where I think it would be perfectly appropriate for a hit to deal some damage and force a save, and failure on the save to cause a level of exhaustion.

The new Greater Mark of Hospitality will be pretty handy if there is more Exhaustion in the game. Already it can be used to allow PCs to work throughout the long rest on crafting a magic item and remove the level of exhaustion from not sleeping, which is pretty neat.

Which is good, because almost all the Greater Mark feats in this recent UA are bad and not worth a feat.