by Cellerworld

This is technically not well suited for the Quest System at the moment, but more advice for Campaign and Adventure gameplay.

Reasoning:

Alternative Rule

When a character drops to 0 hit points or below they roll a const save DC11 or half damage on failure gaining a level of exhaustion. They always enter a “near-death state”. In this State, you are always treated as if you have 0 HP

  1. Whenever a character that is in “near-death state” gets hit they gain another level of exhaustion (no const check anymore).
  2. When a character gets a critical hit in this state gains 2 levels of exhaustion.
  3. When a character falls to negative HP due to an attack they gain 2 levels of exhaustion (after every single damage resolution they are again treated as if they have 0 hp)

Knockout action

This also introduces a “knockout” action to knock a character unconscious for 1d4 hours, if that character is in near-death state after the attack has resolved. Healing does not wake a character from this. The target of the knockout action makes a DC 10 or half damage Con Save. The save is done with disadvantage if the damage type is bludgeoning.

  1. Knockout action doesn’t increase exhaustion
  2. Anyone can use any melee weapon, blunt ranged weapon or an unarmed attack
  3. Casters can use “Arcane force” with 10ft range and their Spell attack as modifier.
  4. Knockout actions can’t kill.

Healing Adjustments (Not for 2024)

Since healing should keep character above 0 now, it should be buffed slightly (Exploration below).

All healing spells using dice get exactly one extra dice. Meaning Healing word for example has 2d4+mod when cast at level 1 and 3d4+mod when cast at lvl 2.

Clarification for NPC`s

Berserker Barbarian does just not gain exhaustion for his rage with these rules.

Note:

With this, I would recommend loosening up the exhaustion regeneration a bit. Additionally to long rests the first time in a day when a character is regenerated to full health after dropping to near-death by any means, they recover 1 exhaustion.

Explanation

Healing Exploration