Curing Exhaustion

[carrdrivesyou]

So, as far as I can tell, there are only three ways of removing exhaustion:
1. Long Rest - 1 level at a time
2. Greater Restoration - one at a time
3. A very rare potion - all levels at once

My understanding is that exhaustion was designed to be a severely debilitating effect, and hard to get rid of. Since 5e's inception, and the many books since, no other ways of removing levels of exhaustion have come to light.

Without house rules, are these the only ways of removing exhaustion levels?

[Amdy_vill]

i don't believe their is any other way of removing it. personally i feel the Exhaustion is an under use mechanic, both in vary few ways to gain it and get remove it. their should also be ways of weaponizing it.

[Sigreid]

Well, there's a wish spell. But that's just greater restoration really.

In one module I let my party bargain with a devil for it. :D

[nickl_2000]

Necklace of Prayer Beads also can give Greater Restoration
A Moon Druid who turns into an elemental is immune to exhaustion while they are the elemental.

[Keltest]

Exhaustion tends to be my go to Bad Stuff(tm) for any sort of failed physical challenge. It hurts all classes fairly equally and is bad to have without being immediately debilitating, and it doesnt require any particular action to get rid of.

[carrdrivesyou]

As for weaponizing it, Sickening Radiance is the only spell that causes levels of exhaustion on a failed save; no class features or feats give levels of exhaustion as a weapon.

[sithlordnergal]

And so you have stumbled on why people consider the Berserker to be a bad subclass. Those are the only ways to remove Exhaustion without some sort of homebrew rule to make it easier, and Exhaustion is the most debilitating effect in 5e, bar none.

[greenstone]

1. Long Rest - 1 level at a time
To be picky, it requires a long rest during which you have some food and drink.

[Sigreid]

To be picky, it requires a long rest during which you have some food and drink.

Haven't read the rule in a while, but I think you can't have a long rest without food and drink.

I'm also sitting here thinking that exhaustion levels are a better way of handling poisons and diseases if you really want them to be something the party worries about.

[Asisreo1]

Be cautious of exhaustion. It can be extremely debilitating.

That said, as a DM, you have quite a few ways to impose this if they aren't careful. There's extreme weather, frigid water, not taking a rest (if you're using xanathar's long rest variant), psychic dissonance (which is one of the few times alignment comes into play), Mad Winds (especially punishing since the player simply can't remove this exhaustion through any means without escaping the winds), Vile Transformation (which cannot be removed without escaping the whole plane), diseases and poisons.

Naturally a DM is free to impose exhaustion through their own means, but these are a few more RAW ways to throw exhaustion at the players.

[Mr Adventurer]

What's psychic dissonance?

[nickl_2000]

What's psychic dissonance?

Optional Rule in the DMG (pg 59)

Effectively, if you are a Lawful Creature on a Chaotic Plane at the end of a long rest you need to make a save or gain a level of exhaustion.

[Mr Adventurer]

Optional Rule in the DMG (pg 59)

Effectively, if you are a Lawful Creature on a Chaotic Plane at the end of a long rest you need to make a save or gain a level of exhaustion.

Cool, thanks

[Crucius]

Optional Rule in the DMG (pg 59)

Effectively, if you are a Lawful Creature on a Chaotic Plane at the end of a long rest you need to make a save or gain a level of exhaustion.

Blessed are the people that put page numbers with their answers! +1d4 for you in your life!

[Draz74]

The Variant Class Features UA Ranger has the Tireless feature that allows losing a level of exhaustion with a short rest.

Tasha's will probably make something similar official (although Tireless as-written was way too good at very low levels, so I won't be surprised if it gets nerfed somehow).

[Vogie]

I have Exhaustion as the side effect of dropping to 0 HP in my games. You drop and come back, great - but now you have 1 level of exhaustion. It effectively turns death saves into saves vs more exhaustion - bumping up the "death saves" from 3 to 6.

While I started it to give parties that were low on healing a fighting chance to save themselves, it turned out to be still useful when the party is flush with healing - suddenly they're eyeing their wounded and spending spell slots on healing out of combat to avoid bodies hitting the floor.

It accidentally also got rid of the "yo-yo" style of healing that RAW 5e uses, because the party doesn't want their barbarian to be limping along and having to attack recklessly just to overcome their own attack disadvantage because they're at Exhaustion 3.

[Pex]

I have Exhaustion as the side effect of dropping to 0 HP in my games. You drop and come back, great - but now you have 1 level of exhaustion. It effectively turns death saves into saves vs more exhaustion - bumping up the "death saves" from 3 to 6.

While I started it to give parties that were low on healing a fighting chance to save themselves, it turned out to be still useful when the party is flush with healing - suddenly they're eyeing their wounded and spending spell slots on healing out of combat to avoid bodies hitting the floor.

It accidentally also got rid of the "yo-yo" style of healing that RAW 5e uses, because the party doesn't want their barbarian to be limping along and having to attack recklessly just to overcome their own attack disadvantage because they're at Exhaustion 3.

Do you mean a character is still conscious able to act? If so this is interesting.

[Vogie]

Do you mean a character is still conscious able to act? If so this is interesting.

I'm not sure to what you're referring - when a character hits 0, they're still unconscious. I just use exhaustion as a sort of 'lingering wounds" that the PCs have to deal with, without adding a new separate mechanic. Instead of dying at 3 failed death saving throws, you die at 6 levels of exhaustion.

[Sigreid]

I'm not sure to what you're referring - when a character hits 0, they're still unconscious. I just use exhaustion as a sort of 'lingering wounds" that the PCs have to deal with, without adding a new separate mechanic. Instead of dying at 3 failed death saving throws, you die at 6 levels of exhaustion.

This is a similar idea to what I posted above about thinking using exhaustion for some diseases and poisons to make them scary and debilitating without having to do a new mechanic. I kind of like it.

[JackPhoenix]

I'm not sure to what you're referring - when a character hits 0, they're still unconscious. I just use exhaustion as a sort of 'lingering wounds" that the PCs have to deal with, without adding a new separate mechanic. Instead of dying at 3 failed death saving throws, you die at 6 levels of exhaustion.

That sounds like it's impossible to die without falling unconscious 5 times first, though.

[Mr Adventurer]

That sounds like it's impossible to die without falling unconscious 5 times first, though.

How so? Looks like you fall unconscious at 0hp (+1 exhaustion), then start making death saving throws. Each death saving throw failure adds 1 exhaustion. You therefore die after 5 failed death saving throws (or fewer if you already have exhaustion, per the exhaustion rules whenever you reach 6 levels), not 3 as in the default rules. You don't need to revive first.

[Valmark]

It accidentally also got rid of the "yo-yo" style of healing that RAW 5e uses, because the party doesn't want their barbarian to be limping along and having to attack recklessly just to overcome their own attack disadvantage because they're at Exhaustion 3.

So they prefer not having the barbarian at all? Seems weird. If anything, it feels like it should increase yo-yo healing, since leaving people at 0 means they risk getting worse each round.

[Sigreid]

So they prefer not having the barbarian at all? Seems weird. If anything, it feels like it should increase yo-yo healing, since leaving people at 0 means they risk getting worse each round.

I believe the implication was that they take measures to keep the barbarian from hitting 0.

[Keltest]

So they prefer not having the barbarian at all? Seems weird. If anything, it feels like it should increase yo-yo healing, since leaving people at 0 means they risk getting worse each round.

I mean personally, my group tends to take party members getting KOed as a sign that its time for a long rest anyway. A cleric/druid/bard burning all their spell slots on healing to make sure the barbarian doesnt just get swatted to death again means were functionally down a party member either way.

[Sigreid]

I mean personally, my group tends to take party members getting KOed as a sign that its time for a long rest anyway. A cleric/druid/bard burning all their spell slots on healing to make sure the barbarian doesnt just get swatted to death again means were functionally down a party member either way.

I don't play in his group, but it's also possible they have modified their tactics to reduce incoming damage.

[Vogie]

I believe the implication was that they take measures to keep the barbarian from hitting 0.

Precisely. One of the groups just hit the level to use Greater Restoration, and they still want to keep their diamonds for the other non-exhaustion reasons.

Even thought the Barbarian is a Zealot Barbarian, so it takes no materials to rez her, they still don't want to burn through materials to keep her from dragging her feet.