Exhaustion, Six Levels From Tired to Dead
The party wants to reach the pass before the snow. The DM says: "That's ten hours on the road. Make a Constitution save." Fail it and you pick up Exhaustion, the one condition that comes in levels and the only one that can kill you on its own. SRD 5.2.1 fits the whole rule into one glossary entry. Here it is, quoted, with the numbers worked out.
The rule
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.
A D20 Test is any attack roll, ability check or saving throw. So every level costs 2 on all three, and 5 feet of movement.
The six levels
For a character with Speed 30:
| Level | Every d20 roll | Speed |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | −2 | 25 ft |
| 2 | −4 | 20 ft |
| 3 | −6 | 15 ft |
| 4 | −8 | 10 ft |
| 5 | −10 | 5 ft |
| 6 | Dead | Dead |
Each −2 is 10% off any roll that could go either way. A level 1 Fighter with +5 to hit against a Goblin's AC 15 hits on a 10 or better, 55% of the time. At level 1 Exhaustion that falls to 45%; at level 2, 35%; at level 3, 25%. At level 5 the Fighter needs a 20, and still hits on one, because a natural 20 on an attack roll "hits regardless of any modifiers or the target's AC." Checks and saves get no such rescue.
Where it comes from
Exhaustion is rare in a fight and common on the road. The SRD's main sources:
- Travelling too long. "At the end of each additional hour of travel beyond 8 hours, each character must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or gain 1 Exhaustion level. The DC is 10 plus 1 for each hour past 8 hours."
- Too little water. "A creature that drinks less than half the required water for a day gains 1 Exhaustion level at the day's end." No save. A Medium creature needs 1 gallon.
- Too little food. Eating less than half your food (1 pound for a Medium creature) means a "DC 10 Constitution saving throw or gain 1 Exhaustion level at the day's end". Eating nothing at all for 5 days gives a level automatically, then "an additional level at the end of each subsequent day without food."
- Running out of air. A choking creature "gains 1 Exhaustion level at the end of each of its turns." Once it can breathe again, it "removes all levels of Exhaustion it gained from suffocating."
Thirst and hunger also lock the levels in place: "Exhaustion caused by dehydration can't be removed until the creature drinks the full amount of water required for a day", and the same goes for food.
Worked: the forced march
Two level 1 characters push on past 8 hours. The Fighter has Constitution 14 and proficiency in Constitution saves: +4. The Wizard has Constitution 12 and no proficiency: +1. Hour 9 is DC 11, hour 10 DC 12, and so on.
The trap is that Exhaustion hits its own save. Fail once and the next save is 2 harder, on top of the rising DC.
The first save, DC 11: the Fighter passes on a 7 or better (70%), the Wizard on a 10 or better (55%).
After two extra hours (10 hours on the road):
| No Exhaustion | Level 1 | Level 2 | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fighter | 45.5% | 41% | 13.5% | 0.7 levels |
| Wizard | 27.5% | 45.5% | 27% | 1.0 level |
After four extra hours (12 hours on the road):
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fighter | 15% | 29.7% | 30.3% | 18.9% | 6.1% | 1.7 levels |
| Wizard | 5% | 16.7% | 29% | 31.1% | 18.2% | 2.4 levels |
Half the time the Wizard reaches the pass at level 3 or worse: −6 on every roll and walking at 15 feet. The two extra hours cost the party more than a fight would.
Getting rid of it
This is the slow part.
Removing Exhaustion Levels. Finishing a Long Rest removes 1 of your Exhaustion levels. When your Exhaustion level reaches 0, the condition ends.
One level per night. The Wizard at level 3 needs three Long Rests, and a Long Rest takes "at least 8 hours" with "at least 16 hours" before you can start another. That's three days of travel lost to a two-hour shortcut.
The faster ways out in the SRD:
- Greater Restoration, a level 5 spell, removes "1 Exhaustion level" among its options. One level per casting.
- Tireless, the Ranger's level 10 feature: "Whenever you finish a Short Rest, your Exhaustion level, if any, decreases by 1."
At the table
- Count the hours. The DM should say when the party passes 8 hours. Players then choose with the numbers in front of them.
- Write the level beside your Speed. The −2 per level touches every roll, so it's easy to forget one.
- Water first. Thirst gives a level every day with no save, and the level stays until you drink a full day's water.
- Six means dead. Nothing rolls to stop it. Track it like Hit Points.
The Book of Dice covers the d20 in Part I, The Object, and how a flat modifier moves your odds in Part III, The Rolling.
This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 ("SRD 5.2.1") by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
