Let me Come Clean about Exhaustion

Exhaustion is probably my favorite mechanic, but can often be really tricky to manage because of its dangerous nature.
In this video, I went through some of the methods I have used to implement it in my games. If you have any ways you wanna share be sure to drop them in the comments down below
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[@michaelmitchum5125]

Why would they still get exhausted when eating Goodberry? They should cover all their food needs for the day.

[@Dungeon_Inspiration]

It was a homebrew thing I wanted to try as gooberry is often too strong in survival campaigns where rations matter.

[@MegaHighmax]

One frustrating thing is Berserk Barbarians getting exausted and the rest of the party ok after hours of fight, its fare to kare other cgaracters also exausted

[@wolflithay6380]

Wait cant druids and rangers conjure goodberries out of nothing??? Isnt that their thing? The 5e spells dont say anything about how you need a source? Unless your homebrewing they need actual berries?

[@Dungeon_Inspiration]

No, it has the additional (A sprig of mistletoe) below I'll have linked a website to the spell description, but it has a material cost just like a lot of spells it often gets overlooked. otherwise, Rangers would be broken as you never need to buy food again. roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Goodberry#content

[@tofastninj9747]

​​@@Dungeon_Inspiration It says that 10 berries appear in your hand. Rules as written: the player only needs 1 sprig of missletoe(covered by a component pouch) or an arcane focus, and druids are guaranteed to get one of the two. Edit: checked another comment and saw that it was a ranger. Half-casters are an embarrassment to us full casters.

[@Dungeon_Inspiration]

With rules as written only wizards, sorcerers, and warlocks can use an arcane focus. Also they don’t replace material components that are specifically listed so you still need the sprig of mistletoe (personally I like to say the berries on the sprig become the good berry because of my personal storytelling, and visualization of magic) here is a link to the description to the arcane focus www.dndbeyond.com/equipment/arcane-focus

[@michaelmitchum5125]

Druid get Arcane Focus also. It actually comes in their starting equipment.

[@ancoron8257]

@@Dungeon_Inspiration A focus or component pouch does not replace components either with a specific cost (e.g. Identify) or when the component gets consumed (e.g. Protection from Evil and Good). Goodberry would be covered as the spring of mistletoe has no given value nor is it consumed. Also every material component is listed when required, there is not a single spell with an material component where it doesn't say what it is. Also there are multiple focus types, arcane foci, druidic foci and holy symbols to cover most spellcasting classes. On the component pouch however is no restriction (and from my reading it would even cover consumed components, although i believe that to be an oversight).

[@AdamTohrst]

Hello! I'm not seeing the stat block in the video description. Also, your exhaustion implementation, even when eating Goodberry, is an interesting way to homebrew the spell for a survival focused game. Did you remove component pouches/foci, limit their access for new characters, or was the Ranger the only spellcaster in the party with access to Goodberry? Either way, it sounds like your group loved it. Well done.

[@Dungeon_Inspiration]

Omg I forgot to put those stat blocks in the description. I’ll have them in there at 5pm est tonight. Also I had a sorcerer in the part too so the ranger was the only one with access to good berry. I really didn’t want them breaking the game of finding out about that mechanic so I just didn’t give them access to the material component for the spell until that point.

[@malkavthemad4249]

Why use D&D for a survival campaign, create food, create water, Tiny Hut are existing spells etc.... Also assuming you're using the rules as written in 5E D&D players should be getting more money as they level up, better saves etc... I personally think games that don't require as much house ruling work better when I want to change up the genre or focus of the game significantly. I have even been on a panel at convention about it. I'd love to talk about rulesets and a games themes and focus if you want to.

[@John-Dennehy]

Has any player ever made a video about how fun it is to homebrew extra exhaustion into their game? It always seems to be the forever DM that likes it. As a player I hate exhaustion. It's never been fun. I especially hate it when DMs try and force it on us with changes to the rules. If you're players had fun, fine, but for the record you definitely are not following for rules on material components: Material components rules: Casting some spells requires particular objects, specified in parentheses in the component entry. A character can use a component pouch or a spellcasting focus (found in chapter 5, “Equipment”) in place of the components specified for a spell. But if a cost is indicated for a component, a character must have that specific component before he or she can cast the spell. If a spell states that a material component is consumed by the spell, the caster must provide this component for each casting of the spell.

[@Dungeon_Inspiration]

That’s fair that you don’t like it. Probably 2 of the 3 groups o dm for are power gamers, and often find the game boring. I am speaking on my experience. As for the material components it states a specific cost which means a component pouch nor an arcane focus will replace it. I like to have me or my player describe the magic so using the mistletoe turn into the good berry works better for that anyway. Also the sprig would go bad so it’s not an infinite recourse otherwise dnd wouldn’t have ration, jerkey, or other pressed foods. I feel as though it’s dependent on the group, but honestly there are a lot of times where I try to be fair with my story building, and I don’t wnat to just tell my players they can’t use the spell in a survival campaign where goodberry is notorious for ruining games.

[@John-Dennehy]

@@Dungeon_Inspiration Goodberry has no specific costs in 5e unless you have homebrewed it. Compare it to revivify which say "diamonds worth 300 gp, which the spell consumes" vs Goodberry which only says "a sprig of mistletoe". Your game, your rules, but I would caution against DMs in general assuming "optimisers" want their choices of features or spells to be over-ridden. I am an optimiser myself, and often pick a class, race or spell that gives a way to mitigate aspects of the campaign I don't enjoy, such Goodberry to avoid rations, or races that are immune to exhaustion (i.e Warforged), don't need food & drink (i.e. Reborn lineage) or can carry more to avoid encumbrance (i,e Goliath). Hopefully you know your players, but I would be curious as to why they would choose that spell if they wanted a bigger challenge than that spell gives.

[@IFledFromKansas]

@@John-Dennehy Components: V, S, M (a sprig of mistletoe)

[@John-Dennehy]

@@IFledFromKansas I know... Did you have a point?