D&D's clunky exhaustion rules are in Baldur's Gate 3, but they only apply to one unlucky (and very tired) bird

A very sleepy bird stands, freshly healed by Nette in Baldur's Gate 3.
(Image credit: Larian Studios)

As spotted by user When_is_ , on the Baldur's Gate 3 subreddit, a debuff in the full release of the game suggests Larian Studios were toying with the idea of including one of the more punishing mechanics of Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition (D&D 5e)—the tabletop ruleset the game's built on.

As it stands, the only thing that forces you to haul out the bedrolls for a proper night's sleep is a cap on the amount of short rests you can take. Even a party filled with Fighters, Monks and Warlocks have to get some shut-eye eventually.

However, after Nette in Act 1's druid grove heals her feathered friend, it's given a curious "Exhaustion" debuff. I went to verify this myself and, sure enough, it's got the following description: "Lack of rest has left you exhausted. There are six levels of exhaustion, and each level is worse than the last. Completing a Long Rest reduces your exhaustion level by 1."

(Image credit: Larian Studios)

Considering NPCs don't need to worry about short or long resting, it's clear Larian were toying with the idea of transplanting D&D 5e's exhaustion rules to the game before understandably scrapping them. In case you're unfamiliar, here's the full rundown of why they're a pain in the butt.

When you gain exhaustion in D&D 5e, each point gives you (in order):

  1. Disadvantage (roll two dice, take the lower) on all ability checks—these are your skill checks like Persuasion, Insight, or Arcana.
  2. Your movement speed is halved.
  3. You gain disadvantage on all attack rolls and saving throws—you miss your attacks more, and enemy spells, poisons, and effects are more likely to stick.
  4. Your hit point maximum is cut in half.
  5. You stop being able to move at all.
  6. You just straight-up die.
More on Baldur's Gate 3

Gale the wizard grins

(Image credit: Larian)

Baldur's Gate 3 guide: Everything you need
Baldur's Gate 3 tips: Be prepared
Baldur's Gate 3 classes: Which to choose
Baldur's Gate 3 multiclass builds: Coolest combos
Baldur's Gate 3 romance: Who to pursue
Baldur's Gate 3 co-op: How multiplayer works

That first level of exhaustion would already be a massive headache, considering just how many ability checks Baldur's Gate 3 causes you to make. Let alone halved movement speed—and not being able to move at all could just soft-lock your game if you ran out of camping supplies or something.

Deciding when these levels would apply in a video game is tough. The supplementary rules book Xanathar's Guide to Everything suggests that players could make a roll every night that passes without rest to avoid stacking exhaustion levels, but there aren't exactly day and night cycles in Baldur's Gate 3. Maybe you could take a point of exhaustion if you don't have enough food to rest, but even on my new tactician playthrough where camp supply costs are doubled, I'm not running into much trouble.

The lack of exhaustion mechanics also considerably changes Baldur's Gate 3's Berserker subclass from its tabletop cousin, which smacks you with a level of exhaustion whenever you finish a frenzied rage—a special kind of rage that gives you an additional attack with your bonus action. 

Baldur's Gate 3's version is much kinder. Instead, whenever you enter a rage, each bonus action attack gives you a stacking debuff which reduces your attack rolls by 1, ending when the rage ends. So you do more damage up front, but you gradually become more inaccurate over the course of a brawl.

Ultimately, I'm glad Larian decided to drop the mechanic entirely, save for this strange little debuff on this cute bird. I've only enjoyed playing with it in one campaign, where my DM had us struggling through an arctic environment where shelter was hard to come by. Other than that, it's always just been annoying—capping short rests to twice per day is an elegant solution for a video game's pacing needs.

Harvey Randall
Staff Writer

Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.

Read more
An Adra pillar in the party camp in Avowed.
Make sure to sleep regularly in Avowed—if you don't, you could miss out on lore, quests, and magic items
Gale, a wizard from Baldur's Gate 3, looks very bloodied and very sad at the player while a celestial midnight blooms behind his depressed mug.
Baldur's Gate 3's stress test update fixes heartbreaking bug that wiped out Honour Mode runs at the last possible moment
Baldur's Gate 3 Gale romance - Gale sacrificing himself
Baldur's Gate 3's accidental PS5 release of Patch 8 has the theorycrafters in a flurry—though I'm just glad D&D's blade cantrips are officially here
Astarion
Players are still finding edge-case Baldur's Gate 3 scenes, like one where you play as a kidnapped Astarion even if you made your own player-character
An elf using magic
Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 8 testers are whispering that a previously mediocre subclass is now an S-tier war god of infinite thunder smites, but there's no way it can last
Gale, a wizard from Baldur's Gate 3, looks very bloodied and very sad at the player while a celestial midnight blooms behind his depressed mug.
Baldur's Gate 3's stress test update has, mercifully, made one of its new OP cantrips halfway balanced again—but it's really still quite good
Latest in Baldur's Gate
Minthara BG3 looking upset
Another round of Baldur's Gate 3 unearthing reveals Minthara can end up living in a sewer, an unused beach ending, and more
Gale, a wizard from Baldur's Gate 3, looks very bloodied and very sad at the player while a celestial midnight blooms behind his depressed mug.
Baldur's Gate 3's stress test update fixes heartbreaking bug that wiped out Honour Mode runs at the last possible moment
Baldur's Gate 3 player character made to resemble Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher.
Wait a minute, Geralt of Rivia actor Doug Cockle was in Baldur's Gate 3 this whole time
Half Orc wearing rare Bhaalist Armor in Baldur's Gate 3 standing in front of Astarion and Karlach
It turns out you can get Baldur's Gate 3's best assassin armor without killing a baby angel elephant and joining a cult, all you have to do is pickpocket a ghost
Gale, a wizard from Baldur's Gate 3, looks very bloodied and very sad at the player while a celestial midnight blooms behind his depressed mug.
Baldur's Gate 3's stress test update has, mercifully, made one of its new OP cantrips halfway balanced again—but it's really still quite good
Withers Big Naturals mod image - Withers with big naturals
Sure, why not, here's a guy beating Baldur's Gate 3 without a race or class at all
Latest in News
A screenshot from SaGa Frontier 2, showing one of the protagonists wandering through a quaint fantasy village
One of Square Enix' most underrated PlayStation-era JRPGs just shadow dropped on Steam
The titular character from Princess Mononoke is depicted riding the wolf goddess Moro and carrying a spear.
Studio Ghibli AI image trend floods social media, cheered on by OpenAI and denounced by critics as an insult to Hayao Miyazaki
Marvel Rivals tier list - Wolverine
Marvel Rivals director says a future patch will reduce the shooter's insatiable hunger for RAM: 'It's a very big problem'
Hogwarts Legacy potions professor holding a potion
An unannounced Hogwarts Legacy expansion and 'definitive edition' have reportedly been cancelled
Story of Seasons - A cahacter in a purple tuxedo stands outside in a town square talking to the player
Story of Seasons is doing another Harvest Moon remake and it might be the best the series has ever looked
Assassin's Creed Shadows change seasons - An upper-body shot of Yasuke looking cheerfully up into the distance.
Assassin's Creed Shadows puts up the 'second highest day-one sales revenue in Assassin's Creed franchise history'