Endurance Points

Some campaigns aren’t just about grand heroics; they’re about the gritty fortitude that keeps dogged adventurers sojourning day after grueling day. If this sounds like fun to your table, you’re in the right place! 

Implementing Endurance Points (EP) will have a few meaningful effects on the 5E experience. First, rangers and other naturalists become much more valuable as they are better able to protect a party’s longterm wellness. Constitution becomes a more valuable stat, enabling longer jaunts. Returning to (or finding) civilization becomes much more important, and PCs can’t spend indeterminate time roaming wild places. Finally, there is a profound effect on death saves and mortal wounds; PCs can’t pop up-and-down like a jack in the box during combat, falling and being healed without lasting effect. Each time a character drops, each failed death save… it all has a cost, and those mortal wounds might cost a character their life days later when the blizzard finally saps the last of their fortitude.