Unintentional rules changes in the new Dungeon Master's guide can cause your hero adventurer to die after chasing baddies for just one minute. If they survive, their body will be ravaged for days.

The D&D 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide will be released on November 12th. However, there is an early access period for D&D Beyond. This means that many players have already gotten their hands on it.

I'm still mulling over this rulebook, as they are heavy. I'll be revealing my full thoughts very soon on this website. I wanted to take a moment to alert you that, as Reddit user Cranyx pointed out, your new hero adventurer could get into a chase and get exhausted in incredibly little time. They might even die (thanks Wargamer).

According to the chase rules explained in the otherwise solid-looking "DM Toolbox" chapter, players who are engaged in a pursuit will typically spend their action on Dash, unless they use it to cast a Hold Person or something else to shorten the spell. The book states:

"A chaser can perform the Dash action up to 3 times plus its Constitution modifier. (At least once). For each additional Dash it takes during the pursuit, the creature must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution save throw at the end its turn or gain one Exhaustion level. The participant is removed from the chase if it has a Speed of 0.

In the new ruleset for 2024, exhaustion has a few key effects. All rolls are reduced by two times your level of exhaustion, your speed is decreased by five times that level (in feet), and, just like in 2014, reaching six exhaustion points will kill you. Do not collect 100 Gold, do not pass Go.

This is a strange intersection with the chase rules. If you're unlucky or have a bad con modifier, you can fail a DC10 constitution save. This is a 45% chance, if you're not proficient and your con modifier is zero. If you have six bad luck events in a row, you can die by running too fast.

As Cranyx correctly points out, D&D assumes that each round of combat occurs simultaneously over a period of six seconds. Baseline, you get three freebies. This means that in nine turns, assuming that you fail to roll when it is time to begin rolling, and continue doing so, you would be able run for 54 seconds, before the Grim Reaper snips off your mortal thread.

It's also funny because your speed decreases each time you make a mistake. This unfortunate runner would be fine until 18 seconds, then rapidly slow down, going from 10 feet per second to 8 feet, 6 feet, and so forth, until they stumble a pitiful 1,5 feet every second. This is one mile per hour or twice as fast as the average tortoise in real life. Six seconds later, you die.

What's more,as some people have noted in the thread, there is no clause similar to 2014's handbook which says that you wipe these exhaustion level after the chase has ended. To clear each point of exhaustion, you need to take a Long rest for eight hours. If your DM only allows you to sprint once per day, even slightly messing up a race can make you sick for a whole week.

There are a few oversights. In the 2014 rules, if you reached a certain level, your speed was reduced to zero, and then you died. This makes more sense in a chase scene. You'd eventually get tired and have to double back. This is the result of a change in how exhaustion mechanics are implemented.

There's the strange implication that chasing an antagonist is more exhausting than running the same speed without duress. It could be a long-term bout of anxiety caused by the chase. In that case, a Wisdom save would be more appropriate.

I like what I see. The DMG seems to be trying to build a DM’s storytelling toolkit. I have complained about this for a long time. I'm eager to see if it succeeds or fails in the future reading sessions. I won't hurry myself, lest i fail six saves, and succumb to apathy due to momentum like Granthax, may he rest.