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