diff --git a/src/tools/Exception.h b/src/tools/Exception.h
index eddd046943f6b9bd3b1745690bcb37501c26f967..12f6fb50e178072474e051828cd0b8a5085c5e7e 100644
--- a/src/tools/Exception.h
+++ b/src/tools/Exception.h
@@ -256,6 +256,30 @@ public:
   }
 };
 
+/// Class representing a generic error
+class ExceptionError :
+  public Exception {
+public:
+  using Exception::Exception;
+  template<typename T>
+  ExceptionError& operator<<(const T & x) {
+    *((Exception*) this) <<x;
+    return *this;
+  }
+};
+
+/// Class representing a debug error (can only be thrown when using debug options)
+class ExceptionDebug :
+  public Exception {
+public:
+  using Exception::Exception;
+  template<typename T>
+  ExceptionDebug& operator<<(const T & x) {
+    *((Exception*) this) <<x;
+    return *this;
+  }
+};
+
 #ifdef __GNUG__
 // With GNU compiler, we can use __PRETTY_FUNCTION__ to get the function name
 #define __PLUMED_FUNCNAME __PRETTY_FUNCTION__
@@ -274,7 +298,7 @@ public:
 /// \relates PLMD::Exception
 /// Throw an exception with information about the position in the file.
 /// Messages can be inserted with `plumed_error()<<"message"`.
-#define plumed_error() throw PLMD::Exception() << plumed_here
+#define plumed_error() throw PLMD::ExceptionError() << plumed_here
 
 /// \relates PLMD::Exception
 /// Throw an exception with information about the position in the file
@@ -305,11 +329,11 @@ public:
 
 /// \relates PLMD::Exception
 /// Same as \ref plumed_assert, but only evaluates the condition if NDEBUG is not defined.
-#define plumed_dbg_assert(test) plumed_assert(test)
+#define plumed_dbg_assert(test) if(!(test)) throw PLMD::ExceptionDebug() << plumed_here << PLMD::Exception::Assertion(#test)
 
 /// \relates PLMD::Exception
 /// Same as \ref plumed_massert, but only evaluates the condition if NDEBUG is not defined.
-#define plumed_dbg_massert(test,msg) plumed_assert(test) << msg
+#define plumed_dbg_massert(test,msg) plumed_dbg_assert(test) << msg
 
 #endif