D&D General How many encounter do you complete before getting a Rest?

[Reef]

I've never run those numbers so I don't know the average.

I wouldn't.

"Budgeting abilities" is already far more pre-planning than I care to engage in. I'll use what I've got when I need to use it based on what the day presents, and if-when I'm getting low I'll look for an opportunity to sack out.

Fair enough. And it’s interesting to hear.

Personally, as a warlock, I know I have very few spell slots. So it’s always a case of “is this situation serious enough to use one now, when I know I’m not likely to get a SR for at least 2 or 3 more encounters’.

I was just curious how many people fell into that category. Obviously not everyone’s experiences are easily quantifiable.

 

[Lanefan]

Fair enough. And it’s interesting to hear.

Personally, as a warlock, I know I have very few spell slots. So it’s always a case of “is this situation serious enough to use one now, when I know I’m not likely to get a SR for at least 2 or 3 more encounters’.

How, without metagaming, does your character (and thus you-as-player) have any idea as to the bolded piece?

 

[Reef]

How, without metagaming, does your character (and thus you-as-player) have any idea as to the bolded piece?

Obviously I don’t. But resource management is part of the game, and that’s hard to do without a bare minimum of meta gaming.

 

[Shiroiken]

Depends on the adventure specifics, but I shoot for 4-5 as my minimum. Sometimes you have only 1-2, but that's pretty rare, usually involving a big fight or massive solo opponent. In a dungeon environment, I often get up to 10 encounters before a long rest.

My issue with Encounters per Long Rest is that it should be based on Level, since higher level characters have more resources to go through, even taking more difficult challenges into consideration.

 

[jmartkdr2]

1-2. Multiple encounters are kind of rare, but always possible so we don’t go nova by default.

 

[AnotherGuy]

Just the one barring special circumstances. I have no interest in attrition.

Do you run predominantly deadly encounters then if attrition is not a concern?
What about dungeon delves where the occurrence of encounters is likely to increase?

 

[kigmatzomat]

How, without metagaming, does your character (and thus you-as-player) have any idea as to the bolded piece?

Not the OP, but ai assume they do it the same way people for centuries have been deciding if they should use their limited number of arrows, gunpowder, hand grenades, etc. Some of it is based on what they know, some is experience, some is a guess.

"Bandits are generally in bands of 10-20. More than that and they have trouble getting food, less and they aren't a credible threat. One good battle will deal with them."

The differences between GMs, levels or pregen campaigns is essentially a different ecosystem.

"That may be true in the mountains, but these tropical valleys can support groups up to a hundred, who use the many rivers to move their ill-gotten loot. If we want to completely eliminate them, we have to catch their river crew, the raiders, and the ones who hold the fort. We should expect two to three battles at a minimum. If we give them too much warning, they will either dig in for a protracted siege or scatter, and we'll be chasing them for days."

And then there are surprises....

"Remember those twenty bandits we fought yesterday? Turns out they were scouts for a force of ten thousand cavalry. So only 9,980 to go!"

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Typically, the party rests whenever the run low on resources. So if they breeze through some encounters they will likely have more before resting.

Note that "breezing through encounters" has no relationship to CR, they may breeze deadly encounters and get stuck on an easy one. It's mostly down to luck.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Fair enough. And it’s interesting to hear.

Personally, as a warlock, I know I have very few spell slots. So it’s always a case of “is this situation serious enough to use one now, when I know I’m not likely to get a SR for at least 2 or 3 more encounters’.

I was just curious how many people fell into that category. Obviously not everyone’s experiences are easily quantifiable.

A couple of points: going nova in round 1 can often lead to fewer resources being used in total (especially healing related).

In all the years I have been playing 5e, no one has ever played a warlock. And everyone ignores the monk. So the players don't have any reason to ask for short rests.

 

[Reef]

A couple of points: going nova in round 1 can often lead to fewer resources being used in total (especially healing related).

This is true, but if it uses up all the spell slots (say, for a warlock), that class is then out of aces in the hole for any future encounters. Personally, I rarely (if ever) see a player blow all their resources in the first fight of the day unless it’s a really bad one, or they’re pretty sure they get to recover them.

In all the years I have been playing 5e, no one has ever played a warlock. And everyone ignores the monk. So the players don't have any reason to ask for short rests.

I suspect this is partially why they’re looking to change things up with the warlock. And it’s what led to these polls…to see how the average rest amounts might be affecting players of warlocks and monks.