My Solution to the 15-Minute Workday: The Hero Score

[Camelot]

Existing Solutions that I Don't Like

When trying to do research to find out how other DMs solve the problem of the 15-minute workday in 4th edition, I found two main categories:

1. The DM has to build the adventure to prevent taking extended rests until a certain point in the adventure is reached. Time limits, collapsing dungeon entrances, wandering monsters, and the like all fall into this category.

2. The DM restricts the players in some way unless they gain momentum by not taking extended rests. For example, the Angry DM's solution is to disallow the uses of high level daily powers, unlocking the next level after each encounter.

I don't like Option 1 because it usually requires extra work for the DM, or else is transparently a gimmick that makes the players roll their eyes and lose their suspension of disbelief. I don't like Option 2 because it isn't fun for the players to have their power and options limited. I want a solution that is effortless to implement, fun for the players, and still encourages them to continue on to the next encounter without stopping for an extended rest, as long as they have the healing surges to handle it.

This led me to the creation of the Hero Score.

Using the Hero Score (If You Read Anything in this Post, Read This)

After each extended rest, each character's Hero Score is reset to 0. This score increases by 1 at each milestone, but then resets after an extended rest. The higher the score, the more benefits the heroes get (each score includes the benefits from all scores below it):

Hero Score 1: When you miss with an at-will attack power, unless you rolled a natural 1, you can choose to grant combat advantage until the start of your next turn to turn the miss into a hit. You do not gain the effects of any class features or the opportunity to use any additional powers that would not have been available if you had missed.

Hero Score 2: When you hit with an at-will attack power, you can choose to grant combat advantage until the start of your next turn to turn the hit into a critical hit. You do not gain the effects of any class features or the opportunity to use any additional powers that trigger on a critical hit.

Hero Score 3: When you miss with an encounter attack power, unless you rolled a natural 1, you can choose to grant combat advantage until the start of your next turn to turn the miss into a hit. In addition, you can now gain the effects of any class features and the opportunity to use additional powers that trigger on a hit with the benefit for having a hero score of 1.

Hero Score 4: When you hit with an encounter attack power, you can choose to grant combat advantage until the start of your next turn to turn the hit into a critical hit. In addition, you can now gain the effects of any class features and use additional powers that trigger on a critical hit for having a hero score of 2.

Hero Score 5: When you miss with a daily attack power, unless you rolled a natural 1, you can choose to grant combat advantage until the start of your next turn to turn the miss into a hit. In addition, there is no limit to the number of action points you can spend in a single encounter.

Since this system is a pure buff to the players, it is important that you implement it alongside a pure debuff system (unless your players find the game too difficult, but if they think 4e is hard, I have no pity). The one I plan on using is a modified version of the Injury Deck from Dungeon Magazine, but it could also work with stronger monsters to make combat faster, less magic items to make magic more magical, etc.

My Reasoning Behind the System

The debuff system used alongside the Hero Score is important, because it starts off by making the game more difficult. You may ask, "Why wouldn't the heroes want to take an extended rest after every encounter if they're harder?" The DM has to let the players know about the Hero Score and what it does, and it should be very enticing. -2 defense for a round for an auto crit? Yes, please.

The intention is that taking extended rests after every encounter becomes taxing rather than rejuvenating, especially if the debuff system being used imposes conditions on the characters that do not get automatically healed from a long rest, while continuing gradually overcomes the debuff system the longer you go.

The reason I add the "You do not gain the effects of any class features...etc." is because I don't want abuse of this system to get too out of hand. It's still worth the combat advantage to turn 0 damage into 6 damage, but turning it into 12+ damage (for some strikers) seems ridiculous. Also, since it's supposed to only be useful for at-will attacks on 1 and 2, many Essentials-style classes have encounter powers that do automatic extra damage after hitting, without needing another attack, so I don't want them to be able to use those until the other classes are also allowed to access the benefit with encounter powers.

Finally, the additional effect of level 5 is there because a group that makes it that far possibly has extra action points that they normally would not be able to use if there is only one encounter left. This lets you save up action points if you don't need them, as long as you intend on adventuring for many milestones, and makes final boss fights all the more awesome and fun.

You may also ask, "Why does it only go up to 5?" By the time the heroes have reached a Hero Score of 5, they have survived 10 encounters in a row and if that is even possible in your game then kudos, so an entry for Hero Score 6 is highly unnecessary in my opinion.

Unfortunately, my gaming group has fallen apart since before I came up with this idea and I have no way of actually testing this in a real game, so it's purely hypothetical at the moment.

What Are Your Thoughts?

 

[Jhaelen]

My dragon-magic sorcerer would love that rule! I'm often dealing more damage with my at-will powers than with my encounter powers, and there doesn't seem to be any detrimental effect if I turn all of my attack rolls associated with a single at-will into hits/crits.

So, yes, you'll probably also have to introduce a 'debuff system' of some kind. However, isn't that just the kind of 'extra work' for the DM that you wanted to avoid by introducing the rule?

 

[pemerton]

Existing Solutions that I Don't Like

When trying to do research to find out how other DMs solve the problem of the 15-minute workday in 4th edition, I found two main categories:

1. The DM has to build the adventure to prevent taking extended rests until a certain point in the adventure is reached. Time limits, collapsing dungeon entrances, wandering monsters, and the like all fall into this category.

I prefer option 1A - and I know at least [MENTION=87792]Neonchameleon[/MENTION] on these boards alos uses a version of it:

Extended rests require somewhere proper to rest (eg a town, a dry cave, a Hallowed Temple, etc) and so can't be taken willy nilly. In Neonchameleon's version, you have to go to a haven (like Rivendell or Lorien). In my version, the availability of rest points "in the field" depends upon success in a skill challenge, or upon the players making their own luck (eg by conjuring a Hallowed Temple, befriending someone who will give them shelter, etc).​

 

[Camelot]

My dragon-magic sorcerer would love that rule! I'm often dealing more damage with my at-will powers than with my encounter powers, and there doesn't seem to be any detrimental effect if I turn all of my attack rolls associated with a single at-will into hits/crits.

So, yes, you'll probably also have to introduce a 'debuff system' of some kind. However, isn't that just the kind of 'extra work' for the DM that you wanted to avoid by introducing the rule?

What constitutes as "extra work" for me is something that I have to do over and over, basically adding a new layer of adventure preparation to the game. For example, taking Pemerton's example that I've quoted below, I'd have to prepare an interesting skill challenge for every dangerous location where the players might rest. Every time they travel to a new place, I need to make a new skill challenge that won't seem boring, pointless, or like I'm wasting my players' time.

Hero Score is something I can add into the game once and now it's there, no more work. The Injury Deck I mentioned is the same: I print out the cards, modify the system to my desire, and now it will always be ready for me to use. I have to do some additional preparation the first time they're being used and explain them to the players, but I don't have to redo that work for every adventure.

Concerning your dragon sorcerer, his sorcerer damage (adding Str to arcane damage rolls, I believe) counts as a class feature that you can't use at Hero Score 1. It's only factored in if you would have already gotten the hit, until you reach Hero Score 3, and by then the combat advantage and injuries from the Injury Deck you've likely sustained will balance out that newfound power. Of course, if you have been playing tactically to avoid injuries, you will experience a pure power gain. In my opinion, adding a new layer of tactics for the players is an added bonus to the system.

Of course, I don't actually know if it balances out. I haven't playtested this. Take a look at the Injury Deck if you have a DDI subscription. How would you use it to offset the power from the Hero Score? My method is that being bloodied gives you a minor injury which you can try to save against during each short rest, and getting knocked below 1 hit point gives you a major injury which you can try to save against during each extended rest.

I prefer option 1A - and I know at least @Neonchameleon on these boards alos uses a version of it:

Extended rests require somewhere proper to rest (eg a town, a dry cave, a Hallowed Temple, etc) and so can't be taken willy nilly. In Neonchameleon's version, you have to go to a haven (like Rivendell or Lorien). In my version, the availability of rest points "in the field" depends upon success in a skill challenge, or upon the players making their own luck (eg by conjuring a Hallowed Temple, befriending someone who will give them shelter, etc).​

As I mentioned before, your solution here is not for me. That's great that it solves the problem for you, but for my games, each encounter (including skill challenges) should contribute something to the game, whereas your solution seems like it would take a lot of work to make it something more than "Oh, another set of die rolls just to see if we can sleep."

The first part about havens being the only places to rest is something I took for granted (if you sleep in the wild in my game, you are either automatically safe if there were no planned encounters nearby, or I move a nearby encounter to you). Nothing is stopping the players from leaving a dungeon and coming back tomorrow, and most things that do would take me out of the game if I heard it as a player. Sometimes they work, but only if they contribute something to the adventure besides blocking the exit. For example, a time limit will work when the players are racing to stop an evil ritual from occuring that will awaken a demon lord, but you can't use that excuse when the players are storming the lair of the orc tribe. What's the orc leader going to do, run away if the players wait one more day to attack?

Adventure design is an art, of course, and I use the things I mentioned I dislike half the time anyway. The goal of this system is not to completely get rid of those things, but to make them unnecessary to always have to consider. I also don't want to completely remove the option to retreat for a day, when it makes sense. It provides another tactical decision for the players: press on in order to get more powerful but suffer these injuries, or go back and heal up but risk not healing all the injuries and losing that Hero Score?

 

[Ferghis]

I've implemented a somewhat simpler houserule with the same goal. I've done away with xp, and characters gain a new level after a certain number of milestones, say 7. Milestones are gained after every encounter except the first one after an extended rest. Players seem to push on of their own will.

 

[keterys]

Overly favors at-will based characters over daily or encounter based characters (ex: chargers), as well as means of avoiding combat advantage (ex: stealth / invisibility, some feats). Also, crit builds (some characters will gain 14 damage, while others will gain 100).

Personally, I'd be tempted to start with something like:
You start the day with no action points, you gain one after every major encounter. (debuffs start of day, buffs post-encounter 3)

Could also take a tip from the escalation die mechanic:
PCs gain a bonus to damage rolls and healing surge value equal to the number of major encounters they've already completed that day.

I'd also suggest that you avoid a mechanic that asks PCs to lower their defenses for offensive gain. Some players just won't bite and others will leap on it, and it'll actually turn up a bit imbalanced as a result.

 

[Camelot]

I've implemented a somewhat simpler houserule with the same goal. I've done away with xp, and characters gain a new level after a certain number of milestones, say 7. Milestones are gained after every encounter except the first one after an extended rest. Players seem to push on of their own will.

That's a nice way to do it, and very simple. 7 milestones seems like a bit much though. An average level by the core rules has between 8 and 10 encounters, which is 4 or 5 milestones. In practice, it seems to take even fewer encounters than that. But I guess it depends how quickly you want the characters to level.

Overly favors at-will based characters over daily or encounter based characters (ex: chargers), as well as means of avoiding combat advantage (ex: stealth / invisibility, some feats). Also, crit builds (some characters will gain 14 damage, while others will gain 100).

Personally, I'd be tempted to start with something like:
You start the day with no action points, you gain one after every major encounter. (debuffs start of day, buffs post-encounter 3)

Could also take a tip from the escalation die mechanic:
PCs gain a bonus to damage rolls and healing surge value equal to the number of major encounters they've already completed that day.

I'd also suggest that you avoid a mechanic that asks PCs to lower their defenses for offensive gain. Some players just won't bite and others will leap on it, and it'll actually turn up a bit imbalanced as a result.

Those are very good points. I tried to keep things balanced, but it does still favor certain roles/classes over others. The barbarian, for example, has his extra damage built into his at-will powers, so I'd have to make a special rule for that. Favoring means of avoiding combat advantage is the one I don't have a problem with, as I feel that combat as written favors offense too much, so I like ways of encouraging defense. Of course, as you also point out, my system does exactly the opposite of that. That will be good to keep in mind while editing.

In order to avoid favoring classes, the system needs to exploit a mechanic that all classes use equally. I originally thought of having each point of the hero score give you a new way to spend action points, but put that aside as I couldn't think of any ways to judge which benefit was better than the others. Should being able to spend an action point as an immediate action be the benefit for Hero Score 1, or would it be more incentive to put higher up? Is that better or worse than being able to use an action point to spend a healing surge? That would require more testing than I will ever have available, but maybe someone here can offer some input.

I like the escalation die idea. Perhaps each encounter gives each player a single escalation die that they can spend on any roll or similar value: initiative, attack, damage, defense, healing, etc. Each progressive encounter gives a higher sized escalation die: 1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 2d4, 1d10, 1d12, 2d6, etc. This way, there is an incentive to forgo an extended rest, and each class can use it for whatever they want so that it doesn't favor one class or playstyle. Most importantly, it's super easy to implement and learn. What do you think?

 

[Ferghis]

I've implemented a somewhat simpler houserule with the same goal. I've done away with xp, and characters gain a new level after a certain number of milestones, say 7. Milestones are gained after every encounter except the first one after an extended rest. Players seem to push on of their own will.

That's a nice way to do it, and very simple. 7 milestones seems like a bit much though. An average level by the core rules has between 8 and 10 encounters, which is 4 or 5 milestones. In practice, it seems to take even fewer encounters than that. But I guess it depends how quickly you want the characters to level.

I'm not sure you read my post properly. I give out milestones at every encounter except the first one after an extended rest. So that's 8 encounters to level up.

Also, I'm not firm on the number. I've had it as low as 5 and as high as 8. My impression is that saying "about 7" sets the right expectation for the players.

 

[Camelot]

I'm not sure you read my post properly. I give out milestones at every encounter except the first one after an extended rest. So that's 8 encounters to level up.

Also, I'm not firm on the number. I've had it as low as 5 and as high as 8. My impression is that saying "about 7" sets the right expectation for the players.

Then you're right, I did misread your post. However, at that point, I would cease to call them milestones and just keep track of encounters. If you're calling them milestones because you also give out action points after every encounter, then that's where I would have to disagree. Action points are balanced as they are, from what I've seen in my games. Granting too many passively buffs the warlord and gets especially weird at paragon due to all the path features that deal with action points. Although maybe extra action points are a good way to offset the "debuff system," though I would still want to do something about the warlord.

 

[Ferghis]

I do give out APs at every milestone, which is why I use that word.

Action points are balanced as they are, from what I've seen in my games. Granting too many passively buffs the warlord and gets especially weird at paragon due to all the path features that deal with action points. Although maybe extra action points are a good way to offset the "debuff system," though I would still want to do something about the warlord.

I actually play in many games where APs are just an encounter power like second wind. I've never seen it as a game-breaking change, and it does away with tracking AP. Under the houserule above, players have to just track if they skipped spending an AP in one encounter during the day, after which it becomes an encounter power.