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Slow Natural Healing in actual play
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<blockquote data-quote="Charlaquin" data-source="post: 7323637" data-attributes="member: 6779196"><p>So much this. Players are actually very good at finding and using the most effective strategy. If players are rushing headlong into combat and relying on rest to heal, that’s probably because it’s the most efficient strategy given the challenges they are being presented with and the resources at their disposal. In my experience, what DMs usually mean by “strategic thinking” is “avoiding combat.” And is what you want players to try to avoid combat, the way to do that is by making avoiding combat the most efficient strategy. Ramp up the encounter difficulty so that players can’t easily rely on high HP totals relative to incoming damage to get them through most encounters. Add time pressure so they can’t easily rely on long rests to refill their HP between encounters. And most importantly, reward the players for avoiding combat as much or more than you do for killing enemies. I guarantee you, changing the way you award XP will have a far greater impact on the tactics players employ than changing the hp and healing rules will. For example, if you don’t award any XP for killing monsters, but award it instead for acquiring treasure, you will immediately start to see players avoiding direct combat in favor of going around the monsters and straight to the treasure they guard. Award XP for each monster that survive an encounter, players will start favoring nonletal methods of resolving encounters, from melee attacks to knock enemies out, sleep and other incapacitating spells, diplomacy, etc. Award XP for discovering hidden areas and you’ll start seeing players scour every room for hidden doors and the like. Because players are excellent strategic thinkers. The key is to reward the strategies you want them to use.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Charlaquin, post: 7323637, member: 6779196"] So much this. Players are actually very good at finding and using the most effective strategy. If players are rushing headlong into combat and relying on rest to heal, that’s probably because it’s the most efficient strategy given the challenges they are being presented with and the resources at their disposal. In my experience, what DMs usually mean by “strategic thinking” is “avoiding combat.” And is what you want players to try to avoid combat, the way to do that is by making avoiding combat the most efficient strategy. Ramp up the encounter difficulty so that players can’t easily rely on high HP totals relative to incoming damage to get them through most encounters. Add time pressure so they can’t easily rely on long rests to refill their HP between encounters. And most importantly, reward the players for avoiding combat as much or more than you do for killing enemies. I guarantee you, changing the way you award XP will have a far greater impact on the tactics players employ than changing the hp and healing rules will. For example, if you don’t award any XP for killing monsters, but award it instead for acquiring treasure, you will immediately start to see players avoiding direct combat in favor of going around the monsters and straight to the treasure they guard. Award XP for each monster that survive an encounter, players will start favoring nonletal methods of resolving encounters, from melee attacks to knock enemies out, sleep and other incapacitating spells, diplomacy, etc. Award XP for discovering hidden areas and you’ll start seeing players scour every room for hidden doors and the like. Because players are excellent strategic thinkers. The key is to reward the strategies you want them to use. [/QUOTE]
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