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The Adventuring Day XP budget makes sense when you consider it is a budget for you to stock your dungeons
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<blockquote data-quote="Bacon Bits" data-source="post: 8965734" data-attributes="member: 6777737"><p>Narrative time pressure doesn't work in every situation, let alone every campaign. It also <em>drastically</em> narrows the kinds of stories you can tell with the game. What happens to downtime activities when everything is under constant pressure? They just never happen. Hope that crafting background really wasn't necessary to your character because it really is guaranteed to never come up. What about developing relationships with friendly NPCs? No time for love, Dr. Jones. Building a castle, tower, or domain? No, sorry. You've got a 10 o'clock with a troll. It's extremely lazy DMing. That's why there's a much more common name for it: <em>Railroading</em>. I think it's easy to understand why DMs might want to have alternatives to the game being broken other than railroading the players in every campaign and every adventure.</p><p></p><p>Endless ambushes are not particularly good answer, either. It doesn't encourage the PCs to <em>not rest.</em> It encourages the PCs to <em>plan defenses</em>. It encourages the PCs to always take spells like Tiny Hut, then just smash that button all the time. And then we see people posting here about how Tiny Hut ruins their game. You haven't fixed anything. You've just moved the problem and avoided addressing its root.</p><p></p><p>Worse, both solutions have knock-on effects. Now the PCs can easily decide to <em>never risk a short rest</em> which nerfs Fighters, Warlocks, and Monks. Now you've completely warped the game.</p><p></p><p>Don't worry, we can introduce the grim and gritty rest options so short rests are 8 hours and long rests are 7 days! Never mind that that will completely transform the style of play of the campaign from heroic adventure to survival adventure, potentially introducing attrition and death spirals into a campaign. It also means nearly all published adventures often <em>won't work </em>because they're written and tested assuming normal rest schedules. And it nerfs a whole swath of class abilities and spells that rely on them being available every adventuring day (Rage, Mage Armor, Hunter's Mark, etc.). That means you're limited as a DM for how much you can throw at the PCs. They <em>must</em> retreat to a town after they've reached the XP budget. God help you if the PCs roll badly and your time pressure doesn't give them the opportunity to recover at all. You'll end your campaign with the remarkable climactic event of, "We failed because a random wolf rolled 6 natural 20s." How heroic!</p><p></p><p>Instead of constantly <em>punishing</em> the PCs for doing things you don't want, <em>reward</em> them for doing what you <em>do </em>want. Talk to any psychologist. They'll tell you that punishment is a bad motivator. Punishment only encourages <em>avoiding and mitigating the punishment</em> while rewards actually encourage the behavior you desire. If you want the PCs to complete an adventuring day, reward them directly <em>for doing that!</em></p><p></p><p>The real reason we know the above changes don't work is... it's 2023 and we <em>still</em> see threads where DMs complain about being unable to reach the daily XP budget! This very thread is trying to address the topic pre-emptively! It's such a common problem and common point of discussion that OP thought they could get ahead of it. This is <em>10 years</em> after 5e D&D released. Never mind that the Five Minute Adventuring Day complaint that short rests themselves were intended to address dates to <em>both</em> 3e and 4e discussions! It's been a problem for nearly 25 years at this point.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>No, it isn't. Abilities in real life don't have cooldowns or recoveries. In real life when you have an ability, you can use it pretty much non-stop. When you're too tired from using it to continue, you're typically too tired to do <em>anything</em>. And often you need only a few minutes rest to continue. Meanwhile, recovery injury takes days, weeks, or months to recover from, not overnight. If someone was injured so badly yesterday that they were on death's door after a fall of 200 feet, they will not be climbing a mountain the next day.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bacon Bits, post: 8965734, member: 6777737"] Narrative time pressure doesn't work in every situation, let alone every campaign. It also [I]drastically[/I] narrows the kinds of stories you can tell with the game. What happens to downtime activities when everything is under constant pressure? They just never happen. Hope that crafting background really wasn't necessary to your character because it really is guaranteed to never come up. What about developing relationships with friendly NPCs? No time for love, Dr. Jones. Building a castle, tower, or domain? No, sorry. You've got a 10 o'clock with a troll. It's extremely lazy DMing. That's why there's a much more common name for it: [I]Railroading[/I]. I think it's easy to understand why DMs might want to have alternatives to the game being broken other than railroading the players in every campaign and every adventure. Endless ambushes are not particularly good answer, either. It doesn't encourage the PCs to [I]not rest.[/I] It encourages the PCs to [I]plan defenses[/I]. It encourages the PCs to always take spells like Tiny Hut, then just smash that button all the time. And then we see people posting here about how Tiny Hut ruins their game. You haven't fixed anything. You've just moved the problem and avoided addressing its root. Worse, both solutions have knock-on effects. Now the PCs can easily decide to [I]never risk a short rest[/I] which nerfs Fighters, Warlocks, and Monks. Now you've completely warped the game. Don't worry, we can introduce the grim and gritty rest options so short rests are 8 hours and long rests are 7 days! Never mind that that will completely transform the style of play of the campaign from heroic adventure to survival adventure, potentially introducing attrition and death spirals into a campaign. It also means nearly all published adventures often [I]won't work [/I]because they're written and tested assuming normal rest schedules. And it nerfs a whole swath of class abilities and spells that rely on them being available every adventuring day (Rage, Mage Armor, Hunter's Mark, etc.). That means you're limited as a DM for how much you can throw at the PCs. They [I]must[/I] retreat to a town after they've reached the XP budget. God help you if the PCs roll badly and your time pressure doesn't give them the opportunity to recover at all. You'll end your campaign with the remarkable climactic event of, "We failed because a random wolf rolled 6 natural 20s." How heroic! Instead of constantly [I]punishing[/I] the PCs for doing things you don't want, [I]reward[/I] them for doing what you [I]do [/I]want. Talk to any psychologist. They'll tell you that punishment is a bad motivator. Punishment only encourages [I]avoiding and mitigating the punishment[/I] while rewards actually encourage the behavior you desire. If you want the PCs to complete an adventuring day, reward them directly [I]for doing that![/I] The real reason we know the above changes don't work is... it's 2023 and we [I]still[/I] see threads where DMs complain about being unable to reach the daily XP budget! This very thread is trying to address the topic pre-emptively! It's such a common problem and common point of discussion that OP thought they could get ahead of it. This is [I]10 years[/I] after 5e D&D released. Never mind that the Five Minute Adventuring Day complaint that short rests themselves were intended to address dates to [I]both[/I] 3e and 4e discussions! It's been a problem for nearly 25 years at this point. No, it isn't. Abilities in real life don't have cooldowns or recoveries. In real life when you have an ability, you can use it pretty much non-stop. When you're too tired from using it to continue, you're typically too tired to do [I]anything[/I]. And often you need only a few minutes rest to continue. Meanwhile, recovery injury takes days, weeks, or months to recover from, not overnight. If someone was injured so badly yesterday that they were on death's door after a fall of 200 feet, they will not be climbing a mountain the next day. [/QUOTE]
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The Adventuring Day XP budget makes sense when you consider it is a budget for you to stock your dungeons
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