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<blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 5951451" data-attributes="member: 2067"><p>10 encounters per level divided into 3 on-level encounters at a time (+1 quest). </p><p></p><p>Again, it's not a hard number. It's what it might look like. Since players dictate when they actually rest, the DM doesn't directly control it, but the math helps achieve it anyway. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I don't think we really disagree on that, fundamentally (I'd say it's more vital that PC <em>actions</em> vary the rate, but whatevs). Smarter play should let you tackle more stuff at once. This remains true: having a guideline only means that there's a baseline to measure your success or struggle against. FWIW, it seems that 5e is going for quite a bit looser balance than 4e has, so that number is probably designed to swing a lot farther. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Keep in mind that that's a minimum. It assumes evenly distributed attacks, AC's, defenses, die rolls, etc. And two surges is perfectly in line with the 5-7 surges the low-surge characters get (e.g.: "We rest when one of us needs to."). A Defender is going to tend to get hit more often anyway, and the higher surge quantities are a way of ensuring that the Defender doesn't often need to rest before the party Wizard does (10 surges over 3 encounters makes sense if every combat has you spending 3 or 4 because you keep getting pummeled, taking hits meant for the squishier members of the party who remain full of surges). </p><p></p><p>2-3 combats very closely matches my experience with the game, and the RAW's assumption, so I am not entirely sure what makes your party so exceptionally wonderful at surviving, except for perhaps that you have players who are very good at combat strategy or exploiting synergies or certain rituals (like the one that lets you share healing surges across the whole party). But if you do, they probably SHOULD be able to get the reward of slicing through more encounters before they have to rest -- they're good at that! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> I mean, you did 13 encounters between extended rests. That means that your encounters weren't even threatening enough that the PC's had to spend a healing surge in many of them! You totally thwarted the 4e assumed pace of "First, the monsters kick our butt, then, we recover and ultimately triumph." With ~30 minute combats, you're looking at about 6-7 hours of play, no? All without an extended rest? That is either very good PC tactics, or very poor monster tactics!</p><p></p><p>But even your impressively mutant rate of advancement and encounter scything isn't a problem to balance for in the suggestion in the blog. All it means is that you slice through more "adventures" at once, or harder "adventures" that involve longer struggles. Just like how now you breeze through multiple "days" worth of encounters without breaking a sweat. The baseline isn't invalid just because your method is different. How much your game diverges from the baseline can tell you what you need to modify to keep the "balance" on par. I don't really know how you can do 13 on-level encounters in one day in 4e -- I'm not a big strategery kind of player or DM -- but however you do it, I'm sure 4e bends enough to accept it, even if it assumes a different rate of resting than you use. Your party is very good at plowing through encounters: they get more die rolls between full recharges.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="I'm A Banana, post: 5951451, member: 2067"] 10 encounters per level divided into 3 on-level encounters at a time (+1 quest). Again, it's not a hard number. It's what it might look like. Since players dictate when they actually rest, the DM doesn't directly control it, but the math helps achieve it anyway. I don't think we really disagree on that, fundamentally (I'd say it's more vital that PC [I]actions[/I] vary the rate, but whatevs). Smarter play should let you tackle more stuff at once. This remains true: having a guideline only means that there's a baseline to measure your success or struggle against. FWIW, it seems that 5e is going for quite a bit looser balance than 4e has, so that number is probably designed to swing a lot farther. Keep in mind that that's a minimum. It assumes evenly distributed attacks, AC's, defenses, die rolls, etc. And two surges is perfectly in line with the 5-7 surges the low-surge characters get (e.g.: "We rest when one of us needs to."). A Defender is going to tend to get hit more often anyway, and the higher surge quantities are a way of ensuring that the Defender doesn't often need to rest before the party Wizard does (10 surges over 3 encounters makes sense if every combat has you spending 3 or 4 because you keep getting pummeled, taking hits meant for the squishier members of the party who remain full of surges). 2-3 combats very closely matches my experience with the game, and the RAW's assumption, so I am not entirely sure what makes your party so exceptionally wonderful at surviving, except for perhaps that you have players who are very good at combat strategy or exploiting synergies or certain rituals (like the one that lets you share healing surges across the whole party). But if you do, they probably SHOULD be able to get the reward of slicing through more encounters before they have to rest -- they're good at that! :) I mean, you did 13 encounters between extended rests. That means that your encounters weren't even threatening enough that the PC's had to spend a healing surge in many of them! You totally thwarted the 4e assumed pace of "First, the monsters kick our butt, then, we recover and ultimately triumph." With ~30 minute combats, you're looking at about 6-7 hours of play, no? All without an extended rest? That is either very good PC tactics, or very poor monster tactics! But even your impressively mutant rate of advancement and encounter scything isn't a problem to balance for in the suggestion in the blog. All it means is that you slice through more "adventures" at once, or harder "adventures" that involve longer struggles. Just like how now you breeze through multiple "days" worth of encounters without breaking a sweat. The baseline isn't invalid just because your method is different. How much your game diverges from the baseline can tell you what you need to modify to keep the "balance" on par. I don't really know how you can do 13 on-level encounters in one day in 4e -- I'm not a big strategery kind of player or DM -- but however you do it, I'm sure 4e bends enough to accept it, even if it assumes a different rate of resting than you use. Your party is very good at plowing through encounters: they get more die rolls between full recharges. [/QUOTE]
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