D&D 5E "The so-called '5-Minute Workday' is Something I've Seen Regularly Playing 5E D&D" (a poll)

[Hussar]

Have I seen 5 MWD in 5e? I suppose. It has happened from time to time, but, typically, not intentionally or anything like that. It was just that there weren't any other encounters before it was time for a long rest, or maybe the encounter for the day happened just before the long rest - that sort of thing.

But, no, it's certainly never been an issue in 5e.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Hasn't that been the case going all the way back to OD&D? Managing spells, hitpoints, torches, rations, encumbrance, henchmen.....

A few things left the pile for convenience sake, but that's basically Dungeons and Dragons isn't it? Lol

And torches, rations, encumbrance and henchmen have always been obnoxious to track and the players shouldn't have to do it, IMO.

 

[Mort]

And torches, rations, encumbrance and henchmen have always been obnoxious to track and the players shouldn't have to do it, IMO.

Torches, Rations and encumbrance are not generally my thing and I don't make any groups bother with them (though I think certain adventures can call for it) but some groups seem to enjoy the bookeeping.

Henchmen, though, If the group wants henchmen/followers/retainers/pets etc. Then the players should be the ones keeping track, the DM has more than enough to do already!

 

[Mannahnin]

If you're running RAW, it happens all the time. I've had players insist on a long rest after every fight.

Wat. RAW allows only one long rest in a 24 hour period. So it's only possible to happen all the time if you're running RAW games with no time pressure at all.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Nope. Being the most efficient with the "tactical board game" that is D&D combat takes a really far backseat to the narrative of the game. If they ever wanted to take an 8-hour rest following some big battle it'd be because either it was night time anyway (or night time equivalent), their quest was finished, or they were able to get back to civilization.

Not once has any one of my players ever even hinted at the idea of taking a long rest after just getting up in the morning and then getting into a fight. Wake up-- eat-- break camp-- walk a couple miles-- get into a big fight-- and then say "Okay, well, that's good enough for me!" and then plop their asses back down and remake camp at 9am with the expectation of not getting going again until like sundown? No way. They'd deal with having less resources the rest of the afternoon before ever acting the fool narratively in that way.

 

[tetrasodium]

Who the heck do you play with? Like, every time I hear you talk about player behaviors you’ve seen, it sounds like an r/RPGhorrorstories post I wouldn’t believe if I read it there.

Wotc asks in oh so many of its polls stuff about the importance of bringing in new players to d&d or whatever, it's an important thing for a healthy local community but you're swimming up stream & on your own there. Actually doing that tends to involve fighting the rule set with modifications & fiat to combat the 5mwd because so much of the player facing rules are dedicated to ensuring that the 5mwd is good expected and safe..

Take AL as the ultimate example. The gm is extremely limited in how they csn change the adventures. The gm is flatly forbidden to change any of the rules. Even with a stable group who only play at that gm's table the gm does not even have control over the when where what ofmagic items & players literally go home to pick from a list between sessions while updating their sheet for leveling up.. With all of that gm handbinding piled up there is no reason not to expect players to get salty should a gm dare get in the way of their nova recharge

 

[Mort]

Wotc asks in oh so many of its polls stuff about the importance of bringing in new players to d&d or whatever, it's an important thing for a healthy local community but you're swimming up stream & on your own there. Actually doing that tends to involve fighting the rule set with modifications & fiat to combat the 5mwd because so much of the player facing rules are dedicated to ensuring that the 5mwd is good expected and safe..

Take AL as the ultimate example. The gm is extremely limited in how they csn change the adventures. The gm is flatly forbidden to change any of the rules. Even with a stable group who only play at that gm's table the gm does not even have control over the when where what ofmagic items & players literally go home to pick from a list between sessions while updating their sheet for leveling up.. With all of that gm handbinding piled up there is no reason not to expect players to get salty should a gm dare get in the way of their nova recharge

I'll have to look at some of the AL adventures, but don't most of them have built in time pressure?

Stuff like, you have to do this in x days or bad things happen. Or the villain will assault the village in Y days?

Not to mention, most of the ones I remember are linear enough that rest times are built in (face the big encounter - get a rest) and if you try to rest outside that framework there's generally a reason why you can't (eg the adventure won't let you). Now that might draw different complaints from players, but it doesn't really promote the 5 minute workday.

 

[Charlaquin]

Wotc asks in oh so many of its polls stuff about the importance of bringing in new players to d&d or whatever, it's an important thing for a healthy local community but you're swimming up stream & on your own there. Actually doing that tends to involve fighting the rule set with modifications & fiat to combat the 5mwd because so much of the player facing rules are dedicated to ensuring that the 5mwd is good expected and safe..

Take AL as the ultimate example. The gm is extremely limited in how they csn change the adventures. The gm is flatly forbidden to change any of the rules. Even with a stable group who only play at that gm's table the gm does not even have control over the when where what ofmagic items & players literally go home to pick from a list between sessions while updating their sheet for leveling up.. With all of that gm handbinding piled up there is no reason not to expect players to get salty should a gm dare get in the way of their nova recharge

Do AL games not usually have time pressure?

 

[Charlaquin]

Torches, Rations and encumbrance are not generally my thing and I don't make any groups bother with them (though I think certain adventures can call for it) but some groups seem to enjoy the bookeeping.

As someone who does use torches, rations, and encumbrance, it’s not that I enjoy the bookkeeping. It’s that I tolerate the bookkeeping because it’s necessary to enable the kind of attrition-based challenge I like my games to have. Also, there are spells and features that can get around these things, which actually become useful in games that track them.

 

[J-H]

I voted True, but wanted to put an * by my answer.
-In games I run, the only time a 5MWD happens is for random encounters when traveling overland. This is for a high level party, so the random encounters are either "You ran into a X and killed it" or they're meaningful threats (CR 16 Titantic snake, 2x CR13 Quetzals with Prismatic Spray breath, etc.). The party striking against enemy strongpoints usually ends up being a 5MWD, but it's still a 10 round fight where the party is vastly outnumbered, suffering environmental effects, and up against a half-dozen or more enemy casters + melee.

-In games I play, we have a 5MWD currently because we're in prison and serving as gladiators trying to win our freedom. One fight per week. This is kind of a special case, as it's different from a more typical campaign structure.