Dungeons & Dragons Has Done Away With the Adventuring Day

Adventuring days are no more, at least not in the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide. The new 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide contains a streamlined guide to combat encounter planning, with a simplified set of instructions on how to build an appropriate encounter for any set of characters. The new rules are pretty basic - the DM determines an XP budget based on the difficulty level they're aiming for (with choices of low, moderate, or high, which is a change from the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide) and the level of the characters in a party. They then spend that budget on creatures to actually craft the encounter. Missing from the 2024 encounter building is applying an encounter multiplier based on the number of creatures and the number of party members, although the book still warns that more creatures adds the potential for more complications as an encounter is playing out.

What's really interesting about the new encounter building rules in the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide is that there's no longer any mention of the "adventuring day," nor is there any recommendation about how many encounters players should have in between long rests. The 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide contained a recommendation that players should have 6 to 8 medium or hard encounters per adventuring day. The 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide instead opts to discuss encounter pace and how to balance player desire to take frequent Short Rests with ratcheting up tension within the adventure.

The 6-8 encounters per day guideline was always controversial and at least in my experience rarely followed even in official D&D adventures. The new 2024 encounter building guidelines are not only more streamlined, but they also seem to embrace a more common sense approach to DM prep and planning.

The 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide for Dungeons & Dragons will be released on November 12th.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Such things exist. To be defeated. No you can't play one.

they used to say that about orcs, goblins and a great number of other 'monsters', but look at how things are now.

 

[Zardnaar]

they used to say that about orcs, goblins and a great number of other 'monsters', but look at how things are now.

And they're still DM dependent on being allowed to play one.

 

[Yaarel]

So you insist on trying to shoe-horn in your magic robot, rather than engage with the theme everyone else signed up for? Heard the term “problem player”? That’s one who puts their personal wants and desires ahead of everyone else in the game.

No I dont insist. Just saying. If a player had their heart set on the concept − maybe they saw a movie or a show with something like a Warforged − it would be no problem to figure out how it can make sense within a setting.

 

[Oofta]

DnDBeyond

ANIMATED ARMOR

Any setting with golems, animated statues, or animated armor, can sensically integrate a Warforged character, especially if unique or rare.

Golems, animated statures, animated armor are simple automatons and don't act of their own free will with only rare exceptions. It's not that I have a problem with warforged per se, I played one at one point. In any case, I want any species a PC plays to have a place in my campaign world and not just a one off or last of their kind or from a hidden valley.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The point is, if they exist in the world, then playing one can make sense within the themes and tropes of the world setting.

You don’t seem to understand what “theme” means.

 

[Oofta]

they used to say that about orcs, goblins and a great number of other 'monsters', but look at how things are now.

For what it's worth, I don't allow people to play goblins either.

 

[Zardnaar]

You don’t seem to understand what “theme” means.

I'm doing ancient Greece. Anachronisms exist but you have to find them.

Warforged might exist in a setting but they're not walking down the street.

 

[DinoInDisguise]

For what it's worth, I don't allow people to play goblins either.

You tyrant.

 

[Yaarel]

Golems, animated statures, animated armor are simple automatons and don't act of their own free will with only rare exceptions. It's not that I have a problem with warforged per se, I played one at one point. In any case, I want any species a PC plays to have a place in my campaign world and not just a one off or last of their kind or from a hidden valley.

Sure, but in the case of this unique character, the mind of a Humanoid inhabits the armor as a means to remain alive (hence Full Metal Alchemist). Or whatever. It is easy to make golems make sense.

Indeed, the first "golem" is Adam, the first human, made out of moist clay dust − a statue come to life.

 

[Zardnaar]

You tyrant.

One of my fames only has the AD&D races.

None of the material I own even has more races in it. In effect they’re the only races tgat exist.