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2/18/13 L&L column
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<blockquote data-quote="Balesir" data-source="post: 6090680" data-attributes="member: 27160"><p>Um, 'fraid I have to disagree. If the party without cleric can take 4 encounters, that means each encounter (on average) takes 25% of their "disposable resources" (i.e. resources before they feel they must withdraw to recharge, as opposed to "resources before they are dead"). Assuming that the gap between "resource expenditure before recharge" and "resource expenditure before TPK" is the same for both parties (as it ought to be, unless the risk averseness of the party has changed), then the party with a cleric, if able to take on 5 encounters before recharge, must use only 20% of its "disposable resources", on average, per encounter. This must mean that either (a) the party with a cleric has more resources, or (b) the party with a cleric is more powerful (and so uses its resources more slowly, as each use has proportionately more effect).</p><p></p><p>In other words, even though I totally agree that "time" in the game is not inherently a resource (only if it is made so by the adventure design, basically), the party capacity between recharges necessarily <em><strong>is</strong></em> a meaningful resource. This applies especially if encounter limits on resources have been removed (which is what taking out 4e's encounter powers and healing surges/hit dice does).</p><p></p><p>If the party resources are better/bigger with one cleric, then it stands to reason that they will be better/bigger still with two - or an entire party of clerics. This certainly worked with 3.x, and was arguably functional with earlier editions, too (although, there, you might want to hire in "specialists" for when the DM sets up deliberate "impossible without a whatever" scenarios).</p><p></p><p>I'm with [MENTION=2067]Kamikaze Midget[/MENTION] and co. on this one - if parties with and without particular characters can take a different number of "standard" encounters on before they need to recharge, it's a pretty clear indication that the parties are of different power levels. That has, ley's say, "unfortunate" consequences for optimal play (i.e. there will be such a thing, and it will be homogeneous).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Balesir, post: 6090680, member: 27160"] Um, 'fraid I have to disagree. If the party without cleric can take 4 encounters, that means each encounter (on average) takes 25% of their "disposable resources" (i.e. resources before they feel they must withdraw to recharge, as opposed to "resources before they are dead"). Assuming that the gap between "resource expenditure before recharge" and "resource expenditure before TPK" is the same for both parties (as it ought to be, unless the risk averseness of the party has changed), then the party with a cleric, if able to take on 5 encounters before recharge, must use only 20% of its "disposable resources", on average, per encounter. This must mean that either (a) the party with a cleric has more resources, or (b) the party with a cleric is more powerful (and so uses its resources more slowly, as each use has proportionately more effect). In other words, even though I totally agree that "time" in the game is not inherently a resource (only if it is made so by the adventure design, basically), the party capacity between recharges necessarily [i][b]is[/b][/i][b][/b] a meaningful resource. This applies especially if encounter limits on resources have been removed (which is what taking out 4e's encounter powers and healing surges/hit dice does). If the party resources are better/bigger with one cleric, then it stands to reason that they will be better/bigger still with two - or an entire party of clerics. This certainly worked with 3.x, and was arguably functional with earlier editions, too (although, there, you might want to hire in "specialists" for when the DM sets up deliberate "impossible without a whatever" scenarios). I'm with [MENTION=2067]Kamikaze Midget[/MENTION] and co. on this one - if parties with and without particular characters can take a different number of "standard" encounters on before they need to recharge, it's a pretty clear indication that the parties are of different power levels. That has, ley's say, "unfortunate" consequences for optimal play (i.e. there will be such a thing, and it will be homogeneous). [/QUOTE]
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