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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Vermonter" data-source="post: 3709500" data-attributes="member: 54647">Per Encounter Hit PointsActually, from what I have seen, I think they will be.  Sort of.Just as it looks like a wizard will always have some sort of eldritch blast or magic missile to fall back on, they have said a healer will never be penalized for healing.  My read on that is that a cleric will probably have an action where they can heal say 1d6 damage with an action all day long.  Fighter might also have 'self healing' abilities (much like one of the psionic disciplines whose name escapes me) that they can use.  The net result may well be hit points on pretty much a per encounter basis.Someone also mentioned that they couldn't see how WotC would do this without reducing either the power or flexibility of wizards.  It has been stated that higher level wizards are too powerful, so expect to see this.  Wizards will get more options low level and less power escalation at high level.  It's pretty obvious to me this is a good thing.As to the whole "defining Per Encounter" debate, I'm confused as to why it is a big deal.  It is probably whatever the DM defines it as.  Example:They've said encounter balance will be by XP, so say a 'typically difficult encounter' for a party is 5,000 XP of challenges (monsters, traps, terrain obstacles).As DM, you want to set up a tough ending to an adventure, so you decide a 8,000 XP encounter is appropriate.  You also want it to be an encounter where the party enters combat, and suddenly the BBG bursts in to take them on, just as they think they have things under control.  If you set up a 5,000 XP combat, then burst in with an 8,000 XP BBG and don't allow reasonable reset of the 'per encounter' abilities you are clearly screwing the players.  On the other hand, you could have them face a 4,000 XP encounter, then bring in the BBG for another 4,000 XP and you are fine. WotC has a whole DMG to explain how to run this fairly and effectivley as a DM.You may disagree with the intent of the system (I happen to like it), but confusion about how it would work shouldn't be a major factor.My hope is that a typical 1st level character should have 2-3 viable options in a given situation always available that perform at about 70% of potential. 1-2 'special features' that give a bonus in the right circumstances (like a rogue sneak attack) to get to 90% potential, 1-2 per encounter abilities that give a bonus similar to the special features (may or may not overlap, if combined get to 100% of potential), and 3-5 per day abilities that have a special effect, but are not so crucial that having used them a player feels compelled to stop adventuring.As characters go up in levels these options should mostly improve in power, but the total number of viable choices (7-12) shouldn't change a lot.  Of course different sort of encounters (combat, diplomacy, search/research?, terrain/sneaking/traps) rely on different skills, so a player may have more than 7-12 abilities, just spread over dealing with these different sorts of obstacles.</blockquote>

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