M_Natas
Hero
Rethinking Pacing in D&D: From Anti-Climactic to Crescendo
Lately we have had two great threads here about pacing problems in the current edition of D&D:
- The adventuring day problem: Mike Mearls explains why your boss monsters die too easily
- The encounter pacing problem: Gaining spell slots and other resources during the fight
Use your strongest spells and abilities first, win fast, and rest afterward.
That means fights and adventure days are often anti-climactic: they start with a bang and end with cantrips and basic attacks or with the 5mwd.
The rules themselves reward that playstyle, so DMs have to work against the system to create tension.
Other RPGs already solve this problem with escalation mechanics:
- 13th Age has the Escalation Die. Every round, a d6 counter increases, giving PCs a cumulative bonus to attack rolls. Combat grows more intense as it goes on.
- Draw Steel uses Heroic Resources that increase each combat with the number of victories you had before. Momentum builds across scenes, encouraging heroes to keep going instead of resetting, because taking a reprise resets those victories.
How to Bring That to 5e
We can borrow the same idea for D&D with a two-part system:
- Battle Rush – Characters build adrenaline within a single combat, gaining dice they can spend to boost attacks, damage, or spell potency.
- Fate’s Favor – The longer the party adventures without a long rest, the larger those dice become, rewarding endurance and tempting heroes to press on.
Battle Rush & Fate’s Favor
A homebrew pacing rule for D&D 5eThe Philosophy
Most heroes start strong and fade as a fight or an adventuring day goes on.These rules reverse that curve: the longer you endure and press forward without resting, the more momentum and destiny gather behind you.
Battle Rush - Adrenaline in Combat
At the end of each of your turns in combat, gain 1 Battle Rush Die of the size shown on the Fate’s Favor table (below).You can hold a number of dice equal to your Proficiency Bonus.
All unspent dice fade when combat ends.
Using Battle Rush Dice
When you make an attack roll, ability check, or force a creature to make a saving throw, you may declare that you’re expending any number of your Battle Rush Dice before any dice for that action are rolled. Choose one of the following:- Precision: Roll the expended Battle Rush Dice and add the total to all attack rolls made as part of one Attack action, or to one attack roll made by another action, bonus action, or reaction.
- Potency (Save DC): For a spell or feature that requires a saving throw, roll the expended Battle Rush Dice before targets roll and add the total to the effect’s save DC (applies to all targets of that use).
- Impact: Roll the expended Battle Rush Dice and add the total to one damage roll against a single target made by that same action.
If an effect deals damage to multiple creatures using a single shared damage roll (e.g., fireball), choose one of those creatures; only that creature takes the additional damage.
A single expenditure can’t be split between different actions or turns.
Quick rulings
- Criticals: If you chose Impact and that attack is a critical hit, Battle Rush Dice are doubled with the rest of the damage dice.
- Extra Attack: Precision covers every attack in that Attack action (not bonus-action or reaction attacks).
- Multi-target saves: Potency applies to all targets of that spell/effect.
Bloodied Surge
When you become bloodied (current HP ≤ 50% of max HP), gain 1 Battle Rush Die.You can gain this benefit once per combat.
Fate’s Favor: The Temptation to Press On
After each encounter completed without a long rest, your party’s Fate’s Favor Level increases by 1 (maximum 5).It resets to 0 after a long rest. Short rests don’t affect it.
| Fate’s Favor Level | Battle Rush Die Size |
|---|---|
| 0 | d4 |
| 1 | d6 |
| 2 | d8 |
| 3 | d10 |
| 4 | d12 |
| 5 | 2d6 |
So, what this system does is make PCs more precise or impactful the longer they keep fighting and pushing forward.
It also adds a new layer of strategy: waiting a few rounds before using your strongest abilities or spell slots is now a smart choice, because your chances of success increase as you build momentum. There is finally a reason not to nova everything in round one.
To keep things balanced, boss monsters and legendary creatures can use the same Battle Rush Dice. That way, big fights still feel dangerous and intense for both sides.
The rules are very easy to run at the table.
Players simply place one die in front of them at the end of each of their turns to show their current Battle Rush pool, which they can spend later, like an automatic form of Bardic Inspiration.
The DM only needs to track the number of encounters since the last long rest to know the current Fate’s Favor Level.
I will implement this at my table and see how it goes.
What do you think of this idea, and what are your own ideas or homebrew rules to fix the mechanical pacing issues of 5e?
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