D&D 5E A Question of Rest

[ccs]

Both?

I dunno, depends upon the exact situation.

 

[Harzel]

As asked by @permerton in another thread and now as a poll!

Is it a sign of things going well, or things going badly, that players renew their resources (by way of resting) with renewable resources unspent (ie unused spell slots, rages, etc)?

In terms of a single instance and if it isn't quantified a bit better, I don't think there's any sensible answer to the question. If you ask instead about something like "always or almost always have > 25% of their resources left", then I would think that on the whole the party is not being challenged very hard. Whether that is good or bad depends on what the table wants. (But I voted for "poorly", since that would be my personal take.)

 

[Raith5]

We keep going until we run out of Long Rest resources or all available monsters are dead!

It depends a fair bit on context and how/if the DM runs wandering monsters etc - if there are dangers around then sure we might want to keep resources in reserve.

 

[Sunseeker]

Means nothing at all.

Today my party didn't need to blow their resources. Maybe tomorrow they will. It's not my job to make sure they're all using all their resources all the time. It's my job to make an engaging game and it's the party's job to decide how they want to engage with that game. I've had some players barely touch their resources in favor of skill checks to attempt to resolve/overcome challenges. That's totally their call.

 

[OB1]

Depends on how you define "overspending." I will agree that poor use of resources is just as bad, but people value resources differently. HP is technically a renewable of resource, since you recover 100% at the end of a long rest, but most players seem to value it higher than spell slots (which also recover fully). How do you gauge the value of a utility spell that could (theoretically) be done without magic? Because of this, I find players seldom truly overspend resources (not to say that I haven't seen a wizard waste a fireball on a lone goblin).

I define overspending resources as taking a rest that causes you to fail your current objective in order to avoid a potential TPK.



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[pemerton]

Well or poorly for the party (in the fiction - "we're doing well, we've managed to fight our way this far and aren't in too much of a hurry, if something goes wrong tonight, we're ready for it..."), for the players ("meh, this has been a boring session, I haven't even cast Ravening Doombolt yet..."), or for the DM ("ah, I kept them guessing, and the Champion got to shine in a couple of the less important fights")?

I think it is frustrating for players to not get to do their thing - hence (as I said in the other thread) I'm not a big fan of ensuring balance by having players of wizards etc not use all their stuff and hence play weaker than they look on paper. I prefer an approach to balance where having your PC do his/her thing doesn't lead to intraparty imbalance.

In a game where rests are player driven (leading to the 5MWD, but that's another issue), having a lot of unspent resources means that you failed your team. You held back resources that should have been spent to help the party overcome challenges, causing a long rest earlier than otherwise needed.

When I posted about this in the other thread, I was thinking about it from a satisfying playing of one's PC perspective, rather than a winning the game perspective.

 

[Tony Vargas]

. I prefer an approach to balance where having your PC do his/her thing doesn't lead to intraparty imbalance.

So, not D&D, then..?

 

[pemerton]

So, not D&D, then..?

Huh?

 

[Li Shenron]

From the PC point of view it's definitely a good sign.

 

[pukunui]

I don't really pay attention to this sort of thing. Too invested in the story, I guess.