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Advice: A less hectic workday for my D&D characters
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<blockquote data-quote="Blue" data-source="post: 7404788" data-attributes="member: 20564"><p>Thanks for the kind words, and no worries. We're all enjoying (and kitbashing) our hobby together, and what works at one of our tables may not be right for another.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yes, but several years of the game being out and played really brought home those numbers as really strong.</p><p></p><p>Again, fewer encounters is workable -- it just favors features that are of limited use and more powerful. And since those aren't spread evenly between classes, with some focusing much of long-rest recovery like full casters and others with little on that, it throws off inter-class balance.</p><p></p><p>That said, no one is saying 4-5 encounters is unworkable; the farther you change from the baseline the more pronounced the difference in the recovery model comes. I would say that if some table regularly did 12 encounters we'd see a swing the other way. But I would be worried about 1-2 encounters per day.</p><p></p><p>On threads that talk about "my party has an easy time with my deadly+ encounters, my invariable first question is about the number of encounters per day the players generally expect. It's always low, and I almost always get pushback that "but I'm increasing the difficulty so it should balance".</p><p></p><p> </p><p></p><p>Don't think about "what's the intended power of a class", but rather "what's the balance of power between classes?"</p><p></p><p>Is there a power difference between a barbarian that rages for half the battles in a day and one that rages in all of the battles per day?</p><p></p><p>Is there a power difference between a champion fighter who makes an attack in a round, and a champion fighter who makes the exact same attack in a different round with nothing changing?</p><p></p><p>The first is "yes", the second is "no" - a cheap example how changing the number of encounters per day can change the balance between classes.</p><p></p><p>Because that's my point - not that it makes the PCs as a whole too powerful or too weak - we as DMs can always adjust that - but that it throws off the balance between the classes and makes some classes weaker or more powerful in respect to the other classes.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I'll let you know my prefered solution <em>for my table</em>, but it's nto something that fits every table and from your reservations it may not work at yours.</p><p></p><p>13th Age does their long-rest-recovery based on 4 encounters, not linking it to actual sleep. So a 3 week trek across the savanna with four encounters has a single "long-rest". A dungeon might have one at lunch time after an active morning.</p><p></p><p>There's more to it - give it early for touch encounters, players can take it early but suffer a "campaign loss", an idea not codified anywhere in D&D. And it uses encounter based recharge like 4e instead of short rest recharges like 5e.</p><p></p><p>The idea of recovery being based on what's going on matches a little what [MENTION=12731]CapnZapp[/MENTION] was saying about tailoring the lengths of your rest, without the need for manual adjustments.</p><p></p><p>Many table,<em> rightly so</em>, have issues divorcing the character driven action of resting from resource recovery. This isn't a fit for everyone.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Blue, post: 7404788, member: 20564"] Thanks for the kind words, and no worries. We're all enjoying (and kitbashing) our hobby together, and what works at one of our tables may not be right for another. Yes, but several years of the game being out and played really brought home those numbers as really strong. Again, fewer encounters is workable -- it just favors features that are of limited use and more powerful. And since those aren't spread evenly between classes, with some focusing much of long-rest recovery like full casters and others with little on that, it throws off inter-class balance. That said, no one is saying 4-5 encounters is unworkable; the farther you change from the baseline the more pronounced the difference in the recovery model comes. I would say that if some table regularly did 12 encounters we'd see a swing the other way. But I would be worried about 1-2 encounters per day. On threads that talk about "my party has an easy time with my deadly+ encounters, my invariable first question is about the number of encounters per day the players generally expect. It's always low, and I almost always get pushback that "but I'm increasing the difficulty so it should balance". Don't think about "what's the intended power of a class", but rather "what's the balance of power between classes?" Is there a power difference between a barbarian that rages for half the battles in a day and one that rages in all of the battles per day? Is there a power difference between a champion fighter who makes an attack in a round, and a champion fighter who makes the exact same attack in a different round with nothing changing? The first is "yes", the second is "no" - a cheap example how changing the number of encounters per day can change the balance between classes. Because that's my point - not that it makes the PCs as a whole too powerful or too weak - we as DMs can always adjust that - but that it throws off the balance between the classes and makes some classes weaker or more powerful in respect to the other classes. I'll let you know my prefered solution [I]for my table[/I], but it's nto something that fits every table and from your reservations it may not work at yours. 13th Age does their long-rest-recovery based on 4 encounters, not linking it to actual sleep. So a 3 week trek across the savanna with four encounters has a single "long-rest". A dungeon might have one at lunch time after an active morning. There's more to it - give it early for touch encounters, players can take it early but suffer a "campaign loss", an idea not codified anywhere in D&D. And it uses encounter based recharge like 4e instead of short rest recharges like 5e. The idea of recovery being based on what's going on matches a little what [MENTION=12731]CapnZapp[/MENTION] was saying about tailoring the lengths of your rest, without the need for manual adjustments. Many table,[I] rightly so[/I], have issues divorcing the character driven action of resting from resource recovery. This isn't a fit for everyone. [/QUOTE]
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