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Message: <blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 8647007" data-attributes="member: 3400">This has been an issue all throughout D&D's history. In earlier editions, it was characterized more by PCs not using expendable resources like potions, magic ammunition, wand charges, and so on. You'll even see it in computer games where there's a metered resource. And it's all in the player mentality about managing resources and opportunity costs. "If I use it now, it may help but I might need it more later" is always a potential issue whether it's about using the +1 arrows, the action surge, the grenades, etc. And the more expensive the resource is to get, the bigger an issue this is. If it costs thousands of dollars/gold/credits, and that money is scarce, PCs won't use it. If it's a hassle to get, they won't use it. If it's hard to get the 8 hour rest, they'll hoard those spell slots.The way adventures/games work toward rising action against tougher opponents and a boss monster is almost never a help in these circumstances either. By the time you encounter them, your resources are probably ebbing low. That too, I'm sure, has helped to "train" players to play this way. But if it's relatively easy, they may be encouraged to use them. In 3e/PF, cure light wounds spells had a LOT of charges and were cheap - PFS characters were always pretty easily stocked with them. If you refresh your grenade stash after every couple of combats, or can hide behind some cover to recover your energy shield, you use them. If your hit points come back after every combat, you risk losing them with reckless abandon. If you can get an 8 hour rest easily and impunity, you nova and have a 15 minute adventuring day. If you don't have to worry about BODY or hit points in a Superhero game, you can move from fight to fight like in the comics without worrying about being too beat up to chase down the villain.So, what should you do? Figure out which resources you want the PCs to use more freely and put them on a short rest - something I find 5e has already done to my satisfaction. Shorten the short rest from the default 1 hour to 5-10 minutes - enough to credibly bandage up and catch a breather after a deadly fight - if you need to. Keep the ones you want PCs using more judiciously to a longer rest. Make potions even cheaper and easier to use like using the Critical Role house rule of drinking a potion as a bonus action.And, above all, remind players that resources are there to be used.</blockquote>

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