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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Flamestrike" data-source="post: 6948908" data-attributes="member: 6788736">That's not very helpful though mate.You kinda bemoaned the lack of a milestone resource replenishment system or published modules locking you into a 6-8 encounter AD, yet in the same breath infer that you wouldn't want the game to rely on either system.At present, 5E uses a series of dials (letting you fine tune class and encounter balance by messing with the number of encounters and frequency of rests, even on a session by session basis), provides a number of other options (varying rests by lengthening or shortening them) and even provides some limited advice on the 'adventuring day', It then hands the keys to the shop over to the DM to play around with the above.I admit the DMG missed the boat here, and could have spelled out what we all know via experience and reading over the game as a whole; 1) DnD is (at its core) a resource management game, and 2) Different classes use different resource recovery methods (some are short rest focused, and some are long rest focused), and thus different classes gain different benefits from longer (or shorter) adventuring days and from more (or less) rests, and3) This 'adventuring day' paradigm as a whole impacts on encounter difficulty and class balance depending on the number and frequency of the encounters and rests you (as the DM) permit.To put it a simpler way, short rest classes gain more benefits from more short rests (they are expected to get 2-3 per long rest). Long rest classes are at their peak when dealing with only the single encounter per long rest. The more encounters between long rests, the more they have to ration those resources (which are expected to last them 6-8 encounters). Classes that are resource neutral like the Rogue are generally OK either way, on both longer and shorter days, and gain little (barring healing) from resting (Arcane trickster being the exception).Once you accept the above as being true (and it is), you can then (as DM) tweak class and encounter balance, not by nerfing or buffing classes, or extensive rules changes, but simply by policing the adventuring day (adding or subtracting  encounters to your adventuring day, or adding or subtracting long or short rests) to suit your own preferences and taste.If your party fighter is getting left behind in the dust by the casters, use your prerogative to add more short rest opportunities and more encounters between long rests for a while. If the inverse is true, do the opposite. This way you can ensure every PC has a chance to shine, and balance is maintained in a natural and not forced 'you must finish this amount of encounters to ride the rollercoaster' way.If done right you retain the variety of different adventuring days of different lengths (some one encounter, some featuring a dozen), ensure overall class balance (some days favor some classes, and some days favor others), keeping all classes unique and maintaining encounter balance, while avoiding the same-ness that plagued 4E.</blockquote>

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