D&D General D&D without resource management

[Celebrim]

I don't think that assertion stands up to much scrutiny.

Well, obviously it's meant with a little humorous exaggeration, but it's actually a rather deeper assertion than you might think.

The different between a "shooter" and an cRPG usually comes down to how complex the inventory management system is, or more generally how complex the resource management system is of which inventory is just a part.

 

[Stalker0]

Of course the biggest change would come to casters. I think the best solution would be to go to a "casting check" system. Personally I would not set DCs to particular spells, but instead let caster make a check to find out how much magical energy they can gather that turn, and then decide whether to use it immediately, or keep gathering next turn to be able to use bigger effects or more powerful spells. It would require a totally different system for casting and using spells, but that would not necessarily be a bad thing.

The issue with such systems is never combat when your time is precious, its outside combat when your time is plentiful. If casters can just gather magical energy for a few minutes to power things...they effectively can do whatever they want for as long as they want. You then either need to give some gnarly penalties to fail those checks (which could be dire in combat), or you need to greatly nerf magic so that these effects aren't too strong. Or....you make the game caster focused (ala Ars Magica), so magic isn't expected to balance against mundane.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I'll admit, for 5e I don't care about tracking ammunition or rations, unless there's something special about it. If I were to catch someone giving themselves infinite +1 arrows, though, there would be words, just the same as there would be if someone wasn't keeping track of their spell slots or wand charges.

There's a fine line between bean-counting and resource management that D&D has wandered all over throughout the years. In older editions, travelling the wilderness and watching your rations tick down, or delving deeper and deeper into a dungeon and watching your supply of arrows dwindle as you weighed returning to town or not, added tension to the experience. For the style of 5e I enjoy, I'm not sure it does.

Yes, some element of resource management is core to the D&D experience - mainly hit points and magic resources whether spells, potions, or charges of wands.
Rations and arrows are less iconic, but the game has always pretty much included them or allowed DMs to hand wave them, so any game that completely glosses over it would be losing a potential portion of the D&D experience and drifting over toward the "Not D&D" end of the "How D&D is it" spectrum.

 

[Reynard]

The issue with such systems is never combat when your time is precious, its outside combat when your time is plentiful. If casters can just gather magical energy for a few minutes to power things...they effectively can do whatever they want for as long as they want. You then either need to give some gnarly penalties to fail those checks (which could be dire in combat), or you need to greatly nerf magic so that these effects aren't too strong. Or....you make the game caster focused (ala Ars Magica), so magic isn't expected to balance against mundane.

Valid concern. I think the easiest thing to do would be to cap the total amount of "mana" the caster can hold based on character level.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Aside from the actual social role-playing part, RPGs are primarily inventory management simulators.

FATE, HERO and BESM say hi.

Huh. All all-caps. Neat.

 

[Krachek]

Aside from the actual social role-playing part, RPGs are primarily inventory management simulators.

It is why RPG can also be read as Ressources planning game!

 

[payn]

No, it wouldn't be D&D. It would be a different game. Might still be a fantasy RPG, but not D&D.

This.

 

[Voadam]

D&D with low daily resource management is pretty easy and imo a lot of fun. Hit points is the big thing to normally remain.

 

[Vaalingrade]

'It's not D&D' is how we make sure D&D dies like in Zard's thread.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Even older editions of D&D didnt have much resource management within the classes themselves. Spell slots were still a thing, but if you come with a magic system without resource management, I think you could have the full D&D experience.

HP still remains, but there will always be some kind of resources, be it time or actions during a round.

 

[Umbran]

FATE, HERO and BESM say hi.

You can probably also add Cortex Prime to that list, though it loses the all-caps theme.

What I have played of PbtA and FitD games also buck that inventory assertion.

 

[overgeeked]

Anyway, I am curious what other folks think D&D without resource management -- especially rest based resource management -- would look like, and still "be D&D."

It's a weird one for me. On one hand, I think 4E nailed most aspects of resource management, making most powers at-will or encounter-based rather than daily. Splitting combat from non-combat spells and having non-combat spells be longer and more expensive rituals. But even that made it "not feel like D&D" for a lot of people.

On the other hand, I think wiping away resource management entirely would be a mostly good move for the game. Having a consciousness check, similar to a concentration check, when you take damage would speed up play. Being able to describe the magical effect you want to have, the referee setting a DC, and making a roll would vastly speed up play and let players be more creative. I also think putting in some kind of terrible things happening on failed or botched casting rolls would make the game more fun and interesting. But that would very quickly veer into "not D&D" for a lot of people.

 

[Charlaquin]

Aside from the actual social role-playing part, RPGs are primarily inventory management simulators.

Well, some RPGs are. These days, there’s a lot more variety in what different RPGs do.

 

[Charlaquin]

The issue with such systems is never combat when your time is precious, its outside combat when your time is plentiful.

This issue can be resolved by not making time plentiful outside of combat.

 

[reelo]

Just for clarity, does that mean you think daily resource management is a fundamental aspect of D&D being D&D? And if so, which resources? Hit points and spell points, certainly, but rations? Arrows?

Note that I am not being argumentative. I am honestly curious what you think.

I think the management of spells, HPs, ammunition, food, light (torches), time(!), coin, and other consumables (item charges, potions, scrolls, and attunememt slots) has always been an integral part of D&D, and should remain so.
The emphasis on it has somewhat shifted away over the last couple of editions and, imho, not to the benefit of the game, as it removes a considerable amount of challenge.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I am sooo happy I never had to deal with light as a resource.

 

[overgeeked]

The emphasis on it has somewhat shifted away over the last couple of editions and, imho, not to the benefit of the game, as it removes a considerable amount of challenge.

And that's the "third hand" for me. Resource management is a holdover from when D&D was a dungeon crawler. It hasn't been that in...decades. There's a difference between "can go into a dungeon" and being a "dungeon crawler" game. Modern D&D is definitely the former, not the latter. See all the ways 5E obviates most resource management and effectively kills the exploration pillar. What remains is vestigial at best and more as a "see, it's still the same game, honest" than anything else.

 

[reelo]

IT would still be D&D, just a new, better D&D.

One could argue that D&D is whatever game WotC slaps that name on, so....

But "new and improved" is often just a bland marketing term and I'm wary of it.

 

[Reynard]

And that's the "third hand" for me. Resource management is a holdover from when D&D was a dungeon crawler. It hasn't been that in...decades. There's a difference between "can go into a dungeon" and being a "dungeon crawler" game. Modern D&D is definitely the former, not the latter. See all the ways 5E obviates most resource management and effectively kills the exploration pillar. What remains is vestigial at best and more as a "see, it's still the same game, honest" than anything else.

Ironically, it is actually a better dungeon crawler in the CRPG sense now than it was then, being focused so much more on combat than exploration. AD&D did not look much like Diablo, even though that game exists because of AD&D. But you can do Diablo much better with 5E now.

 

[reelo]

I am sooo happy I never had to deal with light as a resource.

How so? Never been in a pitch-black dungeon?