I don't think D&D does resource management in a very fun way. I never feel tension when I'm out of spell slots or ki points, I just feel annoyed. And I feel annoyed because the game gets distinctly less fun when you're out of stuff to do, and 5E doesn't do a good job of giving me a framework of heroic or adventurous things to do outside of my resources.
The problem IMO lies in the really medicore equipment and skill rules for 5E. It would be cool if my Wizard, without having to rely on spell slots or cantrips, could do Arcane things via skill checks or equipment. Like, what if my wizard could interfere with a spell the opponent cost with contested Arcane checks? Or really, just let me do something, anything in relation to the game when I'm out of resources. Let new options open up, even if they aren't as good, so that way I don't have to be annoyed waiting or looking for a rest.
This doesn't mean I dislike challenge. Actually, I really, really love challenging games. But only if the challenge is fun to engage with. And it just isn't fun in a combat-heavy game to run out of resources and have to rely on slings and daggers and the rest of the party to do anything of consequence.
Throughout Fantasy fiction, and really all fiction, you see characters who, at their absolute limit and without resources, can still find ways to achieve things. Yes, yes, you can always come up with a way in D&D. I know. But I want the game to give me some reliable and engaging options instead of putting all the onus on me.
Ultimately, the main reason people don't track things like food and water and arrows anymore is because it just isn't fun to do. You don't feel rewarded usually, and the penalties that come from tracking these things means that your character gets even worse to play. If I wanted a game about how the grind of adventuring could break my character down, I'd play Torchbearer, whose mechanics do this really well. In D&D, which is supposed to be about heroic adventure, when I'm grinded down, I want access to something special that I can use to try and still play the game.
DND Next kind of had this with the Sorcerer. Running out of spell slots and sorcery points but gaining draconic weapons or whatever was really cool. It felt like your character was entering a new mode that, while not as versatile or powerful as base, was still really fun to use.
There are many ways to address this beyond what I've suggested. Team-based mechanics like being able to use skills to enhance another party members turn would be very interesting. If my out-of-slots and out-of-dice Bard is in a fight, I want to know I can use performance checks to potentially amp up my party or distract the enemy. I want my out-of-rage Barbarian to have an adrenaline rush moment of absolute desperation that lets me doing something rage-like. I want my Druid to be able to use Animal Handling or Nature checks to effect the battlefield or get some kind of advantage for my party.
None of these are me saying that I want players to always be 'powerful.' Instead, I always players to be able to play to their class fantasy. I want resources and reliable options. There's no reason not to give me both. What we have now is not a satisfying resource management game.
