D&D General D&D without Resource Management

[Minigiant]

That could work, but you have to admit that at that point you are asking for a different game. Might be better just to fibd or make one.

Why?

A huge chunk of the D&D base no longer follows the base structure of D&D's designed pacing and thus remove the core elements of resource management.

And it happens almost every edition. Everything from Oozes with Potion loot to Batman Wizards to CODzillas to Machinegun Rangers to Hexladins is just people gimmicking out of resource management.

 

[Deset Gled]

VTTs should make resource management less painful, so that we can enjoy the benefits of crunchier game mechanics without being bogged down by the details as much as when players had to do everything manually.

But that "should" is holding up a lot of weight. We really haven't seen a lot of design based around this idea yet. And when/if we do, I'm sure the forum wars over it will be merciless.

 

[Minigiant]

I find that a weaker or highly specialized (limited use case) at will options to be fine ... but imposing a resource management requirement in order to encourage diversity of play is the best path I've seen. In fact, I wish they went back to a more Vancian wizard design where the wizard had more spell slots per level than other classes, but had to specify which spells were going to be used in which slot at the end of their long rest. "I prepare three shields, two magic missiles and a charm person in my 6 first level slots". That encourages wizards to be more versatile and creative in their spell selection.

Everyone hollas for "Freeeeeeeeeeeeedom!" then uses that freedom to gimmick out of tracking and into repetitive gameplay.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Why?

A huge chunk of the D&D base no longer follows the base structure of D&D's designed pacing and thus remove the core elements of resource management.

And it happens almost every edition. Everything from Oozes with Potion loot to Batman Wizards to CODzillas to Machinegun Rangers to Hexladins is just people gimmicking out of resource management.

First of all, all those examples are players mucking about with exceptions to the resource management systems, not actually changing the system built into the game.

Secondly, all WotC editions (at least) are separate games from each other that happen to share a lot of terms.

 

[Minigiant]

First of all, all those examples are players mucking about with exceptions to the resource management systems, not actually changing the system built into the game.

Secondly, all WotC editions (at least) are separate games from each other that happen to share a lot of terms.

My point is that since the slow death of TSR and WOTC buying and save D&D, the D&D community had a section of growing fans who

1. Ignore D&D's resource management system
2. Walk around D&D's resource management system
3. Build out of D&D's resource management system
4. Ask for mechanics to escape D&D's resource management system
5. Homebrew themselves out of D&D's resource management system
6. Complain about D&D's resource management system

That section just grows.

I mean, a druid can already wildshape twice per short rest. A Paladin and Ranger has 6 slots at level 5. That is already once per encounter. So what's the point? High levelbarbarians have enough rages for once per encounter.

Everyone keeps saying "No. Players have to meter it out" but they already can get enough resources for once per encounter. And God help you if you do less than 6 encounters a day. Why not formalize it instead of the rigamarole?

Once per encounter is already in D&D. So how is it not D&D?

 

[jmartkdr2]

Have I got news for you.

... are you saying there's an edition of DnD without resource management?

 

[Corinnguard]

... are you saying there's an edition of DnD without resource management?

I think what Overgeeked is referring to is the hacking (or homebrewing as it called these days ).

 

[MuhVerisimilitude]

No, but resource systems should be unified when possible. Meaning that instead of having several independent "use X times per short/long rest" features, give the class some sort of resource points that can be used for such features as the player pleases. Resource systems don't need to be similar between the classes, but similar classes might use same resource system.

This is exactly how Dragonbane does it. Everything that isn't part of the standard skill system such as spells and the DB analog to feats make use of Will Points. Every class uses this, meaning that every character has an incentive to rest.

Imo the cool thing is that it is very hard to get more Will Points as you improve in skill. It's much easier to get more feats... This means that improving typically gives you more options, but not necessarily more consistent burst.

 

[overgeeked]

... are you saying there's an edition of DnD without resource management?

4E had way less daily resource management and more encounter-based resource management. This made the game effectively not care about how many encounters you had in a day.

I think what Overgeeked is referring to is the hacking (or homebrewing as it called these days ).

There’s that, too.

 

[mamba]

I prefer encounter pacing to be based on the narrative and setup, not designed around x encounters per day for appropriate daily resource management challenge.

Not sure how you base them on narrative and setup when everything recharges per encounter. Either that means you have to scale them up to always be challenging and create a narrative that allows for that, or it means none of them matter because the chars wipe the floor with the enemies each time, until they come to the boss

I basically want the opposite of you. Get rid of per encounter and short rest, and recharge daily only (except for at-will ones).