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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Flamestrike" data-source="post: 6790409" data-attributes="member: 6788736">With only 2 encounters per long rest, full casters can reliably drop their highest level spell slot round after round after round, barbarians are perma-raging and paladins smiting on every single attack.Over the same period of time, your fighter gets the one action surge. Perhaps thats OK with the groups you play in, but it would necessitate far harder encounters, (which makes that paltry 1 action surge even less remarkable and further lengthens the gap between class balance). It also makes the game one of rocket tag, and increases the chance of a TPK (expecially for the fighter!).I cant imagine a typical dungeon where you bump just the two encounters and then fall back for a full nights rest. Not everyone plays in dungeons of course; but that is the default place where adventuring in 'dungeons and dragons' happens.Here is a 'typical' DnD adventure design. Step 1: Come up with your hook. 'Save elf princess from evil BBEG by midnight or else he completes his foul ritual of doom and summons super devil' Now right off the bat, the players know they have to conserve resources for this time frame.Step 2: Build your encounters, generally factoring in short rest spots at convenient points in the adventure. Use the guidelines in the DMG for putting them together, generaly avoiding solo encounters for more than one or two encounters (thanks to bounded accuracy, mooks are a thing, and theyre abundant in the 5E MM). For a party of 5 x 5th level PCs they have an encounter budget of:Easy: 1250 XPMedium: 2500 XPHard: 3750 XPDeadly: 5500 XPPlayers depart for dark temple as night falls. They have 6 hours to midnight. Its a 2 hour trip to the temple.Sample adventuring day design:a) 1 Gnoll fang of Yeonoghu, 4 gnoll warriors, 1 gnoll pack lord (a 'random' encounter) on the way to the dark temple (waylaying some NPCs who reward the PCs if they are helped)b) 1 chimera patrols the temples exterior. Increase its HP to 150, increase Str to 20, add +1 to hit and damage and str saves and skills; increase its CR to 7Short rest (before descending into the dungeon level)c) 1 Orog, 1 Eye of Gruumsh and 6 Orcs are on guardd) 1 Bearded devil (in full plate, AC 18) and 1 Hell hound pet (summoned as extra muscle)short reste) 1 Orc war chief and 2 Orog bodyguards (leader of the temples orc mercenaries)f) 1 Mage BBEG (remove 4th and 5th level spells, give the invoker sculpt spells ability to ignore squares with AoE spells, reduce CR to 5) 1 displacer beast pet, 4 supplicants (spies in chain shirts - increase AC to 15). Hand the BBEG a nice magic item that the PCs can use and that you want in your campaign (dont forget to use it on the PCs first!)For random encounters (if the party rests too much) throw an Orc patrol at them similar to encounter 'c' above.If the party long rests or doesnt reach the princess by midnight, then the princess dies, they dont get paid, and 'Glamulrex' (a Bone devil) is summoned. Its first order by the BBEG is to kill the PC's mentor, and them.Finally, add a trap or two (BBEG has a trapped chest, and the spies have rigged one of the corridoors with a trap of some kind), and some terrain features into your encounters and elsewhere (a secret door leads a forgotten treasure hoard) and you're set.This was all off the top of my headd. In addition to drawing the map for the ruins, it took me all of 30 minutes to do, and I already have hooks for a potentially recurring BBEG (the wizard or the devil) and enough material to work on for a couple of sessions at least.I can expand the dungoneon easy enough too by adding a stariway down in the secret horde room (or even placing a 'hook' of a secret treasure map in there).Not helpful mate.Time your adventures. Here are some suggestions:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Save princess by X or bad thing Y happens </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Recover the macguffin before the BBEG does X with it </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">You get paid 100 gold if you complete the task - it'll be 500 gp if you complete the task before sun-up </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Adventure is on an island. The PCs boat gets damaged on route to elsewhere and elect to explore a nearby island while they wait. The PC's have only 24 hours to explore the ruins before the captain has to leave. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Reactive BBEGs that move the macguffin elsewhere/ increase wandering monster patrolls/ replenish empty rooms etc if PCs insist on alerting them via Nova/ fall back 5 minute AD's </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dangerous environments that make resting hard/ impossible </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">PCs are trapped in a dungeon and need to escape before Y </li> </ul>Not every adventure needs to be timed (or to stick to the 6 encounter/ 2 short rest/ 1 long rest AD). Stick to it about 50 percent of the time, and it becomes self regulating. Your players will naturally police themselves (and mamange resources/ avoid nova strikes) accordingly.Other methods you can use include 'random' encounters. Or finally if your players refuse to buy in, simply by saying 'No; its too dangerous to rest here - there is a good chance of a wandering monster, and due to the hazardous nature of your environment and the requirement for you to be constantly alert, resting wont give you any mechanical benefits'.As the DM its your job to police the 5 minute adventuring day, and to design your encounters to be a fun and challenging thing for your players. If they simply refuse to buy in then you have bigger issues at your table.If your wizards and paladins and barbarians insist on nova smashing your first few encounters, throw more at them. Make sure they get at least six before they get to long rest. After limping through some encounters with nothing but cantrips and no spell slots or rages left, they'll get the picture and conserve those higher level spell slots and rages and smites for when they are really needed.</blockquote>

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