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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 4472631" data-attributes="member: 18280">I didn't miss your point.  To a degree, you are correct.  A player will pay more attention to damage that surpases what his character can shake off.  In effect, "real" damage will be noted.What you describe becomes a problem based on, IMHO, two factors:(1)  Only a fight that has a reasonable chance to kill you is challenging:  An idea that appeared in 3e as a result of its particular focus, and misunderstanding of the CR/EL rules (by both home games and designers).  When fights take hours to resolve, you naturally expect a lot more from each one.  Yet, the more challenging the fight, the more resources get used, and the more sense it makes to go nova.  IMHO, the design of 4e makes this problem worse, not better.  We've discussed that before, based on the previews.(2)  Rest is not penalized.  Things like wandering encounters and monsters building up their defenses exist not only to enhance verisimilitude, but to provide a "cattle prod" to keep PCs moving.  The 1e DMG contained advice on how to handle PCs retreating and returning -- things should change as a result of the time away.  I don't believe that advice made it into any later edition.So long as the players face consequences both for resting and for pushing on, there is a tension between the two that makes for interesting choice.  It is only when resting is consistently the obviously "right" choice that play falls apart.</blockquote>

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