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Message: <blockquote data-quote="humble minion" data-source="post: 3559247" data-attributes="member: 5948">My single massive problem with per-encounter abilities (magic especially) is that it breaks horribly when non-combat abilities come into the picture.  D&D's spell list is already enormously combat-focused, almost to the point of implausibility imho.  Going to per-encounter magic would break this even further.  How many times per day can a 3/encounter spell be used outside of an encounter environment?  Any numerical answer to that question makes 'per-encounter' meaningless, but simply saying 'infinite' has massive implications for the implied setting.  Take Wall of Stone as an example.  It's damn useful outside of combat - a moderately industrious wizard could rebuild and reinforce an entire keep in an afternoon if he put his mind to it.  A city might take a few months - and that's assuming there's only one guy doing it.  Who'd be a builder under those circumstances?  And what about Create Food and Water?  Why would anyone bother to farm?  Remove disease?  There'd never be a plague again.  And even thinking about how this would interact in a political setting with enchantments like Charm Person gives me a headache.Have to admit, I like the per-encounter paradigm as a way of keeping things moving in an adventuring situation, and not compelling the PCs to run away and heal/recover spells every half an hour.  It makes DMing a lot easier - I have a Dragon Shaman in my current group and the unlimited healing ability has been an absolute godsend.  It's great not having to deal with how the various dungeon denizens react to the PC intrusion and beef up their security/traps/etc for next time.  Per-scene abilities worked in World of Darkness because there's only a rather small number of critters than can use them (in relation to the total population of the world), and they have other external limitations on their use such as the need to keep hidden from humanity, and a 'mana' cost in blood points or whatever.  But in D&D, where everyone knows magic exists and an awful lot of people can use it, I'm worried that going per-encounter would either require utility, non-combat magic to be weakened even further beyond its current wretched state, or would mean that Eberron-esque magitech would be pretty much standard in every setting, as an inevitable result of a lot of wizards with a lot of time on their hands and unlimited magic at their disposal.  Not that I dislike Eberron-esque magitech, but it really doesn't fit in Krynn.  Or Athas.  Or Ravenloft...</blockquote>

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