Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 5540048" data-attributes="member: 22779">Again, let's look at this though.&nbsp; I totally agree that resource management is part of dungeon crawling.&nbsp; But, there's a big divide in how resources work between the casters and the non-casters.For example, the non-casters have virtually no way of restoring any of their resources.&nbsp; Ammo can be scavenged, of course, which means that they aren't going to run out so long as they can continue to scavenge, but, there is nothing the player can pro-actively do to replenish his arrows.&nbsp; He has to go back to town (or where ever) and buy more.Same with hit points.&nbsp; If the group is so harried by random encounters that they cannot even rest to regain spells, how are they possibly going to rest long enough for natural healing?&nbsp; It's never going to happen.&nbsp; At best, you might get a few hp back, and that's about it.IOW, if the cleric can't get his cure spells back because he keeps getting his sleep interupted, the fighter most definitely isn't going to be able to get any hp back naturally.OTOH, the casters regain almost all of their resources through their own actions.&nbsp; If they can rest, they can get their resources back.So, bring this back to the dungeon.&nbsp; The party enters the dungeon, clears a few encounters (however many) and then decides to rest.&nbsp; Why?Because the cleric is out of healing spells most likely.&nbsp; Otherwise, you continue to push on until the cleric is out of healing spells.&nbsp; If you remove the dependence on the cleric for hit points, the non-casters have zero reason to ever rest.&nbsp; They don't gain anything by resting.But, if we let the party rest whenever they want to, then the casters get too powerful.&nbsp; So, we have random encounters to force the party to choose to rest or continue with dwindling resources.&nbsp; IOW, random encounters occur because of the casters.&nbsp; If you had a group of non-casters with rings of regeneration, they'd never rest.&nbsp; They would never need to, other than spending a few minutes here or there to top up their hp.&nbsp; Random encounters serve no purpose in this scenario as far as resource management goes.&nbsp; It's just xp delivery.If you get away from D&amp;D with it's Vancian casting, other games almost never have (yes, I'm sure there are some that do, but most don't) random encounters.&nbsp; Why not?&nbsp; If random encounters were a verisimilitude thing, then shouldn't nearly all games have rules for random encounters?In my mind, it's pretty clear.&nbsp; Random encounters are a method for limiting caster resources.&nbsp; Remove Vancian casting and you remove most of the reason for random encounters in the first place.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 5540048, member: 22779"] Again, let's look at this though. I totally agree that resource management is part of dungeon crawling. But, there's a big divide in how resources work between the casters and the non-casters. For example, the non-casters have virtually no way of restoring any of their resources. Ammo can be scavenged, of course, which means that they aren't going to run out so long as they can continue to scavenge, but, there is nothing the player can pro-actively do to replenish his arrows. He has to go back to town (or where ever) and buy more. Same with hit points. If the group is so harried by random encounters that they cannot even rest to regain spells, how are they possibly going to rest long enough for natural healing? It's never going to happen. At best, you might get a few hp back, and that's about it. IOW, if the cleric can't get his cure spells back because he keeps getting his sleep interupted, the fighter most definitely isn't going to be able to get any hp back naturally. OTOH, the casters regain almost all of their resources through their own actions. If they can rest, they can get their resources back. So, bring this back to the dungeon. The party enters the dungeon, clears a few encounters (however many) and then decides to rest. Why? Because the cleric is out of healing spells most likely. Otherwise, you continue to push on until the cleric is out of healing spells. If you remove the dependence on the cleric for hit points, the non-casters have zero reason to ever rest. They don't gain anything by resting. But, if we let the party rest whenever they want to, then the casters get too powerful. So, we have random encounters to force the party to choose to rest or continue with dwindling resources. IOW, random encounters occur because of the casters. If you had a group of non-casters with rings of regeneration, they'd never rest. They would never need to, other than spending a few minutes here or there to top up their hp. Random encounters serve no purpose in this scenario as far as resource management goes. It's just xp delivery. If you get away from D&D with it's Vancian casting, other games almost never have (yes, I'm sure there are some that do, but most don't) random encounters. Why not? If random encounters were a verisimilitude thing, then shouldn't nearly all games have rules for random encounters? In my mind, it's pretty clear. Random encounters are a method for limiting caster resources. Remove Vancian casting and you remove most of the reason for random encounters in the first place. [/QUOTE]

Verification