D&D 5E I have never once worried about "encounters per day" when prepping D&D 5E (a poll)

[TerraDave]

I want to change my vote. it occurred to me that I have been frustrated with player Nova-ing and "5 minute workday" strategies at times in the past, and that counts as "worrying about encounters per day" I guess.

I also find myself worrying about it somewhat indirectly. Like, how do I keep the party from resting too much from resting in this dungeon, or how do I make this wilderness area interesting given that they will be resting.

 

[Mannahnin]

I try to keep it fairly organic, and include random encounters as well, but I definitely take encounters per day into consideration.

 

[Mannahnin]

I try to keep it fairly organic, and include random encounters as well, but I definitely take encounters per day into consideration.

I also find myself worrying about it somewhat indirectly. Like, how do I keep the party from resting too much from resting in this dungeon, or how do I make this wilderness area interesting given that they will be resting.

Absolutely this. Especially with wilderness travel, realizing that if they only had one encounter in a given day, it would have to be a nasty one to be challenging at all. In the last campaign I ran that had much such travel, I wound up introducing a curse that gave a diegetic reason to switch to a close variation on the "Gritty Realism" healing rules.

 

[billd91]

Assuming these numbers are in any way representative whatsoever...

WotC was spot-on for rebalancing things so everyone is on the same resource schedule (more or less). Because, again IF this is representative, this means a sizable majority play the game in a way that actively flaunts the fundamental balance between classes, specifically in a way that massively favors full spellcasters and disfavors non- or low-spellcasting classes. AKA, the classes that have been given the short end of the stick since at least 3e and arguably much earlier. (Because we all know that "I don't care about the number of combats per day" basically never means "I regularly run several more encounters per day than the game expects"!)

That's a BIG assumption on your part. Many of us may not care about encounters per day, but this particular topic says nothing about how we and our players are using short rests.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

That's a BIG assumption on your part. Many of us may not care about encounters per day, but this particular topic says nothing about how we and our players are using short rests.

....

If you care about when short rests occur, you are caring about the number of fights in a day. The two are not separable in 5e. Resting to recover resources is something players do in response to fighting.

 

[billd91]

....

If you care about when short rests occur, you are caring about the number of fights in a day. The two are not separable in 5e. Resting to recover resources is something players do in response to fighting.

Literally no. PCs taking short rests when they feel like it has nothing to do with me planning or caring about fights per day.

 

[Helldritch]

I do keep it in mind at all times. The 6-8 will be respected with random encounter until such time as the "requirement" is met. At this point, only "fixed" encounters will occur.

Note: I do however keep the narrative in mind. Always. Story before mechanics.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Assuming these numbers are in any way representative whatsoever...

WotC was spot-on for rebalancing things so everyone is on the same resource schedule (more or less). Because, again IF this is representative, this means a sizable majority play the game in a way that actively flaunts the fundamental balance between classes, specifically in a way that massively favors full spellcasters and disfavors non- or low-spellcasting classes. AKA, the classes that have been given the short end of the stick since at least 3e and arguably much earlier. (Because we all know that "I don't care about the number of combats per day" basically never means "I regularly run several more encounters per day than the game expects"!)

True. It just is unfortunate that they chose to rebalance things around the wrong rest type.

As for the actual question, yes, of course I worry about it a bit. It is far from exact, and of course ultimately the players actions have a huge effect of what fights happen and when, but I pay some attention to pacing of rests and fights. This is one reason why I use gritty rests, as that way it is easier to get to at least somewhat in the ballpark of the expected encounter/rest ratio. (The other reason being that it is gentler for my somewhat fragile disbelief suspenders.)

 

[Umbran]

Worry is a strong word ...

Agreed. Worry is a a strong word. I'm not losing sleep over it.

However, when the game design is based on a particular cadence - be it a day in the fiction, or the meta-period of a gaming session - it usually behooves the GM to take that into account in their planning.

Case in point - Classic Deadlands. The game has a mechanic, in which at the beginning of a session of play, players draw three poker chips from a hat. They come in different values, and can be spent to improve die rolls, avoid damage, and so on. Any chips not spent at the end of the session can either be held for next session (you can hold a maximum of ten chips like this), or turned in for XP to be used for character improvement.

Perhaps you can see the problem that arises - if one session does not call for spending chips, the players may bank the power not used for later. Which is fine - it can allow for very cinematic play when the bubblegum really hits the fan, and players have lots of chips in hand...

However, this system was really designed around sessions about 4 to 6 hours long. If you are playing 2 to 3 hour sessions, you probably aren't pressing on the chip economy - character quickly bank 10 chips, and the excess becomes character advancement.

Again, there's nothing inherently wrong with this, but it has impact upon play, and can lead to consistently low-balling the challenges if the GM isn't paying attention to how much they are challenging the players.

 

[Agametorememberbooks]

Simple premise to this question:

True or False: I have never once worried about "encounters per day" when prepping D&D 5E

I have never once worried about “encounters per day” when prepping D&D.