So what is a drawback in that game of a fight going badly, but not so badly that you actually lose? And how is power use limited outside of combat? Are they spells, can they be cast infinitely? What do the recoveries do? What do the victories do?
Abilities meant for use outside of combat can either be used at will or have some built-in limitation. For example, a Void Elementalist always has the ability A Beyonding Of Vision, which lets them see invisible things, detect illusions, and see and understand magic auras. That's just a thing they can do, and they can also share this vision with others in limited ways. Starting at 3rd level (out of 10), they gain the ability Distance is only a Memory, which lets them open a two-way portal to any place where they have previously been, when completing a Respite. This portal lasts for one hour or until dismissed. This is limited in that it's only once per respite, and has to be done as you finish the respite – it's a thing you do to start your adventure, not end it.
Abilities that require heroic resources are generally limited out of combat to being used once until you get a Victory or take a Respite (long rest). Victories are normally gained through winning an encounter (possibly gaining two if it was particularly tough). You can also gain Victories for completing successful Negotiations or Montages (a shared effort for the whole party to accomplish some larger goal through completing discrete tasks – for example, the overall goal might be "get to the ruins of Thox'allor" and the party might be accomplishing that by Acquire Provisions in town, Recruit a Guide, Finding your Way, Overcome some obstacle, Avoid an enemy, and so on, each of which requires a skill check).
Heroic resources are accrued in combat. Starting characters get either 2 or 1d3 per round depending on class, and all classes also have some additional regeneration from things that happen. For example, Furies (~barbarians with a possible touch of druidic shapechange) get bonus resources for taking damage. Censors (~paladins) get bonus resources for Judging targets and dueling them. Elementalists get bonus resources when people nearby take elemental damage. And so on. Most of these bonus resources are limited to 1/round.
For each Victory you have, you start each encounter with one additional Heroic resource. Taking a respite (~long rest, must be in a safe location and takes at least 24 hours, allows for certain downtime-style activities) turns your Victories into XP and resets your Recoveries to their max and recovers all your Stamina/hp. The idea is to create a tension between Heroically Carrying On, which makes you stronger because of your Victories but is riskier because of spent Recoveries, or Cautiously Retreating to Safety to reset.
Recoveries are basically 4e-style healing surges: spending one heals you for a third of your max Stamina (hp). You can spend one as a maneuver (~bonus action) unless you are dying, or someone else who's adjacent can spend one main action to Heal you which lets you spend a recovery as well. Certain classes (Troubadours, Tacticians, and especially Conduits) have abilities that allow others to spend recoveries, and Censors can spend their own recoveries to heal allies. The drawback to a fight going badly would be that you spend more recoveries than you should – so it impairs your long-term endurance, but not your short-term offense.
