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<blockquote data-quote="77IM" data-source="post: 4580811" data-attributes="member: 12377">From a high level, D&amp;D has always been about resource management.Healing Surges are a resource the player needs to manage and decide when to use.&nbsp; This decision is only interesting if the resource is limited in some fashion (if it's not limited, it's not really a resource in the tactical sense, it's an asset).&nbsp; Healing Surges are limited and their very purpose is to limit healing in order to raise the question:&nbsp; Should we take our extended rest now?If the game had no healing surges, the answer would always be &quot;yes,&quot; because you want your hit points back.&nbsp; If the game had infinite healing surges, the answer would always be &quot;no&quot; (setting aside for the moment the issue of daily powers, which I'm surprised haven't been brought up more, as they are the flip side of the resource-management question).As far as I know, extended rest is the only form of unlimited (non-resource-constrained) healing in the game (and it's quasi-limited by the fact that you can only do it once per day).&nbsp; It conveniently also renews your kill-stuff-dead resources (daily powers).&nbsp; The design goal is that there should be some decision-making by the players to decide when to take an extended rest.&nbsp; But if there's no downside, the decision itself becomes boring, and in this case it also leads to boring play (since the party just rests all the time).I think 4e has a great handle on resource management within a single encounter, because:&nbsp; you can't typically get your spend resources back during the encounter.&nbsp; But something is slightly broken at the multi-encounter level if you are able to get them back between each and every encounter.Another way to look at it:&nbsp; Players have two main resources.1. Don't-get-dead-resource:&nbsp; Hit points and healing surges.&nbsp; Players want to keep them because if you lose them you're out of the game (you might get raised but that's at best a big PITA).&nbsp; They are limited because if they weren't you would be invincible.2.&nbsp; Kill-stuff-dead-resource:&nbsp; Your encounter and daily powers.&nbsp; Players want to spend them to defeat enemies, but because they are limited, you need to decide when to spend them for maximum benefit.The question of &quot;when should these resources increase?&quot; is a tricky one and I think dismissing the issue as &quot;eh, extended rest works just fine&quot; misses a lot of interesting possibilities for game play.&nbsp;-- 77IM</blockquote>

[QUOTE="77IM, post: 4580811, member: 12377"] From a high level, D&D has always been about resource management. Healing Surges are a resource the player needs to manage and decide when to use. This decision is only interesting if the resource is limited in some fashion (if it's not limited, it's not really a resource in the tactical sense, it's an asset). Healing Surges are limited and their very purpose is to limit healing in order to raise the question: Should we take our extended rest now? If the game had no healing surges, the answer would always be "yes," because you want your hit points back. If the game had infinite healing surges, the answer would always be "no" (setting aside for the moment the issue of daily powers, which I'm surprised haven't been brought up more, as they are the flip side of the resource-management question). As far as I know, extended rest is the only form of unlimited (non-resource-constrained) healing in the game (and it's quasi-limited by the fact that you can only do it once per day). It conveniently also renews your kill-stuff-dead resources (daily powers). The design goal is that there should be some decision-making by the players to decide when to take an extended rest. But if there's no downside, the decision itself becomes boring, and in this case it also leads to boring play (since the party just rests all the time). I think 4e has a great handle on resource management within a single encounter, because: you can't typically get your spend resources back during the encounter. But something is slightly broken at the multi-encounter level if you are able to get them back between each and every encounter. Another way to look at it: Players have two main resources. [b]1. Don't-get-dead-resource:[/b] Hit points and healing surges. Players want to [i]keep[/i] them because if you lose them you're out of the game (you might get raised but that's at best a big PITA). They are limited because if they weren't you would be invincible. [b]2. Kill-stuff-dead-resource:[/b] Your encounter and daily powers. Players want to [i]spend[/i] them to defeat enemies, but because they are limited, you need to decide when to spend them for maximum benefit. The question of "when should these resources increase?" is a tricky one and I think dismissing the issue as "eh, extended rest works just fine" misses a lot of interesting possibilities for game play. -- 77IM [/QUOTE]

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