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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 7203569" data-attributes="member: 996">Thus 'guideline' or 'recommendation,' yes.  But, it's not just 'what the PCs' can handle in a "don't cross this line, it could be too much" sense, it's also what the 'PC's can handle' in the "get up close to this line pretty consistently or the PCs won't be challenged" sense.And, challenging the PCs isn't just about the challenge, itself, because class designs use very different resource mixes, and encounter difficulty is dependent upon attrition.   The DM has that power, no matter what.  The game can't dictate to the DM, who is, afterall, free to change it's rules.  What the guideline does, however, is point out a range of ways to run the game in which the mechanical considerations of class balance and encounter difficulty will be more stable.  It's a fairly narrow range, so, if you want to avail yourself of that feature, it places substantial constraints on your campaign.   It does give some 'player agency' (or 'entitlement'), in that it allows for meta-gaming/system-mastery of a fairly basic sort that can fairly easily result in the characters tackling more dangerous encounters, for more exp, and at less risk - and allow certain character types to consistently outshine others.   The interaction with the world is more a matter of DM-Player dynamics, since the DM mediates the player experience of his imagined world.   Recovery based on a set number of encounters is used to good effect in 13A.  Like the 6-8 encounter guideline, it's a way of imposing class balance and consistent encounter difficulty in spite of a system that uses inherently imbalance as a way of differentiating class designs.  It's a solid way of doing so, and it has less of an impact on the DM's 'storytelling' efforts.  13A also retains player agency (to the extent that resting early to try to trivialize the next encounter is an example of player agency), by allowing the option or retreat and/or early rest with a 'campaign failure' consequence.  Both solutions are constraining to the DM, and place meta-game/system-mastery considerations before the players.  But each has it's own advantages, as well.</blockquote>

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