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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Indaarys" data-source="post: 9010386" data-attributes="member: 7040941">Perhaps one is clever enough to think up a system that eliminates this particular issue? In LNO (my game), I managed to get around this by having the two Energy bars/pools/whatever go down at a set rate equal to the correlating Energy modifier.So max Energy mod is +15 (with the bar itself maxing out at 525), so any basic action that consumes Energy drains 15 of that energy, and this can be modified by modifiers attached to whatever ability. Some take less, others take more, and Ive also set up a number of abilities, including basic actions and reactions, that have a set cost separate from the Energy mod, which is meant to both be an option when you run out, and to eat up any odd stray Energy that gets restored by potions or some other source. Done this way it becomes pretty straight forward to track usage. I actually even had the idea of having the player roll for their energy turn by turn, similarly to how they already have to roll for their movement (the same 2d20 roll that governs their Act and React determines their base movement for the round), but this proved to be a little too weird, though it did speed things up even more and made for some hectic feeling fights. It also had the issue that you really had to be comfortable with everything your character could do; very easy to get decision paralysis when you don't know ahead of time what you'll even be able to use. Because DND is held back by its crummy rest system thats, ultimately, fundamentally flawed, even in games where its done well and doesn't get in the way.People seem to keep ignoring the point Ive been making about fully segregating survival. Having to sleep is survival. Potions is a system that can then step in and provide a functional way to maintain a resource attrition system in the core of the game, which happens to still make a hell of a lot sense given we already have magical potions in the game, some of which do the same things the new potion system would be doing. Is it the only system? No. We can just skip the resource attrition idea outright aside from the minimum of HP and combat can be balanced by difficulty, strategy, and perhaps a more involved Wounds system. Also has to be said re: survival is that survival should be a more interactable and visible part of the game if we're going to insist upon it. Rests as they exist now don't qualify. Their visible, mechanical representation is summed up as a proverbial checkmark in the DMs notes that says the players can reset their stuff. That isn't very interesting at all.Whereas a potion system could be made indepth enough that it provides gameplay opportunities beyond just resetting resources. Questing for ingredients is a natural consequence, and they obviously open up a number of classes that are otherwise underserved by the absence of a substantive potion system; your Alchemist, Poisoner, and Bomb making types, for instance, all get a hell of a lot deeper and more fun to play. There isn't a single class that suddenly becomes possible, nevermind more fun, by a Rest system. People have a weird holier than thou look towards video games as though TTRPGs are somehow fundamentally distinct, when they really arent. Hell, a number of early CRPGs were literally just DND copied near verbatim. TES games are descended from Runequest. Etc. People forget that TTRPGs are, in fact, games, hence the "G". This again brings up one of the earliest points I made in this topic. It you're already skipping survival, which most tables are, then you're basically doublethinking if you're taking issue with that situation. "My character hasn't eaten or drank water in who knows how long because we don't care about doing all that, but I will freak out if my character doesn't get his biologically required sleep". Either you go all the way with survival or don't bother. This weird halfway house people are trying to occupy is bizarre and just reeks of confirmation bias. I mentioned verisimilitude in the OP to acknowledge the issue people can have with things like safe haven rules, bar none the most common fix to problems with the Rest system in DND, and people hooked onto that to try and act like I'm the one who has a problem with verisimilitude, while all the while cherry picking what survival elements are absolutely imperative to have in the game, if they even acknowledge that their clinging to a survival mechanic at all. It is bad and should be replaced, as evidenced by the continuing problems people have with it. QUOTE="Maxperson, post: 9010069, member: 23751"]Mainly because if you needed potions to restore magical energy, magic would likely never have been discovered.</blockquote>There are very few games that use a Mana system where it doesn't recover over time if you can afford to sit there, and in the ones that do it, its either considered plain bad, or its counterbalanced by way of getting more mana than normal. (Morrowind for instance ironically does both simultaneously) But that natural recovery isn't viable to rely on for combat, which as Im sure everyone is aware, is the main thing in DND and similar TTRPGs that would be draining magic resources (in whatever forn that takes). If you're in a dungeon, potions make a lot more sense than taking a nap, for obvious reasons, as it would in a battlefield, a siege, or what have you. If you're travelling, or barely use up your magic for the day regardless, then sure, take a nap and/or just wait around, and save the potions for when you can't afford to wait. Something else to consider is that these systems also necessitate more visceral combat. Theres generally not a lot of big, one-off nukes like you see in most of the good DND spells. Instead you have more consistent, lower power spells that you run as a staple, and you weave in other spell types to suit the situation. You might (and I do in LNO) also have spells be useful offensively and defensively; that same Fire Lash can be used to bash people sure, but if the Ogre is about to cave in your skull, you can go for a disarm with it to protect yourself. Stuff like that. The big one off nukes that would still exist would, in turn, be more consequentially awesome yet limited. The classic Fireball could be as far more devastating as it is draining to your ability to fight on. Overall, it makes for more interesting combat.[/QUOTE]

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