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<blockquote data-quote="redrick" data-source="post: 6725013" data-attributes="member: 6777696">To be clear, we are specifically talking about wandering encounters during a long rest in an area that players have not sufficiently cleared and secured. There are plenty of monsters still out there (3-4 more encounters worth, because your players are trying to shirk their duties on 6-8 encounters a day.)Woe to the PC who decides to just long rest in the middle of one of my adventures without considering the consequences. I have absolutely thrown TPK threatening encounters at sleeping characters. And, remember, an encounter should be much harder for a group ambushed in their sleep, so what would be a normal encounter during the day becomes a much deadlier encounter at night.Once characters get ambushed in their sleep a few times and narrowly escape, the players will stop resting every time their spells get low. And when they decide to take a rest, instead of turning to the DM and asking, &quot;Can we long rest?&quot; They'll look to each other and say, &quot;Do you think it's safe to rest here?&quot; That is music to my DMing ears!It's a narrative, in-game way to enforce a daily encounter budget.--EDITED TO ADD--As I think I said up-thread, &quot;Wandering&quot; Encounters also don't have to be monsters rolled from a random table. They can be monsters from another area in your adventure. Especially if players have already fought a few encounters and potentially alerted others of their existence and general whereabouts. If the players are going to be passive, maybe let your monsters be active.In my experience, Wandering Monsters support the exploration pillar more than detract from it, because they require the players to pay more attention to their environment and their actions outside of combat.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="redrick, post: 6725013, member: 6777696"] To be clear, we are specifically talking about wandering encounters during a long rest in an area that players have not sufficiently cleared and secured. There are plenty of monsters still out there (3-4 more encounters worth, because your players are trying to shirk their duties on 6-8 encounters a day.) Woe to the PC who decides to just long rest in the middle of one of my adventures without considering the consequences. I have absolutely thrown TPK threatening encounters at sleeping characters. And, remember, an encounter should be much harder for a group ambushed in their sleep, so what would be a normal encounter during the day becomes a much deadlier encounter at night. Once characters get ambushed in their sleep a few times and narrowly escape, the players will stop resting every time their spells get low. And when they decide to take a rest, instead of turning to the DM and asking, "Can we long rest?" They'll look to each other and say, "Do you think it's safe to rest here?" That is music to my DMing ears! It's a narrative, in-game way to enforce a daily encounter budget. --EDITED TO ADD-- As I think I said up-thread, "Wandering" Encounters also don't have to be monsters rolled from a random table. They can be monsters from another area in your adventure. Especially if players have already fought a few encounters and potentially alerted others of their existence and general whereabouts. If the players are going to be passive, maybe let your monsters be active. In my experience, Wandering Monsters [I]support[/I] the exploration pillar more than detract from it, because they require the players to pay more attention to their environment and their actions outside of combat. [/QUOTE]

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