D&D 5E Session-based Rules

[Lanefan]

By session? No.

For a particular adventure or scenario or even single combat/encounter? Yes, but very rarely, and almost without exception it's due to the party - intentionally or otherwise - being on another plane where things just work differently.

I tried (and may try again sometime if I ever work up the courage) a scenario once where a fleeing foe, followed by the party, went off-plane and into a version of Robert Jordan's Tel'heran'riod (sp?) dreamworld. Here nothing works the way you might expect...well, it does until someone thinks it shouldn't, then it doesn't. And then someone else thinks it should work a third way, and that's what happens. But thinking someone dead is likely to kill you instead; and while physical combat works (more or less) like normal, magic is another thing entirely. And as the characters (and players) quite reasonably didn't know at first how to make things work the foe had his way with them for a while; fortunately for the party he was already badly hurt and just trying to flee or else he'd have slaughtered them before they figured it out.

In the end it was like trying to DM a group-think LSD trip only without the drugs.

Lanefan

 

[Blue]

I will sparing do this, usually because the context of the adventure changes some assumptions. When playing in a city or traveling civilized lands I don't care to track minutia of supplies - you can get food and drink, replenish arrows, etc. But when stranded on a island that may change.

I also do it sometimes in regards to other aspects. For example the only healer among the players is taking a hiatus due to a new baby, so I've put in place a temporary rule about triggering spending HD on someone who is down.

 

[cmad1977]

Last time I did this the party was shipwrecked without food or water. Exhaustion mechanics played a part. Fortunately they had no ranger(who would have made all that moot) and their cleric(kind of newish player) didn't realize(and I wasn't gonna tell him) that he could 'create food and water' until after they escaped.


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[Rhenny]

This is how I ran playtest games.

Since then, I may try out a new option or rule in one or more sessions, but I ask the players first to see if they want to do it.