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Message: <blockquote data-quote="davep123" data-source="post: 5976126" data-attributes="member: 93229">Howdy all, I’m something of a lurker on these forums, and very rarely post, but I thought I’d chip in with the solution to the 15 minute work day that we use in our campaign. The game we play is basically 4e with lots of house rules. All characters are either priestly sorts who channel their powers through magical focuses, or ‘talenters’ who are like fantasy X-men. That means all classes have magical powers that are either at-will, per encounter, or per encounter but useable only when bloodied (these replace dailies). So, all powers are completely refreshed after each encounter. We don’t use the usual 4e surge mechanic. Instead, each character has an extra hp stat: ‘max hp’ (as opposed to full hps). Whenever they use a surge, they are healed as normal but their max hp stat drops by a value equal to one tenth of their full hps (rounded down). F’rinstance, if a fighter has 30 full hps, takes 15 damage putting him at 15 current hps, and uses a surge that heals him for 8hp, he’ll have 23 current hp and 27 max hp. If he uses another surge to heal 8hp, both his current and max hp will be 25 with the extra healing wasted. Max hps recover slowly at the rate of a few per day. So, the sole resource depleted through consecutive encounters is max hp, representing a loss of inner strength (as most healing uses the recipient’s own inner endurance to power the effect).  The mechanic that encourages the characters to continue in the face of diminishing max hps makes use of a variant of action points (i.e. extra actions). With each successive encounter the ‘Heroism Meter’ increases by 1 to a maximum of 6, resetting if they have an extended rest. Here’s the Heroism Meter table: 1: One extra action useable only when the character is below zero hp (which doesn’t necessarily represent helplessness in my game)2: One extra action useable only when the character is bloodied3. One extra action useable anytime4. Two extra actions, one usable anytime and one when the character is below zero hp5. Two extra actions, one useable anytime and one when the character is bloodied6. Two extra actions, both useable anytime So, the more fights the characters have, the more fragile they become but the more kick-arse they become, too. After several encounters, they risk being taken out in only a couple of good hits, but can overwhelm the bad guys very quickly with their barrage of extra actions. In one memorable session, one of the characters had been healed so many times that his max hps were below half his full hps, meaning he started the fight both unwounded and bloodied (which meant he also had access to his bloodied powers at the beginning of the fight). Anyway, this setup has worked for us in our game. It has made the decision to rest a meaningful choice for the players – do they want to restore their max hp and lose their extra actions, or remain fragile but keep their extra actions? Of course, sometimes the story places time limits on them, which mean resting isn’t always an option. But this way, as DM I’m not forced to constantly impose story-based time limits on the characters to prevent them from resting after every fight. Of course, none of this would be easily useable in 5e with its Vancian magic, but I thought I’d chip in since the topic was specifically about possible solutions to the problem of the 15 minute workday. Also, I'd be curious to hear of anyone who's used something similar, or who may have possible criticisms of our system. For example, I know that 'one tenth of max hp per surge' works at low levels, but may have to be adjusted for higher level characters.</blockquote>

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