Which is better: per encounter or per day?

[ThirdWizard]

I prefer /encounter abilities, simply becaue those would allow me, as the DM, more freedom in encounter design. If one encounter a day, they can't blast through, and I could run ten in a day without careful balancing to make sure the PCs can do it in a single day.

Note that this comes from a group that never leaves, rests, and comes back the next day. A site based encounter group (ex dungeon) is done in one go every time. I don't like big dungeons.

 

[Lanefan]

Having never heard of "per encounter" anything before reading this, all I can say is "Bleh!"

How is an "encounter" defined? What if someone wants to use an ability in a "non-encounter" situation, e.g. for practice, or just the sheer hell of it? How long does the reset process take afterwards? Too many questions; too messy.

A day is a day. Reset at midnight, instantly. (arcanely explainable by midnight being when the sun's power is weakest; this has long been a traditional trigger among artificers used for resetting counters, charges, etc., and the same holds true for biological beings, blah blah blah...).

And for those rare occasions when a day is not a day (the party has time-shifted, or is on another plane where time runs differently) their items not resetting on cue is often the first clue the PC's have that something is amiss...

And so, I voted "per day".

Lanefan

 

[Lanefan]

A site based encounter group (ex dungeon) ...

"Site based encounter group"??!?

::holds head and screams::

Reminds me of the US military using the term "multi-directional impact generator" to mean "hammer".

Lanefan

 

[philreed]

From my perspective, I have a problem with using an Encounter as a unit of measurement for duration. Because when they're stacked, the line blurs.

It's the exact same problem I have with the X/day system. No matter what, all of these are arbitrary decisions. In my opinion, this type of mechanic should be designed around whatever makes things the most playable.

A fatigue system, in which characters must recover after using abilities, may work.

 

[blargney the second]

My group had been playing Vampire when 3.0 came out and brought us back to D&D. The switch from abilities per scene to per day was pretty odd. The barbarian's rage really stood out to me as the only thing in the entire game that was on a per encounter system. (By the way, the storyteller had the discretion to let some of our abilities refresh in ambiguously contiguous scenes. It worked fine.)

Over this last week I saw the excerpt from Tome of Battle, and then the book itself at my gaming store. I did a double-take when I saw that the mechanics were built on a per encounter system, because only a couple days before I started DMing game where everything was modified to refresh per encounter.

Honestly, I like it better this way.

There is so much more action! I like a game where the characters can get into as many or as few fights a day as they want. It leaves them free to define the way they play the game, and it leaves me free to pit challenges against all their abilities. I also find that the one-use items are getting vastly more use now and at-will abilities are fine, which is great as far as I'm concerned.

I would *love* it if more material came out with per encounter abilities!
-blarg

 

[ThirdWizard]

"Site based encounter group"??!?

::holds head and screams::

Reminds me of the US military using the term "multi-directional impact generator" to mean "hammer".

Lanefan

I don't use dungeons. I do used groups of site-based encounters. They just aren't underground or in comlexes. So, I want to make the distinction.

 

[JustaPlayer]

Well I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who likes to push buttons.

Anyway, as long as it evens out, who cares?

 

[A'koss]

I've long been a proponent that 'per encounter' makes a lot more sense.

Define a break between encounters as when there is a min. of a 1 turn (1 full minute) break in the action. Time that allows you to gather your thoughts again, settle down and prepare yourself again for the next ordeal.

 

[Chiaroscuro23]

The problem that per encounter solves is not the problem of vagueness. The problem it solves is being locked into a given number of encounters per day, and the converse issue of parties resting after about 20 minutes of activity (such as when you sleep in a dungeon and within two rooms your hasted casters have already blown their wad, causing you to break for nappy time just after breakfast.)

Those problems are much bigger issues than being sure when one day (or one encounter) ends for refresh purposes IME. That is, I've seen them come up a lot more often, and be much more annoying when they do occur.

That said, there are ways other than per encounter to get out of the traps set by per day. You could do stuff with no limits, like Warlocks, or limits of randomness, like spellcasting where you have to succeed at a skill check. You could have limits be based in part on situation (as with IH's token pools, which work out to essentially per encounter, but depend on PC action). You could have limits be long-term or permanent. If spells refresh every month, or if your campaign is modelled on 24 ("what, only one magic missile for the whole campaign!?!") then parcelling out resources is much more strategic. Same if it's just something used up over time and replaced through XP or RP, like Drama Points in Buffy, or Glamour in Changeling.

Per encounter takes out the strategic considerations almost entirely. Some people will like that. All I really want is to get away from 4 encounters per day, not matter how I do it.

-C.

 

[Cadfan]

I voted per encounter.

I did this because I am the sort who will hoard a per day ability for the entire day, on the theory that things might get worse in the future and I might need it more then. With per encounter, I am encouraged to use my cool abilities because if I don't, I lose them.

Figuring out when an encounter is over isn't too tough. The DM just says so. As I'm usually a DM anyways, I've never had a problem with that for, say, the barbarians in my games.

I think you should have included "per X rounds" as a choice. You know, like the Binder or Dragon Shaman.