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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mustrum_Ridcully" data-source="post: 4719274" data-attributes="member: 710">I think the major difference between the "traditional" Vancian magic and the 4E approach is that it hits everyone equally.If you had a campaign or adventure that, for whatever reasons, allowed you to run only very few combats per day (or even forced you - imagine a campaign with a lot of travel times), anyone that relied mostly on daily resources was more desirable to have then the one with fewer. Moreover so because these daily resources really packed a punch that those with only "at-will" powers (melee and ranged attacks with weapons or unarmed) couldn't compete with if used in any given encounter.If your campaign didn't allow such rests, things looked differently. The spellcasters with their daily resources had to manage their spell resources well. This often lead to the "crossbow wielding wizard" problem that some (many/enough to be heard by WotC) players found frustrating. There was also a further factor - the moment you don't need many (or any) spell slots form a caster to beat a combat encounter, you could very easily go on "forever" - the moment you allowed and gave easy/reliable access to resources like Wands of Cure Light Wounds. This can lead to a feeling of "boring" encounters - you strike down your opponent, curestick yourself to full health. Both the encounter based and the daily challenge aspect were minimized under such circumstances.4E removes these differences. That means that everyone is hurt equally if they don't get to rest. Moreover, it is easier to balance combats without losing the challenge aspect.If the scenario makes it easy to rest a lot (there are no hard consequences for it, no rituals that need to be stopped for midnight, no monster bands reorganizing their defenses), you can use harder encounters that _require_ the (smart) use of daily powers. (e.g. you have to think when and where to use the power)If the scenario makes it hard to rest a lot (there are negative consequences for resting - the BBEG might complete his plan in time, the monsters move away or reorganize), you use easier encounters that, if played "smart", don't require the use of daily powers, and you use dailies only if they will be very effective in any given situation. (For example, using a powerful Daily on an Elite or Solo monster, or using it when there are a lot of minions). In either scenario, players of any class will be challenged equally and contribute equally. There is no scenario where all the responsibility lies on the Wizard, or scenarios where all the responsibility lie on the Fighter. (At least none that are based on the difficulty of the individual encounters or encounters per day - in other contexts, some roles might be more important or more useful.)</blockquote>

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