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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Grog" data-source="post: 3760297" data-attributes="member: 6183">No. At-will resources are fundamentally different from per-encounter resources (unless your encounters always last only one round). With an at-will resource, the only thing you have to decide is whether it's better to use that resource or do something else in any given round. With a resource that's usable once per encounter, not only do you have to decide whether it's better to use it or do something else, but you also have to decide if that particular round is the best time to use it, or if it might be better to wait. That's a different calculus.No, they're still per-day resources, it's just that the players and the DM have decided to have only one encounter per day. From a design point of view, in 3E, these abilities weren't supposed to be used in every encounter. 3E wizards, for example, aren't balanced against the assumption that they'll be able to cast all their most powerful spells in every encounter.But the important time frame is not after the battle, it's during the battle. If you're in the middle of a difficult fight, choosing when and how to use your encounter-level resources is critically important. You want to get the most bang for your buck, so to speak. And as someone else pointed out, per-encounter resources are still limited (which is what makes them fundamentally different from "at-will" abilities). For example, if you have a 1/encounter fireball, is it better to use it right at the beginning of the fight, or wait and hope your friends can maneuver the enemies closer together?The designers have said that 4E is going to feature more monsters per encounter. I agree, if you come across two kobolds in the middle of an open field, you would just fire off your 1/encounter fireball and move on. But if you're facing a couple dozen kobolds, swarming in from several different directions, with the possibility of more behind them - well, then the choice to use your 1/encounter fireball isn't quite such a no-brainer, is it? There are still plenty of interesting and relevant choices players can make with per-encounter abilities - it's not just the "ho-hum, I'll use everything and then recharge" situation you're making it out to be.</blockquote>

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