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General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
X/day mechanic; what's the problem? (Mercule, looking your way...)
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<blockquote data-quote="mearls" data-source="post: 1934034" data-attributes="member: 697"><p>Ah ha! And therein lies the rub.</p><p></p><p>X/day abilities are a lot of fun for one, important reason: they add a layer of resource management to the game. Rage is a great example of this. At low levels, once per day a barbarian can become the best warrior in the group, even if there's a fighter in the party. The key lies in figuring out what battle is the one where you need to be that best warrior.</p><p></p><p>A check to use an ability can work, but I don't think it's an optimal design in this case.</p><p></p><p>If rage was activated with a check against a DC, you have a couple problems. If the DC is high, your ability to use the power is now mostly random. You might as well try using it as often as possible, since there's no guarantee you can use it when you need it most. You're better off getting as much use out of it as possible, and by doing so lessening the load in spells used, damage taken, magic items consumed, and so on, for other characters. If the DC is low, you can just use the power as often as you want. This basic problem remains embedded in the ability regardless of how you attack it.</p><p></p><p>In essence, you replace resource management and player decisions with luck. That's a bad design choice for this case, IMO. It can work in a lot of other areas - particularly if you require a standard or full-round action to make the check, and the benefit provided is somewhere below rage. For a minor benefit, it could be a great way to add a random element to the game and give players more choices in combat. I'm not sure it's a good choice for a class-defining ability like turning or rage.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="mearls, post: 1934034, member: 697"] Ah ha! And therein lies the rub. X/day abilities are a lot of fun for one, important reason: they add a layer of resource management to the game. Rage is a great example of this. At low levels, once per day a barbarian can become the best warrior in the group, even if there's a fighter in the party. The key lies in figuring out what battle is the one where you need to be that best warrior. A check to use an ability can work, but I don't think it's an optimal design in this case. If rage was activated with a check against a DC, you have a couple problems. If the DC is high, your ability to use the power is now mostly random. You might as well try using it as often as possible, since there's no guarantee you can use it when you need it most. You're better off getting as much use out of it as possible, and by doing so lessening the load in spells used, damage taken, magic items consumed, and so on, for other characters. If the DC is low, you can just use the power as often as you want. This basic problem remains embedded in the ability regardless of how you attack it. In essence, you replace resource management and player decisions with luck. That's a bad design choice for this case, IMO. It can work in a lot of other areas - particularly if you require a standard or full-round action to make the check, and the benefit provided is somewhere below rage. For a minor benefit, it could be a great way to add a random element to the game and give players more choices in combat. I'm not sure it's a good choice for a class-defining ability like turning or rage. [/QUOTE]
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