Quote Originally Posted by Seerow View Post
On solutions
Spoiler
Show
Generally the reasoning given against using encounter based resources is that there is a preference for strategic use of abilities that can be worn down over the day. People want encounters towards the end of the day to be stressful and have that "Oh my god I'm almost out of everything we're all gonna die!" feeling going on.

However, in 4e we already had a system the accomplished the goal of encounter based resource management with a daily component. It was Hit Points/Healing Surges. While some people didn't care for it because it didn't fit their particular interpretation of how hit points worked, the system did successfully meet the goal of making hit points into an encounter based resource with daily limitations.

Why couldn't we have character resources managed in the same way? Encounter based, with long term daily limits? A high level spellcaster might have 20 spells, but can only cast 4 every encounter. A mundane character using stamina might have a system that works like 4e's healing surges, where you can recover 25% of your stamina X times per day during a short rest, giving the character enough to effectively use a limited number of abilities per day, but still having his abilities primarily being encounter based. And so on.

Basically let people have their daily powers, but put a hard limit on how much they can use without taking a short rest to avoid characters going nova and creating the 5 minute work day. In this model, characters won't always use their abilities, because while they are encounter based, using them affects their long term staying power, so for an easier fight they could just choose not to use it. Seems to me like the best of both worlds.
Yep, this is basically what I've concluded in my own homebrew. I liked the basic ideas of 4e's HP and Healing Surges, with the exception of how you could heal any sort of nasty wound in one night. (Which is fixable, just by changing the damage system so that HP represent stamina, luck, etc., rather than actual bodily harm.)

So I took that basic idea, renamed Surges "Reserve Points," and tied all daily resources to them. Spells, like HP, are an encounter-based resource with daily limitations -- and that has been one of the things my playtest group has enjoyed most of all.