Quote Originally Posted by Talakeal View Post


That is actually a very good point. I can see it as being sort of a "glass half full" sort of thing, which varies from player to player:

After killing a huge dragon that took everything the party had player one might think:

"Man, that was a super tough dragon. He took everything he had! But in the end, we pulled through! We are such badasses!"

While player two might think:

"Man, that was a super tought dragon. It took everything we had to pull through! Now we have nothing left, and are the weakest and most vulnerable we have ever been!"
The kicker is what happens next. If the party gets to rest up - no more adventuring for the day, no interruption of sleep, start fresh next game day - then you get the former. However, if there will be another fight or otherwise the adventure demands the players keep going for another 30 minutes of real world time play or you will have mission failure then you'll get the latter. It won't matter that hypothetical fight is easy or at least doable given the party's current state or what needs to be done is glorified bookkeeping. The players are mentally exhausted yet the DM demands they continue on else they're doomed. It becomes a frustration, and that is what players will remember - not how awesome they were defeating the dragon.