Per-Encounter Powers

[Thalain]

Actually, encounter powers (or, to avoid the constant misunderstandings, powers that are regained after a short rest) are regained after a short rest. If the PCs do not take a short rest (which is usually assumed to take five minutes), they do not regain their powers that are regained after a short rest.

Which doesn't really make a difference - any smart party will just add "short rest" at the end of every fight. (Which is realistic - you don't press on without catching your breath).

Essentially, the "short rest" limit only added the possibility for the DM to occasionally interrupt someone's short rest with a second fight that was than harder than usual.

I would rather see powers that recharge on time passed - this could go anywhere from "every three rounds" abilities like the early dragon breath definitions (which then somewhat found a PC reflection in 3E's Tome of Battle and its ways to reset maneuvers) to one that recharges only after several hours.

 

[YRUSirius]

I do not see a problem if some classes would have one or two features that would recharge after a rest. Take the fighter's surge for example. The halfling's luck or the rogue's trick feature for example. Or even the cleric's channel divinity feature. Their base power would be a 'little bit' higher for every encounter, yes. But it wouldn't make it impossible to drain their ressources for more explorative gameplay. They'd just have one small additional trick up their sleeves. And there are all kind of valid ways to explain them in the fiction.

-YRUSirius

 

[Abstruse]

I do not see a problem if some classes would have one or two features that would recharge after a rest. Take the fighter's surge for example. The halfling's luck or the rogue's trick feature for example. Or even the cleric's channel divinity feature. Their base power would be a 'little bit' higher for every encounter, yes. But it wouldn't make it impossible to drain their ressources for more explorative gameplay. They'd just have one small additional trick up their sleeves. And there are all kind of valid ways to explain them in the fiction.

-YRUSirius

It's not a problem if it's just one or two classes/themes, especially if they're more specialized builds. The problem is when more and more of these abilities start spreading out. One character in a party of 4 with an encounter-based ability isn't going to change the design. Three or four of them? Yes.

 

[YRUSirius]

Not if those 4 characters only have 1 or two 'rest' features (the powers that shall not be named). What if those 'rest' features aren't as strong as their 4E counterparts? What if they are highly conditional and can't be executed every encounter (needs a crit, needs a hit, needs an enemy to miss, etc.)?

The features I listed above are more believable to me as 'rest' features than 'per day' features. Especially for non magic characters.

-YRUSirius

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

My fuzzy recollection is that the 1e rules for Charge were sufficiently restrictive that it was, for all practical purposes, a "per encounter" ability of all martial classes (albeit one that most combatants did not live long enough to attempt to use for lack of a legal target).

Per Encounter abilities open up space for the DM to put interesting tactics into the hands of players, without combats being dominated by that ability applied ad naseum. A Superior Charge ability/feat would be a perfectly realistic example -- you need to catch your breath before attempting again.

 

[ren1999]

I never had a problem with encounter and 1x or 2x per day powers because I just allowed the players to use them again after every encounter. I did have a problem with daily powers and keeping track of them from game session to game session.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Why would this change design? Because it takes challenge out of short encounters. If players only have daily and at-will abilities and run across a scout or guard, they're not going to waste those daily abilities to not waste the resources. They may, however, lose other resources such as HP/healing or ammunition. If you get a sneaky and dirty-fighting enemy like a goblin, you can make a strong adventure with every encounter only having a couple of goblins. They'll be slowly pecked to death. Think Tucker's Kobolds running ambushes.

I'm afraid I'm marking this down as an example on the Fighters Can't Have Cool Stuff list. With Wizards on a daily recharge rate absolutely everything you say about a strong adventure applies to them. You're tied massively by wizard pacing already.

Oh, and Tucker's Kobolds? Do you really think they'd allow you to take a 5 minute rest in their territory? Unless you were forted up in a room and they were busy spiking the doors shut of course... Encounter powers (or rather the lack of them when you'd normally expect to have them) only make Tucker's Kobolds scarier.

I personally considered "per encounter" one of the weakest elements of Not only is "encounter" a very badly defined term (what if a group of monsters finds the party while we are still extricating ourselves from a trap - two encounters in rules terms but only one in terms of plot continuity),

Um... that's one encounter according to the rules. You recover encounter powers on a short rest - which takes five minutes.

but it also leads to a party meeting five monster groups in a short time having the same powers as one who had several hours of rest between them. I prefer recharge times measured in minutes or hours as an intermediate between at will and daily - they scale much better.

Effectively it is minutes of rest. Which has the advantage of minutes, has the advantage of versilimitude, and isn't a recharge time so much as a recharge condition.

I would rather see powers that recharge on time passed - this could go anywhere from "every three rounds" abilities like the early dragon breath definitions (which then somewhat found a PC reflection in 3E's Tome of Battle and its ways to reset maneuvers) to one that recharges only after several hours.

To me that just sounds like a lot of bookkeeping to no good effect.

 

[Janaxstrus]

Good riddance to "encounter" powers.

 

[keterys]

Yeah! Good riddance to "daily" powers, too!

 

[Bedrockgames]

Encouter powers were the single worst thing about 4E IMO. I am happy to see them removed and have no interest in an edition of D&D that includes them as part of the core. They were problematic on so many levels for me and my group when we tried to play 4E.