Changing Pace House Rules - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 crazysamaritan Feb 16, 2009 23:53:37	Some players like a real quick'n'dirty dungeon crawl, ruining room after room in search of treasure. Others prefer a more leisurely pace, talking with shopkeepers and investigating street-urchins. The assumed pacing of 4e falls somewhere in the middle of both. So I had an idea for how to modify pacing, based on the needs of the dungeon/session/group/what-have-you. First, we have to name the Rules that govern Pacing, so we know what we are changing: RAW, 4 encounters a day Daily powers are used once a day. They are renewed after an extended rest (hereafter referred to as a 'long rest'). Encounter powers are used once an encounter. They are renewed after a short rest. A long rest takes 6 hours, and can only happen 12 hours after the previous long rest. A short rest takes (about) 5 minutes, and can be taken as many times are you want. Powers with a duration do not last beyond 5 minutes. Milestones allow you to access an additional item daily, but does not renew any dailies from the magic items.
#2 evilkobra Feb 17, 2009 7:27:06	We're now using a "universal" pacing system, which works quite well for all styles. It only introduces three changes compared to the basic rules: Using a daily attack power requires expending a healing surge Regain one healing surge at each milestone During an extended rest, recover only half of your spent surges (+1 if slept well) It's as simple as that! What defines "well slept" is up to the DM, but it should at least meet the following criteria: Uninterrupted sleep (no guard turns) A comfortable bed (not a bedroll or stone floor) A safe indoor location (not a tent or prison) A plentiful hot meal (not just rations) The point is that sustained adventure (1-3 encounters per day over a number of days) will result in accumulated fatigue, as they will slowly lose surges, especially if they blow their dailies needlessly. Even if they don't fight, they'll never quite get back to 100% if they're out in the field. The only way to be in tip-top condition -and thus ready for a dungeon crawl- is to rest in town a couple of days.
#3 masteraaron Feb 18, 2009 9:31:55	The point is that sustained adventure (1-3 encounters per day over a number of days) will result in accumulated fatigue, as they will slowly lose surges, especially if they blow their dailies needlessly. Even if they don't fight, they'll never quite get back to 100% if they're out in the field. The only way to be in tip-top condition -and thus ready for a dungeon crawl- is to rest in town a couple of days. I rather like this system in principle, though it wouldn't work in any of the games I'm playing in. It's very elegant, intrudes only minimally on the RAW, and adds a nice element of realism. I'm going to copy this one into my "cool house rules" file. ^_^ (My current games, FYI, are both very high-powered - one where the characters are divine pawns and wrestle with cosmic forces [and we're only level 5 right now, heh], and one where the PCs were granted extraordinary power by a spurned Norse goddess. You can see why a reduction in character power wouldn't work well in these games.)

Post/Author/DateTime

Post

crazysamaritan

Feb 16, 2009 23:53:37

Some players like a real quick'n'dirty dungeon crawl, ruining room after room in search of treasure. Others prefer a more leisurely pace, talking with shopkeepers and investigating street-urchins. The assumed pacing of 4e falls somewhere in the middle of both. So I had an idea for how to modify pacing, based on the needs of the dungeon/session/group/what-have-you.

First, we have to name the Rules that govern Pacing, so we know what we are changing:

RAW, 4 encounters a day

Daily powers are used once a day. They are renewed after an extended rest (hereafter referred to as a 'long rest').
Encounter powers are used once an encounter. They are renewed after a short rest.

A long rest takes 6 hours, and can only happen 12 hours after the previous long rest.
A short rest takes (about) 5 minutes, and can be taken as many times are you want.
Powers with a duration do not last beyond 5 minutes.

Milestones allow you to access an additional item daily, but does not renew any dailies from the magic items.

evilkobra

Feb 17, 2009 7:27:06

We're now using a "universal" pacing system, which works quite well for all styles. It only introduces three changes compared to the basic rules:

Using a daily attack power requires expending a healing surge
Regain one healing surge at each milestone
During an extended rest, recover only half of your spent surges (+1 if slept well)

It's as simple as that! What defines "well slept" is up to the DM, but it should at least meet the following criteria:

Uninterrupted sleep (no guard turns)
A comfortable bed (not a bedroll or stone floor)
A safe indoor location (not a tent or prison)
A plentiful hot meal (not just rations)

The point is that sustained adventure (1-3 encounters per day over a number of days) will result in accumulated fatigue, as they will slowly lose surges, especially if they blow their dailies needlessly. Even if they don't fight, they'll never quite get back to 100% if they're out in the field. The only way to be in tip-top condition -and thus ready for a dungeon crawl- is to rest in town a couple of days.

masteraaron

Feb 18, 2009 9:31:55

The point is that sustained adventure (1-3 encounters per day over a number of days) will result in accumulated fatigue, as they will slowly lose surges, especially if they blow their dailies needlessly. Even if they don't fight, they'll never quite get back to 100% if they're out in the field. The only way to be in tip-top condition -and thus ready for a dungeon crawl- is to rest in town a couple of days.

I rather like this system in principle, though it wouldn't work in any of the games I'm playing in. It's very elegant, intrudes only minimally on the RAW, and adds a nice element of realism. I'm going to copy this one into my "cool house rules" file. ^_^

(My current games, FYI, are both very high-powered - one where the characters are divine pawns and wrestle with cosmic forces [and we're only level 5 right now, heh], and one where the PCs were granted extraordinary power by a spurned Norse goddess. You can see why a reduction in character power wouldn't work well in these games.)