Revenge of the dailies Featured

Written by Sunday, 18 April 2010
Rate this item
(0 votes)

Painting walls, hauling furniture and chatting with ChattyDM for the better part of a day can yield some interesting discussions.

While I've been planting the seeds of a return to DnD within my old gaming group, my DM (let's call him Steve, because that's his name) is considering selling his collection of 4th ed books, having moved over to Pathfinder. Seems like none of his other gaming groups liked 4th ed.

ChattyDM was wondering what his other players didn't like about 4th ed. While I didn't really press the matter with Steve, it got ChattyDM to tell me *gasp* one thing that... let's say itches him from 4th ed.

Daily powers.

  1. Not hitting with a daily power is frustrating.
  2. Using a daily power makes the players want to take an extended rest instead of a short rest. Always.

Not hitting with a daily power is frustrating Alot

frustrated_alot.gif

Yes. While some dailies have a miss effect, some don't and missing becomes an even more frustrating event.

I've play-tested this house rule in the game I played yesterday night in my head and it worked perfectly:

A missed daily that has no "miss" effect is automatically regenerated after a short rest.

Using a daily power makes PCs want to take extended rests.

I know of this - this is why I collect scroll and potions and never use them. In computer RPGs, I hoard them and use them just in the fight with the final boss.

At the end of Dragon Age, my bard chugged down so many potions, it had to ask the dragon to wait while she went peeing.

red-dragon.jpg

Scarcity of resources make them more valuable - I tend not to use them, in case a better opportunity to use them present itself.

I do have a clever house rule here... but first, I need to say that most of the times, players can take an extended rest after a fight. I take an extended rest after every day at work. I don't have a problem with players always taking extended rests.

I love the idea of creating situations where it is not a good idea to take an extended rest - it enhances the stress of using dailies (or of extended resting).

Back to the clever house rule. If you can, remember your first level wizard in 2nd ed, when it missed its only spell and was scared of taking out its sling in case a monster would notice him, spit on his face from a distance, removing the last of his 1d4 worth of HP?

My house rule builds on the same mechanisms we used back then to deal with it:

Suck it up

What are your feelings on 4th ed and dailies?


Original Alot, from Hyperbole and a Half, which you should be reading.
Red Dragon from Dungeon and Dragon's 3rd Edition Player's handbook. Wuss adventurer added on it by an artist I don't know.

28 comments

  • Comment Link cheap Oakleys Wednesday, 22 February 2012 posted by cheap Oakleys

    C7YCOIXDST RJUB0VM5NN Welcome to Oakley Sunglasses Outlet Store Online Hut to buy cool Cheap Oakley Sunglasses. We Cheap Oakley Flak Jacket, Cheap Oakley Frogskins, Cheap Oakley Fuel Cell, Cheap Oakley Gascan, Cheap Oakley Goggles, Cheap Oakley Holbrook, Cheap Oakley Hot Sale 2011, Cheap Oakley Jacket, Cheap Oakley Jawbone, Cheap Oakley Juliet, Cheap Oakley Jupiter, Cheap Oakley Livestrong, Cheap Oakley M Frame, Cheap Oakley Monster Dog, Cheap Oakley New Releases, Cheap Oakley Oil Rig, Cheap Oakley Polarized and Cheap Oakley Radar at the lowest price when compared with other peer products. All of cheap Oakley Sunglasses Sale are of the best quality and sold at wholesale price. Take action now and put them in your shopping cart to save more.

  • Comment Link polo ralph lauren Friday, 17 February 2012 posted by polo ralph lauren

    polo ralph lauren
    ralph lauren polo
    ralph lauren polo shirts
    cheap ralph lauren polo shirts
    if you are a polo ralph lauren fan, you can't miss ralph lauren polo.

  • Comment Link cheap oakley sunglasses Saturday, 04 February 2012 posted by cheap oakley sunglasses

    ZYXQLLABAB like it very much!

  • Comment Link cheap oakley sunglasses Thursday, 02 February 2012 posted by cheap oakley sunglasses

    2HLWHHXQS like it very much!

  • Comment Link oakleys sunglasses Monday, 09 January 2012 posted by oakleys sunglasses

    MUYLBGHZNHSL
    Welcome to Oakley Sunglasses Hut to buy cool and cheap oakleys sunglasses.

  • Comment Link moncler outlet online Friday, 14 October 2011 posted by moncler outlet online

    At the network’s I wandered. By chance after your web site, read your post. Very fruitful,thank you for sharing. On the Internet, it is hard to find useful information. Thank you

  • Comment Link Eric Maziade Thursday, 29 April 2010 posted by Eric Maziade

    @Noumenon : Thanks :)

  • Comment Link Noumenon Thursday, 29 April 2010 posted by Noumenon

    This post is really entertainingly written, all the way to the end. I'm gonna check out more of your blog.

  • Comment Link Tourq Thursday, 22 April 2010 posted by Tourq

    I used to be the house-rule king, until I got to 4E. Since then, the dailies are the only thing that have bothered me.

    If I were to house-rule it, I'd say that you can opt for your daily to go off anytime you roll a natural 20 (but keep it a non-natural 20 result). cringe Roll again to confirm the critical.

    I don't know, it was just a thought.

    -Tourq

  • Comment Link AlioTheFool Tuesday, 20 April 2010 posted by AlioTheFool

    One of the cards in my player reward deck allows the holder to spend one action point plus a healing surge to recover a daily power. Players are more than willing to give up an AP, but it's the HS that makes them think "Hmm, is getting the attack back worth the sacrifice?"

    Of course, I do make it hard for the group to take extended rests, so those surges are precious.

«StartPrev123NextEnd»

Leave a comment

Make sure you enter the (*) required information where indicated.
Basic HTML code is allowed.