How do we propel PCs forward into fights without them crawling forward in a fight-rest-fight-rest manner? The threat of the extended rest looms over any scenario or encounter. From a player’s standpoint it makes sense; why fight with less than all your resources? A DM of course looks at it differently. Extended rests can wreck the difficulty of encounters (taking a rest in the middle of a series of easy or moderate encounters makes the latter half way too easy) and they can lay waste to the flow of a story.
I think the typical solution is to have some chance for a fight, but I never liked that; I want players to be able to rest safely when they wish. After quite a bit of thinking, I’ve got what in limited testing seems to be the answer:
Menace
Taking a rest within a dangerous area causes a subtle shift. The adventurers rest, and the environment regroups as well. We represent this simply and subtly by giving the GM an action point that he can spend on any monster in the dungeon or this section of the story. These action points can be spent as normal action points on any monster the PCs face.
This fix works well in my testing. It’s a simple plan to implement, and players who like a challenge will actually enjoy the trade-off of getting a “no questions asked” extended rest and upping the potential challenges they can face.
The Horizon
We can go farther, of course. Menace threatens and gets in your face, but there is a whole new level of danger that lurks on the Horizon. Certain actions that adventurers take hasten their approach to this threat or event. If they can make the right choices, maybe they can outrace it. Or maybe not…
The Horizon is a bit more complex than Menace, but not by much. Instead of accumulating action points, extended rests and other actions accumulate points that advance along a track. Reaching the track’s end unlocks an significant story event. The mummy finally rises from it’s tomb; the ritual completes summoning the Starborn; the monster tracking you has finally caught up with you.
You can approach the Horizon as a way to unlock a bonus encounter –players might decide they want to fight it and take a bunch of extended rests in a row — or you can use it as pressure. Knowing that the fate of the town depends on them should motivate characters to push ahead instead of rest.
The Horizon is also cool in that it doesn’t just need to be extended rests that triggers the timer. You can build a bit of a “wild” timer by tying it to events; In the Bloodrock tombs, critical hits feed the vampire lord within and hasten his awakening. Timers can be made more thematic by tying them to player decisions; Each time a player uses a daily, the display of power opens the eye of the buried lost god who dwells in the ruins.
One last thing, and it’s important: The PCs have to see that track! That “clock” has to have a presence at the table, supplying a sense of dread and foreboding, and shaping their decisions as play progresses. If the players don’t know, then they will either spend a lot of time trying to track it or they will just ignore it. You need something to influence behaviors and you need to give them some knowledge of what increments it. Slowly revealing that information works too; imagine the horror on the avenger’s face when she realizes her criticals feed the main bad guy after her first crit! There are a lot of ways to introduce it, but a Horizon must always loom over the players.
As always, I welcome your thoughts and would love to see any implementations…I might share some Horizons here if there is interest.
A Jack of All Trades ,or if you prefer, an extreme example of multi-classing, Gamefiend, a.k.a Quinn Murphy has been discussing, playing and designing games straight out of the womb. He is the owner and Editor-in-Chief of this site in addition to being an aspiring game designer. As you would assume, he is a huge fan of 4e.
By day he is a technologist.
Follow gamefiend on 
This is a problem I always seem to run into. Players wake up, start the day off with a fight, and promptly try to settle in for another extended rest. I’m really intrigued by this action point idea. I’ll have to give it a try.
Something I’ve done before is implement the environmental diffusion feature brought up in the Draconomicon 1. When a sufficiently powerful purple dragon dies, it leaves behind a sort of imprint on the land. PCs resting within the area are plagued by nightmares and, on a failed saving throw, don’t gain the benefits from their extended rest.
Quinn…this is a pretty cool idea. In your opinion, do you think there’s an upper limit to when DM action points should reset (like the PCs action points do)?
I also like the idea of a CLOCK OF DOOM, especially when the PCs are on a time sensitive mission.
Good stuff!
Hi guys! Glad you like.
@brian I like that idea. You could combine that imprint with a Horizon that “approaches” on extended rests and whenever a character is dazed or stunned. The dragon’s imprint has infused the zone with a residual, gibbering madness. when the Horizon “arrives” that madness manifests as either some sort of fight or maybe a disease or a cursed boon.
@deadorcs I would say that the APs reset if the players leave, but when they leave altogether the dungeon could restock or get reinforcements.
Horizon sounds like the doom track in a game of Arkham Horror. Every time a gate opens up in Arkham, the Great Old One (GOO) gets another doom token added to their track. After the track is full, the GOO awakens, and it’s usually game over.
It’s one of the many counters used in the game to add a sense of dread and doom as needed for a Call of Cthulhu Mythos game, and it works because there’s a detailed piece of art of the GOO you’re fighting right there in front of the players and a counter track that’s quickly filling up as you take your actions.
I think for Horizon to work well, you’d need to not only track something but have it be right in the player’s face, constantly. “Sure, you can rest here” you say to the party with 3 healing surges left between them, “not a problem at all.” Then x set of eyes follow your hand as it drops a counter on now half-full Horizon track.
Cue groaning, and the mood at the table becomes tense(r). When it’s not their turn, eyes flick to the Horizon track then back to their sheets, trying to figure out what to do.
This may see use.
Oh yes, I love these ideas! Please do provide some horizons. In one game from the distant past, I set a kitchen timer behind the DM screen so it “tick tick tick”-ed through the adventure, seriously amping up the tension. When the timer unexpectedly stopped (it was pretty old), the players all screamed.
I also like the “dragon diffusion,” though the penalty seems a little harsh. No benefits from extended rest? How about you lose a daily (or two, depending on level) of your choice instead? That way it hurts, but it’s not terminal.
I also like the doom track, as a definitive scale of the Bad Thing coming. This is something I can easily picture (and feel) as a player, how tremendously trembly I’d start to get.
Great ideas there, and I like The Horizon, and will definitely think of ways to use that in my adventures!
My general philosophy has not changed since the early editions of D&D: “Resting in dangerous areas gets you in trouble”. And it is one of the 3.5isms I refuse to relinquish! I actually MAP my entire dungeon out, rather than use the flowchart method so many DMs do these days, so I know if Characters are bedding down next door to a room full of bloodthirsty critters. And I definitely think of a dungeon as a living ecosystem – if you come in and kill a bunch of orcs, and then go find a place to hole up for 6 hours, someone or something is going to notice the carnage and raise the hue and cry! I do warn Players when they enter an area where extended rests are unlikely to happen, and let them take the appropriate steps to avoid getting mauled while napping… or not.
What if the PC’s & DM agreed ahead of time to a limited number of extended rests per session? Additionally, bad guys don’t stop plotting and pillaging just because the heroes are taking a nap – I’d encourage a DM to be thinking about what the BBEG is doing when the PC’s aren’t doing anything.
For example: While they’re taking days and days to clear out a dungeon, the BBEG swoops into the nearby unprotected town and lays waste to it. When the PC’s emerge, they 1) have to assume guilt – albeit indirectly – for leaving the town unprotected and 2) have to travel to another town before they can sell their loot/gear up for the next challenge.
I LOVE the idea of a doom track/clock of doom. I might have to look into that for a later phase of my campaign. I’d love to be able to construct something really cool looking that could be used from session to session… I’ll have to think about this some…