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Since you clearly have no examples to share, I can only say, thanks so very much for your contribution.

Nov 16, 2012 -- 8:24AM, Wolvercote wrote:

I'm not running Encounters. I'm playing it. I am playing 4E because my group is familiar with it. I'm not interested in defending my tastes. I'm wondering if anyone else has the same feelings as I do and has tried to houserule 4E. If this is not you, please move along. I'm not looking for a debate, I'm looking for advice or examples. Thanks.

It should also be noted the Encounters is designed for new players. It is usually on the easy side on purpose. It also has a much higher leveling rate. For example older seasons assume an extended rest after 3 or 4 encounters, but if you go for the resource drain approach in 4e, you need at least 5 or 6.

Anyway, 4e is indeed a bit easier than previous editions. Changing the encounter mechanic though is probably not the way to go. It would be easier to simply raise the hit points of the monsters, but it would also have the same effect on combat resolution. One of the most often heard complaints is how 4e combats can become a drag were PCs are wittling away hit points with at-wills and no dynamic or surprise to it for several rounds. When looking a quick fix to this problem, people advice to actually lower the hit points of the monsters and increase their damage output. Your proposed sollution would have the opposite effect since it will take more time for the PCs to kill the monsters since their damage output is reduced.

Of course, the real effect is on healing. The various healing words and second wind are encounter powers as well. In this regards it will definitely make the fights lethal, perhaps a bit too lethal. The exact effects are difficult to predict, but it will certainly cause your group to rest more often.

In the end, the existence of encounter powers is also not really what makes 4e less lethal. The biggest effects on lethality came from the much larger buffer below 0, the lack of save-or-die effects, lack of massive damage output by monsters, the lessened effect of coup-de-grace, the increase in hit points (especially at lower levels), more equalized access to healing, and the more equalized defenses of the PCs. Changing encounter powers into daily will have little direct impact on lethality (beyond the healing effect mention above), but it will make the fights more boring. Remember, in 2e and 3e the easy fights only took 15 minutes at the most. In 4e even an easy fight takes at least 30 to 60 minutes and removing encounter powers is just going to prolong this.

Ok so yes you are running a private campaign and not a sponsered Encounters mod?

Then the rules are written on paper not on stone. You asked for examples so here you go...

First a bit of back ground
This year instead of the normal power playing number crunching rule phreaks I run a great group of bar lounge type players that honestly dont give a crap beyond the fun of the game. I railroad them in story line every week into a new situation and they deal with whatever I give them. The problem with that trying to keep such a group organized with how many HP they have, surges, used and unused powers, how long since last rest and such from week to week was like herding cats.

So I dvised a way to scrap all that and still keep to the CB sheets

I changed all instances of of the word "Healing Surge" to the words "Heroic Surge" Then I charge every player a cost of surges based upon the power they used.
At-will = free
Daily = 3 surges
Encounter = 2 Surges
Class spec power = 1 Surge (healing word, power strike, etc)
That includes use of items
Each power is still only once a night unless otherwise stated by the power

At the start of each game everyone starts with a full health and surges so nothing to keep track of during the week.
This makes the players think about what coolness they want to pay for and how much to leave for heals.
It works out very well, much better then I expected. A few speed bumbs on wordings now and then but
the past 10 levels have been pretty smooth. (first 6 levels was done the book way)
There is a power shift as players have more access to the same dailys fight after fight but I see it as adjustable by being able to bring more interesting mobs to the table and stepping up the action and very rarely does any player ever have enough surges to use ALL the dailys and encounters as they have learned the hard way that leaves no access to heals.

I even offer a small bonus to XP to any that have expended every surge in a night (means they were playing the game and not just "auto magic missile" all night)

For your intent and purpous to help curve the game more to at-will you would just adjust the cost of every power by one surge. I have done that during encounters of high stress (global enviroment effect) and It really does make the players work the nitty-gritty out of the at-wills.

I can provide more detail if needed but that should be enough to get the idea of what I do.

OR...

I run another one but only 4 sessions in, I took the jist of what characters the players wanted to play then used the monster maker to create PCs that each have varyious ways of regaining powers just like a monster (recharge by dice or actions) and that is working out well but for the player that has a bad run of dice gets even more screwed. Still playing with that one but it looks like a good work for one offs.