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Is it just me, or does it seem like one of the big design goals of Pathfinder is to convert as many classes as possible to work on some kind of points-per-day system? Back in original D&D, only spellcasters had to worry about running out of their "stuff" during the course of an adventure, but now it seems like every class has some cornerstone ability that essentially says: "You can perform your class' iconic, most effective, and role-defining power X times per day. Use them wisely..."
Maybe I'm alone in this, but to me, this feels a lot like lazy game design. "Wow, this ability is really effective. Should we do another balance pass on it? Nah, just make it only usable a few times per day and it's fine." This sort of thing gives me the CRPG "super potion paralysis" where you finish a game like Skyrim or Final Fantasy with an inventory packed with super potions because you're terrified of using them unwisely.
Surely there's a better way to handle this sort of thing. Hell, they already did a great job of it with the witch's hexes; why not apply the same philosophy (or at least effort) into designing the other classes? I know, I know, even mentioning 4th Edition D&D is going to enrage Pathfinder purists, but you have to admit: "encounter" powers were quite liberating. Why not design more abilities that work like toggles or triggers based on other events? There has to be a better way. There's no reason my swashbuckler should hold back during a fight because he's worried about saving points for the next one. Why are brawlers crafty, resourceful combatants... a few times a day? If a druid's shapeshifting power lasts for hours at a time anyway, why limit it to only so many uses per day? I'd love it if each of these abilities sacrificed a little raw power for the ability to use them at will, or if each was saddled with some kind of drawback that made each one a tactical choice, not a gas tank.
Sorry for the rant. I just had to mention this because it's driving me nuts to have to constantly worry about how much "fun ability ammo" every one of my characters has.
To my knowledge, the only class I know of that really has a bunch of once per day abilities is the rogue.
There's a few 1/day powers for barbarians. There were some 1/rage ones too, hence the development of first rage cycling, and then the unchained barbarian to junk rage cycling. And then even with the 1/day, there's a second issue there: do you really want to burn one of a limited number of options on something that MIGHT get used? Is Renewed Vigor really worth taking up that rage power slot for 1/day curing for 1d8 damage +1d8 per 4 levels, max 5d8?
Or are you better off with Animal Fury, a somewhat weak bite attack ... but it's another attack, only limited to 'when raging', and so on?
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To clarify, I'm talking about stuff like grit, luck, panache, inspiration, smite evil, bane, challenge, tactician, ki, arcane pool, wild shape, rage, and bardic performance.
These are all role-defining features of each class, yet they're all designed like gas tanks that run dry, leaving characters "empty." It's a boring, frustrating, math-intensive game mechanic that feels lazy to me.
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Grit, Luck, Panache all can be regained.
But otherwise, I don't mind having abilities that run off some kind of limited resource. Just remember that if you finish the battle with an arrow in your quiver, then you have wasted the arrow.
Which is to say, use your items, your abilities and everything else at your disposal to win.
Then go home and rest because tomorrow you'll have all those resources back.
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Is it just me, or does it seem like one of the big design goals of Pathfinder is to convert as many classes as possible to work on some kind of points-per-day system? Back in original D&D, only spellcasters had to worry about running out of their "stuff" during the course of an adventure, but now it seems like every class has some cornerstone ability that essentially says: "You can perform your class' iconic, most effective, and role-defining power X times per day. Use them wisely..."
Maybe I'm alone in this, but to me, this feels a lot like lazy game design. "Wow, this ability is really effective. Should we do another balance pass on it? Nah, just make it only usable a few times per day and it's fine." This sort of thing gives me the CRPG "super potion paralysis" where you finish a game like Skyrim or Final Fantasy with an inventory packed with super potions because you're terrified of using them unwisely.
Surely there's a better way to handle this sort of thing. Hell, they already did a great job of it with the witch's hexes; why not apply the same philosophy (or at least effort) into designing the other classes? I know, I know, even mentioning 4th Edition D&D is going to enrage Pathfinder purists, but you have to admit: "encounter" powers were quite liberating. Why not design more abilities that work like toggles or triggers based on other events? There has to be a better way. There's no reason my swashbuckler should hold back during a fight because he's worried about saving points for the next one. Why are brawlers crafty, resourceful combatants... a few times a day? If a druid's shapeshifting power lasts for hours at a time anyway, why limit it to only so many uses per day? I'd love it if each of these abilities sacrificed a little raw power for the ability to use them at will, or if each was saddled with some kind of drawback that made each one a tactical choice, not a gas tank.
Sorry for the rant. I just had to mention this because it's driving me nuts to have to constantly worry about how...
LOL! Exactly What original D&D abilities where other than spells that any character could have run out of? Even the thief had no abilities other than climb walls, pick locks, etc, which are analogous to skills. If pathfinder characters can use up their abilities it's because they actually have abilities.
Because in order for martial or martiallike classes to have cool stuff, it must be limited daily.
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I think Grit and Panache stand aside this argument, as there are built in ways to replenish them that drives the mechanic forward.
Yeah, but their replenishment system works on random chance. Further complicating/frustrating things is that annoying little quirk that a lot of each class's powers require at least 1 point in the pool, so you're left clinging to that last "fun power ammo" point for fear that you'll lose a lot of other powers for a long time before you earn more points.
Also, what do you think of 1/encounter powers?
I think 4E's encounter powers were a huge step in the right direction, but we can still do better. Here's a quick example from a game supplement I'm working on.
From the "Courtier" which is a lot like the swashbuckler, except that it leans more toward fun social powers instead of combat. It's 3/4 BAB, no armor (CHA to AC), d8 HD, and here's one of its very few combat powers:
Thrust (Ex): At 2nd level, when the courtier affects a target with a feint action or dirty trick, disarm, or reposition combat maneuver, he may make one melee attack with a rapier against that target as an immediate action, adding +1d6 points of precision damage for every even courtier level to his base weapon damage.
There are a few key elements to this class feature that I want to point out.
- It's not a gas tank. Instead, it's situational and the triggers it requires are the exact kinds of cool things a flamboyant swordsman should be doing in battle (combat maneuvers).
- It's tactical. You only get one immediate action per round and the class has other potential immediate actions at its disposal.
- It's a combat ability that doesn't just boil down to extra, situational math, like Point-Blank Shot, Combat Expertise, or Power Attack.
- It embodies player agency, as it doesn't rely on scoring critical hits, landing killing blows, fighting specific types of enemies, being in a certain type of terrain, or other things beyond a player's control.
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Then go home and rest because tomorrow you'll have all those resources back.
This is a great point. It's fine to say, "my wizard is out of spells for the day; let's go rest and finish the dungeon tomorrow." But, to me, it sounds absurd to say, "my gunslinger is out of grit," or "my swashbuckler is out of panache." You're literally saying, "I've done all the cool stuff I can do for the day."
I wonder if that's why the Paizo design team went that direction with all the new classes, actually. "Hey, as long as everyone is punctuating their adventures based on how often the cleric and wizard need to rest, we might as well tack on points-per-day systems to every other class." Hmm...
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Because in order for martial or martiallike classes to have cool stuff, it must be limited daily.
I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. If you are: awesome! :)
If not: I disagree. There are plenty of ways to do it better. Let's try to redesign the brawler's martial flexibility power. Right now it takes a move action, lasts for a minute, and is only usable X times per day.
Why not make it last for a short number of rounds (flat 3 or maybe 1 round per level, plus Int/Wis modifier?) instead of minutes and make it usable any number of times per day? Essentially, every few rounds, the brawler has to sacrifice a move action to keep it up (or switch). With this change, I'd also remove the later upgrades to swift actions or adding multiple feats per use.
This alteration would encourage brawlers to change up their tactics during battle more often, as they're not worried about running out of "brawler points." Disarm a guy one round, trip a guy the next, cleave two guys a few rounds after that, etc. Sounds like fun to me, and in a game where wizards can alter reality and clerics can resurrect the dead, is it really overpowered? Nah.
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Grit and Panache recovery are embedded into the rolling of dice, yes, but it's those very dice that represent the probable outcomes of actions within the game. A Swashbuckler regains his Panache by playing his character. I think it's good design. So is creating actual tactical choices, such as "should I save my last point to retain this benefit or cash in on a different benefit." That said, I think the Grit and Panache pools should start at 1+stat and grow to X+stat over the class' careers, but that's more a quantitative argument than a qualitative one.
I agree with your analysis of most other X/day powers. There are other ways to "balance" a power than to just give it a daily limit. That's lazy design. However, I think that "action economy" shouldn't be the only opportunity cost - I'd prefer if some of these powers combined this with other balancing mechanics (like "situational" or "drawback").
Some X/day powers are okay. I agree that Paizo has overdone it in some areas though (Rogue Talents are a good example of this - pre and post Unchained).
I also like 1/encounter powers. Though I may be in a minority there.
Because in order for martial or martiallike classes to have cool stuff, it must be limited daily.I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. If you are: awesome! :)
If not: I disagree. There are plenty of ways to do it better. Let's try to redesign the brawler's martial flexibility power. Right now it takes a move action, lasts for a minute, and is only usable X times per day.
Doesn't matter.
As of right now, that is how things are being "balanced" by Paizo. In the past, a full BAB and a few static modifiers were considered good enough class features for a martial to stand by the vastly more useful in combat and out of combat spell system.
Now that more and more folks want to do cool things(Aka folks are realizing how janked that deal was) other than swing a stick really well or in tricky ways, we're seeing Paizo experiment with resource pools to make up the difference. Casters are "balanced" by having a resource pool. Solution to Caster Martial Disparity? Give Martials a resource pool to do awesome stuff...limited though in how many times you can use it, like spells sorta.
Resource Pools and whats that word...modular talent choices ala Discoveries, Magus Arcana, Revelations, Rage Powers(Big one), Rogue Talents(Massive failure), and the rest like those are a big improvement.
Design-wise, Talent choices are an incredibly awesome way to up the utility, flexibility, and overall completeness of character concept fulfillment. Not to mention an extremely easy way to introduce more crunch to the system. "Ultimate Rage Powers" is a splat/book I know folks would shell out for.
TLDR: Resource Pools let Paizo fool around with giving Martials(and others) flexibility and utility without being bogged down by the "always on" mantra of martial abilities that are being WAY overrated.
And a bunch of stuff of me jabbering on about modular talent choices and how great they are design concept-wise.
If your swashbuckler and gunslinger are holding back for fear of losing their last point of grit, it's entirely possible that you're doing it wrong.
Those classes have abilities that require at least one grit/panache in the pool to function so tapping yourself could be counterproductive, especially for Swashbuckler who loses their main source of damage (Precise Strike) if out of panache. Gunslinger is a bit better off there as you mostly lose some defenses and utility stuff if out of grit, but not being able to use Quick Clear could be catastrophic for you if you get a couple unlucky rolls in a row.
If your swashbuckler and gunslinger are holding back for fear of losing their last point of grit, it's entirely possible that you're doing it wrong.Those classes have abilities that require at least one grit/panache in the pool to function so tapping yourself could be counterproductive, especially for Swashbuckler who loses their main source of damage (Precise Strike) if out of panache. Gunslinger is a bit better off there as you mostly lose some defenses and utility stuff if out of grit, but not being able to use Quick Clear could be catastrophic for you if you get a couple unlucky rolls in a row.
Pretty much this.
Plus the pools are so small that you can go from full to empty in the space of a couple of rounds. And in some circumstances you will need to do that in order to operate effectively (repeated nat.1 rolling for a gunslinger comes to mind). Being frivilous with the resource pool could easily put a gunslinger in the position where they have to decide between putting out 3 shots over 2 rounds (2nd shot nat.1s, next round move action to clear), or putting out an appropriate amount of fire but being SoL for the rest of the day if another jam happens (because no quick clear without grit). There just isn't enough in the way of points to be frivolous.
They can go from full to empty yeah, but then they can fill up. If you're a damage dealing class like a swashbuckler of gunslinger and you aren't getting any kills at all so that emptying your pool means that it will be empty for the rest of the day, then something is wrong. You shouldn't be screwed because you should be gaining your resource back.
But still having it limited in this way is balanced because it would be way too much to have all of their class abilities available all the time.
It's supposed to be tactical, part of that is you can't gain your resources back if you don't spend them so you should constantly be somewhere in the middle.
They can go from full to empty yeah, but then they can fill up. If you're a damage dealing class like a swashbuckler of gunslinger and you aren't getting any kills at all so that emptying your pool means that it will be empty for the rest of the day, then something is wrong. You shouldn't be screwed because you should be gaining your resource back.
It's not quite so set in stone that "you must spend points to make points" though. Firearms at least are horrible for crit fishing, so you are left with killing as your primary means of getting your points back and that is all or nothing; do 99% of the damage, but your friend unknowingly cherry picks it because you have no idea what it's HP is and you get nothing, or perhaps you have to spend multiple points to secure the kill, which still leaves you at a net loss. My point is that you have a tiny pool and it is much easier to expend the points than to regain them. You have to pace yourself. Swashbucklers are better off of course than Gunslinger in this regard as they can actually get 30% crit chance, but even then spending your last point is usually poor move due to the huge decrease in combat effectiveness.
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TLDR: Resource Pools let Paizo fool around with giving Martials(and others) flexibility and utility without being bogged down by the "always on" mantra of martial abilities that are being WAY overrated.
I totally agree that martials shold have "cool stuff." What I'm trying to say is that there are better ways to give martials cool powers without tying them to gas tanks.
And a bunch of stuff of me jabbering on about modular talent choices and how great they are design concept-wise.
Couldn't agree more. Modular power builds are awesome and should be an intrinsic part of every class in the game.
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You should actually do it in reverse. Start with an empty pool, and when is full you can press x+l1+r1 and perform a limit break.
To clarify, I'm talking about stuff like grit, luck, panache, inspiration, smite evil, bane, challenge, tactician, ki, arcane pool, wild shape, rage, and bardic performance.
These are all role-defining features of each class, yet they're all designed like gas tanks that run dry, leaving characters "empty." It's a boring, frustrating, math-intensive game mechanic that feels lazy to me.
Why don't you include spells in this list? Seriously. They're the biggest per day resource the game has and at least half the classes have this per day resource.
The game ultimately works on the adventuring day concept where players manage their resources according to this daily timespan. HP, Spells and all those class features you cite (minus the ones that replenish throughout the day) all work off this time scale. D&D 3rd edition (and Pathfinder has inherited it) removed the concept of HP as a daily resource thanks to wands of cure light wounds. But the rest have remained a daily resource and not all groups use wands of CLW. Whilever spells allow casters to be bursty, martials need a way to burst as well.
I'd personally prefer martial abilities be rebalanced to either be at-will or use a unified stamina pool that can be refreshed within a day through rest. And come a Pathfinder 2nd edition it's quite possible that's exactly what we'll get. This is the downside to designing things in an additive manner the way RPGs are. On the other hand, giving them these different features can make them feel distinct and different from each other.
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Okay, let's look at your idea for a moment:From the "Courtier" which is a lot like the swashbuckler, except that it leans more toward fun social powers instead of combat. It's 3/4 BAB, no armor (CHA to AC), d8 HD, and here's one of its very few combat powers:
Thrust (Ex): At 2nd level, when the courtier affects a target with a feint action or dirty trick, disarm, or reposition combat maneuver, he may make one melee attack with a rapier against that target as an immediate action, adding +1d6 points of precision damage for every even courtier level to his base weapon damage.
There are a few key elements to this class feature that I want to point out.
- It's not a gas tank. Instead, it's situational and the triggers it requires are the exact kinds of cool things a flamboyant swordsman should be doing in battle (combat maneuvers).
- It's tactical. You only get one immediate action per round and the class has other potential immediate actions at its disposal.
- It's a combat ability that doesn't just boil down to extra, situational math, like Point-Blank Shot, Combat Expertise, or Power Attack.
- It embodies player agency, as it doesn't rely on scoring critical hits, landing killing blows, fighting specific types of enemies, being in a certain type of terrain, or other things beyond a player's control.
- First of all, it should be a Swift action rather than an Immediate action (Swift actions are done on your turn only, while immediate actions are done outside of your turn).
- You stated that 'the class has other potential immediate actions at its disposal' but you also state that this is 'one of its very few combat powers' so we can't really tell if there is a real opportunity cost to using this ability.
- Given that Charisma sounds important to the class and the BAB is only 3/4, it seems like every round of combat will be: Feint your opponent, then 'thrust' if you succeed. Not exactly exciting...
Basically, you've created a 'probably worse' version of Sneak Attack (very limited ways to trigger, specific weapon requirement, impossible to get more than one per round (which could still miss), worse damage at odd levels, targets that are essentially or actually immune, but possibly easier to trigger at lower levels). Hard to really judge without seeing the rest of the class, but 'sub-par sneak attack' is not exactly impressive.
The basic idea behind 'pool' powers is: What 'cool' things should this class be able to do, but would be really overpowered or annoying if they did it every single round? The classic examples include:
- Ninja Invisibility - Costing Ki allows the ninja to use sneak attack more reliably when they feel the need to while preventing ridiculous 'I'm always invisible' shenanigans.
- Swashbuckler Opportune Parry and Riposte - If this didn't cost Panache, you'd be seeing a lot of 'un-hittable' swashbucklers running around. If you nerf it to the point that using it every round isn't a problem, it wouldn't be nearly as cool to do.
The only 'pool' I personally dislike is Barbarian Rage: I think it should have either drawbacks (limited actions, AC penalty, fatigue) or limited duration, but not both. I'm leaning toward replacing the duration with 1 + (1 per 4 levels) battles per day and letting it last for the entire fight...
Oh, quick discussion on luck- if we are talking about archaeologist bards, then the limits on your luck should be a more about being a bit careful over an entire day's set of encounters. By level 1, you can easily have 18 effective rounds (spent in 3 rounds each for 6 encounters, since most fights don't last more than 4 rounds and it is usually clean up at that point).
That is just with modest cha (14) and lingering performance (lets performance last 2 rounds after it ends- luck counts for that; lets you effectively tripple your rounds).
If you really push it, it is possible to have 45 effective rounds at the same level. Just be human, take extra rounds feat, and then take that one society trait for a total of 9 extra rounds. That ends up covering up to 15 encounters. Thatis enough that you shouldn't feel bad for dropping an extra 'real' round to clean up the end of a fight, or to pass a skill check.
And looking at other ways to break the limits of x/day systems, the cavalier has chain challenge, which could get you through the entire encounter fighting every enemy on a single use of challenge. There are still limits to how many encounters you can use this stuff on...but that is still pretty good. It turns on at level 7, where you can cover 3 fights, but that is still a fairly good buff.
To clarify, I'm talking about stuff like grit, luck, panache, inspiration, smite evil, bane, challenge, tactician, ki, arcane pool, wild shape, rage, and bardic performance.
These are all role-defining features of each class, yet they're all designed like gas tanks that run dry, leaving characters "empty." It's a boring, frustrating, math-intensive game mechanic that feels lazy to me.
Of the ones listed that existed before (wild shape, rage, bard perform, smite evil), they were all limited-use abilities. The only thing that's changed is the precise manner of limitation. Rage used to be X per day, always lasted a certain number of rounds. So, even if you only needed to rage for one round, you still had to blow a daily use on it.
I find the point-pool technique to be far superior to daily uses. I'd like to see spellcasting operate on the same principle (albeit a significantly larger pool in most cases).
Grit and Panache recovery are embedded into the rolling of dice, yes, but it's those very dice that represent the probable outcomes of actions within the game. A Swashbuckler regains his Panache by playing his character. I think it's good design. So is creating actual tactical choices, such as "should I save my last point to retain this benefit or cash in on a different benefit." That said, I think the Grit and Panache pools should start at 1+stat and grow to X+stat over the class' careers, but that's more a quantitative argument than a qualitative one.
I agree with your analysis of most other X/day powers. There are other ways to "balance" a power than to just give it a daily limit. That's lazy design. However, I think that "action economy" shouldn't be the only opportunity cost - I'd prefer if some of these powers combined this with other balancing mechanics (like "situational" or "drawback").
Some X/day powers are okay. I agree that Paizo has overdone it in some areas though (Rogue Talents are a good example of this - pre and post Unchained).
I also like 1/encounter powers. Though I may be in a minority there.
Grit and Panache are great. I added in that sort of recharging functionality to the Unchained Monk along with a baseline stamina/deeds system for fighters and it works really well. I think every class should have some sort of resource to manage; spellcasters have more powerful resources, but they don't recharge, while martials use theirs to reclaim the upper hand or keep something bad from happening once or twice an encounter.
I also like 1/encounter powers. I think it's a nice way to balance things. Look at Hexes, Judgment, and the Investigator's Studied Combat; they're all used pretty frequently, and outside of the Slumber or Ice Tomb hexes they don't end combats, but are always there. The only real cost to them is action economy (except Judgment's use/day, but ehhh).
Maybe it's just a bias on my part too. I like pools of points, and I like the flexibility they offer, especially when what they do is "minor but significant," i.e. Adaptable Luck for halflings, or Panache/Grit/Luck stuff. Those come into play when you need them but mostly support the chassis. Occultist probably makes me so happy because of this. It's like the king of point pools.
I think part of why some X/day abilities seem weak and others seem strong and still others seem perfectly balanced is because there's probably a different idea of what X/day means among the different Paizo developers. They really need to standardize things and take a look at what a Talent or Rage Power is worth compared to something that can be used multiple times a day. If my Barbarian can CLW 1/day with a talent, something he gets very few of compared to spells, and something he can't switch out, that's wrong and leads to an ability that just really isn't worth taking over something that's always active.
The new Occult classes I think did a good job of moving away from this. I saw a few 1/hour abilities (a good time frame, I think), though again, some devs seem to think that 1/day abilities at 5th level replicating 1st-level spells is balanced and ok.
Anywho. I like X/day abilities. I just feel like the ones that are ONCE/day really need to do something rad or get out; that's my nuclear option, it needs to do work, and it's especially sad when the 1/day stuff is actually worse than always-on stuff, like Power Attack or some of the Barbarian totem rage powers.
Improved iron will is a good example of a 1/day power-
"Spend this resource in order to maybe NOT murder my teammates? Yeah, I think I'll spend it".
While the other improved will save feats are questionable, this one has merit due to how scary will saves can be. Reflex saves typically do damage or put you out of an encounter. Fort can cripple or kill your character. Will though? Will can cause TPK or for your character's SOUL to be stolen/destroyed.
And since a lot of things with will often have little to no effect if you do save...yeah, good use. It is worth having that 1/day since it can change the entire battle and save everyone.
I know of three ways to get ki.
1) Drunken Master Monk (temporary ki by drinking @ 3rd level)
2) Ki Leech (spell is tagged as [evil], limiting use)
3) Wyroot weapons (needs a crit)
Good ninja's don't want to dip 3 levels just to get a max 1 temp ki. They cannot reliably use the spell, as it affects alignment. Ninjas and Rogues are not crit fishers, so that special material does not get much and competes with other special materials.
I know of a 4th way:
4) Channel Foci (exchange a channel for a ki)
This just uses one resource to recharge another.
Ninjas have no in class method of gaining ki. They also have a "save that last fun point", because it allows some stuff as long as the pool is not empty.
/cevah
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First of all, it should be a Swift action rather than an Immediate action
Good catch, thanks!
Basically, you've created a 'probably worse' version of Sneak Attack
Perfect, that's exactly what I was aiming for. This is not a front-line, high damage martial class. It's a party face, support class that can hold its own in one-on-one duels against armed, humanoid opponents. Essentially, it's a bard with no spells, but with a few of the swashbuckler's fencing tricks.
Thanks for the feedback!
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Correction: The game ultimately fails to work on the adventuring day concept.
The game ultimately works on the adventuring day concept
Exactly this. People love to claim that Pathfinder/D&D3.X are designed around X encounters per day, but that's just not how games are usually run. Hell, that's not even how official modules play out most of the time. And you know what? Even if they were always run like that, wouldn't it be boring and predictable?
I think X/day powers are the worst. X points/day powers are a hassle and only slightly better tactically. Trigger/toggle abilities just feel so much better to me. No constantly worrying about how much gas I have in the tank and more thinking about how to get my character into the right situations to activate his powers.
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Improved iron will is a good example of a 1/day power
What if, instead of 1 use per day, it gave you the choice to accept a lengthy penalty for the reroll? 1 minute of fatigue, stagger, or shaken? (and you can't use it again for that minute) Or you had to sacrifice 2 hp/level...
Now it's an interesting choice instead of a frustrating one. "Great, I just know I'm going to use this on the necromancer's ray of exhaustion spell, then next round he's going to hit me with fear and we're screwed."
Correction: The game ultimately fails to work on the adventuring day concept.
Sure. But that's how the game works.
Classes need to be designed for the game writers are making, not some ivory tower four encounter per day garbage that never happens except by accident.
This is the game we have. If you run games where the players fight 1 monster a day then you're going to exacerbate martial/caster disparity, rocket tag and PCs curbstomping everything they see (with the only alternative being TPKs). Also I have never seen anyone describe the four encounter per day as being the height of game design, or even desirable.
but it's what 3.5/PF is designed around.
Exactly. The OP asked why the game has X/day powers. This is why. You can houserule it or use optional rules (I don't know of any native Pathfinder rules that cover this though). Whilever Vancian magic is a part of the core mechanic of the game then it will be "balanced" around the adventuring day. If you want to change that, you need to start with the biggest culprit and fundamentally change how spells work.
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but it's what 3.5/PF is designed around.Exactly. The OP asked why the game has X/day powers.
Oh, I'm quite familiar with why the game is moving toward X/day powers. The idea of this thread was to get a feeling for if that was a good idea or not and, if not, if there are better alternatives to regulating power usage.
To my knowledge, the only class I know of that really has a bunch of once per day abilities is the rogue.
Inquisitor has Judgement, which falls into the same category. In addition, Domain abilities, some Inquisitions, and many Warpriest Blessings have the same restrictions.
Personally, I don't mind that x/day usage for ancillary abilities like Domains, but Judgement is a good example of a core class ability that becomes borderline worthless because of the x/day restriction. Let's face it, Judgment is underpowered to begin with until 8th level. There was no need to nerf it further with the x/day restriction.
Core class abilities should never fall into the x/day category, that was a bad design flaw in PF and 3.5 in general. A pool of points that your abilities use that you can budget per day would've been a much better design philosophy.