Sure, but what do you suggest I do in that specific playthrough - reload a save before the tough encounter and go take a long rest then, potentially loosing a lot of progress/successful checks in the meantime? Just to replay that content again? Or should I waste time replaying a random encounter until I win.
And if I do win, then what do I get? If I get some story/lore that would be something useful, but then that is not really a random encounter.
Or you game over because you seriously are spent. How long ago was your last save again? Sucks to be you!
Good points! In PnP you'd all make new characters but this doesn't really translate well to video game design...
Sure, but that is just delaying story progression. Hmm, I really want to know what Gale has to say to me, but let's just go kill a bunch gnolls or whatever first. I am delaying a story that I want to learn more about for what - a potential to have a challenging encounter? Hey, in that case I can just save -> try to long rest -> got encounter -> reload and try again.
Plus, from what I can tell Larian really wants to flesh out your camp. From friendly NPC's to companions, to story beats - so why gate those away behind an encounter?
In this case, you've weighed the benefits (talking to Gale) vs the risks (getting a random encounter that is a bit less challenging) and decided that you're willing to risk it. Seems fine to me. It doesn't delay story progression by that much unless you choose to keep exploring. Plus, there's a realistic/role-playing aspect here: you left Gale all the way back at camp today. Having to (maybe) go through a bit of trouble to talk to him again isn't unreasonable...
Though I do admit, I am partially in favor of random encounters because of the current resting mechanics. If they made long rests more difficult (and gave us another short rest or two), then I'd be ~fine with there being no random encounters.
