I've decided to follow through on what I've said elsewhere and start the discussion I really want to have.
Something I like about Baldur's Gate / D&D is the idea of getting fatigued and having to rest. I like the idea of waking up after a rest at full strength, and then trying your best to avoid getting worn down before your next opportunity to rest. For the basis of this discussion, I don't want to discuss whether of not resting should exist at all, but rather how we can make it the best it can possibly be.
How can skills slots be better? I am taking it for granted that skill slots are a key part of D&D gameplay. You will need to rest in order to recharge at least some of your skills between battles.
I currently don't really have any substantial feedback on how the skill slots mechanic could be improved on, but feel free to jump in if you have any thoughts.
Let's try not to talk about completely throwing out the rulebook. Don't just say "everything should be cooldowns". lol.
Camping should be fun! Larian should remove the implication that long rests / camping are in any way a bad thing.
Currently, in order to encourage you to ration your long rests, the game implies that the more you rest, the stronger the tadpole grows. This implication should be removed. I think it would be enough to just apply the geographical/resource limitations on camping.
I think that "long rests" can be limited geographically. You can only camp/long rest at designated camp sites, like a fast travel point for example.
Additionally, if you have a camping minigame (see below), it gives you the ability to start playing with other limitations like limited rations and start having a "time cost" that is expressed through the explicit cost of camping. In the Expeditions: Viking example below, you can actually ruin a campsite if you're not taking good care of it, and you can get in a bit of trouble if you run out of food.
The key distinction here is that camping is not something to be avoided, but it can cost you.
How should short rests be rationed? I think it might be worthwhile keeping the "short rest" mechanic with no limit on short rests. In this case, I think it might be worthwhile exploring whether it might be possible to take advantage of the advantage of Baldur's Gate being a minigame to ensure there are substantial downsoides to short rests, and that short rests have a cooldown period, and get progressively less effective the more you use them until your next long rest.
By "short rest", I basically think it would be worthwhile allowing your party to do things like healing between battles, so you can focus your combat abilities (eg healing) on combat. But maybe after a while the short rest healing effect diminishes as your party gets more battle-fatigued.
Camping Minigame One thing I feel that Baldur's Gate 3 is sorely missing at the moment is a camping minigame to flesh out the camping experience. Currently, Larian have implemented a free roam campsite that I'd say is modeled after Dragon Age: Origins.
It's nice having some quiet time to spend with your party, but there isn't really any gameplay in this. The only "gameplay" just ends up happening in dialogue cutscenes anyway. I think the idea of physically free roaming the campsite like it's just another level in the game might be a bit unnecessary.
What I'd prefer is if they take some inspiration from other games that have some good ideas for camping minigames. Some examples:
Expeditions: Viking You have campsites dotted around the world map, where you assign characters jobs such as cooking, hunting etc. Really cool minigame.
Final Fantasy XV You need to find a campsite to start the camping minigame. I really like the immersiveness of this, with characaters setting up the camp and interacting with each other. The cooking mechanic is also really pretty.
Pathfinder: Kingmaker Here you can camp almost anywhere to start the minigame. Not my favourite example, but the game shares a lot in common with Baldur's Gate.
Are there any other examples or suggestions of rest mechanics that you think would be an even better model for BG3?
