The 5 minute workday is a problem. It’s a big problem in that it can be encountered across multiple gaming systems and groups. It’s a bad problem in that it can totally derail the story and trivialize the effort you put into writing your encounters. If you haven’t yet had to deal with the 5 minute workday from behind the screen, count yourself blessed. If you have, and you’re struggling to deal with it, then read on!
But first, for the uninitiated, what is the 5 minute workday? Briefly, it’s a colloquial name for the type of adventuring day where the PCs decide to face The Horrors of the world for exactly the time it takes for them to use their best abilities/spells/daily allotment of tricks (usually one or two encounters the total of which is 5 minute or less). Once their out, they retire to a safe house and rest for however long it takes to refresh their powers and repeat.
The problem with this is twofold. First, as I alluded to before, it disrupts the narrative. You know that classic story where the heroes are at the end of their rope? When the DemonGate is seconds away from opening and all they’ve got left is a toothpick and a book of soggy matches and they somehow need to figure out how to close it? You know that feeling of suspense and dramatic tension that comes with running out of tricks?
Yeah… that doesn’t happen with the 5 minute workday. The PCs are never low on resources. They’re never at their wits end. They’re always fresh and powerful. You’re not playing a game with an immersive story element anymore. You’ve graduated to running raids on high value XP sacks that are bursting with loot. Not that this kind of game can’t be fun. But it’s probably not the game you and your group originally set out to play.
Second, it exacerbates the disparity between PCs with limited but powerful resources and those with moderate but limitless abilities. A Wizard can cast his most powerful spells only a handful of times a day after which point he’s only marginally useful to have along. Compare that to a Fighter who can (mechanically) swing his sword at enemies from dusk ’til dawn with no reduction in effectiveness. The daily limit on the Wizard’s tricks balances out how powerful they can potentially be while the Fighter’s strength is that he can do what he’s best at forever. But the 5 minute workday skews this out of proportion because as soon as the Wizard (or those like him with limited but powerful resources) are out of tricks, the entire party rests for the day. PCs like Fighters with endless but moderately powerful abilities are forced between choosing to adventure on without their powerful-but-limited support or to adhere to their allies’ limited scheduel.
You run into the 5 minute workday problem in any game system that has a resource mechanic that resets after a given period. These systems, by their very nature, encourage cautious and careful management of resources and disincentivizes or actively discourages pushing onwards.
So what’s to be done about this problem?
A lot of the blame passes around for the proliferation of the 5 minute workday seems to fall squarely on the shoulders of the PCs. And its easy to see why. The PCs are awesome and heroic and powerful when they’re fresh and rested but weak as kittens when they’re low on hp and resources. But I think that some of the blame also rests on the GM. It’s the GM’s job to create a nurturing and supportive environment for the players to feel comfortable and at ease in their roleplay. Too often I see GMing advice trend towards the assumption that the GM/PC relationship is an adversarial one and I think this type of mindset actively encourages PCs towards the 5 minute workday, than away.
An example that I keep coming back to as I write this was my Rise of the Runelords campaign. I threw harsh encounters at my players. Hordes of Ghouls, terrifyingly cri-prone Ogres (seriously – a Str 20, Power Attacking, 3x Crit is scary stuff at 5th level), Giants, Wizards and Giant Wizards… It got worse and worse. At first my players started utilizing the 5 minute workday to feel heroic. But as I scaled encounters to match their relatively increased power level they resorted to their abbreviated adventuring schedule just to stay alive.
What I was doing, was actively discouraging my players from doing anything besides the 5 minute workday. What I should have done was incentivize them to take on more encounters during a day, for going further and longer. One way to do this is to dole out boons, resources, or even reward items the farther along the PCs get in a day. Allotting Action Points are an example of this, but ultimately your players might just hoard them as just another resource.
One thing I’ve tried is increasing the amount of random loot on a sliding scale based on the number of encounters they’ve had factored with the relative challenge of each encounter. So for the first encounter of a day, the PCs only find what the monsters were carrying or hoarding. The second encounter they find the same with maybe a few loose coins. By the sixth or seventh encounter they might dig up a Rod of Wonder or a scattering of random mid-level scrolls. Delving through a book like Ultimate Equipment might be perfect for this kind of reward system. Pathfinder has a plethora of fascinating and strange Wondrous Items that the PCs almost never buy but always love to own.
Another idea comes from the mind of Owen KC Stevens. He suggests informing your players that there is a random, but predetermined number of encounters each adventuring day. Should the PCs retire before that number of encounters is finished, then they can expect to be attacked or otherwise inconvenienced when they’re trying to rest. If they continue on adventuring, they have a measure of control in the encounters occur in the when and where of their choosing. On the surface, I like this idea. But it requires a frank and honest discussion with your players and a willingness on their part to work with you or else you run the risk of developing a permanent adversarial relationship with them.
Ultimately, like any sort of actions aimed at behavioral modification, avoiding the 5 minute workday will likely come down to some pushing and some pulling. Incentivize extended adventuring hours and discourage early rests. What ends up working for my group may not work for yours. But know that in this endeavor, you are not alone!
I’d love to hear your solutions for the 5 minute workday. Leave them in the comments section below or continue to dialogue on the forums!
Well said. Very good article.
I started roleplaying during the end of the D&D 3.5 phase, but I only remember encountering the 5 minute work day once we started playing 4e. It seemed like the mechanics of it encouraged that style of play. However, I found that simply talking about it with the players really cut back on using that tactic in the game. Since then we’ve moved on to Pathfinder and haven’t really encountered that style of playing again…Maybe I’m just lucky with the people I play with, though.
There is a very good reason for the 5 minute workday: it’s the sensible thing to do as a player and as a character. Adventurers are so ridiculously rich that they don’t relly have to care for their everyday expenses. If they take on encounters without their full strength, the risk their lifes for nothing.
This changes when the enemies don’t just wait to be fought but act on their own – especially when they notice that someone is picking off their warbands. So if the players don’t seize the opportunity, they will be ambushed by the whole army the next day after they rested after every encounter for two days. Furthermore, the campaign may induce urgency. If the ritual always isalmost finished, no matter how long the players take, then there is no need not to rest after every encounter.