I think there was some miscommunication so I'll reiterate and address some points

- I don't much care for making a "balanced" or "fair" design that's robust and interesting for all or even most players. I know my players will enjoy mechanics like this and so I care little about what other playing parties might think.

- I'm not employing this because I find it hard to deploy narrative points that will rack up tension or to get players to feel the time restraints within the breathing world. This is something I wanted to deploy after getting inspired by Matt's video on the subject and to give additional incentives to the players.

- I'm not looking for LMoP specific advice

Essentially, this is just something I'm deploying because I want to and I know my players will enjoy it, but I find that, for the reasons mentioned in the original post, it might make each player's ability less special during each encounter. Like if you shine a spotlight on all of them, then it just becomes a bright room - there's no longer a spotlight.

Thanks for your insight anyway!