D&D 5E Interrupting a Long Rest

I would like to make this point. If someone uses random encounters for long rests then depending on their roll mechanics declaring the length of the rest they desire may very well be required.

I'm not sure if the DMG speaks of random encounters but you may find some guidance on this topic there. I don't have a copy of the DMG with me at present so I can't look it up myself.

FrogReaver said:

Two separate gaming elements doesn't mean the elements in question can never overlap in game.

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That two elements can overlap does not prove that the two elements in question in this discussion do overlap.

Caliban said:

Short Rest and Long Rest are metagame concepts - the characters are just "resting", but the players are usually trying for one or the other.

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Exactly. You are 'resting', but what you are actually doing is reading, talking, eating, napping, or even just watching paint dry. What you are doing while resting doesn't matter, just so long as you aren't doing anything strenuous!

And the things you are doing/not doing are exactly the same in regards to both long and short rests; the only difference is how much rest you get.

Merging a short test into a long rest just seems counter intuitive to me.

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How so? You aren't 'short resting' or 'long resting', just 'resting'. At any point you can ask how long you have been 'resting' for; if the answer is 'less than one hour', then you get no benefit. If the answer is 'at least one hour but less than 8 hours' then you get the benefits of a short rest. If the answer is 'at least 8 hours' then you get the benefits of a long rest.

It seems perfectly intuitive to me, both in terms of game mechanics and narrative. The longer you rest, the more benefit. It's like recharging batteries, one hour of charging gives some use, while an 8 hour charge fills it up. One hour of rest gives you some healing and abilities, 8 hours recharges you completely.

Arial Black said:

It seems perfectly intuitive to me, both in terms of game mechanics and narrative. The longer you rest, the more benefit. It's like recharging batteries, one hour of charging gives some use, while an 8 hour charge fills it up. One hour of rest gives you some healing and abilities, 8 hours recharges you completely.

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It's counter-intuitive because you are saying that partway through your long rest you can regain some (but not all) of your rest-racharge abilities, and that you can spend HD and then regain them all 7 hours later.

The sticking point for me is the spending HD and then regaining them, all in the same rest. That, and the rules say you get the benefits when you end the rest.

If you were attempting a long rest you wouldn't spend any HD because you are going get all your HP back anyway. But with your interpretation, you can actually end up with fewer HD at the end of a long rest than when you started. Because part way through you decide to spend HD in case you don't get to rest as long as you want.

I'm gonna have to go with my prior reading of the rules - you can't "end" a Short rest and still have it be part of a Long rest. Ending a rest isn't an automatic thing, the players decide when they are done and get the benefits based on how long they were resting before they ended it.

Either they ended the rest or they didn't. If they didn't end the rest hey don't recharge anything and can't spend HD to heal, but they can continue resting until they've rested enough to end it as a long rest.

If the players decide to end their rest after an hour, they get the benefits of a short rest. But once they do, they have stopped resting and will need to start again from the beginning if they want a long rest.

Caliban said:

It's counter-intuitive because you are saying that partway through your long rest you can regain some (but not all) of your rest-racharge abilities, and that you can spend HD and then regain them all 7 hours later.

The sticking point for me is the spending HD and then regaining them, all in the same rest. That, and the rules say you get the benefits when you end the rest.

If you were attempting a long rest you wouldn't spend any HD because you are going get all your HP back anyway. But with your interpretation, you can actually end up with fewer HD at the end of a long rest than when you started. Because part way through you decide to spend HD in case you don't get to rest as long as you want.

I'm gonna have to go with my prior reading of the rules - you can't "end" a Short rest and still have it be part of a Long rest. Ending a rest isn't an automatic thing, the players decide when they are done and get the benefits based on how long they were resting before they ended it.

Either they ended the rest or they didn't. If they didn't end the rest hey don't recharge anything and can't spend HD to heal, but they can continue resting until they've rested enough to end it as a long rest.

If the players decide to end their rest after an hour, they get the benefits of a short rest. But once they do, they have stopped resting and will need to start again from the beginning if they want a long rest.

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I've got no problem with that.

When you begin to relax/rest, you might have an idea of how long you want to rest for, and typically you will want to rest for either 1 hour or 8 hours, because of 5E's rest rules.

But you might not get what you want! You might be intending to take a long rest, but get bothered by baddies after, say, 3 hours. Although you wanted a long rest, did you get a long rest? No.

But did you get a short rest? Absolutely you did! You need at least 1 hour of avoiding strenuous activity to qualify for a short rest, you've had 3 hours, therefore you've had a short rest.

So, when I say that after 1 hour you've had a short rest and 7 hours after that you've had a long rest, that is true. But, as you say, if you choose to gain the benefits of that short rest then the DM is within his rights to say that a short rest has ended (after 3 hours) and if you want a long rest you have to begin resting again. And hope that you get 8 hours this time.

But, in the exact same situation, if you do not choose to take the benefits of a short rest as you are bothered by baddies, then you can say that you are still pursuing a long rest and hope that this interruption doesn't last more than an hour.

So after that first hour, that hour might be a short rest but also might be the first hour of a long rest. Observers cannot discern the difference by observing what you do or don't do, because any activity is either strenuous or it isn't, equally for either kind of rest.

You only need to know what kind of rest you just had at the moment you want to gain benefits from it. You don't know, nobody knows, whether that first hour was part of a short rest or a long rest until the moment you declare that the rest has ended in order to gain rest benefits.

You rest. You get bothered by baddies. You ask the DM how much rest you just had:-

*If he says it's less than 1 hour, tough.

*If he says it's somewhere between 1 and (nearly) 8 hours, you can choose to gain the benefits of a short rest instantly because you qualify for it, but you could instead choose not to gain the short rest benefits in the hope of getting enough extra rest after this fight to get a long rest.

*If he says it's been at least 8 hours then you can gain the benefits of a long rest.

Do you have a problem with this?

Arial Black said:

Exactly. You are 'resting', but what you are actually doing is reading, talking, eating, napping, or even just watching paint dry. What you are doing while resting doesn't matter, just so long as you aren't doing anything strenuous!

And the things you are doing/not doing are exactly the same in regards to both long and short rests; the only difference is how much rest you get.

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Were it up to me (and I know it isn't except at my own table, but...) a long rest would largely involve sleep (usually) while a short rest could be anything non-strenuous. This way one could tell them apart at a glance, and your overnight sleep would automatically be your long rest thus doing away with various other headaches.

Also, an interrupted long rest would not count as a short rest as it didn't end...wait for it...restfully.

Lan-"then again, were it up to me resting of all types wouldn't function anywhere close to how 5e does it"-efan

Arial Black said:

Do you have a problem with this?

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You vastly overestimate how much I care about this topic. You're not my DM, I'm not your DM, so I don't have a problem with how you run it. I was just explaining why I interpret the rules the way I do. Play it however you want.

A short rest does not need to be an hour long. Depending on what type of campaing it can be from 10 minutes to a full day.
You do have to specify which type of rest you want. Short or long.
Nothing in the rules says that a long rest includes a short rest.
If you want a short rest, then you do a short rest whatever its length.
If you want a long rest, then you go for the long shot. Not the short one. A 3 hour long rest will not enable you to get the short rest benefits unless you are ready to start the long rest anew. I would consider taking short rest advantage a cut/stop on the long rest and thus something to be avoided.

If you do it your way, everyone will start long rest and will always be full HD at the end of the long rest.
7th hour. Everyone spend their healing HD.
8th hour. Everyone is full on healing HD... That is a lot of rule bending.

But then again, this is your table. Your rules.

Helldritch said:

A short rest does not need to be an hour long. Depending on what type of campaing it can be from 10 minutes to a full day.
You do have to specify which type of rest you want. Short or long.
Nothing in the rules says that a long rest includes a short rest.
If you want a short rest, then you do a short rest whatever its length.
If you want a long rest, then you go for the long shot. Not the short one. A 3 hour long rest will not enable you to get the short rest benefits unless you are ready to start the long rest anew. I would consider taking short rest advantage a cut/stop on the long rest and thus something to be avoided.

If you do it your way, everyone will start long rest and will always be full HD at the end of the long rest.
7th hour. Everyone spend their healing HD.
8th hour. Everyone is full on healing HD... That is a lot of rule bending.

But then again, this is your table. Your rules.

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Well, to be fair - you heal all your HP at the end of a long rest anyway. Kind of pointless to spend HD at hour 7 if you are just going to heal to full in another hour. It's spending them after the first hour of the rest (i.e. as soon a short rest would have been completed) that poses the potential problem.

But in the long run it's really not much of a problem. It's the difference between an 8 hour rest period and a 9 hour rest period, depending on how you rule it. I don't happen to think the rules intend for you merge a short rest into a long rest, but I also don't think it really changes much if you do. It's certainly more convenient for the PC's, but hardly game breaking.

I keep forgetting that I use the option that no heal is done without spending HD...
In fact I play with most of the optional rules. That means that sometimes I don't think about the non optional options.
I stand corrected. It does nothing for your campaing. But it would change a lot of thing in mine.