D&D 5E Decoupling [healing + resource recovery] from 'resting'

[devincutler]

Meh. I think the fact that there are already clunky metagame aspects of the rules present doesn't argue for more of them. In fact, IMO it argues for fewer of them.

I think you really just need to get to the head of the problem, which is that you don't want the frequency of resting entirely in the hands of the PCs. And let's admit that this is only a concern for the DM if the PCs are resting too often.

The solution, IMO, would be to simply say that you can only take a short rest X times per day or that you can only take a short rest after a certain amount of time has passed. You can always, of course, sit around for an hour doing nothing, but to actually heal wounds and regain abilities requires an official short rest. Effectively, you turn short rest abilities into:

This ability can be used X times per day, but each use must be preceded by an hour of rest.

 

[Ilbranteloth]

Originally, the way rests were set up really bothered me. Particularly because the players at that time were taking a short rest after every combat, or at least trying. But what bothered me was not the regaining of hit points and abilities. It was the idea that the story was going to stop for an hour after every 15 minutes or so. I originally set limits to the number of rests. But then I realized what was really bothering me.

In the end I switched to a 'recovery' period after an encounter. This is about 10-15 minutes of catching your breath, binding your wounds, gathering ammunition, searching and dealing with the bodies, etc. It has the same benefit of a short rest.

Some things, like preparing spells, I've tied to time. It takes 15 minute + 1 minute per level of the spell to prepare. Ki and sorcery points are also recovered over a period of time. Somehow, when they have to decide, can we take the time for the wizard to prepare a few more spells makes them stop and think, and often skip it, than just saying 'we take a short rest.'

I should note that when I talk about preparing spells, they are not regaining spell slots. Those are recovered by the normal mechanics. But I let spell casters who prepare spells to prepare alternate spells if they want to take the time to do so.

They can only benefit from a long rest once/day, which is generally a night's rest. Those haven't been an issue. More importantly, it ties the recovery of things more to the game world and their actions, which is generally my preference.

Ilbranteloth