D&D (2024) Rests should be dropped. Stop conflating survival mechanics with resource recovery.

[GMMichael]

No, long rest for resource recovery, short rest for healing only, done.

But what about verisimilitude? A short rest is a great time to stick some arrowheads on your arrows, memorize another spell, gather some berries. You know, resources. A long rest is the bare minimum for doing any actual healing.

 

[mamba]

But what about verisimilitude? A short rest is a great time to stick some arrowheads on your arrows, memorize another spell, gather some berries. You know, resources. A long rest is the bare minimum for doing any actual healing.

I am not overly worried about verisimilitude in a game with wizards, dragons, and healing potions. Healing on a short rest is about the least of its problems with that

 

[niklinna]

But backwards compatibility.

 

[Neonchameleon]

So wait a second here... You don't recover at all when you stop for a five minute breather? And stopping to cook and eat lunch leaves you just as exhausted as before you stopped? Or as if you ate on the run?

 

[Charlaquin]

How do you acquire potions?

You can’t. My potions are too strong for you, traveler.

 

[Horwath]

Use spell points.

For HP, if you did not take any damage last round, recover a number of HPs as a Bonus Action equal to your prof bonus.

If you did not cast any spell last round, recover a number of spell points as a Bonus Action equal to your prof bonus.

 

[Ondath]

If we're going to decouple the "in-universe" resting from resource recovery, I'd much prefer 13th Age's system where you need to go through a set number of encounters before you earn a long rest, and if you try to rest the game rules tell the GM to give the players some negative consequence.

 

[Bagpuss]

Potions, like literally any other RPG that isn't stuck in this useless tradition.

Potions are a resource that removes all negotiating and negates any verisimilitude problems.

Yes because imaging my character having little blue and red bars to track mana and health like a computer game is so much more realistic than imaging my character recovering by having some time to rest and treat their injuries.

Let me just reach into my backpack and pull out one of mana potions of this stack of 99 of them, and spam the chug button (drinking several gallons of liquid) to get up to full mana, hmm sweet sweet verisimilitude.

 

[mamba]

Use spell points.

For HP, if you did not take any damage last round, recover a number of HPs as a Bonus Action equal to your prof bonus.

If you did not cast any spell last round, recover a number of spell points as a Bonus Action equal to your prof bonus.

why even bother with points then. In combat a potion takes care of it, out of combat you are fully refreshed. Might as well call everything a per encounter skill. Awful.

 

[CubicsRube]

You could just make long rest abilities reset once per day. It's functionally more or less the same, but decouples it from resting.

Short rest abilities you could say recovers every 3 hours roughly (whatever time interval you choose)