It is a recurrent discussion on this forum about the way that short vs long rest classes are balanced. The main problem I see on the discussion is that balancing classes this way makes the game unbalanced unless you follow a very specific short vs long rest ratio (1 long for every 2 short in 5e case), and not following these guidelines has leaded to a lot of threads in this forum complaining that short rest classes are underpowered (especially about the Warlock and the Fighter).
So, I would like to ask you guys, how would you prefer the game to be balanced? Around Short rests? Around Long rests? Or you like different classes recharge their resources on different types of rests?
Vote at the thread and leave your opinion bellow. The purpose here is not thinking how would you modify long rest classes to work on short rests or the opposite, it is just about what you think would be the best from a design point of view.
For me, the best way to do it would be balancing it around short rests. It avoids excessive novas and avoid 5 minute work days (I find much better for the party to rest for an hour after a difficult fight to recover resources, than that the party goes to sleep after it).
With less resources available at a single moment, it also becomes more difficult for the party to simply destroy your planed boss because you did not want to put 5 encounters before the boss fight so the players did not get to the boss at full resources.
I also think it is easier to pace a short rest game than a long rest based one.
Want to make a random encounter during a long travel or you have a roleplay heavy game that do not like to waste time with unimportant fights? No problem, the players won’t simply stomp it because they can use their most powerful abilities every round.
Wants to make a mega dungeon? Just leave some rooms that the players can barricade for a while and make a short rest and they will be able to keep going for a good while.
I also dislike different classes recovering their main stuff in different types of rest because it kind of “forces” the DM to plan their days around a specific number of encounters and rests or else some classes will fall behind their expected efficiency, leading to unbalances.
I would not remove long rests entirely from the game. In 5e for example, I would leave hit dices and some minor abilities still tied to long rests, so the players can’t just keep going with just short rests and still needs to sleep at the end of the day.
So, I would like to ask you guys, how would you prefer the game to be balanced? Around Short rests? Around Long rests? Or you like different classes recharge their resources on different types of rests?
Vote at the thread and leave your opinion bellow. The purpose here is not thinking how would you modify long rest classes to work on short rests or the opposite, it is just about what you think would be the best from a design point of view.
For me, the best way to do it would be balancing it around short rests. It avoids excessive novas and avoid 5 minute work days (I find much better for the party to rest for an hour after a difficult fight to recover resources, than that the party goes to sleep after it).
With less resources available at a single moment, it also becomes more difficult for the party to simply destroy your planed boss because you did not want to put 5 encounters before the boss fight so the players did not get to the boss at full resources.
I also think it is easier to pace a short rest game than a long rest based one.
Want to make a random encounter during a long travel or you have a roleplay heavy game that do not like to waste time with unimportant fights? No problem, the players won’t simply stomp it because they can use their most powerful abilities every round.
Wants to make a mega dungeon? Just leave some rooms that the players can barricade for a while and make a short rest and they will be able to keep going for a good while.
I also dislike different classes recovering their main stuff in different types of rest because it kind of “forces” the DM to plan their days around a specific number of encounters and rests or else some classes will fall behind their expected efficiency, leading to unbalances.
I would not remove long rests entirely from the game. In 5e for example, I would leave hit dices and some minor abilities still tied to long rests, so the players can’t just keep going with just short rests and still needs to sleep at the end of the day.
