D&D 5E Short Rest Healing Spells

jgsugden · Jun 6, 2019

Let me put it this way: I played in a game in which any PC could completely heal during a short rest without using their hit dice to heal. It was due to the presence of a magic item, but it was there - and it did not ruin the game at all.

Healing spells, in combat, are rarely worthwhile, must less overpowered. They are only really meaningful to pogo someone back up or keep them from falling down, but you need not have any fear that they will break the game.

Xeviat · Jun 6, 2019

Kurotowa said:
Which is exactly what I'm trying to warn Xeviat about. If your campaign day falls on the lower end of the encounter spectrum with less freedom to take multiple short rests, having short rest based healing isn't going to impact things. If your campaign days fall on the longer and more packed end, losing the slow attrition of HP and available healing will have a major impact.

This is actually a large chunk of the reason I want to go back to everyone being on more or less the same daily timer. Sandboxy games really do work better with 1 or 2 hard fights in a day and maybe a few easy skuffles. The big caster classes outshine the fighter, monk, and warlock in these situations. I have some plans to put everyone onto a short rest mechanic (the big casters have a few long rest spells still) that will even that out a bit.

Xeviat · Jun 6, 2019

jgsugden said:
Let me put it this way: I played in a game in which any PC could completely heal during a short rest without using their hit dice to heal. It was due to the presence of a magic item, but it was there - and it did not ruin the game at all.

Healing spells, in combat, are rarely worthwhile, must less overpowered. They are only really meaningful to pogo someone back up or keep them from falling down, but you need not have any fear that they will break the game.

Do you feel like the DM had to push the challenge of each encounter to continue making them fun?

Baumi · Jun 6, 2019

While I do like short rest much more than long rest, it's really hard to redesign everything to short rest Classes/Features. So I did the opposite and just drippeled to short rest usage and make them long rest abilities instead (so 6 instead of 2 slots for a mid-level Warlock or 3 Action Surges for a Fighter, but only recharge at a long rest). Hit Dice can be used at any time if it is not to stressfull (not while chasing or combat).

But I also changes long rest like 13th Age did. Only the GM can give a long rest (after about 6-8 Encounter), but the Players can invoce a long rest if needed .. but that comes at a cost (campaign complication).

That 3 times short rest rule is very easy to apply (no need for changing Features) and suddenly many balance and Adventure pacing Problems are gone.

jgsugden · Jun 6, 2019

Xeviat said:
Do you feel like the DM had to push the challenge of each encounter to continue making them fun?

Not at all.

As a side note: Threat to life is not the only way to challenge players. There is a reason why the DMG/PHB suggest including easy and medium encounters amongst hard and deadly ones. These easier encounters, while posing no real threat to the lives of the PCs (outside really bad tactics or bad luck), can stil provide opportunities for the PCs to succeed or fail.

A single goblin on watch that must be killed before it raises an alarm.

Three young rogues run out of a shop in different directions. The Shopkeep follows them out screaming that one of them stole something.

A caravan is being attacked by a herd of goblins and a mid-level party is there to protect the caravan - can they avoid any deaths to the people on the caravan? Can they prevent anything from being stolen?

The powerful PCs enconter a mid-level monk. It has information they want. How an they get it when the monk is willing to die to protect the information?

A bunch of skeletons anmate and attack the mid-level PCs as they race to solve a puzzle before time runs out. Do they kill the skeletons and lose time or endure their attacks and finish faster?

A giant is holding the infant prince. How do you take out the giant without killing the prince?

None of these things is likely to be impacted by healing at all - and the PCs are unlikely to really feel endangered. However, there can be significant success or failure implications.

Gadget · Jun 6, 2019

A lot of commentary about the short rest/long rest failings in 5e, which I have seen to a greater or lesser degree. One potential 'fix' I have seen but not implemented, is to give all the classes a second-wind-like short rest, where they can spend a full round to 'refocus' and gain the benefits of a short rest. Limit them to two of these 'refocus' events per long rest, and you give your short rest based classes an much improved way to adapt to different campaign styles with myriad different encounter frequency patterns. I wonder how that would work in practice though.

Xeviat · Jun 6, 2019

I dislike Novaing, so switching to short rest would suit me more than switching to everything on long rest. But just multiplying short rest stuff by 3 is an interesting solution.

Tony Vargas · Jun 6, 2019

Xeviat said:
I dislike Novaing, so switching to short rest would suit me more than switching to everything on long rest. But just multiplying short rest stuff by 3 is an interesting solution.

Obviously, you could go the other way, and divide daily resources by 3 and make them all short-rest.

Or, heck, make 5e into an Encounter-paced game: divide short-rest uses by 2, and long-rest by /6/…
… heh, your rounding policy would be very important.

Kurotowa · Jun 6, 2019

Xeviat said:
I dislike Novaing, so switching to short rest would suit me more than switching to everything on long rest. But just multiplying short rest stuff by 3 is an interesting solution.

The nova issue is a tricky one. On the one hand, if you have a low encounter day with only medium difficulty challenges it lets the PCs blow through them with no challenge. On the other hand, the ability to nova is often the only way the PCs can punch above their weight class when the DM throws an extra hard story or sandbox encounter at the party.

So what I'm saying is, make a careful appraisal of your DM style before you put everyone on a short-rest level resource limit. It'd be a really good idea to talk to your players for additional perspective, too. I won't disagree that having a mix of short rest and long rest PC builds can be an issue if the campaign isn't paced exactly right. I'm just not sure that pushing everyone to a short rest level is the right solution. But I'm often conservative about change, and long rest is the legacy style for certain.

The Crimson Binome · Jun 6, 2019

Kurotowa said:
On the other hand, the ability to nova is often the only way the PCs can punch above their weight class when the DM throws an extra hard story or sandbox encounter at the party.

What's the point of even having a weight class, if it's trivial to punch above that whenever you need to? I don't see any real benefit to a level 9 party being able to take out a level 19 enemy, just by spending their daily resources.