D&D 5E Long Rest is a Problem

[Ruin Explorer]

Given that some portion of hit points is physical wounds, it makes no sense that resting for 8 hours would automatically heal all your wounds all the time. Some wounds would linger, baring the use of magical healing or much more rest than a single nights sleep.

Whilst I'm happy with the long rest rules from a practical perspective, I tend to agree.

I feel like 6E should have some kind of built-in injury system. Nothing detailed or gory, but certainly if a PC goes to 0 HP, they should be injured - given you can and often do die from that (without healing), clearly there is some element of physical injury.

Sadly with 5E I have yet to see any kind of injury system that doesn't get completely out-of-hand, and have far-reaching impacts. Further, a lot of the systems I've seen proposed are brutal for a, say, all-martial group, but utterly trivialized by having a Cleric or Druid around. I think this suggests it needs to be baked into the system at a level below what is easily accessible.

For the record, I think any proposed system which is trivialized by access to magical healing is an outright bad and unbalanced system.

Interesting that this is basically in the same place in 2020 it was in 2013!

 

[Mistwell]

Whilst I'm happy with the long rest rules from a practical perspective, I tend to agree.

I feel like 6E should have some kind of built-in injury system. Nothing detailed or gory, but certainly if a PC goes to 0 HP, they should be injured - given you can and often do die from that (without healing), clearly there is some element of physical injury.

Sadly with 5E I have yet to see any kind of injury system that doesn't get completely out-of-hand, and have far-reaching impacts. Further, a lot of the systems I've seen proposed are brutal for a, say, all-martial group, but utterly trivialized by having a Cleric or Druid around. I think this suggests it needs to be baked into the system at a level below what is easily accessible.

For the record, I think any proposed system which is trivialized by access to magical healing is an outright bad and unbalanced system.

Interesting that this is basically in the same place in 2020 it was in 2013!

Not often I get a reply to a post I made more than 7 years ago.

 

[Azuresun]

Please note that you are responding to a thread that's been dormant for about seven years.

Hit point threads....hit point threads never change.

 

[Helldritch]

Not often I get a reply to a post I made more than 7 years ago.

We had a necromancer in our midst...
But the points made were valid. I personally go for half HD recover and no hp restored unless HD are spent. This is more than enough.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Maybe this is an area that can be addressed in Level Up?

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

One of my settings is a single island. One of the many magical oddities of the island is that wounds heal extremely quickly. Problem solved.

For my other setting, I use the Gritty Resting Rules (8 hours for a short rest, 5 days for a long rest).

 

[thom_likes_gaming]

The way I see it, if you want more 'realistic wounds play WFRP or The Dark Eye. D&D (at least in its current iteration) plays in a different ball game, it's more about the story than the simulation.
(Disclaimer: I love WFRP, TDE and D&D, each for what they are)

 

[Undrave]

Don’t care it’s bit believable. Long term healing is a drag and a pain to keep track of. I’d rather have a fun game than a realist one.

 

[NotAYakk]

Seven years. My gosh.

That is just enough for full HP under my ultra gritty metal mega hardcore 1:1 real time rules.

 

[pemerton]

If you're playing a system in which hp are recovered more quickly than seems plausible for serious injuries, the natural inference is that hp loss does not correspond to suffering serious injuries.

I also think Gygax was onto something in his DMG when he suggested that narration of hp loss can differ for PCs and monsters/NPCs. The latter don't typically recover their hp (and there's certainly no need to use the standard long rest rules for them if a GM doesn't want to) and so hp loss on their part can be narrated within a less narrow range of parameters than for PCs who do get the benefit of the standard long rest rules.