D&D 5E Short rests and encounters a day.

[Joshy]

Holy... that's a long video.

 

[commandercrud]

The default of 1 hour/8 hours for short/long rest is pathetic. The gritty realism variant is the only way to go.

 

[James Gasik]

I mean, it depends on how much adventuring you want to get done. I remember playing in AD&D, and if you didn't have a cleric, you could be resting at an Inn for weeks! But even the stingiest and most lethal DM's I played with were pretty fast and loose about healing times- the faster you healed up, the faster they could tear you apart with unbalanced encounters!

 

[DEFCON 1]

Changing the times for the different rests is something that the game has tried to inspire players to do all along, which is why they included variants to them in the DMG. So hopefully tables would figuring out what works best for their individual lifestyles.

Me personally? I'm currently running 10 minute short rests so that martial classes can use their time wisely while a caster decides to perform a ritual. This inspires both types to actually do those things more often, since both sides know they aren't holding the rest of the group up.

 

[Lyxen]

How can some people still seriously consider a variant called "gritty realism" in a game like D&D where everyone fights at 100% full strength until they are unconscious is totally beyond me, and that's the tip of the iceberg. There is nothing "realistic" in D&D anyway. Just tailor your rest for the level of action that you feel is right in your campaign and with the style of play of your players, but linking this to "realism" is simply absurd.

 

[commandercrud]

How can some people still seriously consider a variant called "gritty realism" in a game like D&D where everyone fights at 100% full strength until they are unconscious is totally beyond me, and that's the tip of the iceberg. There is nothing "realistic" in D&D anyway. Just tailor your rest for the level of action that you feel is right in your campaign and with the style of play of your players, but linking this to "realism" is simply absurd.

The name is dumb. The rule isn't.

 

[Lyxen]

The name is dumb. The rule isn't.

I'm sorry, but pretending that the rule is dumber or more clever than any other HP recovery system based on time is absolute nonsense. HP are not realistic, and certainly do not represent only meat or actual injury, since you fight at 100% until unconscious. So fixing a value for recovering them "naturally" (even admitting that there is anything "natural" in a D&D world) is absurd. And the same for powers, by the way, it's absolutely, utterly a gaming decision, it has nothing to do with realism.

So by all mean, fix the amount of time that works best for you, just please don't insist that it's more clever than another rule, it's totally arbitrary anyway, and just depends on the type of game that you are having. Pretending that the rule is more clever because you like it is basically saying to the people not using it that they are playing a dumber game for not using it.

 

[Horwath]

Make short rests SHORT again!

 

[James Gasik]

I mean, if it helps someone to not break immersion to have people jumping up after a grueling battle after an hour, it doesn't really hurt anything. I prefer faster adventuring times myself- I felt 4e's 5 minute rests were just fine. I don't mind doing that for spending Hit Dice or getting back your Action Surge and Second Wind, but that might cause problems with Ki and Sorcery points.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

I run with two 10 min short rests/day, with a third possible but it takes 1 hour.

But we run campaigns with heavy social and roleplaying focus, and my combats are mostly 4e-style set pieces. Yes, that means that short rest classes are at a disadvantage and no, my players don't care.