I play with three different DMs and run several groups. I'd say that they are, respectively, 3, 1, 1, and for me, it depends on what the party is doing- I'd say on average a 3 but can be anywhere from a 1 to a 5 based on circumstances.
Usually, the players want to push forward as long as they have resources to do so. When the PCs start being low on HP and spell slots or limited abilities, and have already taken short rests, they will consider a long rest. On my average adventures it's probably late afternoon by then.
If I had a single player or two using all their biggest guns early on, I am not sure the rest would have fun to always quit the adventuring day too early, they would probably choose to continue and that player would need to either adapt their strategy or get used to play with depleted resources. If all players wanted to play that way, then I would adapt instead and maybe also use bigger DM's guns always, and we would settle on single-encounters-per-day adventures.
There are always adventures with sparse encounters and others with dense encounters. Rather than house ruling to exert control on the difficulty, I just let the story compel the players to make a decision. This is in line of my own bigger picture of NOT pretending to exert too much control: if an adventuring day (or single encounter) is too easy, so be it, and if it's too hard, it's players responsibility to figure it out and avoid risks.
Going with the story, I am also not going to artificially prevent a long rest, other than it being once per day. If they are outdoor in harsh conditions or under threat such as within a dungeon or enemy stronghold, it's another matter. They can try, but there's a rule that interruptions ruin the benefits.
I rated my campaign(s) at level 2. I regularly DM for two different groups, both of whom take Leomund's tiny hut as soon as they can. I can throw a few obstacles in their way, but messing with long rests gets a lot harder after they have that spell.
My group just hit level 5 in the current game, but the wizard did not choose LTH. Perhaps, because I modified the spell so instead of a camouflaged, impenetrable dome, it creates a small log cabin.
Thanks. My house rules are getting out of hand, but I like the bones of 5E and I want to be able to run games that have a more old school (because I’m old) feel when it comes to exploration and resource management.
I voted 1, just because I think any clever party above 6th level can try to manipulate the environment enough to get a long rest. That said, what I have found is that the tables I play at adhere to the social contract of the game and "want" to tell a story with drama and suspense. So, if the DM places a need to push on, we will. I think a lot of it boils down to trusting your DM and wanting to tell a story versus wanting your characters to look awesome in combat.
I don't even let the players rest. 'Now what? An owlbear attacks you, what do you do? Put down your phone! Look at me! [strikes player] You take seven damage! The owlbear goes to eat your sandwiches! [strikes player] Stop crying! No eating! Attack! Block! Attack! Block!'. Games should be an ordeal, anything else is unrealistic.
tables I play at adhere to the social contract of the game and "want" to tell a story with drama and suspense. So, if the DM places a need to push on, we will. I think a lot of it boils down to trusting your DM and wanting to tell a story versus wanting your characters to look awesome in combat.
Definitely a style difference because as DM ( and my preference as a player) is to not concern myself with a story and how it plays out. For me the story is what we talk about what happened afterwards and what I like about D&D is how things might/often happen that would never happen in a story that you’d write. Of course, some other RPGs are designed to be more narrative and have rules for that approach, and that is fine when I play that type of game. But not what I want out of D&D.
I went with 3 because I do have random encounters, even occasionally on main roads, but I don't muck with rest rules or limit access to Leomund's hut and the like. My game tend to have larger groups than normal (I had a group with 11 players for a couple years) and our group tends to get pets/followers/steeds/etc, so lots of the random encounters never happen because the DMs decide most beasts and monsters aren't going to risk it unless someone wanders off alone.
Flip side is that it can be hard to find a space big enough and secluded enough to get full rests in "dungeons". There's no common "night" in the deep down.
The exception was
Princes of the Apocalypse where there were waterfalls, active volcanoes, giant pumps, metal forges, foes that hate each other, foes under weird charms & compulsions
which made it ridiculously easy to take long rests. Stupidly easy. As a player who considers finding spots to rest* to be part of the game, handing it to us on a platter is rude.
*One of my favorite "camp sites" was a quest in a labyrinth with "no sleep from screaming monsters and vampire bats." We took out a twisted dryad with a corrupted treant who was guarding a tunnel to another area, the far end blocked by a boulder. We used the dead treant and Mold Earth to barricade the open end of the tunnel for about 15ft (other than about the top 6"), giving us a quiet space to sleep.
When I stated above that I make it harder to find resting spots in dungeons, Leomund's tiny hut is a valid strategy for survival in a dungeon. This requires the caster to maintain a :L3 or higher Spell Slot to the end of the work day, of course, and requires the party to be prepared for whatever is waiting behind the barricaded door our outside of their opaque magical hut's walls, should they come to realize the party is using magic to hold them out. If the enemies have spells of :L4 or higher, they could also disrupt a long rest in its midst, and as Long Rests require an extra 1 HR per interruption, the party would need to recast the spell somehow (and thus need more than one :L3 or higher spell slot remaining.
In addition, if the monsters or bandits or whomever come to understand what's going on here, they may start clamouring their armors or blaring disruptive music through battle horns or other such instruments. While the enviornment inside the tiny hut is comfortable regardless of the weather outside, and it bars objects and creatures from passing into it after casting, there are no such rules about sound, and explicitely the party can see what's going on through the one-way-window-glass walls of the hut (unless they lack darkvision, as the caster can change the lighting inside the hut to nighttime lighting conditions if desired). If the monsters are disruptive enough, the party will not be able to get 8 hours of sound sleep. The party may need to buy some sort of sound-blocking head gear, and darkvision-but-sleep-requiring heroes may need to get night-masks as well.
There are also still risks involving stuffing the party within such a small space. For a medium-sized spellcaster, this space is 13 [5'x5'] squares, 8 partial [5'x5'] squares (approx. 5'–5'–2'–4' right trapezoids) that we can consider essentially 5'x5' squares in terms of liveable space for small or medium sized creatures, and 4 partial [5' x 5'] squares' corners (approx. 2'–2'–(2√2)' isosceles right triangles) that we cannot consider habitable by small or medium sized creatures. This is big enough for 21 characters to essentially each have their own 5'x5' square, or 7 characters to have at least a square of wiggle room between each of them. But it's still a very small space, and meal cooking and other light activities normally carried out during the long rest may be challenging even if the party is only 4-5 characters. They may get sick of each other and struggle to live crammed so close together after a time (much as a team stuffed together in tiny spaces like live-in-boats, space-station-habitats, or closet-sized-bunk-bed dormitory-style housing in many cities around the real world).
All this is to say, I do NOT ban Leomund's Tiny Hut, but I do challenge the party from time to time when they try using it. Not so much as to screw them over if they have absolutely no LR-recharges resources left, but rather that they have to weigh the risks of trying to LR using the Tiny Hut. The Wizard might hold onto one or more extra spell slots of :L3 or higher, just in case the rest is interrupted. If they're down to their last :L3 slot after casting Tiny Hut, and the party's LR is disturbed in some way by the monsters, the combat encounter becomes a game of "protect the wizard at all costs" while the Wizard can't really help out in the fight. Or at times the Bard has also picked up the spell and held onto one last :L3 spell slot, just to give some choices here as they have more per-SR resources than the Wizard does and can afford to hold onto an uncast spell.
Leomund's tiny hut is a valid strategy for survival in a dungeon. This requires the caster to maintain a :L3 or higher Spell Slot to the end of the work day,
You're correct. That of course requires 11-mins to cast (or 110 rounds of the Bard/Wizard/etc-Caster taking the Magic Action on their turn). And if they've kept themselves hidden thus far or silently eliminated the threats thus far in the dungeon, they may have those 11-mins uninterrupted to ritually cast. But if Pippin twists the dwarf skeleton's hand and it wakes up the hordes of Moria, they may not be able to find another 11-mins uninterrupted to cast the hut in Balin's Tomb. And even Aragorn, Boromir, Legolas, and Gimli can hold the doors while Gandalf casts the spell, that's 110 rounds they need to keep the hordes of goblins and orcs at bay before Gandalf can finish the ritual. And even then, the orcs and goblins have drums in the deep. The party may not be able to sustain uninterrupted rest, and Gandalf need to recast the ritual every time they're woken up by the drums. And meanwhile the Balor is coming. Shadow and Flame.
But again, I don't bar the players from doing this and don't usually punish/challenge them for playing smartly. Chance is also factor, esp. with random encounter tables.
You're correct. That of course requires 11-mins to cast (or 110 rounds of the Bard/Wizard/etc-Caster taking the Magic Action on their turn). And if they've kept themselves hidden thus far or silently eliminated the threats thus far in the dungeon, they may have those 11-mins uninterrupted to ritually cast. But if Pippin twists the dwarf skeleton's hand and it wakes up the hordes of Moria, they may not be able to find another 11-mins uninterrupted to cast the hut in Balin's Tomb. And even Aragorn, Boromir, Legolas, and Gimli can hold the doors while Gandalf casts the spell, that's 110 rounds they need to keep the hordes of goblins and orcs at bay before Gandalf can finish the ritual. And even then, the orcs and goblins have drums in the deep. The party may not be able to sustain uninterrupted rest, and Gandalf need to recast the ritual every time they're woken up by the drums. And meanwhile the Balor is coming. Shadow and Flame.
But again, I don't bar the players from doing this and don't usually punish/challenge them for playing smartly. Chance is also factor, esp. with random encounter tables.
That sounds like a completely unrecognizable game session where the entire thing takes place locked in turn based tactical initiative. It's not hard at all for players to create an out of combat situation where they can expect that much time without interruptions . Take post 49 as an example
