Abstract long rests

[Tehnai]

I'm not one to care much about the whole "resting for a night brings you back to full health" thing, but it seems to be at the heart of many debates on these boards.

I think it's as such for simplicity's sake, myself, that being said, I can think of a very simple solution.

Why not make the "long rest" mechanic of an abstract length? Just mention it as being long enough for one's wounds to heal, long enough to craft such or such object, and so on. Through keeping the long rest abstract, one could have wounds close at the speed they would prefer. And there's no reason why the length of that rest couldn't be fluid (a day for scraps, burns, and study of one's spells, or a month for grievous wounds and so on).

I'd be happy if it was made so in the official rule. I could then tweak it to fit the flavor of my current campaign.

 

[Sunseeker]

I'd be fine with that. Have something along the lines of "Players get X on a short rest, it's duration is usually X or less." and "Players get XYZ on a long rest, it's duration is determined by the DM."

 

[Tehnai]

Exactly, with perhaps a set of guidelines for various playstyles/level of epicness.

 

[howandwhy99]

I expect multiple options. How fast recuperation occurs over days and longer of exploration changes how that phase plays.

 

[the Jester]

I'm not one to care much about the whole "resting for a night brings you back to full health" thing, but it seems to be at the heart of many debates on these boards.

I think it's as such for simplicity's sake, myself, that being said, I can think of a very simple solution.

Why not make the "long rest" mechanic of an abstract length? Just mention it as being long enough for one's wounds to heal, long enough to craft such or such object, and so on. Through keeping the long rest abstract, one could have wounds close at the speed they would prefer. And there's no reason why the length of that rest couldn't be fluid (a day for scraps, burns, and study of one's spells, or a month for grievous wounds and so on).

I'd be happy if it was made so in the official rule. I could then tweak it to fit the flavor of my current campaign.

What if a group wants to rest long enough to recover their spells/powers but are okay with letting some wounds remain unhealed? It seems even more gamist to say that you can't recover your spells until you recover all your hit points with perhaps weeks of rest, but if you're unwounded it only takes overnight.

 

[IronWolf]

Really all that has to be done to put me back in the happy camp is let the long rest (one night) allow you to roll your hit dice for the amount of hit points you get back.

So if you are a 6th level cleric and you rest for 8 hours, roll 6d8 back in hit points. Simple to remember and easy to use and it slows down healing just enough to make those of us in that camp happy.

I think that should be the default and then use a module to give the variation of get all your hit points back after a long rest.

 

[the Jester]

After some thought, I rather favor "Your Hit Dice recharge and you can spend as many as you like without using a healing kit". But I prefer a slower-paced game, where significant amounts of time pass.

 

[underfoot007ct]

Grognards have been hounding Mearls, here is his last tweet.
Sounds like he had more suggestions, but I missed them.

Mike Mearls ‏[MENTION=32417]MikeM[/MENTION]earls

Final old school suggestion - long rest gives back level + Con mod hit points

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

After some thought, I rather favor "Your Hit Dice recharge and you can spend as many as you like without using a healing kit". But I prefer a slower-paced game, where significant amounts of time pass.

I agree with this. It makes hit dice the single unifying mechanic representing natural healing. Plus, it allows the DM to adjust healing to taste by changing the number of hit dice gained from a long rest.

 

[FireLance]

What if a group wants to rest long enough to recover their spells/powers but are okay with letting some wounds remain unhealed? It seems even more gamist to say that you can't recover your spells until you recover all your hit points with perhaps weeks of rest, but if you're unwounded it only takes overnight.

Why should that be the case? Since it's magic, any halfway plausible explanation will do. It's easy to attach some flavor on it: e.g. spell preparation is physically and mentally draining, and any kind of injury prevents you from regaining spells (you can still cast whatever spells you have already prepared).