D&D 5E Avoiding the 15m workday.

[Tormyr]

Long rests can be broken up by up to 1 hour of fighting or other stenuous activity and still count as a long rest. I could easily see keeping the short rest at an hour but allowing it to be broken up by fighting wandering monsters. They could still get the short rest bonus if the go straight back to finishing the short rest after the combat. Or you could put in a time limit of 5 or 10 minutes of strenuous activity is allowed in the short rest to bring it somewhat in line with the long rest's mechanics.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Long rests can be broken up by up to 1 hour of fighting or other stenuous activity and still count as a long rest. I could easily see keeping the short rest at an hour but allowing it to be broken up by fighting wandering monsters. They could still get the short rest bonus if the go straight back to finishing the short rest after the combat. Or you could put in a time limit of 5 or 10 minutes of strenuous activity is allowed in the short rest to bring it somewhat in line with the long rest's mechanics.

Personally, I wouldn't rule it that way. You need the time to rest. And from a metagame perspective, the game is balanced to have rests limited in some fashion, and 15MWD should not happen. If you do, you end up with some classes way more powerful than others (like the barbarian, casters, etc). Which of course leads to endless discussion and complaints on forums about how WoTC has a broken game

 

[Tormyr]

Personally, I wouldn't rule it that way. You need the time to rest. And from a metagame perspective, the game is balanced to have rests limited in some fashion, and 15MWD should not happen. If you do, you end up with some classes way more powerful than others (like the barbarian, casters, etc). Which of course leads to endless discussion and complaints on forums about how WoTC has a broken game

Sure, I could see that. I just was looking for a way to not have a short rest scuttled because you happened to get jumped at the end of your short rest. Thankfully, I don't really have this problem. My players are good about spreading their abilities out over several encounters and generally use a short rest only when they need it. Partially, because I make sure the reasoning for a short rest fits in story/they can logically take a short rest at that point in time.

 

[Jonathon Robinson]

So you played it smart but the DM didn't pay close attention to the Nothic.

Specifically... The nothic is supposed to hide and watch intruders, attempting to scan their minds to discern the party's secrets. It communicates via telepathy, and if detected, it prefers to negotiate and isn't above betraying the Redbrands for the right incentive, such as the promise of food. Unless you guys simply attacked it as soon as you noticed it, that encounter had plenty of non-combat options for resolution. Heck, when my players snuck in via the tunnel, they didn't even notice the Nothic till they had explored a few of the side passages. They were a bit surprised to find it lurking about when they came back into a room they had already 'cleared'.

^ This

I am DMing this very campaign with a group of 5. The group almost talked their way out of the Nothic encounter so when they did end up fighting him they had a tactical advantage. They still found it difficult and needed to rest for 1 hour afterwards.

It sounds like you went in the back door and found the two of the most difficult encounters in this hideout. My group's party went in through the front door and had several encounters with Red Brands long before encountering the Nothic. They fought the bugbears and this was a difficult encounter for them. They mucked up with the wizard and he escaped and is still at large.

It really depends on the DM and how he wants to run the campaign, but I would say that in general the 15 minute workday is not common-place for this module, especially if you do all of the available side quests to level up. But what you experienced I would say is largely "normal" for this module as there are several difficult encounters in the Red Brand hideout. When you get to higher levels (3-4) you won't be quite so flimsy such that a bad roll spells your doom.

[EDIT] I just realized this post is from 4 years ago. I guess my advice won't apply to OP but if anyone else is struggling after playing the Red Brand hideout or similar, I hope it helps.

 

[CapnZapp]

Congratulations on completing your first necromancy assignment, young Padawan! I see great potential in you.