[MENTION=6701872]AaronOfBarbaria[/MENTION],
Lets say a party is desperately low on HP, but have some HD left. They don't have a secure place to rest, but believe they are in the most-secure place to be found anywhere nearby. From a tactical standpoint, the wisest course of action would be to take a short rest to regain short-rest resources and spend HP, then, somewhat fortified in case they're interrupted, try to take a long rest.
But it sounds like you wouldn't let the party do that? You'd really force them to choose between a short and a long rest, and if they tried to do both (in that order) you'd rule it was a 9-hour short rest? That seems... a convoluted and undesirable outcome? It also seems impossible to describe in the fiction--why is sleeping for 8 hours ineffective just because it follows an hour-long breather?
Furthermore, you seem to be being inconsistant: if you require the players to actively declare what kind of rest they're taking then presumably they represent different in-game activitites. But if they represent different in-game activities, why can't you end one type of rest simply by choosing to start the other? You seem to be simultaneously arguing that they are distinct enough behaviors to require a deliberate choice between them, and yet similar enough that 8 hours of trying to long rest after a short rest can somehow count as a 9 hour short rest.
Finally, your claim that an extended rest delays the benefit of the rest seems to create problems. Consider the following hypothetical: there is a fighter with 30/90 HP, and a wizard with 20/60 HP who both begin a long rest. After 8 hours, the wizard starts to prepare a new spell list. The fighter, bored, keeps resting. By definiton the Wizard has finished his long rest (or else wouldn't be able to prepare a new spell list) and is now at 60/60 HP. Under your interpretation, however, the fighter hasn't finished his long rest and is still at 20/90 HP. Before the wizard is done, both get hit by a 30 HP AoE.... Does the longer-resting fighter really have to wait longer to get his HP back, and as a result fall unconscious before the wizard?
Might I suggest that the "at least 8 hours" part is meant to help the characters rather than hurt them? I think it means (e.g.) a Wizard who sleeps 10 hours can still prepare a new list at the end of their long nap (rather than having missed the opportunity at the 8 hour mark), not that it actually delays the HP and spell slot recovery an extra 2 hours.
Lets say a party is desperately low on HP, but have some HD left. They don't have a secure place to rest, but believe they are in the most-secure place to be found anywhere nearby. From a tactical standpoint, the wisest course of action would be to take a short rest to regain short-rest resources and spend HP, then, somewhat fortified in case they're interrupted, try to take a long rest.
But it sounds like you wouldn't let the party do that? You'd really force them to choose between a short and a long rest, and if they tried to do both (in that order) you'd rule it was a 9-hour short rest? That seems... a convoluted and undesirable outcome? It also seems impossible to describe in the fiction--why is sleeping for 8 hours ineffective just because it follows an hour-long breather?
Furthermore, you seem to be being inconsistant: if you require the players to actively declare what kind of rest they're taking then presumably they represent different in-game activitites. But if they represent different in-game activities, why can't you end one type of rest simply by choosing to start the other? You seem to be simultaneously arguing that they are distinct enough behaviors to require a deliberate choice between them, and yet similar enough that 8 hours of trying to long rest after a short rest can somehow count as a 9 hour short rest.
Finally, your claim that an extended rest delays the benefit of the rest seems to create problems. Consider the following hypothetical: there is a fighter with 30/90 HP, and a wizard with 20/60 HP who both begin a long rest. After 8 hours, the wizard starts to prepare a new spell list. The fighter, bored, keeps resting. By definiton the Wizard has finished his long rest (or else wouldn't be able to prepare a new spell list) and is now at 60/60 HP. Under your interpretation, however, the fighter hasn't finished his long rest and is still at 20/90 HP. Before the wizard is done, both get hit by a 30 HP AoE.... Does the longer-resting fighter really have to wait longer to get his HP back, and as a result fall unconscious before the wizard?
Might I suggest that the "at least 8 hours" part is meant to help the characters rather than hurt them? I think it means (e.g.) a Wizard who sleeps 10 hours can still prepare a new list at the end of their long nap (rather than having missed the opportunity at the 8 hour mark), not that it actually delays the HP and spell slot recovery an extra 2 hours.
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