The "short rest" is obviously an arbitrary game concept - if you spend 59 minutes eating, drinking, bandaging, wounds, etc. you get no benefit, but one more minute and suddenly your wounds go away and your powers recharge.
Is anyone actually tracking time minute-by-minute in their games though? Time in D&D moves at the pace of gameplay. Whatever interval the DM checks for wandering monsters or whatever other mechanism they use to apply time pressure is the smallest interval a rest is likely to be interrupted by. For me, that means 10 minutes in a dungeon, 4 hours during overland travel, or a day during downtime.
I agree in principle that the dungeon should be too dangerous a place to be able to rest In without preparation. But, I feel that if the warlock has the luxury of doing nothing for an hour (let alone the 2 and a half hours in the example!) while the wizard and the rogue work out a puzzle together, that’s on me as a DM for not making the dungeon a dangerous enough place. Taking the example on the OP’s terms, I would say the warlock deserves that rest. One shouldn’t have to rely on ruling that it’s too stressful to rest, one should instead make it too stressful to rest, through risk of wandering monsters and suchlike.
1) you mid dungeon, and you come across a puzzle. You are a warlock that is not to bright and not helpful. You sit there while the wizard and the rogue play with the puzzle. it ends up taking 2 1/2 hours. Can that warlock then say "Hey, I just sat out 2 1/2 hours I'm taking a short rest"
2) (more common) you are laying an ambush. You expect the carriage to come over that hill any minute, and the ranger will signla you... an hour and a half later that signal comes can they spend HD since they just sat for over an hour?
3) (this one I came up with) you are traveling. someone is on the wagon and not really useful... but some others are on look out, driving, what ever... can the one not doing anything claim a short rest after an hour?
1) Yes, definitely for the Warlock. Depending on the nature of the puzzle and context of the situation, maybe the Wizard and Rogue.
2) No, waiting in ambush I would think is stressful. You are constantly watching the ranger and waiting for the signal. I doubt very much you are relaxing much...
3) Yes, the person in the wagon is resting, provided the area they are travelling through is relatively safe (or so they feel). If they know it is hostile/dangerous, then no, not even the person in the wagon could really "relax" and rest IMO.
normally players declare what they are going to do to get a short rest, and what precisions they will take... but if time just passes, it's still restful right?
Whether it is restful or not largely depends on the context for me (as outlined above).
Now, here is something else for you to consider:
The PCs are starting a long rest. After two hours, their camp site is attacked and they are forced to move to a safer location, breaking their long rest.
In the two hours prior to the attack, did they get in a short rest???
Yes. When I DM I always consider the first hour of a long rest a "short rest" and ask if anyone is spending HD, etc. before the remainder of the long rest is completed. This allows short rest features to replenish, etc. before a possible attack happens later during the long rest.
The only time they will not benefit from this is if they have already benefited from two short rests since their last long rest. I only allow two short rests per long rest.
1) you mid dungeon, and you come across a puzzle. You are a warlock that is not to bright and not helpful. You sit there while the wizard and the rogue play with the puzzle. it ends up taking 2 1/2 hours. Can that warlock then say "Hey, I just sat out 2 1/2 hours I'm taking a short rest"
2) (more common) you are laying an ambush. You expect the carriage to come over that hill any minute, and the ranger will signla you... an hour and a half later that signal comes can they spend HD since they just sat for over an hour?
It depends how much notice and what the characters are doing in the meantime. My "DM judgement" would be if the players can immediately spring into attack positions then they are far too keyed up to be resting. If the players knew they'd get five minutes warning and were casually playing cards or lying down, possibly with one dozing then that's probably a rest (or a rest for all but the lookout).
3) (this one I came up with) you are traveling. someone is on the wagon and not really useful... but some others are on look out, driving, what ever... can the one not doing anything claim a short rest after an hour?
normally players declare what they are going to do to get a short rest, and what precisions they will take... but if time just passes, it's still restful right?
Time passing isn't inherently restful. The security guard actually watching the monitor at all times isn't resting. The security guard watching porn might as well be.
the player brought this up because at his job the computers went down today. They expected they would be up in a few minutes, but it turned into hours. They pretty much got hours of break unexpectedly.
Yes and no. If you don't actually rest, it doesn't matter, as you can't gain the benefit anyway. If the situation isn't something where a character would normally be able to rest, it doesn't matter how long they have, since they can't gain the benefit. For the OP's examples:
1) If the warlock's not doing anything, then the short rest is fine. The DM should probably announce to everyone other than the wizard and rogue they can gain a short rest.
2) Being ready for an ambush at any moment isn't something you can rest during.
3) A character that's taking no travel activity while on a vehicle should be allowed to rest IMO. Otherwise sailors would never get a long rest...
I agree in principle that the dungeon should be too dangerous a place to be able to rest In without preparation. But, I feel that if the warlock has the luxury of doing nothing for an hour (let alone the 2 and a half hours in the example!) while the wizard and the rogue work out a puzzle together, that’s on me as a DM for not making the dungeon a dangerous enough place. Taking the example on the OP’s terms, I would say the warlock deserves that rest. One shouldn’t have to rely on ruling that it’s too stressful to rest, one should instead make it too stressful to rest, through risk of wandering monsters and suchlike.
okay, that example came from a game a few months ago I ran... and the player looking back saying "I should have gotten the short rest"
it was a 5 1/2 room dungeon, 2 of those rooms locked behind an ancient puzzel. (enter main room, and then 2 doors 1 to the locked puzzle and 1 to other 2 rooms... there were goblins in the 3 'main' rooms and the party defeated them... then went to the puzzle... there was nothing left to 'wander' until they opened the crypt with zombie warriors in it.
The PCs are starting a long rest. After two hours, their camp site is attacked and they are forced to move to a safer location, breaking their long rest.
In the two hours prior to the attack, did they get in a short rest???
Yes. When I DM I always consider the first hour of a long rest a "short rest" and ask if anyone is spending HD, etc. before the remainder of the long rest is completed. This allows short rest features to replenish, etc. before a possible attack happens later during the long rest.
The only time they will not benefit from this is if they have already benefited from two short rests since their last long rest. I only allow two short rests per long rest.
I don't require them to declare a rest, short or long. In fact it's often me telling them "X hours have passed, please refresh your short rest abilities and use HD if you wish".
The general intent of rests seems to me to require no "adventure advancement", and the PHB hints at the fact a rest should mean taking a break not just from combat and exploration but also from social interaction, but I think that all these are intended in the scope of moving towards your adventuring targets. I wouldn't consider chatting with NPCs a strenuous social interaction, but going around town gathering information on your enemies or negotiating important matters might be, maybe even shopping.
