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<blockquote data-quote="OnlineDM" data-source="post: 5233536" data-attributes="member: 90804">There are two ways to answer this question: from the perspective of game rules and from the perspective of in-game reality.From a game rules perspective, a party will take a short rest whenever there's either no need for an extended rest or when the consequences of taking an extended rest are bad.&nbsp; &quot;No need&quot; means they've finished a battle without expending any significant resources that require an extended rest to recharge (daily powers, healing surges, magic item daily uses).&nbsp; Bad consequences are the things that other posters have talked about&nbsp; - the bad guy gets so much of a head start that they'll never catch him, for instance.&nbsp; It could also be that just taking a nap, even with people standing guard in shifts, could leave the party vulnerable to surprise attacks that would interrupt the extended rest.&nbsp; And it might not be possible for the party to get to a town that's safe for some reason.From an in-game reality perspective, it's absurd to wake up, get your gear ready, walk to the nearby bad guy lair, spend five minutes fighting enemies, then go back to bed.&nbsp; It's just not realistic.&nbsp; Maybe your players don't care about that, but I think it's worth thinking about.I've honestly never worried too much about the 12-hour rule (I had to look it up on page 263 of the Players Handbook to even see what you were talking about). I interpret it as an in-game reality rule, but for game balance purposes.&nbsp; It means, from a rules perspective, that you CAN'T fight a battle, take a nap, fight a battle, take a nap.&nbsp; And from a reality perspective, it means that characters aren't lazy enough to do so.&nbsp; They need some meaningful time spent in activity before they can take an extended rest.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="OnlineDM, post: 5233536, member: 90804"] There are two ways to answer this question: from the perspective of game rules and from the perspective of in-game reality. From a game rules perspective, a party will take a short rest whenever there's either no need for an extended rest or when the consequences of taking an extended rest are bad. "No need" means they've finished a battle without expending any significant resources that require an extended rest to recharge (daily powers, healing surges, magic item daily uses). Bad consequences are the things that other posters have talked about - the bad guy gets so much of a head start that they'll never catch him, for instance. It could also be that just taking a nap, even with people standing guard in shifts, could leave the party vulnerable to surprise attacks that would interrupt the extended rest. And it might not be possible for the party to get to a town that's safe for some reason. From an in-game reality perspective, it's absurd to wake up, get your gear ready, walk to the nearby bad guy lair, spend five minutes fighting enemies, then go back to bed. It's just not realistic. Maybe your players don't care about that, but I think it's worth thinking about. I've honestly never worried too much about the 12-hour rule (I had to look it up on page 263 of the Players Handbook to even see what you were talking about). I interpret it as an in-game reality rule, but for game balance purposes. It means, from a rules perspective, that you CAN'T fight a battle, take a nap, fight a battle, take a nap. And from a reality perspective, it means that characters aren't lazy enough to do so. They need some meaningful time spent in activity before they can take an extended rest. [/QUOTE]

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