D&D 5E Hit Point Recovery Too Generous

[Erik42]

Does anyone else think hit point recovery through rests is way too generous in this edition? In AD&D a character would get back one hit point a day after what is now termed a long rest. Now, rest an hour and you get to roll a full hit die, rest a few more hours and you get all of your hit points back. While this is a game of fantasy, some realism is still nice. AD&D was probably too stingy, but 5E is videogame-like in its ridiculously fast recovery of hit points.

In a similar vein, it is equally unrealistic that a character gets knocked out, is on death's door, manages to get one hit point back and just springs back into the fight as if nothing terrible just happened. Again looking back to AD&D, a character, after being knocked unconscious, needed a full week of rest before being able to undertake any activity. This was likely too strict - but I feel like there should be a happy middle.

Does anyone else have an issue with the absurdly rapid and easy hit point recovery/no negative lingering effects from serious injury in 5E? It might just be me. I'm about to start a new campaign; I think I'm going to try to come up with something that feels more realistic, without making the players feel like they are being punished. Has anyone come up with a system they like?

 

[MerricB]

Check the alternative rates in the DMG.

The rate of hit point return is slightly worse than in 4E, and similar to that which was available in 3E given the proliferation of wands of cure light wounds.

Cheers!

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I take it seriously, and extrapolate from there. There aren't any doctors or surgeons in my world, and if NPCs met an amputee they would be squicked at the thought of someone who is partially dead. Infant mortality is naturally low, and professions like mining are much safer: for the most part you're either alive or dead, none of this mine-accident-put-me-down-for-three-months-with-a-broken-leg nonsense. That's a good thing because higher production rates are necessary to supply weapons for everyone to protect themselves from the insanely dangerous (by our standards) world they live in. I'm kind of joking but kind of not.

Anyway, I take it seriously and roll with the consequences. The alternative would be to change the rules to make it less fun but more realistic, which seems an unnecessary tradeoff.

 

[mlund]

I really don't see a problem. A character with 1HP moves as fast and hits as hard as a character with 100HP. Characters that haven't failed a slew of death saves or gone to -MAXHP are one rushed first aid treatment or one lucky roll away from being at 1HP. If I have to put it to something concrete, dying characters are in danger of dying of shock while characters knocked to -MAXHP or thrown into an active volcano are struck dead with a mortal wound.

Nothing in-between, by the rules, causes any lasting harm to a character other than reduced survivability until their next couple of days of rest. D&D doesn't use Wound Ranks or any sort of death-spiral mechanics to model characters actually being carved up. There are some fairly easy-to-implement rules for things like lingering wounds triggered by being knocked down into the "unconscious: dying" state floating about if you want there to be a bit more narrative continuity, though.

Marty Lund

 

[Sunseeker]

Don't forget to roll for parasites and dysentery basically...every time they go anywhere. Also heat stroke.

 

[RangerWickett]

All I want is some way to cut people's hands off. And then to lower regenerate to, like, a 4th level spell. And have prosthetic limbs available below that level.

 

[McBars]

I don't think find it to be excessive considering the party is supposed to have between four and six encounters in an adventuring day.

 

[Paraxis]

Does anyone else think hit point recovery through rests is way too generous in this edition?

I don't but I am sure there are some.

In AD&D a character would get back one hit point a day after what is now termed a long rest. Now, rest an hour and you get to roll a full hit die, rest a few more hours and you get all of your hit points back.

Just wanted to correct that in fact you can spend any number of hit dice after a short rest.

A character can spend one or more Hit Dice at the end of a short rest, up to the character’s maximum number of Hit Dice, which is equal to the character’s level. For each Hit Die spent in this way, the player rolls the die and adds the character’s Constitution modifier to it. The character regains hit points equal to the total. The player can decide to spend an additional Hit Die after each roll.

But change whatever you want there are even some official variant rules in the DMG.

I am considering 10 min short rests for my next campaign, but limiting the characters to 2 of them between long rests.

 

[Celtavian]

Nope. From a narrative standpoint, it is more accurate than attempts to simulate reality. Movies, books, and TV Series generally don't show the results of fighting unless there is a narrative reason to do so. DMs can do the same if they wish to add a narrative element including battle fatigue. Most of the time you can state the players are beat up, but it has no real effect on combat much like the aforementioned mediums do with their heroes. I like having narrative control over hit point recovery with the standard being very fast recovery that allows for more encounters and less magical healing. If I want to work in scenarios where the characters feel like the walking wounded, I do so by keeping a pace that doesn't allow for short rests either because the characters are constantly under attack or being pursued and can't rest to keep ahead of their pursuers or are pursuing someone.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I thought it was a bit fast, as in 4e, so I changed a short rest to be a night and a long rest to be a week spent in civilization.

Woiks fine.