D&D 5E Homebrew rules for resting and recharge of abilities

[Rockyroad]

Idea 1
Major Recovery (using a different name than long rest as ultimately that's confusing, major recovery is getting long rest abilities back but not hp): The players receive a major recovery whenever they have performed a minor recovery 3 times or received 15 total recharge die since the last Major Recovery.

--This gives us a little buffer if the dice are stone cold. Now the party will always get a "Long Rest" whenever they have done a certain number of encounters, no matter how luck is going. They might have received it quicker with good luck, but will always get it.

With the original rules the party will always get a Major recharge on every 3rd recharge, butI like your idea of getting an automatic Major recharge if you have accumulated enough Recharge Dice. This guarantees a long rest recharge after a certain number of encounters even if you haven't had any short rest recharges. This may be the way a party with only long rest dependent classes would go.

 

[Stalker0]

With the original rules the party will always get a Major recharge on every 3rd recharge

I'm wondering if we have a language barrier here. Are you saying that a major recharge is triggered whenever the party "attempts" the 3rd recharge roll, or when they get a "successful" 3 recharges?

I was interpreting it as the latter.

 

[Rockyroad]

I'm wondering if we have a language barrier here. Are you saying that a major recharge is triggered whenever the party "attempts" the 3rd recharge roll, or when they get a "successful" 3 recharges?

I was interpreting it as the latter.

It's the latter, on successful recharge. I think I misunderstood your other post.

 

[Larnievc]

Ok, I know the rules I'm about to introduce are pretty far out there, but I think it addresses a problem I have with how resting and recharging of class abilities and hit dice are handled in 5e.

The problem I see is that the recharge is tied to the passage of time and not to the actual amount of "work" or encounters you have. 5 min work days are a problem when the game is supposedly calibrated around having 6 to 8 encounters a day, especially when trying to balance encounter difficulty and balance between short and long rest dependent classes. This puts the onus on the DM to try to control the pacing of the game, a very challenging task when faced with the vastly varying time scales inherent in the different modes of play such overland exploration where encounters are measured in days to weeks and a dungeon crawl where encounters can be measured in minutes. This has lead to all sorts of variant resting rules trying to shoehorn the resting times to adjust to the pacing of the game where a short rest can take anywhere from 5 mins to 8 hrs and a long rest from 8 hrs to a week.

The rules that follow get around this problem by basing the recharge of abilities on the number of encounters the party faces and not on resting times. This way, recharges will be more consistent whether you're in a roleplay heavy game with few combat encounters or a hack and slash dungeon crawl, and the DM doesn't have to worry about adjusting the pace or the difficulty level of encounters to make sure the party isn't completely bored by lack of challenge or constantly in fear of a TPK.


The rules:

1. Short Rests are 5 mins and Long Rests are 8 hrs. You must take at least 1 Long rest in a 24 hr period or gain 1 level of exhaustion.
2. Any amount of remaining HD can be expended as usual during Short or Long Rests.
3. Class abilities such as Ki points or Spell slots along with HD are only recharged during a Short or Long Rest by rolling "Recharge Dice" with a successful recharge occurring on a roll of 12 or higher. No hit point recharge during Long Rests.
4. Recharge Dice are awarded to the party following combat encounters according to the difficulty level of the encounter as judged by the DM as follows: 1d6 for Easy, 2d6 for Normal, 3d6 for Hard, and 4d6 for Deadly.
5. Recharge Dice can be accumulated or expended between encounters however the party chooses.
6. Long Rest dependent abilities and half your HD recharge only every third successful recharge whereas Short Rest dependent abilities recharge on every successful roll. (Notice that the recharge of Short and Long Rest dependent abilities are not tied to Short and Long Rests respectively and that they can recharge during any rest with the only caveat being that Long rest abilities only recharge on every third successful roll.)

Thoughts? Besides the lack of realism and gameyness of the system, any mechanical problems and unforseen interactions with the game?

It would not be for me because it’s a bit fiddly. But gaminess is not a problem: after all it is a game.

I ran into similar problem. I solved it by saying that after every 2 encounters the PCs get the normal benefits of a short rest. After every 6 sessions you get the benefit of a long rest. Both ‘rests’ take no time

You also need to sleep 8 hours per day or you get and exhaustion level per day.

This keeps things moving along nicely, they can’t force rests so no 5 minute adventure day.

DM can declare a long rest if it makes sense in the narrative and reset the encounter counter.

 

[Rockyroad]

It would not be for me because it’s a bit fiddly. But gaminess is not a problem: after all it is a game.

I ran into similar problem. I solved it by saying that after every 2 encounters the PCs get the normal benefits of a short rest. After every 6 sessions you get the benefit of a long rest. Both ‘rests’ take no time

You also need to sleep 8 hours per day or you get and exhaustion level per day.

This keeps things moving along nicely, they can’t force rests so no 5 minute adventure day.

DM can declare a long rest if it makes sense in the narrative and reset the encounter counter.

Yeah this is the way I would go if I wanted to streamline it.