D&D 5E How many short rests?

[Rhenny]

I just let the situation dictate and don't have any specific number in mind.

Some adventures may allow for none...others may allow for 1 or 2 or even 3.

Often, I just use random encounter roll to determine if they can rest. The variability is working well to keep the PCs moving. If I want to increase tension, they get interrupted.

Now, my players don't even try to rest unless they feel they really need it. They will go through large portions of a game session (even the entire one) without resting, and I don't do anything to discourage them from resting either. I think most of the time, the goal of the adventure (to find someone before something happens to him or her, or to find an object before another does, or before something bad happens to it, or to make sure they reach the boss before others have alerted it), works to set the rest conditions pretty clearly. If there is no time pressure, I let them rest as many times as they felt they needed it.

It is a very nice DM tool for creating mood and developing the feel of the adventure.

 

[the Jester]

It's completely up to the pcs and circumstances.

The more short rests, the slower the progress they make towards... anything, really. Shrug. Up to them.

 

[Blackwarder]

As others have said it's all up to the players the world keep moving around the. It's one of the strategic decision points in the game.

The things with the short rest dependant class is that they are 'fine' even without short rests (though I don't know about the worlock).

Warder

 

[The_Gneech]

Stopping for 15 minutes is going to let you catch your breath if you've been running from something. It's not going to let you *Poof! Heal & Refresh your Powers*.

5E "short rests" are an hour long anyway.

-TG

 

[aramis erak]

Basically, three per day (one after every two-three encounters).

6-8 encounters per day or you'll have to start doing some fancy stuff to keep folks competitive with warlocks and daily spell users.

If they start taking too many short rests, just throw encounters at them during the excess, and BOOM - no short rest, AND more drain on rations/torches/HP/HD.

 

[Thank Dog]

The things with the short rest dependant class is that they are 'fine' even without short rests (though I don't know about the worlock).

In my opinion, the warlock is underpowered without any short rests. With at least one short rest, it becomes significantly more powerful but due to other casters also having short rest powers, it only really brings it up to par. It's only after the second short rest where the warlock starts to shine.

Compared to, say, the rogue, who doesn't need short rests for anything other than healing and a couple of capstone abilities (which aren't that great anyway) and there's a large disparity between power levels based on short rests.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I'm eagerly awaiting the DMG guidelines on the effects of altering the length of short rests. I'm also hoping that they will explain what the balance expectation is as far as how many short rests the game was balanced around. I'd be very surprised if the designers didn't have a number in mind.

What I'd like to do is average 3 short rests and change them to half an hour. But that will significantly tip the balance of power towards classes like warlock, battle master fighter, or monk if there aren't some other considerations involved. Hence, I'll have to wait.

My gut tells me that the game is currently balanced around 1.5 short rests in an adventuring day.

 

[Mercule]

I've been running with an assumption of 2-3 per day. They do lunch, dinner, and maybe a regrouping before pulling back to town (or finding a "safe" spot in the wilderness/dungeon). When we were first reviewing the Basic rules, someone called the short rest a "lunch break" and that mentality stuck.

IMO, if the PCs are resting more often than that, they're in over their heads. I don't have any rules that would prevent taking a short rest after every fight, but it would eventually catch up with the PCs. This last week, they decided to take a short rest right in the middle of Cragmaw Castle; I gave them an 10 in 12 chance (I've always liked d12 for wandering monster checks, dunno why) of getting interrupted, but they got lucky. I did make sure they understood, however, that they don't spend hit dice or get their toys back until the end of the rest.

Really, it's just the fighter who blows through all her resources. The others actually tend toward the conservative side and probably wouldn't notice if all their abilities were per long rest. I imagine there's a cause/effect relationship, there, but I'm not sure which is which. It'll probably even out over time, as everyone gets used to the system.

If we flip the question around ("how much should the PCs do between short rests?"), I think the 2-3 range could be applied, here, too. The PCs should probably ration their resources so they can handle two notable encounters between rests. They should also try to keep a couple of tricks in reserve, just in case they get interrupted or discover they aren't in safe territory. That last part is probably not realistic until 3-5 levels.

 

[Stalker0]

It really depends on the general surroundings.

In most wilderness areas, I would probably allow a short rest after most encounters...assuming time wasn't a factor.


In a dungeon that has a villain, or intelligent creatures that had some awareness the party was around....even 1 short rest (which is an hour) to me would not be feasible without some counterattack from the enemy.

 

[Stalker0]

I will say that one culture thing that 4e players will have to get over is the assumption of the short rest after each encounter.

In my 4e games, short rests were default. And at 5 minutes...why wouldn't they be. It was the rare exception that would break up a short rest, or the party was truly under the gun.


But a 1 hour rest is a whole different ballgame. An hour generally sitting still when you are in a dangerous area is a LOOOOOOONG time (12 times as long as a 4e short rest). It is not as reasonable to always expect a short rest after each encounter, and I know my players will have to get used to that.