Sleepy Walker
First Post
My players short rest quite a bit. In the campaign I play in we long rest quite a bit. This is the difference between a campaign with a lot of smaller encounters verses one with a few very difficult encounters.
As the DM I personally am far more lenient with short rests than I am with long rests.
-A short rest can be done just about anywhere and at any time. Consequences vary, but it is not impossible to hole up undetected for an hour or so in quite a few situations.
-A long rest (8 hours rest) only has a benefit every 24 hours of time. If the players take a long rest right after just having a long rest (say a bloody ambush in the morning), then it takes a full 24 hours until they get the benefit.
Generally what happens is while the players are in a dangerous but stable situation (standard dungeon quiet segment) they take short rests when appropriate to regain health and short-rest abilities. Most of the time they take these short rests in a safe manner and there is not a lot which changes while taking them. Occasionally a short rest is interrupted
When they do take long rests to regain spell slots the upcoming encounters can change, often becoming harder as forces organize defenses or perhaps a target escapes entirely. This is the players choice and they go into each rest knowing that time will pass. If I feel they are flippantly calling for a long rest I tell them that if they do this things will change and that they need x hours to get the benefit. I never tell them they cannot take a long rest and must continue. I've been on the receiving end of that and much prefer just telling them that they can do the thing they want but there is an extra penalty of time, difficulty, or mission critical objectives (I don't run my campaign where the PCs can never fail and cannot retreat to come back or try somewhere else).
As the DM I personally am far more lenient with short rests than I am with long rests.
-A short rest can be done just about anywhere and at any time. Consequences vary, but it is not impossible to hole up undetected for an hour or so in quite a few situations.
-A long rest (8 hours rest) only has a benefit every 24 hours of time. If the players take a long rest right after just having a long rest (say a bloody ambush in the morning), then it takes a full 24 hours until they get the benefit.
Generally what happens is while the players are in a dangerous but stable situation (standard dungeon quiet segment) they take short rests when appropriate to regain health and short-rest abilities. Most of the time they take these short rests in a safe manner and there is not a lot which changes while taking them. Occasionally a short rest is interrupted
When they do take long rests to regain spell slots the upcoming encounters can change, often becoming harder as forces organize defenses or perhaps a target escapes entirely. This is the players choice and they go into each rest knowing that time will pass. If I feel they are flippantly calling for a long rest I tell them that if they do this things will change and that they need x hours to get the benefit. I never tell them they cannot take a long rest and must continue. I've been on the receiving end of that and much prefer just telling them that they can do the thing they want but there is an extra penalty of time, difficulty, or mission critical objectives (I don't run my campaign where the PCs can never fail and cannot retreat to come back or try somewhere else).