the Jester
Legend
All right, so it's pretty clear that the designers are currently leaning away from short rests, in large part because many groups don't use them as intended. This is a problem when some classes rely on them to keep up with those that recharge everything on a long rest; I'm sure most of us are familiar with the discussion, and if not, it's easy enough to find threads discussing it or throw out a little clarification.
I think the solution isn't to lean away from short rests, it is to lean into them. There are broadly two parts to doing this: Have clear advice for adjusting the time a short rest takes; and Make short rests matter to everyone.
When I talk about clear advice, I mean in the PH, in the section about rests, there should be a big section talking about how changing short rests to a shorter (or longer) period alters the game. If they're 10 minutes, you're buffing the short-rest-recharge pcs. If they're an hour, it might be hard for those guys to keep up in a time pressure scenario. Discuss the value of the length of the rest making taking one a meaningful decision. Talk about options like changing the time required in different situations, so (f'rex) a short rest can be faster the more secure and comfy an area is; or having graduated times for the short rests, so your first is 10 minutes, then 30 minutes, then an hour. And have a giant "Ask your DM how your campaign's short rests work" in bright red letters so that the reader cannot miss it.
Making short rests matter to everyone can work in a number of ways. I like having the classes have different recovery rates; I think that's cool. I don't want to put a bunch of short rest recovery stuff into, say, the paladin. But you could very easily tweak the races/lineages/whatever you want to call them so that they all incorporate short rest abilities. Everyone has a race/lineage; so everyone would gain some benefits to taking a short rest. I think you could also put a few mid- or high-level racial options in there that recharge on a short rest.
I also think you could do a fair amount of short rest encouraging by putting some short-rest-recharge abilities into feats and magic items. "My sword can do an extra 3d10 thunder damage when I hit, but then I need a short rest before I can use it again." "I took the Lucky feat. I get one luck point, and it refreshes after a short rest."
Basically, I think the problem with short rests in 5e is twofold: first, that many pcs don't get enough from one to bother with a short rest; and second, that there is not good guidance for personalizing short rests for a given campaign.
I think the solution isn't to lean away from short rests, it is to lean into them. There are broadly two parts to doing this: Have clear advice for adjusting the time a short rest takes; and Make short rests matter to everyone.
When I talk about clear advice, I mean in the PH, in the section about rests, there should be a big section talking about how changing short rests to a shorter (or longer) period alters the game. If they're 10 minutes, you're buffing the short-rest-recharge pcs. If they're an hour, it might be hard for those guys to keep up in a time pressure scenario. Discuss the value of the length of the rest making taking one a meaningful decision. Talk about options like changing the time required in different situations, so (f'rex) a short rest can be faster the more secure and comfy an area is; or having graduated times for the short rests, so your first is 10 minutes, then 30 minutes, then an hour. And have a giant "Ask your DM how your campaign's short rests work" in bright red letters so that the reader cannot miss it.
Making short rests matter to everyone can work in a number of ways. I like having the classes have different recovery rates; I think that's cool. I don't want to put a bunch of short rest recovery stuff into, say, the paladin. But you could very easily tweak the races/lineages/whatever you want to call them so that they all incorporate short rest abilities. Everyone has a race/lineage; so everyone would gain some benefits to taking a short rest. I think you could also put a few mid- or high-level racial options in there that recharge on a short rest.
I also think you could do a fair amount of short rest encouraging by putting some short-rest-recharge abilities into feats and magic items. "My sword can do an extra 3d10 thunder damage when I hit, but then I need a short rest before I can use it again." "I took the Lucky feat. I get one luck point, and it refreshes after a short rest."
Basically, I think the problem with short rests in 5e is twofold: first, that many pcs don't get enough from one to bother with a short rest; and second, that there is not good guidance for personalizing short rests for a given campaign.