D&D General Lifestyle, Resting, and Survival

[Xeviat]

Hi, everybody!

The Pillars of Eternity games had a neat system for representing getting good rest. The survival skill, and different inns, offered various bonuses when resting. Survival has things like damage reduction, movement speed, accuracy bonus against a creature type, and more. Different inns offered various bonuses, like skill bonuses or even stat bonuses.

I was thinking this idea could be neat to add into D&D through lifestyle expenses, giving you resting bonuses based on where you're staying.

Lifestyle	Total	Inn Stay	Meal	Remaining
Wretched	-	-	-	-
Squalid	1 sp	7 cp	3 cp	0
Poor	2 sp	1 sp	6 cp	4 cp
Modest	1 gp	5 sp	3 sp	2 sp
Comfortable	2 gp	8 sp	5 sp	7 sp
Wealthy	4 gp	2 gp	8 sp	12 sp
Aristocratic	10 gp+	4 gp	2 gp	4 gp+

Currently, lifestyle expense is only really for roleplaying. But what if inn stays and meals gave you a little bonus?

Comparing these to spellcasting services (50 gp for a 1st level spell) and scroll costs (25 gp for a 1st level spell), this can't really be too big of a bonus. But also considering it takes 8 hours to long rest, and we have things like ritual spells not costing a spell slot when you take longer to cast them, maybe we could get away with resting bonuses effectively being like getting a spell cast on yourself. Maybe I could look there for bonuses that wouldn't be too fiddly.

So what are some spells with long durations?

Aid (2nd level), +5 hp, +5 for each level above 2. This could be a good baseline.
Darkvision (2nd level); would be weird, but I could see gaining it from resting in a magical place (eyes getting used to the light).
Death Ward (4th level); holy site
Dream (5th level); weird arcane place to sleep
Mage Armor (1st level); arcane place
Water Breathing (3rd level)
False Life (1st level); 2d4+4 temp hp, +5 per level above 1st, could also be a good baseline since it is a single target feature.
Lesser Restoration (2nd level); this isn't too outlandish.
Greater Restoration (5th level); sleeping in a special place could confer greater restoration, I'd buy that.

Heroes' Feast is 6th level, which does set an upper bounds on what any resting bonuses should be able to grant as it costs 1,000 gp and a 6th level spell slot to cast.

Then, the survival skill could allow for granting resting bonuses when you camp. If Wretched is being untrained in survival, then +2 prof can net you squalid, +3 prof poor, +4 prof modest, +5 prof comfortable, and +6 prof wealthy.

What kind of bonuses would you be okay with handing out as well rested bonuses?

 

[Ancalagon]

I think you need to consider the impact this would have on travel, where the party has to rest in the wilderness.

You also have to consider what "quality" of rest using various spells such as tiny hut. It seems it could get quite complicated quickly

 

[Xeviat]

I think you need to consider the impact this would have on travel, where the party has to rest in the wilderness.

You also have to consider what "quality" of rest using various spells such as tiny hut. It seems it could get quite complicated quickly

My thought is the survival skill can be used to set camp. Higher proficiency with survival is comparable to higher quality rest. If everyone is untrained in survival, then that's just squalid rest so no bonuses.

Tiny Hut and Magnificent Mansion would just have a set rest value, so these spells can stand in for survival proficiency. Good pointing them out!

 

[GMMichael]

What kind of bonuses would you be okay with handing out as well rested bonuses?

Erm, not spell effects. Something more like an extra heroic inspiration. Maybe you get Advantage on your first constitution and intelligence checks.

Think about it like this: you perform the same at max hit points or 1 hit point. So what's a good night's rest going to do?