D&D (2024) Limiting Short Rests to 2x/day

[Mirrorrorrim]

I'm having a hard time trying to wrap my head around the narrative of limiting Short Rests to twice per day in the TTRPG. Baldur's Gate 3 limits Short Rests to twice per day, and I've seen multiple people make that same suggestion.

I feel like it works in BG3 because I can suspend disbelief due to the video game format, but for some reason I'm having a problem with that limit in the narrative TTRPG game. But I've also been thinking that the D&D Team has been collaborating heavily with Larian for BG3 rules and they are behind a LOT of the rules changes that we're seeing in BG3, and have been wondering how much of that is writing on the wall or is otherwise predictive.

Should a Short Rest still be 1 hour to cover time spent on food, water, and recuperation (spending HD for HP)? Is it weird to get all the benefits of a Short Rest (like spending lots of HD) in only 5-15 minutes? Also, if you don't need to spend HD during a short rest, should there be other ways to spend them?

What is more important for Pact Magic-loving Warlock Fans? Shorter rests, or more of them? Or both, and the slots and power level have to be reconsidered for balance?

What do you guys think?

 

[UngeheuerLich]

If correctly balanced, 2x per day short rest seems cool.
Maybe you can rest more often but only to spend hit dice, so none of them are wasted.

 

[Stalker0]

The body can only take so much. I take a break here and there, and yeah I can recover from some fatigue and such. But a human body can't do that all day. At some point the body just gets too sore and tired, and the mind too fatigued....and you need real sleep to recover. This is the rationale of hit dice. I can spend hitdice to recover from strains and injuries...but there is a limit. Once I get that limit no amount of short rests will let me heal myself...I need a good night's rest.

This version is just taking the other parts of teh short rest to that same natural conclusion. Honestly that is more realistic than being able to spam short rest abilities and then short rest 10 times in a day. You cannot "short break" your way into infinite stamina.

 

[John R Davis]

Ten minutes
Prof per day

We have being do this for ages

 

[palikhov]

Basic duration of SR - 1 hour.
Once per LR you can make SR with duration of 10 min.

 

[BookTenTiger]

If you did want to restrict Short Rests, I'd prefer to call them something like Second Wind or Heroic Surge (terrible name but you get the point). Narratively, characters should be able to rest however many times a day they need. If we're going to create an artificial restriction, then let's change the narrative of what's happening.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

The body can only take so much. I take a break here and there, and yeah I can recover from some fatigue and such. But a human body can't do that all day. At some point the body just gets too sore and tired, and the mind too fatigued....and you need real sleep to recover. This is the rationale of hit dice. I can spend hitdice to recover from strains and injuries...but there is a limit. Once I get that limit no amount of short rests will let me heal myself...I need a good night's rest.

This version is just taking the other parts of teh short rest to that same natural conclusion. Honestly that is more realistic than being able to spam short rest abilities and then short rest 10 times in a day. You cannot "short break" your way into infinite stamina.

I suppose that I'm assuming the normal HD max per day so infinite stamina/healing isn't something I'm considering a problem.

For me, the Short Rest matters most for Short Rest rechargable class abilities that give the PCs power.

 

[Kinematics]

Probably too finicky, but I'd set the base duration of a short rest to 10 minutes, and allow you to spend 1 hit die for every 10 minutes the rest lasts. (Maybe 1 extra die for the first 10 minutes.) At 1 hour, you can spend an unlimited number of hit dice.

That way you can get a quick breather and refresh short rest abilities, but you need more time if you want to recover any significant amount of health. At the same time, you can refine how much time you spend on a short rest in order to fit the broader narrative activities.

My barbarian from a couple games ago could recover 250+ HP on a short rest (granted, only once per day), and if he'd hit level 20 (we ended at level 19) he could have recovered 400+ HP. (In theory; he only would have had a bit over 300 HP at that point.) Being able to recover that much health in 10 minutes stretches my belief a bit too much, but making a short short rest give back just a hit die or two, but also being able to make a full recovery over an hour, feels like a reasonable approach.

I don't have any issue with limiting the number of short rests per day, whether 2 per day or Proficiency Bonus per day. That helps balance the ease of taking the short 10 minute rests, compared to 1 hour rests which can't reasonably be done a significant number of times per day because you just run out of time.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

Ten minutes
Prof per day

We have being do this for ages

In those ages, have there been decent-level warlocks in the group? And if so, how did it impact their power? Getting more max spell slots per day due to quick rests sounds pretty beefy.

 

[prabe]

I've mentioned this before, I think, in contexts where long rest/short rest balance comes up. My houserule for short rests is as follows: The first one you take in a given day takes about 5 minutes; the second one you take, takes about 15 minutes; the third one takes about an hour; and the fourth one is part of a long rest.