My Short Rest DM trick...

[Li Shenron]

To clarify - the physicality of a locale is less important than the psychological sense of safety/security. It's one thing to border up the doors and windows and another to actually relax. On the flip-side, they can believe a place is safe, begin to rest and then find out they were mistaken.

I was about to post the same...

I have easily allowed short rests inside a dungeon, but I wouldn't do so with goblins banging on their door, even if it's barricaded.

My "trick" when I am not sure between allow and disallow, is to suggest that a couple of the PCs should be on high-alert guarding duties (and they do not get the benefits of a short rest) in order to guarantee enough sense of safety for the other PCs (which get the benefits). Unless they are all low on resources, this is usually generous enough to be almost as good as a short rest for all, even without allowing two short rests in a row to switch guards.

 

[Bitbrain]

The secondary DM for my group was influenced by Matt Mercer on Critical Role, and treats short rests as 5 minutes spent catching your breath.
He also won't allow a long rest while the group is in a dungeon, so we tend to do short rests while in a dungeon, and long rests while outdoors.

 

[Kabouter Games]

Clearly those saying "you can't rest in a combat environment" have never been in a combat environment.

Yes, you can "long rest" while on patrol in enemy territory. Is it as high-quality rest as you get in a secure zone back in the rear? No. But to claim it's impossible to have a refreshing rest in the wilderness isn't supportable. You set up a watch schedule, perimeter security, and zonk.

Is it tense? Yes. You're not on the Appalachian Trail with a troop of Boy Scouts. You're deep in the bush, surrounded by things and people that odds are want to kill you. But they're not in your face right here, right now, so you set your SOP precautions and smoke 'em if you got 'em until they do make contact.

Aco175 knows what I'm talking about, because Ranger school teaches you hard lessons about rest and recovery.

I'll grant that you can't short rest "with goblins banging on their door, even if it's barricaded," because even though I personally have slept peacefully within 100 meters of a battery of particularly gonzo 155mm howitzers during a fire mission, it's not just about the noise. It's about the stress of the goblins maybe breaking through while you're not at full combat readiness.

Cheers,

Bob

www.r-p-davis.com

 

[Li Shenron]

Clearly those saying "you can't rest in a combat environment" have never been in a combat environment.

Yes, you can "long rest" while on patrol in enemy territory. Is it as high-quality rest as you get in a secure zone back in the rear? No. But to claim it's impossible to have a refreshing rest in the wilderness isn't supportable. You set up a watch schedule, perimeter security, and zonk.

Is it tense? Yes. You're not on the Appalachian Trail with a troop of Boy Scouts. You're deep in the bush, surrounded by things and people that odds are want to kill you. But they're not in your face right here, right now, so you set your SOP precautions and smoke 'em if you got 'em until they do make contact.

Aco175 knows what I'm talking about, because Ranger school teaches you hard lessons about rest and recovery.

I'll grant that you can't short rest "with goblins banging on their door, even if it's barricaded," because even though I personally have slept peacefully within 100 meters of a battery of particularly gonzo 155mm howitzers during a fire mission, it's not just about the noise. It's about the stress of the goblins maybe breaking through while you're not at full combat readiness.

Cheers,

Bob

www.r-p-davis.com

Yes I didn't mean the noise but the tension is what makes the difference. But please don't push too much your professional experience into game implications tho... There is nothing truly implying that D&D characters have to be more similar to a modern, professional, highly trained, hightech-equipped soldier, than instead the average people impersonating them around the table. Some gaming groups might like roleplaying PCs under those assumptions, but a lot of others don't: just to mention a common case, anyone playing D&D from Tolkien inspiration could be more oriented towards assuming PCs that have no training, very limited experience, and casual equipment (at least when they start!). Personally, in my own 20+ years of gaming, we've pretty much always played PCs that were a lot closer to being "improvised adventurers" rather than "professional adventurers", at least until high levels.

 

[Gardens & Goblins]

Yes, you can "long rest" while on patrol in enemy territory. Is it as high-quality rest as you get in a secure zone back in the rear? No. But to claim it's impossible to have a refreshing rest in the wilderness isn't supportable. You set up a watch schedule, perimeter security, and zonk.

www.r-p-davis.com

Well aye - if you trust your skills, training and team you can try to (even enjoy) a short/long rest. Which brings us back to the 'less about the physicality and more about the psychological'. Hence the importance of the appropriate conditioning!

 

[jasper]

hmmmm Goblins with Ranger Training. AND NEXT AIRBORNE KOBOLDS! mEWhahahahhahhaaa!

 

[akr71]

While interesting such circumstances would just be replicated each time and quickly get boring.

In some sort of constructed environment be it house, castle or dungeon, yes it could be. In a natural cavern system with no doors to spike shut, it is a whole new scenario. Wilderness encounters would be radically different depending on terrain.

The point is that the party has to take reasonable precautions to ensure their privacy will go undisturbed during the short rest. They can't just say "we take a short rest."

 

[MNblockhead]

Another rule I apply is that Long Rests are only possible in safe, settled locations. This is especially important for wilderness-based modules. Due to the long distances involved in overland travel, I was potentially facing days between each combat encounter. My players grew to expect they could burn every resource in a wilderness encounter, because they could just get them all back over the next day. Now, they're much more frugal - knowing they could spend weeks in the wilderness, and camp down many times, but never receiving the mechanical benefits of a Long Rest until they get to a safe town.

Why? Surely not for verisimilitude. There is no logical reason you can't get a good rest in the wilderness if you know how to take care of yourself and your fellow travelers. I can see requiring the party to make their own safe, temporary "settlement." If they took a beating, they may need a bit more comfort and care than a tent, but why not let them use their survival skills to find and create a safe place to recuperate.

 

[Gardens & Goblins]

Why? Surely not for verisimilitude. There is no logical reason you can't get a good rest in the wilderness if you know how to take care of yourself and your fellow travelers. I can see requiring the party to make their own safe, temporary "settlement." If they took a beating, they may need a bit more comfort and care than a tent, but why not let them use their survival skills to find and create a safe place to recuperate.

I'm fairly sure this is why alcohol was invented..

 

[CydKnight]

I think I would let them do what they want and let the consequences fall where they may. If their short rest is interrupted by a counter-attacking Goblinoid group then so be it. As a DM I'm not going to tell them that is exactly what is going to happen unless prompted by them. I'm guessing they know the two leaders got away and should suspect this is a possibility. My group is a paranoid lot and they will not take a short rest unless they are reasonably assured of a way of securing their location.