D&D 5E Playing with the short rest mechanic

[Capricia]

I think that the biggest problem with short rests is that they have too much scope. Not every "encounter" ability should key off of it.

Take the fighter for example. Make abilities like Action Surge and the maneuver dice recover a minute after using them--fights aren't going to last 10 rounds, so they aren't going to get spammed--and Second Wind can take an hour.

Divvy abilities up by those you can use every fight, once per rest, and once per day.

 

[Bacon Bits]

I think that the biggest problem with short rests is that they have too much scope. Not every "encounter" ability should key off of it.

Take the fighter for example. Make abilities like Action Surge and the maneuver dice recover a minute after using them--fights aren't going to last 10 rounds, so they aren't going to get spammed--and Second Wind can take an hour.

Divvy abilities up by those you can use every fight, once per rest, and once per day.

The problem with that is that it can add a lot of bookkeeping.

I mean, variable time recovery has been tried before. It was an alternate rule in 3e. (Check the 3.5 SRD for the Recharge Magic alternate rule listed under Variant Magic Rules... I tried to link but I'm no allowed.) Check out the mess those rules. Not just the massive wall of text on the left, but the ginormous table with every spell on the right. Having all abilities on two timers saves a ton of overhead.

 

[Joddy37]

What about getting rid of short rest entirely and treating power recovery just like ammunition instead? After an encounter, you can recover half of your spent short rest powers. You don't need to rest. They just replenish automatically when you have a 5 minute downtime. You recover all your powers after a long rest.

Or maybe a recharge dice for every spent power at the end of the enconter. Monsters already have these. Your short rest powers can have tags like Recharge 4-6 (at the end of an encounter your power recharges when you roll 4 or higher on a d6). Otherwise your power recharges after a long rest.