D&D 5E Short Rest House Rule Idea

[fjw70]

I am thinking of a new house rule for 5e around short rests. the Idea is that short rests are only 5 minutes long but you can only get the benefits of a short rest twice a day.

Thoughts? Issues?

 

[Oofta]

I'm not sure why your clothes need a rest. Do shirts really get that tired?

Depending on your group and classes it could work but will generally benefit the short rest classes significantly. The general rule of thumb is only 1-2 short rests per long rest.

 

[aco175]

A small issue came up the other night playing where the mage wanted to cast detect magic as a ritual and spend the 10 minutes. The others spent the time searching the room. Not sure how letting them rest here would have affected things. They were a bit beat up and could have used a rest to make the final encounter easy, but not having one meant the stakes were higher.

I do not think it would affect much if restricted to pro bonus. I think as you get more times per day it would make certain classes better.

 

[fjw70]

Yeah probably just a fixed number would be good. Maybe 2 or 3. That way the balance between classes doesn’t change as they level up.

 

[Clint_L]

I don't put a specific time on short rests, I just go with what feels necessary in the story. Is there enough down time to recover a bit, or is the situation so pressing that attempting to do so will lead to Consequences? If the former, then it doesn't really matter whether I say 5 minutes or 30, and if the latter then it is similarly a moot point.

 

[iserith]

I am thinking of a new house rule for 5e around short rests. the Idea is that short rests are only 5 minutes long but you can only get the benefits of a short rest a number of times per day equal to your proficiency bonus.

Thoughts? Issues?

What's the goal of this house rule? Once we have the goal, we can evaluate if the house rule may achieve the thing you're looking to do.

 

[fjw70]

What's the goal of this house rule? Once we have the goal, we can evaluate if the house rule may achieve the thing you're looking to do.

sometimes the party needs a short rest but it doesn’t make since story-wise to sit around for an hour. And it would put a hard cap on short rests before needing to take a long rest.

 

[TwoSix]

I’m running my current game with 1 minute short rests, 2 per character before needing a long rest, and it’s worked just fine.

 

[prabe]

My current houserule is derived from Cypher: The first short rest takes about five minutes; the second short rest takes about fifteen minutes; the third short rest takes about an hour; the fourth short rest is part of a long rest. Other things tied to short rests take an hour, the catnap spell gives you the benefits of a short rest but doesn't count against the number you've taken.

 

[Dausuul]

I am thinking of a new house rule for 5e around short rests. the Idea is that short rests are only 5 minutes long but you can only get the benefits of a short rest a number of times per day equal to your proficiency bonus.

Thoughts? Issues?

We've been using essentially this house rule for years, except we use a fixed 2/day instead of prof bonus. Works great to resolve the balance issues between short rest and long rest classes, without disrupting other parts of the game. It also reduces the importance of having a healer, since it's easier to use hit dice.

We have yet to encounter any problems with it.

 

[aco175]

Not sure if it is worth it brainwise to have the first at 5 minutes and the second at 1 hour. Maybe allow for a third at 2 hours but must make a check of some kind.

 

[Blue]

I am thinking of a new house rule for 5e around short rests. the Idea is that short rests are only 5 minutes long but you can only get the benefits of a short rest a number of times per day equal to your proficiency bonus.

Thoughts? Issues?

Generally, I'd play in a game with this house rule. I do have a few thoughts:

A. If limiting short rests, allow them to be individual choice. If there's a 5 minute down time and only two characters want to take one of their X Short Rests per day, that should be acceptable.

B. From a pacing perspective I like 5 minutes. However considering that with very few exceptions spells either are 8+ hours or have their durations ended by a short rest. This may be a pocket buff for casters since no martial classes have those type of abilities.

C. 4+ short rests per day could get abused by short rest classes, specifically Warlocks. While this can be abused like with B by casting, resting, possibly doing again, and then having up spells with almost full duration and full slots, it's also things like casting two high level utility spells and then having no real resource cost as 5 minutes resets everything. Or having full slots for every single encounter of a day.

None of these are showstoppers, and as I said I'd play with the rule. Just things to think about.

 

[NotAYakk]

I don't put a specific time on short rests, I just go with what feels necessary in the story. Is there enough down time to recover a bit, or is the situation so pressing that attempting to do so will lead to Consequences? If the former, then it doesn't really matter whether I say 5 minutes or 30, and if the latter then it is similarly a moot point.

This is a style difference.

In one style, the DM says "you have time for a short rest" based on the plot, or is asked "can we try a short rest" and then either provides consequences or not.

Here the short rest is the primary thing in the game, and the DM provides it or withholds it.

In another style, the DM describes the world, and the players work out if they can afford an hour of downtime (or whatever the short rest period is) based off of the world description.

Here, the in game world clock (and events going on) is the primary thing in the game, and the players using up some of it to recover is the thing.

These both work.

But, note that if a short rest is 5 minutes, in the middle of storming a castle (or breaking in) it is plausible you can find a dark corner to hide in for 5 minutes with modest consequences. Doing so for 1 hour or 8 hours is less plausible.

A 5 minute short rest means that anything short of a full on running between battles plausibly has a short rest in it. Cleaning up your weapons and gear can easily take 5 minutes.

A 1 hour short rest means that any reasonably chained sequence of encounters cannot have a short rest in it.

A 8 hour short rest means that any most direct events triggered from the last encounter are likely to be fully resolved by the time the short rest completes.

 

[Flamestrike]

2 per day, 5 minutes long (generally handwaived, map check, drink of water, snack, bind wounds, catch a breather, take a knee type of thing) has always worked for me.

I loathe jarring 1 hour breaks in dungeons.

 

[billd91]

Question for the OP: Is there an actual abuse problem you're seeing that you need to limit the short rest to a limited number of times per day? Or is it more theoretical?

 

[Dausuul]

Question for the OP: Is there an actual abuse problem you're seeing that you need to limit the short rest to a limited number of times per day? Or is it more theoretical?

The OP's concern (stated in a later post): "Sometimes the party needs a short rest but it doesn’t make since story-wise to sit around for an hour. And it would put a hard cap on short rests before needing to take a long rest."

The first issue is one I at least have definitely encountered. In a lot of games, it's really hard for warlocks and monks to find a chance to squidge in a short rest, and playing them is very frustrating.

The DM can address this by carefully designing adventures to provide those 1-hour rest blocks. But the DM can also address it by using OP's house rule, which is much, much easier.

 

[iserith]

sometimes the party needs a short rest but it doesn’t make since story-wise to sit around for an hour. And it would put a hard cap on short rests before needing to take a long rest.

I think the house rule would achieve the goal you're seeking without any issues of "balance" (which I don't concern myself with all that much in an RPG anyway).

 

[fjw70]

Question for the OP: Is there an actual abuse problem you're seeing that you need to limit the short rest to a limited number of times per day? Or is it more theoretical?

The thought on limiting it is to counteract lowering the time required And to not throw off the balance between classes too much.

 

[fjw70]

Thanks for w everyone’s thoughts. It’s nice to hear a few people have been doing a similar thing for a while without issue.

 

[billd91]

The OP's concern (stated in a later post): "Sometimes the party needs a short rest but it doesn’t make since story-wise to sit around for an hour. And it would put a hard cap on short rests before needing to take a long rest."

The first issue is one I at least have definitely encountered. In a lot of games, it's really hard for warlocks and monks to find a chance to squidge in a short rest, and playing them is very frustrating.

The DM can address this by carefully designing adventures to provide those 1-hour rest blocks. But the DM can also address it by using OP's house rule, which is much, much easier.

Well, sure. The rest durations are also one of the places the DMG suggests making changes to get the kind of game you want. I've experienced the difficulty of getting in a full hour for the short rest before. I was mainly wondering about the hard limit on the number of times they can do it - which does sound like a mostly theoretical problem rather than one that's been tested out.