D&D 5E Short Rest House Rule Idea

[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.