D&D 5E Short Rests: How many does your group get/take between long rests, on average?

[Rya.Reisender]

I always think that guard shifts change like every 8 hours, so often the group can do a short rest without being found but couldn't do a long rest in the middle of an enemy lair.

 

[Kryx]

Such mechanics aren't needed.

The talking about 6-8 encounters per adventuring day and around 2 short rests per adventuring day is not a "you must do this" or even really a "we intend that you do this" statement. It is a statement of observation, more like "This is what turned out to be most typical given the way that things played out among playtesting groups going through campaigns as they chose to."

Actually it is a recommendation. The game is balanced around those expectations. Warlocks for instance aren't even worth running if you don't follow those guidelines as they get next to no spells, only cantrips.

The DMG says it and mearls has said so on Twitter.

 

[CapnZapp]

0-1

Most days, we just don't have a need for a rest.
Other days, we need one and can take one ... and on a good number of those, after we've taken the short rest we don't end up fighting again before our next long rest.
Then there's the days where we could really use multiple short rests, but resting isn't possible because we're in the middle of some ongoing event that doesn't really lend itself to hitting the pause button for an hour.
Days where there's both enough fighting that we'd need multiple rests, and there's enough time and space between fights that we can actually take them, are rare beasts indeed.

Or, in other words, the numbers the DMG expect simply almost never happen.

Yes, this is my experience too.

 

[CapnZapp]

Such mechanics aren't needed.

The talking about 6-8 encounters per adventuring day and around 2 short rests per adventuring day is not a "you must do this" or even really a "we intend that you do this" statement. It is a statement of observation, more like "This is what turned out to be most typical given the way that things played out among playtesting groups going through campaigns as they chose to."

The problem is when DMs and adventures take these numbers to be more than the hot air they really are.

The DMG would have been much more honest and infinitely more helpful if it said these things. That you might have 3 encounters over three days, and then 10 encounters without a short rest. Or anything in between.

 

[CapnZapp]

Actually it is a recommendation. The game is balanced around those expectations. Warlocks for instance aren't even worth running if you don't follow those guidelines as they get next to no spells, only cantrips.

The DMG says it and mearls has said so on Twitter.

But there is nothing to ensure this happens, so it doesn't?

 

[Kryx]

But there is nothing to ensure this happens, so it doesn't?

I agree. It's a shame that not all classes have a short rest mechanic. Most do and all can still spend HD for HP though.

My point is that GMs and players should be knowledgeable of how 5e is balanced. DMs should try their best to meet those expectations or houserule ways for classes that need them to still work without them.

For example you could just give the warlock 3x the amount of spells slots if you plan to not offer short rests. That would be 3, 6, 9, and 12 slots at each tier.

Even then spell casters are much more powerful when they can burst all their spells in an encounter or two. Following the recommendations lessens this significantly.

 

[SkidAce]

The thing is, the DMG talks high and low about 6-8 encounters and 0-2 short rests per day...

But the game features very little mechanics to actually make that happen.

This makes me happy, and allows other numbers for individual groups pacing styles without running into mechanics.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Such mechanics aren't needed.

The talking about 6-8 encounters per adventuring day and around 2 short rests per adventuring day is not a "you must do this" or even really a "we intend that you do this" statement. It is a statement of observation, more like "This is what turned out to be most typical given the way that things played out among playtesting groups going through campaigns as they chose to."

I disagree. In fact, I think it's essentially inarguable that the game expects there to be at absolute bare minimum 1 short rest on most days--what with the whole "that's probably the only time you can spend HD." And that doesn't even get into class features; does it really make sense that a Warlock gets only 2 spells for an entire day at (say) 8th level,* when the Cleric, Druid, and Wizard get 12, and even the Paladin (a "half-caster") gets 7? Is the Paladin not a clearly superior choice when the Fighter only gets a single use of all its resources (or four-to-six Superiority dice)?

This makes me happy, and allows other numbers for individual groups pacing styles without running into mechanics.

I'm...pretty sure you're still going to run into mechanics no matter which way you go. Almost-purely short rest classes, like the Fighter, Moon Druid, and Warlock, will struggle to contribute the same way heavily-long-rest based classes do (Wizard in particular, but Cleric, Paladin, and Bard all come to mind).

*As a note, I am aware that the Warlock always casts its spells at its highest available spell level, bar its mystic arcana spells. I do not think that invocations and cantrips--even really, really good ones--make up for not being able to cast *ten* spells of levels lower than that (3 third, 3 second, 4 first).

 

[SkidAce]

I'm...pretty sure you're still going to run into mechanics no matter which way you go. Almost-purely short rest classes, like the Fighter, Moon Druid, and Warlock, will struggle to contribute the same way heavily-long-rest based classes do (Wizard in particular, but Cleric, Paladin, and Bard all come to mind).

You are correct, I will have to pay attention. Different classes play differently.

Our campaigns lean towards organic "what would happen" simulation(?), so however many encounters make sense is what they get. Some shine sometimes, some shine others.

And as DM, I try to balance the fun as I can.

No worries.

 

[Cristian Andreu]

Varies greatly in our group, but often very few -if any-. Sometimes it's due to the way I DM; action scenes tend to be extremely long and allow for very little pause. But most of the times it's just the playstyle of the group; my players very rarely take short rests.