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

[Sunseeker]

Probably 1-2. Short rests are really an issue of thematic pacing, so if I don't have a break in the battle planned, the party doesn't get one. Generally speaking my group either takes a long rest or just fights on.

 

[Lackhand]

I made long rests take a week in a safe place -- so they short rest at least 7 times between long rests in the trivial sense that they sleep each night, and more if they're actively adventuring (so they hole up in a side room for an hour and bandage wounds, take a nap, catch their breath).

The fighter and the warlock love it; the paladin and wizard are still feeling their way around the longer-term pacing (because they often long rest with a lot of spells left, not having been sure when they'd need the cushion or not -- even when they control the pacing, ie, in a completely friendly town with the dungeon well contained elsewhere!).

 

[MG.0]

16 short rests between each long rest - My characters have yet to get out of bed.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

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)?

I think that is actually getting into the territory of us both saying the same thing, but from different points of view.

You say the game expects rests so that everything gets its chance at coming out balanced at the end of an "adventure day".

I say the game is observing that most "adventure days" that actually happen in play at the table have a good amount of stuff going on, but not typically all in such a rapid succession that the party can't find some time for a breather here or there - and so everything typically comes out fine.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I made long rests take a week in a safe place -- so they short rest at least 7 times between long rests in the trivial sense that they sleep each night, and more if they're actively adventuring (so they hole up in a side room for an hour and bandage wounds, take a nap, catch their breath).

The fighter and the warlock love it; the paladin and wizard are still feeling their way around the longer-term pacing (because they often long rest with a lot of spells left, not having been sure when they'd need the cushion or not -- even when they control the pacing, ie, in a completely friendly town with the dungeon well contained elsewhere!).

Mm...interesting. This might become frustrating for the Paladin and Wizard--seven short rests means the Fighter is essentially guaranteed to have much higher damage and sustain, regardless of type (though a Battlemaster will benefit far more than any other kind). And a Warlock with seven short rests gets 14 spells (eventually up to 35!), which is more than the Wizard will have total until level...what, 6 or 7 counting Arcane Recovery?

While it's probably something you're already thinking about, it might be worthwhile to find a little something-something to help your more long-rest based characters out. For instance, perhaps allowing the Wizard a second use of Arcane Recovery later in the week? Or maybe you've already got that figured out/will address it if it becomes a concern.

 

[Minigiant]

The average is 2.
But on individual days there can be anywhere from 0-5 short rests between long rests. Typically after 2 short rest, the DM (someone else or myself in my game) will throw in a hard resource wasting fight near a "safe resting area". Some times the DM doesn't do it. Other times the first encounter is the face stomper.

 

[Psikerlord#]

I voted varies greatly.

It really depends on the adventure and what the players choose to do.

In wilderness and city adventures, mostly the players are free to rest for an hour whenever they like (light duties). So short rest classes (monk, warlock, fighter) are very strong in these environments. In "living" dungeons, things are generally much more dangerous, there are patrols, making noise puts the place on alert etc - in that kind of environment, "daily" classes are stronger, because there is often no chance for a short rest (we have banned Rope Trick and Leomunds Tiny Hut, btw). To be honest, even in a dungeon, they can usually squeeze out at least 1 short rest - usually to activate HD healing/bandaging up etc - which benefits all classes - but incidentally recharges the short rest classes more.

So in games I DM, and have played in, the number of short rests tends to either be "whenever you want" or "maybe 1 or none". It is rare to meet the magical "2 per day" guideline. Then again, we rarely end up with the "6-8 fights per day" guideline either. Again, it depends on the adventure and what makes sense in all the circumstances.

I tend the view the "6-8" fights guide as a warning for the upper end limit for a day's worth of combat, and the 2 rests again as a guide if you're going to have that matter fights between long rests. But day to day, the players don't know how many rests they'll get, if any.

Note we use slow healing and injuries too. I find this prevents short rest/long rests from being an easy "full reset" button, which reflects my preferred playstyle: the party is typically strongest at the very start of the adventure, and then become increasingly stretched/at risk over time.

 

[hecetv]

We're three sessions into HotDQ and we haven't taken a long rest, and after our third we JUST took our first short rest. So I'm not sure if that stacks up with other peoples experiences in that campaign.

 

[SailorNash]

0+ here. The short rest mechanic usually only ends up happening whenever there's a social encounter - things where a spell or power may be used on the fly, but not every single move is tracked. Things aren't strenuous and we'd have a chance to get that resource back before the next combat begins.

 

[CapnZapp]

I voted varies greatly.

It really depends on the adventure and what the players choose to do.

In wilderness and city adventures, mostly the players are free to rest for an hour whenever they like (light duties). So short rest classes (monk, warlock, fighter) are very strong in these environments. In "living" dungeons, things are generally much more dangerous, there are patrols, making noise puts the place on alert etc - in that kind of environment, "daily" classes are stronger, because there is often no chance for a short rest (we have banned Rope Trick and Leomunds Tiny Hut, btw). To be honest, even in a dungeon, they can usually squeeze out at least 1 short rest - usually to activate HD healing/bandaging up etc - which benefits all classes - but incidentally recharges the short rest classes more.

So in games I DM, and have played in, the number of short rests tends to either be "whenever you want" or "maybe 1 or none". It is rare to meet the magical "2 per day" guideline. Then again, we rarely end up with the "6-8 fights per day" guideline either. Again, it depends on the adventure and what makes sense in all the circumstances.

I tend the view the "6-8" fights guide as a warning for the upper end limit for a day's worth of combat, and the 2 rests again as a guide if you're going to have that matter fights between long rests. But day to day, the players don't know how many rests they'll get, if any.

Note we use slow healing and injuries too. I find this prevents short rest/long rests from being an easy "full reset" button, which reflects my preferred playstyle: the party is typically strongest at the very start of the adventure, and then become increasingly stretched/at risk over time.

So... You're saying you couldn't make rules work for you, so you tweaked them?

Not anything wrong with that, except we're discussing the RAW rest mechanic, and your rather positive testimonial isn't for it?