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

How many short rests does your group get/take, on average?


EzekielRaiden

Follower of the Way
Alright. I've been on record, numerous times, as stating my distaste for forum polls. They have a slew of problems, regardless of whether they support or refute my positions.

However, I'm curious to hear, at least from the unrepresentative, self-selected, can-change-your-vote-at-any-time :)P) population of ENWorld. How many short rests does your group get or take between long rests? If you're a DM, I'd love to hear your thoughts about how restrictive or open you are with rests, short or long? If you're a player, what are your preferred resting conditions, e.g. do you prefer to push on whenever possible even if it means you'll have fewer resources, or do you prefer rest more frequently--or what? Obviously people can be both players and DMs, so answer both questions if you feel you should/can.

Note that I am focusing on "number of short rests between long rests," not "number of short rests per day," because I know that not all groups adhere to the convention that sleeping for the night means a long rest. Of course, I am also curious to see whether/how often people use the alternate scales (since the "standard" scale is pretty clearly "the time between long rests = 1 day, each short rest = 1 hour.")

Edit: Additionally, this assumes that we're talking about actively adventuring characters, not just all possible time spent at the table--you wouldn't expect characters that mostly do social activities to need to "rest" all that often. Thanks for the suggestion, S'mon.

For those who read the first post before voting, or who vote first and read this but want to change their vote after (remember you can unvote!):
"0+" means "we usually don't take any, but might occasionally take one"
"4+" means "we take at least 4 short rests between long rests, but possibly more"

All other numeric values are meant to represent averages. So if you typically have just 1 short rest between long rests, never 0 but occasionally 2, that would be "1-2." If you always have exactly 2 rests, OR if you usually have 2, sometimes 1 or 3, rarely 0 or 4, that would be "2."

"Varies greatly" means you may take none, you may take five, or any number in between--a uniform distribution. Like how "3.5" is the average of 1d6, even though 3.5 isn't a number you can roll--the true value varies too much to be meaningfully described by its average.

"Special snowflake" means that you do something completely different or too specific to fit the above categories, e.g. a homebrew/fanmade alternative resting system (that is, NOT like "a short rest is 5 minutes," which is the same system with a different scale, but rather "there are no Short or Long rests, but there are Bandage Breaks, Meditation Breaks, Food Breaks, ..." etc.--something that completely changes the paradigm) Or you just oppose the poll in general! If you vote this, please explain why--that's where some great discussion can happen.
 
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S'mon

Legend
Voted 1-2, assuming the PCs are adventuring. The DMG says 2 is typical. I'm only allowing 3/day max to prevent spamming of stuff like Fighter Second Wind.
 


delericho

Legend
They can take as many as they want, but they need to understand that taking a rest has consequences - a short rest means a wandering encounter check and very likely a rise in the alert level; a long rest means the bad guys can bring in reinforcements.

(Plus, if we tracked such things, they would need to consume a meal's worth of rations for a short rest, and have a nice secure area in which to take a long rest. But since we don't track such things (in the current campaign), that's a non-issue.)
 

EzekielRaiden

Follower of the Way
They can take as many as they want, but they need to understand that taking a rest has consequences - a short rest means a wandering encounter check and very likely a rise in the alert level; a long rest means the bad guys can bring in reinforcements.

(Plus, if we tracked such things, they would need to consume a meal's worth of rations for a short rest, and have a nice secure area in which to take a long rest. But since we don't track such things (in the current campaign), that's a non-issue.)

This would be part of why I said "take/get," rather than just "take." Because some groups are limited by hard DM rules (e.g. "no more than 3 between LRs" as per S'mon), while others are limited by "soft" DM rules, e.g. your "rests have consequences." Though it sounds like it's a complex and multifaceted decision your players make, meaning it's too complicated to pin down while still being the same paradigm--perfect for what you voted.

Ironically, although I created the poll, I can't actually vote yet--my only 5e group has not yet taken any rests (the first session ended at the end of our very first combat), so our current rest rate is undefined! :p
 

delericho

Legend
This would be part of why I said "take/get," rather than just "take."

Yep, I spotted that. But...

Ironically, although I created the poll, I can't actually vote yet--my only 5e group has not yet taken any rests (the first session ended at the end of our very first combat), so our current rest rate is undefined! :p

Likewise. We've managed three sessions of 5e. One of these saw the party take a single short rest and then suffer a TPK; the second ended with them taking a second short rest (and then the game collapsed for unrelated reasons); the third was a character-creation setting and so didn't have any rests.

So I can talk about how I'll be handling short rests, but I can't say anything about how many the PCs will take. :)
 

Kryx

Explorer
2 is what is expected. I use a maximum of 2 and encourage taking up to 2 by shortening short rests to 5 minutes.
 

AaronOfBarbaria

Adventurer
The average at my table comes out at 2-3, but there is a pretty wide swing going on to get to that number, not a constant of 2 or 3 rests. It's more like 0 some days, 1 some others, and then 3 or 5 some other days.

It all comes down to the current goals of the party and how much the players feel like they need to hurry if they want to reach that goal.
 

Well, it usually ends up with 2 short rests in my group, if they play out the whole adventuring day in dangerous terrain. If there are non-dangerous sections then usually less.

I'd allow more short rests. My only requirement for doing another short rest is that there was at least one battle fought in between (otherwise I'd count it as single short rest). It's also limited by time. If the adventuring day ends, my group can take a long rest. If they still want to do a short rest, they need to roll a Constitution Ability Check to see if they can go on without sleep.
 

Lord Vangarel

First Post
I don't like them taking more than 2 short rests between long rests however I allow one short rest to be a superfast 5 minute rest rather than the full hour for the other.
 

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