D&D 5E Should short rest be an hour long?

[Harzel]

I do think it's odd that you can have combat while in the middle of a long rest and get all the benefits.

What?
Under "Long Rest" the PHB says that if the rest is interrupted by strenuous activity you have to start over.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

* although they allow you to do stuff like eating/bandaging to occur during the short rest without such activity negating the rest, they do not actually require any of these things to occur during that rest

You are factually incorrect on this point. The only time when it is legal to expend a charge from your medkit along with the appropriate Hit Dice, in order to recover HP, is at the end of a short rest. This is explicitly stated under the relevant variant healing option in the DMG, just as it is generally stated in the PHB that you can only spend Hit Dice at the end of a Short Rest.

* conceptually, we have always hand-waved such mundane activities since the hobby started. We never required players to tell the DM exactly when we swigged from our canteen, had a bite of the beef jerky, or spent 60 seconds applying a bandage. 5E doesn't suddenly expect us to do so!

I believe that you have always hand-waved such activities, but neither of us can speak for everyone. In games I have played, we always stated when we were eating for the day, because we knew that it might matter.

And even that is ignoring the absurdity of requiring bandages in order to get your breath back! Hit points are not meat in D&D.

Again, you are factually incorrect on this point. In D&D, Hit Points are not only meat - there is more to them than just that - but they are also meat. The exact ratio is going to depend on how your DM chooses to narrate the damage, which is explicitly in the hands of the DM (with one example given as a typical default). The optional healing variant at hand, which requires a medkit before you can spend Hit Dice to heal, exists to facilitate a narrative where getting hit means that you were actually hit and not just out of breath. (How well it succeeds at that goal is another matter entirely.)

If I ever were playing in a campaign where the DM required medkit charges to be spent to use my own hit dice, I'd apply the bandages (and make sure I mentioned that I'm doing this) and use up a charge as and when I got a moment to do so, Official Short Rest or not. Then, at the end of the first uninterrupted hour of rest, I'd spend my hit dice.

A DM would have to be losing his marbles to deny the spending of hit dice on the grounds that the bandages were applied too soon. Do we really want PCs bleeding all over the campaign world just to satisfy an absurd meta-game?

Again, the only time in which it is legal to expend a use of your medkit is at the end of a short rest. If you apply bandages outside of that period, then it's up to the DM's discretion whether or not you can still spend Hit Dice when you later get around to resting for an hour. If you think that's absurd, then either you or the game designers are mistaken about the in-game reality associated with spending a charge from a medkit.

 

[iserith]

What?
Under "Long Rest" the PHB says that if the rest is interrupted by strenuous activity you have to start over.

Per the Basic Rules, a long rest isn't interrupted unless the activity that distracts from the rest takes at least an hour. Most combats won't last that long (in-game). So in most cases, the party can have a few fights during the rest and still gain the benefits.

 

[Harzel]

Per the Basic Rules, a long rest isn't interrupted unless the activity that distracts from the rest takes at least an hour. Most combats won't last that long (in-game). So in most cases, the party can have a few fights during the rest and still gain the benefits.

Yes, I now see that there has been quite a bit of discussion on this already. Seems like a case where some DM discretion is required to see that things remain sensible.

 

[Plaguescarred]

As a DM i like short rest to be up to an hour long. It can be as long as an hour normally and i can shorten it if need be.

 

[iserith]

Yes, I now see that there has been quite a bit of discussion on this already. Seems like a case where some DM discretion is required to see that things remain sensible.

I'd argue about likely outcomes to a given approach than whether something is "sensible" or not. Fiction is easy to justify and create whole cloth, so anything can be made sensible with very little effort. The question is, in my opinion, what actual effect does ruling one way or another have on the game experience? Because I can see having it one way for one type of campaign, then ruling it the other way in a different sort of campaign.

 

[Harzel]

You are factually incorrect on this point. The only time when it is legal to expend a charge from your medkit along with the appropriate Hit Dice, in order to recover HP, is at the end of a short rest. This is explicitly stated under the relevant variant healing option in the DMG, just as it is generally stated in the PHB that you can only spend Hit Dice at the end of a Short Rest.

Ok, that's the description of a variant rule. I thought we were talking about (non-optional) RAW.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Ok, that's the description of a variant rule. I thought we were talking about (non-optional) RAW.

According to the default RAW, without applying any options, you can still only spend a Hit Die at the end of a Short Rest. It's just that, if you aren't applying the medkit variant, it's incredibly vague about what the in-game reality associated with spending that Hit Die actually is.

 

[TwoSix]

I'd argue about likely outcomes to a given approach than whether something is "sensible" or not. Fiction is easy to justify and create whole cloth, so anything can be made sensible with very little effort. The question is, in my opinion, what actual effect does ruling one way or another have on the game experience? Because I can see having it one way for one type of campaign, then ruling it the other way in a different sort of campaign.

Our group's general approach has always been getting attacked during a rest doesn't invalidate the rest unless you break camp and move because of it. Also, that a short rest happens during the long rest, so that Hit Die can be considered spent and short rest powers are regained if an ambush does happen in the middle of the night.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I thought we were talking about (non-optional) RAW.

Nonono, this is the 5e forum.

"You know the RAW, there is no RAW!" - Mad Mearls Beyond Thunderwave.