D&D 5E So...resting in 5e

[Tony Vargas]

Do you follow the default rules and how many encounters do you actually get in?

Yes, and rarely more than 3-5, occasionally, of course, single-encounter days.

I tend to think that the way most tables actually play, they should probably be using some kind of variant rest period.
I honestly don't think I've ever run a game that had more than four combats in a single day.

Doesn't sound unusual. The 5MWD, for that matter, isn't primarily an abuse of the system (sure, when done systematically by the players as a metagame tactic), it's just a fairly natural pacing option. Especially as levels progress and meaningful challenges naturally become fewer and further between (just for plausibility's sake).

There's the one night long rest and the week long rest in the DMG.

Which is fine for a campaign with overall slower pacing. But when things do suddenly get eventful for whatever reason, you could be looking at quite a few encounters between short rests.

Depending on the group (not s'much AL, for instance) I'll impose different times or limitations on rests depending on the situation. I'd been doing it for a long time in 4e (a long campaign that involved a lot of time onboard ship, so I ruled long rests only happened when you set in at a friendly port or island with water & fresh food), and saw no reason to stop (and even more reason to target specific pacing).

In Adventures in Middle Earth you can only rest in a sanctuary (so no easy long rests during wilderness travel)
In 13th Age you just get the equivalent of a long rest every 4 combats.

Both good solutions, the 13A pattern is particularly solid: if you're going to have radically different resources among the party, you need to force pacing-imposed balance, somehow, the 13A approach is at least up-front & honest.

 

[Dausuul]

I typically have 2-4 combats per long rest. I instituted a house rule that short rests are 5 minutes, but you are only allowed two of them per long rest. This allows the short-rest-dependent classes to keep pace, while giving me the flexibility to have as many or as few combats per day as I find appropriate.

 

[5atbu]

I rarely want the level of lower level combats that the DMG assumes between short rests, but I also have short rest dependent warlock so I need to balance that out.

My solution is more Hard and Deadly fights, and just not worrying about it being too overboard since we role play more than we fight, and when they do they take it very seriously and NOVA!

However that's just this group. Balancing table, players, system, and characters is an art more than a science.

My rule of thumb is take it easy, increase threat in slow increments, players never tire of easy victories.

 

[DND_Reborn]

@dnd4vr the quote function isn't working right, so I had to do this manually. I pretty much am in alignment with you. We do not follow the guidelines. We follow what is happening in the game. Been doing it that way since 1981. It feels much more natural than to have some sort of awkward rest period when the actions in game may not fit. In dungeon crawls with a high density of monsters, there are many encounters before rest. You can't just rest whenever you feel like it. Monsters are living creatures, and would react as appropriate for their intelligence. You may also want to plow through and clear the dungeon due to time constraints or not wanting them to have a chance to build up fresh defenses.

Yep. Totally in agreement. This is one of the reasons I've been looking into removing short rest features and keeping long rests for things where it is really needed. Of course, I will have to employ some other mechanic, but I am working on it...

 

[Mistwell]

I think at some point everyone should TRY waves of combat. Where the party must deal with encounter after encounter with no time to rest. But give them fair warning in advance so PCs like the Warlock know they really badly need to be careful with their spells.

 

[Oofta]

I think at some point everyone should TRY waves of combat. Where the party must deal with encounter after encounter with no time to rest. But give them fair warning in advance so PCs like the Warlock know they really badly need to be careful with their spells.

I vary encounters and adventuring "days" quite a bit. Sometimes it's wave after wave with just brief breathers because they're in defensive mode, in other cases they know they're going to have one big encounter and be done.

It's fun both ways. Personally I like the challenge of pushing myself but sometimes it's fun to pull out all the toys and go nova as well.

 

[iserith]

I think at some point everyone should TRY waves of combat. Where the party must deal with encounter after encounter with no time to rest. But give them fair warning in advance so PCs like the Warlock know they really badly need to be careful with their spells.

I do this quite frequently. Generally it's one encounter then another encounter comes in, even if it just looks like one big encounter.

 

[cmad1977]

I use the guidelines as well... guidelines.
FWIW I used the DMG guidelines to plan out the final battle in RoT and it paid off really well.
It went:
Deadly(with help)
Hard
Deadly
Medium.

Strange that the last encounter was Medium right? The last fight in Tiamats temple adds up to a medium encounter for 4 16th level PCs. But thanks to the sprawling nature of the temple and the placement of the bad guys the heroes barely prevented Tiamats return.

 

[Charlaquin]

I like 1-hour short rests and 8-hour long rests. Currently my group tends to get through 2-4 encounters per session, and take one or two rests during that time, usually of the short variety, as my current campaign is all dungeon exploration, and I strongly discourage taking long rests in a dungeon. I am working on improving the pace of my game so we can get it up to 4-6 encounters per session. I am considering a house-rule that one requires a certain degree of security and comfort to gain the benefits of a long rest, as it’s something I found appealing about Adventures in Middle Earth.

 

[Oofta]

I like 1-hour short rests and 8-hour long rests. Currently my group tends to get through 2-4 encounters per session, and take one or two rests during that time, usually of the short variety, as my current campaign is all dungeon exploration, and I strongly discourage taking long rests in a dungeon. I am working on improving the pace of my game so we can get it up to 4-6 encounters per session. I am considering a house-rule that one requires a certain degree of security and comfort to gain the benefits of a long rest, as it’s something I found appealing about Adventures in Middle Earth.

Do you have a long rest at the end of every session? Because honestly, my current group yaks RPs too much to get more than 2-3 combat encounters in each session.

That's fine, I just tell people to note where they are and we pick up next session. That way I don't have to worry about real-world pacing, just in-game pacing.

EDIT: I'm not telling you how to run your game, just something I find useful