D&D 5E Solving the 5MWD

[Tony Vargas]

I'm sure you could do it, but I think that it would not only take balancing some abilities returning with a short rest, but also re-writing some or maybe even all such abilities to make them weaker so that novas don't melt the enemy. That's a lot of work.

Nah, if -and, I admit, it's not a tiny if - we assume 5e actually does balance at 8 encounters and 3 short rests, then converting a class from long to short is as simple as dividing it's daily uses by 4.

In the case of a conventional caster, to be safe, round down.

 

[Maxperson]

Nah, if -and, I admit, it's not a tiny if - we assume 5e actually does balance at 8 encounters and 3 short rests, then converting a class from long to short is as simple as dividing it's daily uses by 4.

In the case of a conventional caster, to be safe, round down.

It's 6-8 medium or hard encounters. So it's not a set number and apparently it considers medium to equal hard for some reason. Then you adjust that number up or down if you include easy or deadly encounters.

 

[FrogReaver]

I'm no trying to start a fight with anyone. I was just giving an assessment on what converting the current abilities from long rest to short rest would do within the 5e mechanics. It breaks them horribly. 5e isn't designed for PCs to be able to use all abilities in every fight. It literally breaks the game.

It's like you keep ignoring the elephant in the room no matter how many times I mention it - you simply don't acknowledge it.

On a 1 encounter then long rest schedule you have a lot more stronger spells in a given combat than converting spellslots to short rest recharge and having a 1 encounter per short rest schedule. Still broken perhaps - but not nearly as broken as the alternative - for combat.

 

[Maxperson]

On a 1 encounter then long rest schedule you have a lot more stronger spells in a given combat than converting spellslots to short rest recharge and having a 1 encounter per short rest schedule. Still broken perhaps - but not nearly as broken as the alternative - for combat.

Maybe I'm just not understanding you. If the wizard has 10 spell slots on a long rest and he has 1 fight and can use them all, how is converting all of those to a short rest and the wizard having 10 slots for each of the 3 fights not just as broken. All that's changed is that you have the wizard going full nova 3 times, instead of 1.

At least with what @Tony Vargas and @coolAlias said, the wizard would get fewer spells to use, which limits how broken things are.

 

[coolAlias]

I'm sure you could do it, but I think that it would not only take balancing some abilities returning with a short rest, but also re-writing some or maybe even all such abilities to make them weaker so that novas don't melt the enemy. That's a lot of work. Far more work than just nixing the 5 minute workday.

I've switched to the 1 day/1 week, short/long rest mechanic from the DMG. It works well for stopping the 5 Minute Workday issues, as well as relieve the DM from having to shove a bunch of encounters into a short period of time. I can space them out over a week.

Oh absolutely. It would definitely be a fair amount of work to get right.

I typically use the standard resting rules when in high-encounter density areas such as dungeons and the longer rest variant when doing overland travel.

 

[Maxperson]

Oh absolutely. It would definitely be a fair amount of work to get right.

I typically use the standard resting rules when in high-encounter density areas such as dungeons and the longer rest variant when doing overland travel.

One of the guys I played with started off doing that, but didn't like that the timing switched back and forth, so he just stopped and went with, "When I say it's time for a long rest, you get one."

 

[Tony Vargas]

It's 6-8 medium or hard encounters. So it's not a set number

Sure, bit it's the ratio of short to long rest resources that's relevant. At 3 short rest in a day, a daily resource gets used once for each 4 uses available to a single short rest resource.

Divide by four.
Simple.

 

[coolAlias]

Nah, if -and, I admit, it's not a tiny if - we assume 5e actually does balance at 8 encounters and 3 short rests, then converting a class from long to short is as simple as dividing it's daily uses by 4.

In the case of a conventional caster, to be safe, round down.

The trick is figuring out what to do with abilities that aren't so easily divisible - all those high level spell slots or 1/long rest abilities suddenly become either unusable or much more powerful than they once were.

 

[Tony Vargas]

The trick is figuring out what to do with abilities that aren't so easily divisible - all those high level spell slots or 1/long rest abilities suddenly become either unusable or much more powerful than they once were.

Unusable.

 

[Maxperson]

Sure, bit it's the ratio of short to long rest resources that's relevant. At 3 short rest in a day, a daily resource gets used once for each 4 uses available to a single short rest resource.

Divide by four.
Simple.

So only 1st level spells for spell casters, and then only when casters reach 3rd level . What happens to the first level wizard with 2 1st level spell slots? Or the second level wizard with 3? Spells of higher level come in 3s maximum, so they can't be divided by 4, at least not without preventing use during at least one short rest.

And just cutting out class abilities that function 1/long rest isn't going to fly. They are going to have to be replaced by something or the entire class structure is crippled.