D&D 5E When do you short rest?

[Charlaquin]

But that becomes a problem when some classes rely on short rests for their baseline. Fighters, Monks, and Warlocks are particularly shortchanged if you only take long rests.

Sure, but fighters monks and warlocks get multiple uses of the SR abilities between rests. It is possible to get a short rest if you need one, it just requires taking precautions (or someone knowing rope trick). You could balance around the expectation of a short rest after every encounter, but that wasn’t what most of the playtesters wanted in 2012. And now we’re bound to the decisions that were made at that time, for better or worse.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

every sunday between 2 and 4 some times on saturday.

Me, I like a nice nap after lunch when I can find the time.

 

[kigmatzomat]

It really depends. We're in a situation where at first blush short rests are impossible: assaulting a bunch of evil cultists. But ....it's like it was designed to enable short rests. It begs you to take short rests.

• "Allies" who barely tolerate each other? Check
• foes who are hyperfocused on projects? Check
• foes who fight within their own group so others ignore sounds of combat? Check
• Incredibly short sight lines? Check
• Incredibly loud ambient noise? Check (waterfalls, rivers, metal forges, winds able to knock people over, machinery, etc)

In any other setting, moments after the first fight broke out, we should have been facing continuous waves of reinforcements, probably arriving mid fight.

But this! I mean, this is all but laying out little nap rooms! Oh, wait, most rooms are also barracks, so there are beds and bedrolls everywhere, and a small brazier just asking for a tea/coffee pot.

I am about 87% sure the lead designer's favorite class was either monk or warlock.

 

[prabe]

For a few years now, I've been running in my 5e games something like Cypher's Recoveries: The first one takes about five minutes, the second one takes about fifteen minutes, the third one takes about an hour, the fourth one is part of a long rest. They fit into the narrative, convey some sense of increasing effort, self-limit; I've been happy with the outcome in play.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I'm very conscious of the balance between the various classes dependency on short rests. I've found that the full "adventuring day" only happens in dungeon exploration. It doesn't happen when you end up with one or two random wilderness encounters. It doesn't happen when you are about town. And it certainly isnt happening when you are assaulting a fortress.

In the context where it works (your classic D&D dungeon), it seems to work quite well for us. In order to impose some verisimilitude to certain class features I've set a hard limit that a character can only benefit from 4 short rests in a day. I don't like the 2 rest limit that some use, because that's the average the math is based on, and making it the limits means you might regularly undershoot it, but never overshoot, meaning those classes are getting short-changed. I don't think my group has ever got to 4, but we definitely have hit 3 (we have a warlock). In such situations, the short rests per long rest and encounters per day are working as intended.

Outside of the adventuring day, balance between classes is typically less important. For instance, during wilderness travel, it's extremely unlikely you will have more than 2 encounters a day, and quite unlikely you'll even have more than 1. So long rest classes can be pretty free with their resources (though my group tends to play cautiously, like they should).

When we have a day in town, perhaps with no combat but some opportunities for spellcasting, the warlock can really shine because they can take short rests as the party is strolling around and get plenty of usage for their non-combat spells.

In a dungeon assault with back to battles and no time to rest, your classes that don't rely much on rests are going to shine, and long rest classes will likely do well if they know how to properly ration their resources.

I like the dynamic of things being balanced in a classic dungeon adventuring day, but classes shining in different ways outside of it.

My biggest suggestion to get that feel is just to make sure to include classic dungeons of reasonable size. (My players call them mega-dungeons, but I think their perspective is way off. Forge of Fury or Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan are just substantial dungeons, not mega-dungeons.)

 

[Horwath]

1 min short rest, limit 3× per Long rest.

1 minute is enough that cant be done during encounter, but it's feasible during drawn out battles like sieges where you can rotate your front line.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

I get players having them as often as I could - but I've been using 1 day short rest, week long rest for all my campaigns.

 

[Chaltab]

Sure, but fighters monks and warlocks get multiple uses of the SR abilities between rests. It is possible to get a short rest if you need one, it just requires taking precautions (or someone knowing rope trick). You could balance around the expectation of a short rest after every encounter, but that wasn’t what most of the playtesters wanted in 2012. And now we’re bound to the decisions that were made at that time, for better or worse.

Considering some of the playteststers they were specifically courting... it's honestly amazing the edition has been as enduring as it is.

 

[Zardnaar]

Tempted to hand wave away the time myself but cap short rests at 2 per long rest.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I use gritty rests, so the eight hour short rests happens roughly once a day when the characters sleep.