D&D 5E Why does a long rest only restore half the hit dice?

[iserith]

As the title says, why do you guys think the design choice was made, to only restore half the hit dice on a long rest?

I can't speak to the designers' intent, but to my mind it just adds an additional level of resource management to a game that features resource management in the face of attrition.

As to your subsequent question on long rests in dungeons, in my games the answer is usually "No."

 

[Charlaquin]

Do you allow long rests in a dungeon?

I think this is an interesting question that merits its own thread.

 

[MNblockhead]

Do you allow long rests in a dungeon?

Absolutely! I loves me some old-school wandering monster rolls!

 

[Stoutstien]

It's a low key way for tables to play a more sword and sorcery style games without a bunch of rule changes.

 

[Garthanos]

And it allows your cleric to be more than a healbot.

Magic phrase right there perhaps

 

[billd91]

I assume it’s so that you can’t get back to full capacity without being in a relatively safe environment. On the road or in the dungeon, you may be able to make camp for the evening or hike up in a storage room, but you don’t really have the luxury of sitting around for two whole days.

Pretty much this. You may be able to eke out a long rest in a fairly dangerous environment, but if you get up and keep pushing yourselves, you will wear down at some point without spending a couple of days in safety.

 

[DemonSlayer]

Good question. Why limit your potential for the next day because you used a lot of HD today, especially when you can just long rest and fully heal?

My guess is because they made long rests kinda silly with a full heal already. They should have changed that instead of making short rest healing harder the next day.

I did away with long rest full heals in my game. You can spend HD in a long rest like a short rest.

 

[OB1]

I did away with long rest full heals in my game. You can spend HD in a long rest like a short rest.

I like this variation a lot better than the short rest 8 hours/ long rest 1 week gritty variant. Been toying around with implementing this in my next campaign, though I'm trying to decided between three options.

1. No long rest full heals, but on a LR the HD you spend are maxed instead of rolled.
2. No long rest full heals, spend HD in a long rest like a short rest.
3. No long rest full heals, spend 1HD per hour of rest

On top of that, also considering that dropping to 0 HP costs you 1HD. If you have no HD you make a death saving throw when you drop to 0HP.

Finally, removing a failed DST requires spending a HD (no HP gained) with a 1 hour rest (lesser restoration can also remove).

 

[Shiroiken]

Do you allow long rests in a dungeon?

In my game, you can always try...

Actually this was an issue in an adventure I ran where there was no option for escape. I didn't like giving a full long rest, so I came up with a "medium rest." You got back HD as normal, but only 50% HP (max 75%). Except for spellcasting, you got back half your long rest abilities (min. 1). Half spell slots were recovered, with level 6+ rolled with 50% chance. It worked out fairly well, and may implement it again in a future campaign using different resting rules.

 

[Stoutstien]

I like this variation a lot better than the short rest 8 hours/ long rest 1 week gritty variant. Been toying around with implementing this in my next campaign, though I'm trying to decided between three options.

1. No long rest full heals, but on a LR the HD you spend are maxed instead of rolled.
2. No long rest full heals, spend HD in a long rest like a short rest.
3. No long rest full heals, spend 1HD per hour of rest

On top of that, also considering that dropping to 0 HP costs you 1HD. If you have no HD you make a death saving throw when you drop to 0HP.

Finally, removing a failed DST requires spending a HD (no HP gained) with a 1 hour rest (lesser restoration can also remove).

I like the cost of a hit die on falling to zero. Consider it stolen.