Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 BoldItalic Jul 11, 2014 1:33:36	Suppose the party is up against a tough monster. Suppose they damage it and take some damage themselves, then run away, take a long rest and come back next day to continue the fight. Would you rule that, during the night, the monster had likewise "taken a long rest" and was back up to full strength? Or would you allow the PCs to use this strategy to wear it down over the space of enough days?   Personally, I rule that, when the PCs come back, they find the monster is back to full strength and the encounter is essentially replayed from the start. I do this (and the players know in advance that I do this) mainly because I think that "wearing down" gets boring because the eventual outcome is rarely in doubt.   Any thoughts?
#2 RustedKitsune Jul 11, 2014 2:29:14	I agree; the only way to properly wear the monster down is to snipe at it from a distance once an hour or so to interrupt the rest. Of course, then the party has also forfieted thier rest as well...
#3 Shiroiken Jul 11, 2014 3:18:07	Yea, I've always healed monsters at the same rate as the PCs. Since PCs full heal overnight, so do they.
#4 thespaceinvader Jul 11, 2014 5:40:45	In theory, yes.  In practice, they rarely wind up taking damage without dying or being captured, so I don't think I've ever had it actually be relevant.
#5 Plaguescarred1 Jul 11, 2014 5:47:13	Do your monsters heal themselves overnight? If they can live long enough, yes sure.
#6 Prom Jul 11, 2014 5:53:42	In rare situations I might have a monster heal up, but it depends on the consequences of having players face the same encounter again. Often I'll have the encounter get harder or disappear as the monster moves to a new location.
#7 iserith Jul 11, 2014 6:44:00	I think I'll wait to see what the Monster Manual says before I heal them up overnight. For now, I assume the long rest rules only apply to characters.
(Reply to #7) Razintarr	Monsters should heal the same way players do. I don't see many monsters surviving an encounter with the players, but it they do than they'll act in according to their intelligence for the next encounter which means the players can't always expect the monster to still be there or to be a similar challenge.   Animal intelligence monsters will crawl back to their cave to rest when wounded, to rest and recuperate. They'll be wary of attacks for the next few days, so any chances of suprising them will be slim.   More intelligent foes may abandon their lairs all-together if too many guards were killed (taking at least the prized items of their treasure with them), get a call out to reinforce it's defenses, set up traps, or take advantage of the players being wounded by going after them while they rest (or leave that task up to minions).    A tactic of hit-rest-repeat wouldn't work in the player's advantage.
#9 MrHotter Jul 11, 2014 8:44:05	I consider the players to have 'Heroes Blood' in my world. That explains how they can heal so fast. It felt odd to have the overnight healing of all HPs without explaining it somehow.     The 'Heroe's Blood' in my campaign also explains how the player quickly become super heroic compared to the NPC that have been training for many years. I say that those with Heroe's Blood can not live a normal life because some force (the gods, destiny, something unknown) have chosen them to balance out some great evil (or maybe a great good) that threatens the world.   Verry few NPC in my world would have the same thing and their wounds take time to heal without magic (and healing magic is rare in my world). If everyone healed overnight then we'd never see a healers tent or infirmary.
#10 Saelorn Jul 11, 2014 10:51:38	Again, this is an area where 5E hit points are kind of weird for me. According to ye olde definition of hit points, they kind of implied that big monsters had most of their hit points because they were big, while most humanoids had most of their hit points because they were skilled/lucky/whatever. In the short term, there's not much of a point in distinguishing between the two, but it would make more sense that a human could rest overnight to recover her skill/fatigue/etc in a way that doesn't really apply to a mammoth recovering from a spear in its flank.
#11 ankiyavon Jul 11, 2014 17:50:21	I usually give monsters slightly more generous natural recovery than PCs, because most animals are better at recovering from wounds than humans are.     So in 5E RAW, yes, I would have them heal to full overnight, absolutely.       Given that I am likely to use a more restrictive healing module in the DMG, I can't say for sure what I'll do for monsters, but at least as good as the PCs.
#12 alienux Jul 12, 2014 9:08:07	I've never had a situation where this came up, but I would recover monster HP if it did.
#13 Jbickley00 Jul 12, 2014 9:12:35	I'd typically allow the monster to heal, especially if its smart enough to have amassed healing potions.... but I'd treat it with the caveat of "what makes sense". A monster pursued by the party, for example, might not get the benefit of healing. Also, at lower levels, if I have made the encounter excessively hard, I might not heal the monsters, or minimally heal them, to rebalance.
#14 THEMNGMNT Jul 12, 2014 22:26:39	The monster would be healed and would do what it could to take precautions against the PC's return.
#15 Ashrym Jul 13, 2014 16:52:34	Monsters generally heal at the same rate as PC's. Many would be more prepared the next date or send pursuit after the party
#16 quindia Jul 14, 2014 15:01:47	My monsters heal at the same rate as the PCs. Not only that, but they learn from the earlier encounter (assuming they are not unthinking), may move to another part of the dungeon (if applicable), set traps, call in reinforcements, and/or seek out the PCs in their lair/camp/etc. They do not sit idly by waiting for the characters to return to finish them off!