Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 woif Aug 11, 2014 16:43:11	It seems that the short rest now requires a full hour which is significantly longer than the 5 min of previous editions. Is the intent of this so that the players don't rest after every encounter (which would seem to make the warlock much weaker)? Or is it done to artificially limit the number of encounters in a given day to 8? It just doesn't seem to make much sense to me, I'm thinking about house ruling it back to 5 min but I'm not sure if it would cause any problems down the line (maybe warlocks being too powerful?) How have you guys handled this in your campaigns? Does the party still stop and rest after each encounter? If they are in a cave do they have to retreat to safety or risk getting ambushed while trying to rest? It seems like it would take most of a day to assult a small cave with 1 hour rests whereas with a 5 minute rest it may only take a matter of an hour or two. Thanks in advance for your help. ​ ​ ​
#2 Plaguescarred1 Aug 11, 2014 16:50:49	woif wrote:
#3 Psikerlord Aug 11, 2014 17:21:19	Devs have indicated the DMG will include options about shortening the short rest period, and suggested modifications for things like fighter second wind giving temp hp instead of normal hp if its on a 5 min reset.
#4 reddaemon Aug 11, 2014 17:25:37	I like the idea of having a short rest take 1 hour.  It's basically a lunch break while adventuring.
#5 BatFett Aug 11, 2014 17:51:37	I think having the 1-hour short rest is worth what you get out of it... and it gives an added challenge/gamble to resting.
#6 Grazel Aug 11, 2014 18:35:57	The short rest was introduced in 4e and was meant to reflect an MMO style of downtime after each fight (good old EQ days). Only a few classes gain a benefit on a short rest and I believe the 1 hour period was meant to balance the short rest recharges against classes that got nothing from a short rest. This also speeds up play as the party continues on after one encounter and onto the next (or at least travels for a while) instead of taking a break after every encounter before travelling or starting another encounter. This also brings it closer to pre-4e rulesets where you only got hp back via magic, potions, or bedrest/sleeping (long rest). I'd be careful about shortening the short rest as it could overpower certain classes and as someone stated the DMG will have a module/variant rule for a 5-minute rest likely with alternate recoveries for various classes (fighter, warlock, etc.)
#7 E-Tallitnics Aug 11, 2014 19:22:41	The 1 hour short rest is a great DM tool for pacing an adventure and adding tension! I highly recommend trying it out first before lowering the time.
#8 GEBELL Aug 11, 2014 19:35:07	I love the short rest taking 1 hour.  And you seem to be missing something pretty simple, a short rest is not required in between fights they way it really was in 4e because there are no healing surges.  It shouldn't take 8 hours to do 8 encounters, because you can't take a rest between each one.  Meaning that you hae to make tactical considerations about when and how to rest, and maybe scout ahead to determine challenges.  This makes the game more interesting in every way in my opinion.
#9 AaronOfBarbaria Aug 11, 2014 20:31:07	woif wrote:
#10 Eric888 Aug 11, 2014 22:54:11	AaronOfBarbaria wrote:
#11 YouKnowTheOneGuy Aug 12, 2014 17:32:48	When short rest moved from 15 minutes to 1 hourin the play test, the 4e player in me grumbled. But, the DM in me found it fascinating. The way it forced PCs to be smarter about time constraints. Do they rest for an hour and risk being found by guards? Letting enemies regroup? It actually introduced a lot of good tension w/ combat & RP and fun. But, that was my group. If you've got a 4e crew, I wouldn't see anything wrong w/ making the short rest 5-15 minutes. I actually thought it might be interesting (back in 4e) that it could take 5 min per thing (healing surge spent, encounter power recovered, etc.). Tl;Dr I like the 1 hour short rest, but do whatever is fun for your group!
#12 Rhenny Aug 12, 2014 18:01:44	It took some getting used to in our groups (me as both DM and Player in different groups), but overall, we are all digging it now.   Some of the people I play with would have roleplayed to prevent resting after each encounter, but now since it takes 1 hour, everyone thinks more carefully about it, and many times they just push on until they really can't go any further.   As a DM, I like it because it gives me a chance to interrupt them if I want to do that (or if I roll random encounters).    When rests were too short, sometimes I felt as if the players would resent getting interrupted.   Now, they kind of expect to get interrupted if they are not in a completely secluded safe area, so when they get a full hour rest they are quite relieved.
#13 Noon Aug 12, 2014 20:16:36	I'd swear alot of DM's have a problem with this since the players end up making a choice which has ongoing effects (whereas a five minute rest never got in the way of a railroad)
#14 Drayven27 Aug 14, 2014 11:06:03	At first I thought I was against the 1 hour short rest, then after reading through all the classes I see that some of them get some pretty powerful abilities that reset on short rest so I'd be hesitant to shorten the time period and encourage players to rest more often.
#15 Polaris Aug 14, 2014 11:13:12	Drayven27 wrote:
#16 Elendur Aug 14, 2014 12:32:07	I'd like to see some guidance on how many encounters are expected between each short rest on average.  4e encounter powers I understood, you cound do something once per combat, and any meaningful pause ended the encounter.  Regaining daily powers meant retreat to town, a campsite, or finding a secure location in the dungeon.  I'm not exactly sure when an hour rest would be appropriate in a site based adventure.   Do any of the published adventures have information as to when a short rest is appropriate?
#17 Mommy_was_an_Orc Aug 14, 2014 13:27:39	Polaris wrote:
#18 Mommy_was_an_Orc Aug 14, 2014 13:30:49	Elendur wrote:
#19 Polaris Aug 14, 2014 16:09:41	Mommy_was_an_Orc wrote:
#20 BatFett Aug 15, 2014 3:31:18	Elendur wrote:
#21 Sorxores Aug 15, 2014 4:26:46	I've play the playtest for a years and a half now and 1 hour short rest is fine, it simply force your player to mahage there ressource, you don't blow your short rest ability on anything. Being a mage, i would use my cantrip a lot more often, knowing that I'm not getting everything back.   Then if you shorten the short rest, some class like the wizard get weaker compare to the other class since he can arcane recover only once a day during a short rest
#22 Dane_McArdy Aug 15, 2014 4:43:19	E-Tallitnics wrote:
#23 Dane_McArdy Aug 15, 2014 4:45:28	Drayven27 wrote:
#24 UnknownMourner Aug 21, 2014 21:33:22	Yeah, 1 hour makes it iffy, and that's the point.   With 5 minutes, it sort of put the DM in the spot of being seen as a jerk if there were two back to back fights. Players felt entitled to a short rest every fight.   With 1 hour, it's grey. And that's scary. In an hour, monsters can put all the furniture agasint a door, or there might be a patrol, or whatever.   I think most DM's will still let thm get away with a short rest after every fight, but you cqna at least roll dice behind the screen and pretend to consult some chart. Ask for their Perceptions for no reason, etc.   If you like rolling for wandering monsters old school style, it's enough time for a roll to be seen as legit.   Screw with them about every 4th or 5th one and it'll be fine.
#25 Veleria Aug 21, 2014 22:53:53	I found as a player it makes our group have to consider the situation we are in rather than blow our poweres each and every fight.   In one game our group was exploring ruins where undead spwned like traps as we approached magical wards. In this case we took rest whenever we felt like it because we had no sense of urgency. whatever traps awaited us could wait.   In another game we were trying to rescue captive villagers from monsters. after the fight we wanted to rest but we knew we made so much noise that any further monsters in their lair would certainly know we were there and possibly harm the captives so we truged on and barely survived. If we had a rest we would have been ambushed or found the captives dead so we made the hard choice to keep going.   It feels more dynamic and allows for more intricate multi room fights like many of the adventures have written in.
#26 arnwolf666 Aug 21, 2014 23:15:43	I hope the DMG and adventures have detailed rules on random encounters during a short rest.  I don't want to be a jerk and do it to screw over the players, but their should be a mechanic for it.
#27 Arawn76 Aug 22, 2014 3:21:38	I rather like short rests, they remind me of those scenes in novels where a group has fought there way through treacherous circumstance and now before assaulting 'Mount Doom' they spend time binding their wounds and catching their breath.   For drama purposes I'll probably be a little flexible on having to have each one be exactly an hour of game time but it'll definitely be a significant investment of time and hence a choice the party will have to make between binding wounds or risk greater danger or foes escaping.
#28 Thoughts_My_Aim Aug 22, 2014 9:34:44	Put me down as another one who favours one hour "short rests". I don't much like the pejorative MMO comparisons you got with 4E, but a five minute rest did make it feel a bit like a mana break, and did make "encounters" feel much more scripted (if you want a non-MMO comparison, five minute rests made it feel a bit like an action movie - everybody gets really badly beaten up, then you get a shrot scene of the characters bandaging their wounds and suddenly everybody is back at full fighting fitness again).   A one hour rest makes the whole thing feel more - to use a loaded term - immersive to me. It feels more like you are actually exploring a hostile environment in a way that takes a certain amount of time, rather than that you are moving between scenes in a movie about people exploring a hostile environment. An hour-long short rest makes the bits *between* fights feel as real as the fights themselves.   Both playstyles are valid, of course, but I prefer the one-hour version.