Warlock question

[intregus]

So my play group (there's anywhere from 4-6 players on a given night) don't really take short rests.

Part of it is there are a couple people who have trouble staying in character and so they know it's better to long rest.

On an average adventuring day we usually have 1 short rest and then long rest.

I'm playing a warlock but only being able to cast 4 spells a day blows. I feel like I can't do anything and should multiclass into sorcerer just to get more spell slots.

My question is since my play group only plays with 1 short rest do you think it'd be too overpowered for us to house rule that warlocks get more spell slots per short rest?

I know rod of the pact keeper grants an additional slot so I don't think it'd be too strong but wanted to see what people who have been playing or DMing longer than I have think

Thanks!

[Throne12]

What is the rest of the party Consisted of? Because few long rest classes get something back on short rest like. Wizards and land druids get arcane recovery. Also using hit dice to heal up.

How may encounters are y'all having before a long rest? Encounters not just fights.

[LeonBH]

No, it's not overpowered, but only if you stick to the 1/SR theme. Otherwise, the Warlock will get more than six 5th level spells per day at the higher levels and then that is definitely more powerful than intended.

Warlocks aren't meant to cast spells all day, they cast spells when they need to. It's their invocations that is their bread and butter, as well as eldritch blast. You kind of have to accept that the pure Warlock is the at-will spammer of one ability and that's it.

A Sorcerer/Warlock multiclass is stronger than a pure Warlock. You will actually grow stronger if you multiclass due to having access to more spell slots, as well as a bigger selection of spells.

[mgshamster]

Just remove the warlock from short rests and instead give them x3 spell slots per long rest. It works out fairly well.

You can do the same with any short rest ability (x3 monk ki points, 3/day 1/battle action surges, etc...)

From there, just give hit point recovery on short rests, since you only take one per day.

[MrBig]

Note that at warlock 5, your hex lasts 8 hours, and persists through a short rest.

So, you can:

Cast hex, cast Darkness (or whatever).

Short Rest

Then head into encounter 2 with hex still up, and use your two slots for non-hex spells.

https://www.sageadvice.eu/2014/09/20/concentration-during-rest/

But dipping even one level into sorcerer isn’t a bad option, either. You get two extra 1st level slots, and 4 cantrips.

[LeonBH]

Cast hex, cast Darkness (or whatever).

Not Darkness. Concentration.

[Toadkiller]

Yeah, the have hex up all day thing can really be limiting. I stopped trying with my warlock, too many other spells I wanted to use.

I really think the easier way to deal with this is to narratively rest more. “So, we take a break and patch our wounds. My character whines about the crappy trail rations yours bought.” Boom. You’re done with a short rest.

[Harrysonford]

As someone who’s played many warlocks, I have to say, don’t put up with that.
I have played with many people who don’t want to short rest because they didn’t expend anything, they didn’t lose a lot of health, and they want to keep moving. But, warlock spells and many subclass abilities reset on short rests. This means that if they want you to be useful, they’ll be willing to wait so everyone can take a short rest.
Unfortunately, many people ignore how useful the warlock is to the party. Even if they don’t care about you helping the party, you will have more fun by taking more short rests.

So pretty much just tell them that you need short rests and hopefully they’ll understand.

Also sorry for the large block of text

[Arial Black]

You don't have to declare an 'action' of 'taking a short rest' in order to gain the benefits of a short rest. All that's required is that it has been at least one hour since you did anything that you cannot do during a short rest.

So, you don't care if the party decides to 'officially rest'. Just ask the DM if it has been an hour since you did 'nothing more strenuous than eating, drinking, reading, and tending to wounds', and if it has been at least an hour then you have just had a short rest and you get your slots back (and all the other short rest benefits), if you want to end your short rest at that point.

[Mjolnirbear]

Loudly suggest the gritty realism variant. All the casters will protest. Then passively aggressively state 'you guys won't let me get the rests I need so your long rests can bite me'.
/s

It took me a long time to agree with Gritty Realism. It does fix your problem.

Alternatively you can suggest making short rests five minutes. Your warlock can take them all day long, so you also suggest limiting them to two per day.

[JakOfAllTirades]

Sometimes you just have to put your foot down and take charge of the Short Rest situation: announce that your character is taking a Short Rest, and let the rest of the party decide whether they're going to chill out for a bit, or leave you and split the party. If they aren't complete jerks they'll be reasonable enough to chill out while your character recovers. It's not costing them anything.

And if not, you need to ask yourself why you're gaming with these bozos.

[Kane0]

A little unknown fact about Warlocks (and to some extent Monks), they have extremely specific dietary requirements. Much like the infamous British smoko, they need at least one hour long break for every three to four hours they are required to work in order to eat, smoke, complain about their associates and perhaps catch up with the local news. Failure to do so results in an extremely unpleasant situation where the Warlock (or Monk) will incessantly point out their below-par performance due to lack of smoko. Do note that certain Fighters and in rare cases other classes (except Rogues, oddly) also suffer the same ailment.

[intregus]

Thanks for all the replies! I think making short rests 5 minutes might work out the best for our play group!

[Solunaris]

Allow me to play the Devil's advocate here and say you shouldn't change the short rests to 5 minutes. Warlocks are a delicate thing; too little short rests and they feel bad to play but too many short rests and have a bad habit of overshadowing other casters.

Instead, might I suggest removing short rests entirely and creating a Flask of Short Rest that has two charges. It'd be a magic item that can only be used outside of combat, and when used gives the benefits of a short rest (allowing players to spend hit dice as normal). The charges would refresh on a Long Rest. With this, the party no longer needs to take a Short Rest at the same time or burden the party by asking for one because a character burned through their resources too fast.

[Asmotherion]

So my play group (there's anywhere from 4-6 players on a given night) don't really take short rests.

Part of it is there are a couple people who have trouble staying in character and so they know it's better to long rest.

On an average adventuring day we usually have 1 short rest and then long rest.

I'm playing a warlock but only being able to cast 4 spells a day blows. I feel like I can't do anything and should multiclass into sorcerer just to get more spell slots.

My question is since my play group only plays with 1 short rest do you think it'd be too overpowered for us to house rule that warlocks get more spell slots per short rest?

I know rod of the pact keeper grants an additional slot so I don't think it'd be too strong but wanted to see what people who have been playing or DMing longer than I have think

Thanks!

I don't get the part about staying in character after a short rest. You do know that you don't need to actually wait 1 hour/8 hours out of game to profit of a short/long rest and you can just time skip, right (just joking) :P

Some spells can increase the amount of short rests per adventuring day:
-Catnap from Xanathars might just be what you need. It gives you the benefits of a short rest in 10 minutes time. Unfortunatelly you can only profit from one of those before a long rest, but it's still very good.
-Rope trick can give you a safe hour of time anytime and everywere for an other short rest, even during a dungeon. Short rest for refresh of spell slots, and then you're set to go back for adventure...as long as time is not very pressing that is. The good part is that it's free on the first short rest for your Wizard, as he can regain the spell slot he used to cast it with his Arcane Recovery during the Short Rest. That's 2 free short rests. Depending on the number of Rope Tricks you may have some more from this source.

A well prepared party with a Wizard/Bard and Warlock can manage their resources better; You should manage gaining 3-4 instances of full spell slots on an adventuring day fairly easyly; That's 8 maximised spell slots, 12 when you gain a 3rd one. You're cool.

[Kane0]

You mean like the Catnap spell?

[ad_hoc]

Sounds like you are able to long rest way too much.

Does the party feel challenged at all? How often does your group TPK or lose fights?

If things don't change then everyone should take long rest classes to show how unbalanced it is.

[Beelzebubba]

Just force it. It's your game.

"The game is balanced for 6-8 encounters between long rests, with 2 short rests in between. That's how the game actually works. It's not fun for the Warlock if you don't take short rests, and it's not fun for Martials if you take long rests every few encounters. So, we're going to enforce it now. Let's work together to figure out the narrative around making that work."

If they don't like it, too bad. The entire design of the game is predicated on it. It's not their call, it's yours.

Put your foot down, then be nice and give them the control of how to make it works for them.

[Bahamut7]

You don't have to declare an 'action' of 'taking a short rest' in order to gain the benefits of a short rest. All that's required is that it has been at least one hour since you did anything that you cannot do during a short rest.

So, you don't care if the party decides to 'officially rest'. Just ask the DM if it has been an hour since you did 'nothing more strenuous than eating, drinking, reading, and tending to wounds', and if it has been at least an hour then you have just had a short rest and you get your slots back (and all the other short rest benefits), if you want to end your short rest at that point.

I know you already mentioned that your group solved it, OP, but I have to second this. When I DM, I prefer this more subtle short rest method as it doesn't break immersion that way. The short rest classes are happy and you get to sneak in exploration while actually resting.

[Finney]

So my play group (there's anywhere from 4-6 players on a given night) don't really take short rests.

Part of it is there are a couple people who have trouble staying in character and so they know it's better to long rest.

On an average adventuring day we usually have 1 short rest and then long rest.

If you're playing a halfling warlock, you need to demand the party stop for breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses, lunch, and afternoon tea - that's five short rests. :smallcool: