Rest Activites, Building a Darkest Dungeon inspired rest system.

[Descole]

I have been thinking about Darkest Dungeon (dark turn-based dungeon exploration game where your hero team aren't that heroic and go slowly insane from stress) a lot lately and how it uses every little opportunity to create immersion and decisions.

Resting is normally a simple time skip in 5e but I would like to use that opportunity. The basic idea is that at the beginning of every short rest each character may choose one action from the incompleat list below in addition to the normal benefits of a rest. Some or all classes also gain special rest actions. I would also like to extend the concept to long rest, maybe letting the character chose two actions.

Eat | You indulge in glutton consuming one ration and regain one Hd.
Drink | You drink away your sorrows consume one bottle of alcohol, become poisoned (drunk) for the duration of the rest and regain two Hd.
Sleep | You slip into the world of dreams becoming incapacitated until you are woken, if you sleep for the entirety of the rest you regain 2 Hd.
Mend Wound | You tend to the wounds of another, make a medicine check dc 15+, on a success the wound is removed.
Keep Watch | You stand vigilant gazing into the abyss gaining advantage on perception checks during the rest.
Pray | You gain 1d4 that you may roll and add to any one attack, save or check until your next rest.
Forage | Make a dc 10(margin 5) survival check gaining one ration worth of food for every margin of success.
Tell Stories | Until their next rest another character may be counted a proficient in a skill you are proficient with for one skill check.
Make Fire | You set up a campfire providing light for and protecting up to 6 creatures from the cold.
Cook (Master Chef)| You prepare a meal for up to 6 creature consuming one ration for each, each creature who partake in the meal regain 2 Hd and gain advantage on saves against disease until their next rest.
Song of Rest (Bard)| By moving words or entertaining song you raise the spirit of your comrades restoring 1d6 (more at higher levels) Hp to up to 6 creatures.
Research (Wizard)| You secure your tomes and old lectures in the hunt of answers, make a dc 10(margin 5) knowledge check, you gain one piece of information for every margin of success.

I would like some help in coming up with more actions, especially for the different classes. Other ideas or approaches would also be fun to hear as well as suggestions of balance.

[igordragonian]

This is actually cute rule. I might use it for my group.

[Rusty Spoon]

I have been thinking about Darkest Dungeon (dark turn-based dungeon exploration game where your hero team aren't that heroic and go slowly insane from stress) a lot lately and how it uses every little opportunity to create immersion and decisions.

Resting is normally a simple time skip in 5e but I would like to use that opportunity. The basic idea is that at the beginning of every short rest each character may choose one action from the incompleat list below in addition to the normal benefits of a rest. Some or all classes also gain special rest actions. I would also like to extend the concept to long rest, maybe letting the character chose two actions.
I like this idea! Increases interaction and involvement, incentivise roleplaying, etc etc

Eat | You indulge in glutton consuming one ration and regain one Hd. Good baseline, I think. How does this interact with backgrounds/spells etc that provide free rations?

Drink | You drink away your sorrows consume one bottle of alcohol, become poisoned (drunk) for the duration of the rest and regain two Hd.
Sleep | You slip into the world of dreams becoming incapacitated until you are woken, if you sleep for the entirety of the rest you regain 2 Hd. Drinking seems off.. poison yourself, but heal yourself at the same time? I would change the benefit, but can't think of anything else right now. Sleep is a good 2HD option.

Mend Wound | You tend to the wounds of another, make a medicine check dc 15+, on a success the wound is removed.
Keep Watch | You stand vigilant gazing into the abyss gaining advantage on perception checks during the rest.
Pray | You gain 1d4 that you may roll and add to any one attack, save or check until your next rest.
Forage | Make a dc 10(margin 5) survival check gaining one ration worth of food for every margin of success. These are all great, I think. Again, how does forage interact with, say the outlander background?

Tell Stories | Until their next rest another character may be counted a proficient in a skill you are proficient with for one skill check.
Make Fire | You set up a campfire providing light for and protecting up to 6 creatures from the cold. Not sure about these two. Make Fire seems like a given... shouldn't take up a "rest action", as it were. Tell Stories is okay, I guess, but kinda vague. Do you have to specify the skill ahead of time?

Cook (Master Chef)| You prepare a meal for up to 6 creature consuming one ration for each, each creature who partake in the meal regain 2 Hd and gain advantage on saves against disease until their next rest.
Song of Rest (Bard)| By moving words or entertaining song you raise the spirit of your comrades restoring 1d6 (more at higher levels) Hp to up to 6 creatures.
Research (Wizard)| You secure your tomes and old lectures in the hunt of answers, make a dc 10(margin 5) knowledge check, you gain one piece of information for every margin of success.
I mean, that's already a Bard feature, right? Or can you combine the two?
Research maybe needs a higher margin, that'll get torn apart at higher levels.

I would like some help in coming up with more actions, especially for the different classes. Other ideas or approaches would also be fun to hear as well as suggestions of balance.
Ideas:
(Monk) meditate| bonus to wis/int/cha save/s?
(Warlock) commune| spend HD (yours or others) for bonus... rerolls maybe
Clerics could have deity based options. Hmmmm, will see if I can come up with anything else.

[Descole]

Good baseline, I think. How does this interact with backgrounds/spells etc that provide free rations?
If you can acquire free rations you can simply use the rest to eat without no further cost.


Drinking seems off.. poison yourself, but heal yourself at the same time? I would change the benefit, but can't think of anything else right now.

I think of it as the alcohol helps you to relax and regain your strength, and becoming drunk is a simple and thematic cost.


Again, how does forage interact with, say the Outlander background?
I would say that outlander replaces the roll, you simply gain 5 rations worth of food as the background says.



Not sure about these two. Make Fire seems like a given... shouldn't take up a "rest action", as it were. Tell Stories is okay, I guess, but kinda vague. Do you have to specify the skill ahead of time?
You are probably correct, make fire is quite boring and if people probably take a campfire as a given. Tell stories, yes you must specify the skill before, the idea is that you tell a story of something in your background where you developed that skill allowing them to use your skill.



I mean, that's already a Bard feature, right? Or can you combine the two?

Exactly, it is the bard feature. Song of Rest is the bard rest action and it works more or less exactly as written in the book.



Research maybe needs a higher margin, that'll get torn apart at higher levels.
At level 1 with +3 int, +5 total mod. At level 20 with +5 int, +11 total mod. On average a level 20 wizard will only succeed on one additional margin (bounded accuracy at work). Thinks that should ok, sometimes the wizard rolls a 20 and get a total of 31 but that's more of a matter of the d20.



Ideas:
(Monk) meditate| bonus to wis/int/cha save/s?
(Warlock) commune| spend HD (yours or others) for bonus... rerolls maybe
Clerics could have deity based options. Hmmmm, will see if I can come up with anything else.
I look forward to hearing what you come up with.