Greywander
2021-09-11, 05:53 PM
There's a lot I like about 5e, but I do think it made some things a bit too simple. Resting is one of those. The short and long rest system works fine, but even since the PHB we've had some unique features (such as Divine Intervention) that require more or less time to recharge than a short or long rest affords, and as new books come out we're seeing more of those (such as Limited Wish). Mostly I just wanted to put my thoughts into words so I could work out the details of what was in my head, and so I can refer back to this later on. I thought it might be useful for other people as well.
5e uses specific intervals of time, although exceptions do exist. These intervals are: 1 round, 1 minute, 10 minutes, 1 hour, 8 hours, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 1 year... I'm not sure they go much beyond that. There's not really a point in having a rest that lasts 1 round, so I'll start at 1 minute. Since we'll be having rests shorter than a short rest and longer than a long rest, I'll also rename those to fit with the overall scheme.
An optional rule that could also be considered is that using a resource will interrupt a rest of that specific type, but not other rests. For example, a warlock could cast a spell using a pact magic slot in the middle of a long rest without interrupting it, while any other spellcaster expending a spell slot would interrupt that long rest. This also means that you could expend a spell slot without interrupting a short rest, though that might not be as useful. This will become particularly relevant when discussing longer rests that allow "extra" time for other activities, such as downtime activities or even adventuring, in the middle of the rest.
Breather. 1 minute of light activity. In practice, breather resources can be thought of as "once per combat", and would otherwise act as at-will outside of combat and other high-intensity situations. Most of the time it won't be worth it to track individual minutes.
Ten. 10 minutes of light activity. Honestly, I don't really feel like there's a place for this. It's too long to fill the niche of the breather, and too short to fill the niche of the break, and there's not really room for something between the two.
Break (short rest). 1 hour of light activity. Similar in concept to the breather, but the longer rest time makes it more restrictive. It's short enough that it won't interrupt your adventuring, but long enough that you will need to find a safe place to settle down. Hours are also worth keeping track of, so taking a break will push the clock forward.
Camp (long rest). 8 hours of rest, including 6 hours of sleep and 2 hours of light activity (light activity can be replaced with more sleep, e.g. 8 hours of sleep counts as a camp). You can only camp once per day. I chose this word specifically to drive home the transient nature of the long rest. Otherwise, people were coming away with the idea that the average person in D&D only got 6 hours of sleep a night.
Weekend (alt. holiday). 1 day of rest, including 8 hours of sleep and 8 hours of light activity, with 8 hours being available for other activities. The 8 hours of sleep can take place either the night before or the night after. You gain the benefits of a weekend when you finish resting the following night (which can be a camp, or the full 8 hours of sleep). Similar to the ten, there might not be a place for this particular rest type, as it sits in an awkward place between the camp and the vacation, but there might still be merit in using it.
Vacation. 1 week of rest, including 8 hours of sleep and 8 hours of light activity per day, with 8 hours per day being available for other activities. Essentially seven weekends strung together, allowing you to leverage weekend resources without interrupting a vacation. Also gives you 8 hours per day to engage in downtime activities while recuperating, allowing you to pick up a language or craft an item or whatever.
Furlough. 1 month of rest. As with the vacation, every day is a weekend, making this basically a prolonged vacation. I can't really think of many resources that would require a month of continued rest to recover. Perhaps for healing from serious injuries.
Retirement. 1 year of rest. As above, every day is a weekend. Again, I can't really see what kind of resources would need to refresh over a year of rest.
How would this be used? Well, it would require a rewrite of a number of class features, so it wouldn't be easy to implement. A couple things I could see doing is making 6th+ level spell slots refresh on a vacation instead of a camp/long rest. Or perhaps 6th and 7th level slots would refresh on a weekend/holiday. Alternatively, I could see creating a scheme whereby different levels of spell slots are restored by different lengths of rest as the caster levels, such that your highest level slots usually require a vacation, even at lower levels. Part of the benefit of leveling up is moving a spell level from refreshing on a vacation to refreshing on a weekend or camp. Of course, those are the easy tweaks, but we'd also want to make some tweaks to martial classes, too. Again, this wouldn't be easy, but perhaps this will give you some ideas for your homebrew project.
5e uses specific intervals of time, although exceptions do exist. These intervals are: 1 round, 1 minute, 10 minutes, 1 hour, 8 hours, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 1 year... I'm not sure they go much beyond that. There's not really a point in having a rest that lasts 1 round, so I'll start at 1 minute. Since we'll be having rests shorter than a short rest and longer than a long rest, I'll also rename those to fit with the overall scheme.
An optional rule that could also be considered is that using a resource will interrupt a rest of that specific type, but not other rests. For example, a warlock could cast a spell using a pact magic slot in the middle of a long rest without interrupting it, while any other spellcaster expending a spell slot would interrupt that long rest. This also means that you could expend a spell slot without interrupting a short rest, though that might not be as useful. This will become particularly relevant when discussing longer rests that allow "extra" time for other activities, such as downtime activities or even adventuring, in the middle of the rest.
Breather. 1 minute of light activity. In practice, breather resources can be thought of as "once per combat", and would otherwise act as at-will outside of combat and other high-intensity situations. Most of the time it won't be worth it to track individual minutes.
Ten. 10 minutes of light activity. Honestly, I don't really feel like there's a place for this. It's too long to fill the niche of the breather, and too short to fill the niche of the break, and there's not really room for something between the two.
Break (short rest). 1 hour of light activity. Similar in concept to the breather, but the longer rest time makes it more restrictive. It's short enough that it won't interrupt your adventuring, but long enough that you will need to find a safe place to settle down. Hours are also worth keeping track of, so taking a break will push the clock forward.
Camp (long rest). 8 hours of rest, including 6 hours of sleep and 2 hours of light activity (light activity can be replaced with more sleep, e.g. 8 hours of sleep counts as a camp). You can only camp once per day. I chose this word specifically to drive home the transient nature of the long rest. Otherwise, people were coming away with the idea that the average person in D&D only got 6 hours of sleep a night.
Weekend (alt. holiday). 1 day of rest, including 8 hours of sleep and 8 hours of light activity, with 8 hours being available for other activities. The 8 hours of sleep can take place either the night before or the night after. You gain the benefits of a weekend when you finish resting the following night (which can be a camp, or the full 8 hours of sleep). Similar to the ten, there might not be a place for this particular rest type, as it sits in an awkward place between the camp and the vacation, but there might still be merit in using it.
Vacation. 1 week of rest, including 8 hours of sleep and 8 hours of light activity per day, with 8 hours per day being available for other activities. Essentially seven weekends strung together, allowing you to leverage weekend resources without interrupting a vacation. Also gives you 8 hours per day to engage in downtime activities while recuperating, allowing you to pick up a language or craft an item or whatever.
Furlough. 1 month of rest. As with the vacation, every day is a weekend, making this basically a prolonged vacation. I can't really think of many resources that would require a month of continued rest to recover. Perhaps for healing from serious injuries.
Retirement. 1 year of rest. As above, every day is a weekend. Again, I can't really see what kind of resources would need to refresh over a year of rest.
How would this be used? Well, it would require a rewrite of a number of class features, so it wouldn't be easy to implement. A couple things I could see doing is making 6th+ level spell slots refresh on a vacation instead of a camp/long rest. Or perhaps 6th and 7th level slots would refresh on a weekend/holiday. Alternatively, I could see creating a scheme whereby different levels of spell slots are restored by different lengths of rest as the caster levels, such that your highest level slots usually require a vacation, even at lower levels. Part of the benefit of leveling up is moving a spell level from refreshing on a vacation to refreshing on a weekend or camp. Of course, those are the easy tweaks, but we'd also want to make some tweaks to martial classes, too. Again, this wouldn't be easy, but perhaps this will give you some ideas for your homebrew project.