Mechanical Feedback Requested: Quasi-Rests

[Sparky McDibben]

Hey y'all,

So I wound up improvising a weird little rest mechanic for some Underdark adventures my PCs are doing, and I wanted to solicit some feedback from the hive mind.

My PCs are leading an expedition into the Underdark, and my rules for random encounters had put a serious crimp in their style (I randomize what tier the encounter comes from, among other things), which led to them having to run away from several encounters. They kinda got tired of this, and asked if there was a way they could deter encounters by making a show of force (extra guard rotations, more fires, etc). I said sure, but that counts as a "quasi-rest."

A "quasi-rest" (and no, I'm not crazy about the name, but it was improvised) takes 8 hours, and acts as a short rest. You also get half your used Hit Dice back, but you have to choose between getting all of your spell slots restored, or all of your hit points restored.

I don't have a hard-and-fast rule for resources that are not listed above, but my general guide is that if a resource has to do with spells (like Sorcery Points), you get it back if you choose to recover your spells. If it has to do with hit points (like Lay on Hands), you get it back if you choose to recover your hit points.

The general context thus far has been mixed - I've run some pretty nasty scenarios so far this campaign, and it's frequently been a pain point for full casters as to which option to choose. Gishes like paladins get to choose if they want to smite or stay in the line for the next day.

Overall, it's doing what I wanted it to do, which is to give combat durable consequences while providing a benefit (no random encounters).

Questions:
What characters can optimize for this in unpleasant or game-breaking ways?
To what characters is this a non-choice? How could I make it more meaningful for them?
Could you modify this mechanic to do anything else?

[Zhorn]

context questions:

Is the 8 hours because this is in gritty realism rules where short rests are 8 hours?
or is this normal resting rules with this as a 'more than one long rest per day' intent?
or is this in place of long rests as a means of ramping up difficulty?

[MoiMagnus]

Questions:
What characters can optimize for this in unpleasant or game-breaking ways?
To what characters is this a non-choice? How could I make it more meaningful for them?
Could you modify this mechanic to do anything else?

The main problem I see it that I don't feel this will scale well with levels.

For full spellcasters, as they grow in levels, high level spells define what they are. Not getting them back while resting is basically saying "well, tomorrow, just fight without me".

For non-spellcasters, well, it's not like they had a choice in the first place.

For gish, if you allow multiclassing, giving up on the "gish" part and focussing on being a tank or being a magic user will become more and more optimal for them.

[Sparky McDibben]

context questions:

Is the 8 hours because this is in gritty realism rules where short rests are 8 hours?
or is this normal resting rules with this as a 'more than one long rest per day' intent?
or is this in place of long rests as a means of ramping up difficulty?

Good questions! This is in a normal world. No gritty realism, and it's more about giving the player's choices meaningful consequences.


The main problem I see it that I don't feel this will scale well with levels.

For full spellcasters, as they grow in levels, high level spells define what they are. Not getting them back while resting is basically saying "well, tomorrow, just fight without me".

For non-spellcasters, well, it's not like they had a choice in the first place.

For gish, if you allow multiclassing, giving up on the "gish" part and focussing on being a tank or being a magic user will become more and more optimal for them.

That's an interesting idea. Right now, they're level six, and they've been using almost every slot every day. I suspect as they get more (and more high level) slots, they'll have more options. The other thing that would alleviate the stratification you mentioned are magic item charges. Wands of fireball, staves of the magi, etc. all regain charges anyway, so that also gives them more options.

I'll let you know how it plays out, but this is definitely something to keep my eye on. Thanks!

[Yakk]

Me? I like rolling dice.

HP recovery:
Expend any HD you want to heal. Then roll all expended HD. Any that land on an even value that isn't 2 is recovered. You can now expend HD again to heal, but don't get another recovery roll.

You get back about half of your expended HD this way.

If you feel generous, allow HD rerolls so it is better than short rest healing.

(The "except 2" makes bigger HD better than smaller HD.)

Spell Slot Recovery:
For each 1st level slot expended roll 1d12, 2nd 1d10, 3rd 1d8, 4th 1d6, 5th 1d4. Even values that are not 2 regain the slot, odd values leave it unrecovered.

For slots 6th and above, roll 1d4 to recover, recover on a 4.

General rule:
You get back a bit less than half of your long rest resources.

T1 resources roll 1d10, T2 roll 1d8, T3 roll 1d6 and T4 roll 1d4, recover on an even number that isn't 2.

...

This might require too much rolling. But it doesn't have the same anti-hybrid rules that yours does.

[stoutstien]

I love partial recovery schemes. Been allowing it for a few years now to give parties more agency and intuitive interactions with the game (as a setting/world).

Like monks recover ki while meditating at a ki/minute that gives the the opportunity to recover a few here or there but at the opportunity cost of not being available for other activities like being on guard or trying to work out a set of clues.