# Resting Mechanics Rests are crucial for characters to regain their resources, including Hit Points, class features, and spell slots. Ending a 24-hour period without finishing a Short or Long Rest imposes a `DC 12 + days spent without a short or long rest` Fortitude saving throw. On a failure, the creature gains one level of Fatigue. ## Rally Certain adventures thrive on the adrenaline of the chase or the ever-present fear of ambush. As it stands, the need to take a Long Rest can prove difficult during long dungeon crawls, while the reduced benefits of a Short Rest may not offer much of a power increase. This lends itself to a nice tone of personal stress and risk versus reward. However, sometimes a rest is necessary for the party to continue, even if the current rush of the story's clock won't allow for the time that a Short Rest requires. A Rally involves one or more characters spending 10 minutes to steel their resolve in the face of coming peril, letting their adrenaline fuel the need to push on. A character who undertakes a Rally gains the benefit of a Short Rest, but any hit points restored by spending Hit Dice are halved. Moreover, the character gains one level of [[Homebrew Mechanics/exhaustion|exhaustion]]. Once a character takes a Rally, they must finish a Long Rest before they can do so again. ## Short Rest A Short Rest is a 1-hour period of relaxation, where a creature does nothing more strenuous than reading, talking, eating, or standing watch. A Short Rest can occur anywhere and is available to any creature. To start a Quick Rest, you must have at least 1 Hit Point. ### Benefits of a Short Rest To start a Short Rest, you must have at least 1 Hit Point and spend at least 1 Supply. When you finish the rest, you gain the following benefits: ***Regain Half of Spent Hit Point Dice.*** You regain a number of spent Hit Point Dice equal to half of the total number of spent Hit Point Dice (minimum of 1). For example, if you have 10 Hit Point Dice, and you’ve spent 8, you regain up to 4 spent Hit Point Dice. ***Spend Hit Point Dice.*** After you regain Hit Point Dice, you can spend one or more Hit Point Dice to regain Hit Points. For each Hit Point Dice you spend in this way, roll the die and add your Constitution modifier to it. You regain Hit Points equal to the total (minimum of 1 Hit Point). You can decide to spend an additional Hit Point Dice after each roll. ***Exhaustion Reduced.*** If you have any levels of Fatigue or Strife, their levels decrease by 1, but **only** if the individual levels are at 1. ***Special Feature.*** Some features are recharged by a Short Rest. If you have such a feature, it recharges in the way specified in its description. ### Interrupting a Short Rest A Short Rest is stopped by the following interruptions: - Rolling Initiative - Casting a spell other than a cantrip - Taking any damage An interrupted Short Rest confers no benefits. The interrupted Short Rest must be restarted from the beginning to gain its benefits. If the interrupted Short Rest goes for at least 1 hour, the party can treat it as a Breather instead, but they cannot take another Breather as part of this interrupted Short Rest. ## Night’s Rest A Night’s Rest is an extended period of rest—at least 8 hours— available to any creature. During a Night’s Rest, you sleep for at least 6 hours and perform no more than 2 hours of light activity, such as reading, talking, eating, or standing watch. A Night’s Rest can occur in any location where you can sleep without interruption. This might take place in a dangerous location that has been temporarily secured and guarded. During sleep, you have the Unconscious condition. After you finish a Night’s Rest, you must wait at least 8 hours before starting another one or starting a Long Rest. ### Benefits of a Short Rest To start a Night’s Rest, you must have at least 1 Hit Point. When you finish the rest, you gain the following benefits: ***Regain Half Hit Point Dice.*** You regain a number of spent Hit Point Dice equal to half of your total number of Hit Point Dice (minimum of 1). For example, if you have eight Hit Point Dice, you regain up to four spent Hit Point Dice. ***Spend Hit Point Dice.*** After you regain Hit Point Dice, you can spend one or more Hit Point Dice to regain Hit Points. For each Hit Point Dice you spend in this way, roll the die and add your Constitution modifier to it. You regain Hit Points equal to the total (minimum of 1 Hit Point). You can decide to spend an additional Hit Point Dice after each roll. ***Exhaustion Reduced.*** If you have any levels of Fatigue or Strife, their levels decrease by 1, but **only** if the individual levels are at 2 or below. ***Special Feature.*** Some features are recharged by a Short Rest. If you have such a feature, it recharges in the way specified in its description. _**Limited Respite.**_ When you finish the Night's Rest, you can spend a number of Hit Point Dice equal to your Proficiency Bonus to choose one of the following: - Regain one expended use of a feature that recharges on a Long Rest. - Recover one or more expended spell slots with a combined level no higher than half your caster level (rounded down). You can't recover a slot of 5th level or higher this way. _For example, a 5th-level spellcaster could recover one 2nd-level slot or two 1st-level slots._ You must have at least a number of Hit Point Dice equal to your Proficiency Bonus available to spend **before** starting the Night’s Rest, and you can use this benefit only once per Night's Rest. ### Interrupting a Night’s Rest A Night’s Rest is stopped by the following interruptions: - Rolling Initiative - Casting a spell other than a cantrip - Taking any damage An interrupted Night’s Rest confers no benefits. The interrupted Night’s Rest must be restarted from the beginning to gain its benefits. If the interrupted Night’s Rest goes for at least 1 hour, the party can treat it as a Short Rest instead, but they cannot take another Short Rest as part of this interrupted Night’s Rest. ## Long Rest A Long Rest is a period of extended downtime—at least 72 hours (or 3 days and 2 nights)—available to any creature. During a Long Rest, you sleep for at least one 6-hour period separated by light activity—such as reading, talking, eating, crafting, trading, or performing downtime activities—per day. A Long Rest can only occur in Safe Havens—locations that provide shelter, warmth, comfort, and resources like food and water. This could be a settlement, homestead, stronghold, inn, castle, or large city. A Long Rest cannot be completed in areas of discomfort or danger, such as a wilderness, dungeon, alley, or sewer. If the location is dangerous enough that characters feel the need to post watch, it cannot accommodate a Long Rest. In some situations, characters may feel safe enough in a location that it may qualify as a Safe Haven, but the story or circumstances may say otherwise. In those cases, it’s up to GM discretion. During sleep, you have the Unconscious condition. After you finish a Long Rest, you must wait at least 16 hours before starting a Night’s Rest and you must wait at least 48 hours before starting a Long Rest again. ### Benefits of a Long Rest To start a Long Rest, you must have at least 1 Hit Point and spend at least 3 Supply per 24 hours spent as part of the Long Rest (if you do not spend the appropriate Supply, you suffer a level of Fatigue at the end of the Long Rest). When you finish the rest, you gain the following benefits: ***Regain All HP.*** You regain all lost Hit Points and all spent Hit Point Dice. If your Hit Point maximum was reduced, it returns to normal. ***Ability Scores Restored.*** If any of your ability scores were reduced, they return to normal. ***Exhaustion Recovered.*** If you have any levels of Fatigue or Strife, their levels decrease by 1 for every 24 hours spent as part of the Long Rest. You can recover more levels of Fatigue or Strife by spending both Downtime Slots in a day on the Recuperate activity. ***Wounds Recovered.*** If you have one or more levels of the [[Homebrew Mechanics/conditions#Wounded|Wounded]] condition, you lose all of them when finishing the rest. ***Special Feature.*** Some features are recharged by a Long Rest. If you have such a feature, it recharges in the way specified in its description. _**Downtime Slots.**_ A Long Rest provides 2 Downtime Slots per day for each character to use to their advantage—per day—to a total of 6. A character can choose to spend the slots performing any [[downtime|Downtime Activity]], and it will not interrupt or diminish their Long Rest. ### Interrupting the Long Rest A Long Rest is stopped by the following interruptions: - Rolling Initiative - Casting a spell other than a cantrip - Taking any damage - Leaving the location of relative safety If you rested at least 8 hours, including at least 6 hours of sleep, before the interruption, you gain the benefits of a Short Rest. You can only take 1 Short Rest during an attempt of a Long Rest. > #### The Point of Alternative Resting > >Intentions of rules are just as important to understand as the rules themselves. The intention of the alternative resting rules is to challenge characters, not to destroy them. The main reason some campaigns seem too easy or not challenging enough is the abundance of resources that characters have, and those resources are regained through Short, or Long Rests. > >This alternative resting system is meant to ensure that characters can regain the Hit Points necessary to take part in encounters without always having the most powerful of their abilities to use every time. > >Even more important than survivability with this new resting variant is story-driven decision making. In order to take a Long Rest, characters must not just rest longer, they must rest in a place of safety. This can mean making a hard choice: should we push further into the monster's lair or the Hostile territory, or should we retreat to a place of safety? > >It also places an emphasis on the characters making it a priority to find, cultivate, or maybe even create a place of safety. That threatened village may not mean much to the characters in terms of the connections they've made, but it means much more when it might be the only place they are able to rest in the area. You'll find that the people and places of Eberron become much more important to the players when their valuable adventuring resources hinge on having a safe place to sleep.