When characters are taking short rest in dungeon roll 1d4. If result is 1 wandering monsters attack during rest. Use same monsters that are used in current dungeon.
I'd rather make it realistic to the environment. If they found a reasonable place to take the rest, let them take it. If they tried to take one in a very stupid place then there will be danger. This makes it more important for the characters to choose the place rather than not bothering because it's random chance anyway.
Also note that if attacked they will likely be injured or out of spells and abilities making them more vulnerable, plus if they get attacked they will not benefit from the short rest so must either spend even longer trying to rest or if unaware it's random you may make them think they have to move away to find a "safer" place putting them at further risk of TPK. If you trigger this random chance each time, at 1/4 it might trigger ambushes multiple times in a row.
The whole point of short rests is so your party survives and D&D is balanced around the availablity of them. Reducing their ability to take them is going to create imbalance and greatly ups the difficulty and decreases survivability. If they learn it's "random chance" it can, in my opinion, considerably reduce immersion since it's very unrealistic. Creatures can spend entire days not being attacked in most dungeons so the party having a good chance of being attacked if they take just an hour to catch their breath is nonsensical.
At core of this house rule is to limit available healing per dungeon without directly saying "No. You cant rest now".
My first idea was to give limit for short rests per dungeon.
Lets say we have 5 room dungeon and 3 of the rooms have at least small combat encounter. If you can have short rest without danger after each combat it would be same as characters regenerate to full health after each combat.
I will gladly hear more ideas about how to improve this idea.
I say customize it to the dungeon. If this is a cave that houses a goblin tribe then there is a much higher chance of a goblin or three wandering down that particular offshoot than being ambushed in a deserted ancient temple.
Are there wandering monsters? Does it make sense for there to be? Would killing the monsters in one room give other monsters a reason to search out the invaders or is it a lair of wild beasts that would just see the corpses as a free meal and give it no further thought?
Some monsters are intended to be just as intelligent as the average player (sometimes more so if you allow drinking at the game table) and would coordinate with each other accordingly in order to defend their domain as effectively as possible. If a patrol is late making its rounds past a room of other defenders then it would be easily noticed and almost certainly investigated. However, some monsters are more or less mindless fodder. Zombies don't have the mental capacity to patrol without being made to and even then a late patrol would likely mean very little to other zombies. A barricaded door to take a rest behind will cause a lot fewer raised eyebrows in an undead crypt than in a bandit fort.
Dungeons can and should vary just as much as the monsters that inhabit them. If it is populated with creatures intelligent enough to discern that they are under attack and stalwart enough to defend the dungeon's treasures and secrets with their lives then a 50/50 chance something happens during a rest seems fair. In a dungeon full of sentient, albeit dim-witted monsters that wouldn't actively search the party out even if some do continuously wander the dungeon it would be more fair to say there is a 1/5 chance that they are happened across. Maybe more or maybe less, but that would depend on how populated the dungeon is and how prone the monsters are to wandering. A fairly large area with only small handful of monsters that lairs there, but don't know or have reason to suspect their home has been invaded, let them rest up as they choose if they are quiet about it. That deserted ancient temple may be devoid of life, yet full of traps. There isn't any reason they can't rest up at need no matter how loud and long the careless Rogue curses the trap he sprung before he thought to check for one.
Also give your player's agency to make their own luck with a little preparation. A smart group will fully understand the usefulness of the Alarm spell. By itself you don't need to put anyone on watch, everyone can rest to full effect in the shortest length of time if they aren't interrupted. Alarm combined with a piton driven into the ground at the foot of a door does wonders. Not only can they avoid being taken completely by surprise, but they even have time to ready themselves and possibly ambush the ambushers. Let them get a rest if they have prepared well for a possible ambush. Even if they aren't ambushed maybe they do get happened upon, but only by a small patrolling group and just after they have actually completed the rest. They don't get a full regen after every fight, the small encounter makes sure of that, but it lets them refresh most of their spell slots and hp.
Even better, every so often, reward them with being ambushed. Yes, you read that correctly. For a properly prepared party an ambush that is an average difficulty encounter can be easily turned around and makes the party feel awesome! Take the above example with Alarm and a piton to lock the door. The group settles in to take a rest in a room with two doors and rigs the pitons up on each. Alarm triggers and alerts the group to a newly blooded bandit that has drawn the short straw for guard duty and has discovered that a normally open corridor is closed off and gently tries the door only to find it is stuck fast. Now, he may be new, but he isn't stupid and he knows locked doors where there should be none means trouble so he hightails it back to his captain to report his findings. In the meantime, the party prepares an ambush of their own. The Fighter stays in the room they were in, the Cleric waits just outside the second door they have now pulled up the piton from, the Rogue and the Wizard sneak out the second door and circle around in order to flank the bandits when the time is right. Once the bandits return and kick down the door the Fighter holds them in the bottleneck of the doorway, the Wizard AoEs the hall just before the Rogue leaps out of the shadows and brings low the captain, and the Cleric gets to flex his muscles a little more than normal and helps mop up whatever is left.
The witty caster feels like they have a useful utility, the brawny meatshield feels like they are smarter than anyone gives them credit for, the stealthy assassin gets to showcase their prowess once the trap is sprung, and the benevolent healer gets to avoid the palpable stress of not having to run on two last resort spell slots when the group is directing the course of the fight instead of reacting to an ambush. Everyone wins... except the bandit captain and his cronies, of course.
Thank you Skizzlebritches. That was nice wall of text.
In short: I am going to use ambushes but I will plan more carefully when to make an ambush. These ambushes will be indirect message to speed up things in dungeon.
When characters are taking short rest in dungeon roll 1d4. If result is 1 wandering monsters attack during rest. Use same monsters that are used in current dungeon.
My current projects, One click download PDFs:
- Clam Island campaign questbook: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/By3s5Uqqf (Levels 1-4)
- Frostglade Tundra campaign questbook: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/SyZ_4eEyKE (Levels 1-4)
- Goldfish Archipelago campaign questbook: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/-3HajWXM (Sequel to Clam Island, Levels 5-8)
I'd rather make it realistic to the environment. If they found a reasonable place to take the rest, let them take it. If they tried to take one in a very stupid place then there will be danger. This makes it more important for the characters to choose the place rather than not bothering because it's random chance anyway.
Also note that if attacked they will likely be injured or out of spells and abilities making them more vulnerable, plus if they get attacked they will not benefit from the short rest so must either spend even longer trying to rest or if unaware it's random you may make them think they have to move away to find a "safer" place putting them at further risk of TPK. If you trigger this random chance each time, at 1/4 it might trigger ambushes multiple times in a row.
The whole point of short rests is so your party survives and D&D is balanced around the availablity of them. Reducing their ability to take them is going to create imbalance and greatly ups the difficulty and decreases survivability. If they learn it's "random chance" it can, in my opinion, considerably reduce immersion since it's very unrealistic. Creatures can spend entire days not being attacked in most dungeons so the party having a good chance of being attacked if they take just an hour to catch their breath is nonsensical.
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Good points Cyb3rM1nd.
At core of this house rule is to limit available healing per dungeon without directly saying "No. You cant rest now".
My first idea was to give limit for short rests per dungeon.
Lets say we have 5 room dungeon and 3 of the rooms have at least small combat encounter. If you can have short rest without danger after each combat it would be same as characters regenerate to full health after each combat.
I will gladly hear more ideas about how to improve this idea.
My current projects, One click download PDFs:
- Clam Island campaign questbook: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/By3s5Uqqf (Levels 1-4)
- Frostglade Tundra campaign questbook: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/SyZ_4eEyKE (Levels 1-4)
- Goldfish Archipelago campaign questbook: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/-3HajWXM (Sequel to Clam Island, Levels 5-8)
I say customize it to the dungeon. If this is a cave that houses a goblin tribe then there is a much higher chance of a goblin or three wandering down that particular offshoot than being ambushed in a deserted ancient temple.
Are there wandering monsters? Does it make sense for there to be? Would killing the monsters in one room give other monsters a reason to search out the invaders or is it a lair of wild beasts that would just see the corpses as a free meal and give it no further thought?
Some monsters are intended to be just as intelligent as the average player (sometimes more so if you allow drinking at the game table) and would coordinate with each other accordingly in order to defend their domain as effectively as possible. If a patrol is late making its rounds past a room of other defenders then it would be easily noticed and almost certainly investigated. However, some monsters are more or less mindless fodder. Zombies don't have the mental capacity to patrol without being made to and even then a late patrol would likely mean very little to other zombies. A barricaded door to take a rest behind will cause a lot fewer raised eyebrows in an undead crypt than in a bandit fort.
Dungeons can and should vary just as much as the monsters that inhabit them. If it is populated with creatures intelligent enough to discern that they are under attack and stalwart enough to defend the dungeon's treasures and secrets with their lives then a 50/50 chance something happens during a rest seems fair. In a dungeon full of sentient, albeit dim-witted monsters that wouldn't actively search the party out even if some do continuously wander the dungeon it would be more fair to say there is a 1/5 chance that they are happened across. Maybe more or maybe less, but that would depend on how populated the dungeon is and how prone the monsters are to wandering. A fairly large area with only small handful of monsters that lairs there, but don't know or have reason to suspect their home has been invaded, let them rest up as they choose if they are quiet about it. That deserted ancient temple may be devoid of life, yet full of traps. There isn't any reason they can't rest up at need no matter how loud and long the careless Rogue curses the trap he sprung before he thought to check for one.
Also give your player's agency to make their own luck with a little preparation. A smart group will fully understand the usefulness of the Alarm spell. By itself you don't need to put anyone on watch, everyone can rest to full effect in the shortest length of time if they aren't interrupted. Alarm combined with a piton driven into the ground at the foot of a door does wonders. Not only can they avoid being taken completely by surprise, but they even have time to ready themselves and possibly ambush the ambushers. Let them get a rest if they have prepared well for a possible ambush. Even if they aren't ambushed maybe they do get happened upon, but only by a small patrolling group and just after they have actually completed the rest. They don't get a full regen after every fight, the small encounter makes sure of that, but it lets them refresh most of their spell slots and hp.
Even better, every so often, reward them with being ambushed. Yes, you read that correctly. For a properly prepared party an ambush that is an average difficulty encounter can be easily turned around and makes the party feel awesome! Take the above example with Alarm and a piton to lock the door. The group settles in to take a rest in a room with two doors and rigs the pitons up on each. Alarm triggers and alerts the group to a newly blooded bandit that has drawn the short straw for guard duty and has discovered that a normally open corridor is closed off and gently tries the door only to find it is stuck fast. Now, he may be new, but he isn't stupid and he knows locked doors where there should be none means trouble so he hightails it back to his captain to report his findings. In the meantime, the party prepares an ambush of their own. The Fighter stays in the room they were in, the Cleric waits just outside the second door they have now pulled up the piton from, the Rogue and the Wizard sneak out the second door and circle around in order to flank the bandits when the time is right. Once the bandits return and kick down the door the Fighter holds them in the bottleneck of the doorway, the Wizard AoEs the hall just before the Rogue leaps out of the shadows and brings low the captain, and the Cleric gets to flex his muscles a little more than normal and helps mop up whatever is left.
The witty caster feels like they have a useful utility, the brawny meatshield feels like they are smarter than anyone gives them credit for, the stealthy assassin gets to showcase their prowess once the trap is sprung, and the benevolent healer gets to avoid the palpable stress of not having to run on two last resort spell slots when the group is directing the course of the fight instead of reacting to an ambush. Everyone wins... except the bandit captain and his cronies, of course.
Thank you Skizzlebritches. That was nice wall of text.
In short: I am going to use ambushes but I will plan more carefully when to make an ambush. These ambushes will be indirect message to speed up things in dungeon.
My current projects, One click download PDFs:
- Clam Island campaign questbook: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/By3s5Uqqf (Levels 1-4)
- Frostglade Tundra campaign questbook: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/SyZ_4eEyKE (Levels 1-4)
- Goldfish Archipelago campaign questbook: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/-3HajWXM (Sequel to Clam Island, Levels 5-8)