Odd random thought. There is no mention of spells in the entry on a Short Rest. Strictly speaking, by the rules, you wouldn't even be able to study your spellbook. It does say you can read, but Magic has it's own rules, so I guess spellbooks themselves are inherently magical.
I've always figured that the only difference between a Short Rest and a Long Rest is the amount of time you have to spend, and that you get all your hit points back and half of any hit dice you spent during a Short Rest.
>"Can I cast Mage Armor 7.5 hours into a long rest and get my spell slot back at 8 hours."
My answer would be "no".
When you started the rest, you were down five slots. At the finish of the rest, you'll get back 5 slots. That slot you used at dawn, just before the end of the rest, it comes back after 8 hours of rest, not 1/2 an hour.
Otherwise there is a lot of potential for cheese. For example, if we change the question to "Can I cast summon fiend 7.5 hours into a long rest and get my 6th level slot back at 8 hours?"
Sounds like a great way to encourage the DM to throw a lot of nighttime encounters at you once that mage armor is down. Just because you technically can doesn't mean everyone is going to be okay with it as it's very obviously and clearly against the spirit of how spell slots and long rests are supposed to work.
Unless you're skipping some of your castings, mage armor should never be down long enough for an encounter to start. The question should be whether you have spell slots reserved for future castings or you have already cast the spell. If you cast just before the end of a rest, you have 3 level one slots reserved for casting mage armor throughout the day, which you could burn for other things at the risk of not having your armor. If you cast after your rest, you spend 1 slot immediately and have 2 reserved for casting it.
Now if you're considering skipping some of those castings, then you have to start figuring out the optimal time to cast them. Spending them at the end of the rest is nice and all, but then you spend time breaking down camp and traveling through an area where if anything were going to attack you, it probably would have done it at night.
After the various opinions, I may look back at my original stance and reconsider how I rule this.
EDIT: SO I talked to my player and he clarified how he works his Mage Armor. And he cast it before the long rest (spell slots available). Which is 4 hrs. That way he has it for 4hs afterward and doesn't have to spend a spell slot right away. It is another reason why he asks the time of day, so he can keep up on when it goes, so he can recast it.
After the various opinions, I may look back at my original stance and reconsider how I rule this.
EDIT: SO I talked to my player and he clarified how he works his Mage Armor. And he cast it before the long rest (spell slots available). Which is 4 hrs. That way he has it for 4hs afterward and doesn't have to spend a spell slot right away. It is another reason why he asks the time of day, so he can keep up on when it goes, so he can recast it.
You might want to consider making a deal with him to simply mark off 3 castings per day and assume it is always on unless dispelled.
I used to do this on my elf mage, only needing 6 (4?) hours of sleep, I'd take the first shift, cast mage armor before sleeping and wake up with a few hours of mage armor left over
As a DM I don't see problems with this. You are not gaining any extra slots. You are just using yesterday's remaining slots. You just need to have someone wake up before you get your full rest or have an alarm clock. 😅
This wouldn't work if you used all of your slots.
Also we don't really pay much attention to MA duration anyways, because we rarely keep track of hours. It's rarely an important detail.
At early levels MA takes up one of your already limited slots and it's just not very much fun to nitpick on such a basic spell with a class that is already weak in terms of survivability. And later you have so many slots that lvl 1 spells become almost like cantrips.
So we usually just repeat it at some point during the day if we need to. I wouldn't mind MA having a 24h duration just for simplicity and a smooth run. The caster already sacrifices a prepared spell and a slot for something equal to a low tier armor.
Thank goodness they are clarifying some of this stuff in the 1D&D UA’s
LONG REST A Long Rest is a period of extended downtime— at least 8 hours long—available to any creature. During a Long 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. BENEFITS OF THE REST To start a Long Rest, you must have at least 1 Hit Point. When you finish the rest, you gain the following benefits: Regain All HP. You regain all lost Hit Points. Regain All HD. You regain all spent Hit Dice. HP Max Restored. 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 Reduced. If you are Exhausted, your level of exhaustion decreases by 1. After you finish a Long Rest, you must wait at least 16 hours before starting another one. INTERRUPTING THE REST A Long Rest is stopped by the following interruptions: • Combat • Casting a spell other than a 0-level spell • 1 hour of walking or other physical exertion If the rest was at least 1 hour long before the interruption, you gain the benefits of a Short Rest. You can resume a Long Rest immediately after an interruption. If you do so, the rest requires 1 additional hour to finish per interruption.
Thank goodness they are clarifying some of this stuff in the 1D&D UA’s
LONG REST A Long Rest is a period of extended downtime— at least 8 hours long—available to any creature. During a Long 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. BENEFITS OF THE REST To start a Long Rest, you must have at least 1 Hit Point. When you finish the rest, you gain the following benefits: Regain All HP. You regain all lost Hit Points. Regain All HD. You regain all spent Hit Dice. HP Max Restored. 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 Reduced. If you are Exhausted, your level of exhaustion decreases by 1. After you finish a Long Rest, you must wait at least 16 hours before starting another one. INTERRUPTING THE REST A Long Rest is stopped by the following interruptions: • Combat • Casting a spell other than a 0-level spell • 1 hour of walking or other physical exertion If the rest was at least 1 hour long before the interruption, you gain the benefits of a Short Rest. You can resume a Long Rest immediately after an interruption. If you do so, the rest requires 1 additional hour to finish per interruption.
Yeah. Rest casting is still possible though. Practically encouraged even.
Anyway, let's let the zombie thread return to its slumber.
What I usually do when my players start trying to cheese weasel the game and get freebies is go even further than they asked and give them more. Way more. In this case, I'd just say, "Hey, how would you like a boon from your deity that you always have Mage Armor applied?"
If they are brazen enough to accept this, I'd offer them more. "And how about everyone else in the party?"
They take that, I'd add, "And what about Aid? Would everyone like a boon of Aid that is always applied?"
At this point, if they accept, I would just automatically hand them the victory of the campaign. "You wake to the news that the Cult of the Dragon has all committed mass ritual suicide. They've mailed all their magic items to you and you've been awarded the highest honors in the land. Congratulations, you all won the game!!"
And scene. Because it sounds like they just want an easy victory. Why not just give it to them?
I read that as "if (...) you walk for an hour (45 min is ok, i guess?), or if you engage in any combat, or cast any spells (Ritual or not), or do any other activity that requires mental or physical stress" your long rest is forfeit.
You must have slept 6 hours (total) and performed no more than 2 hours of light activity, "such as reading, talking, eating, or standing watch" in an 8 hour period to gain the benefits.
So no, no casting Mage Armor 30 minutes before the rest is ending, then taking an other 30 minute nap and still restore the spell slot. To take it furter, if you do so, you also don't gain any other benefits from the long rests.
Either the spell lasts until the end of a long rest or you give the kid their spell slot because they're gonna have to cast that thing 2-3 times in a tough adventure sequence.
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I'd rule no... because it's gaming the system and abusive. The player is effectively trying to give himself or herself an extra level 1 spell slot.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Odd random thought. There is no mention of spells in the entry on a Short Rest. Strictly speaking, by the rules, you wouldn't even be able to study your spellbook. It does say you can read, but Magic has it's own rules, so I guess spellbooks themselves are inherently magical.
I've always figured that the only difference between a Short Rest and a Long Rest is the amount of time you have to spend, and that you get all your hit points back and half of any hit dice you spent during a Short Rest.
<Insert clever signature here>
>"Can I cast Mage Armor 7.5 hours into a long rest and get my spell slot back at 8 hours."
My answer would be "no".
When you started the rest, you were down five slots. At the finish of the rest, you'll get back 5 slots. That slot you used at dawn, just before the end of the rest, it comes back after 8 hours of rest, not 1/2 an hour.
Otherwise there is a lot of potential for cheese. For example, if we change the question to "Can I cast summon fiend 7.5 hours into a long rest and get my 6th level slot back at 8 hours?"
Unless you're skipping some of your castings, mage armor should never be down long enough for an encounter to start. The question should be whether you have spell slots reserved for future castings or you have already cast the spell. If you cast just before the end of a rest, you have 3 level one slots reserved for casting mage armor throughout the day, which you could burn for other things at the risk of not having your armor. If you cast after your rest, you spend 1 slot immediately and have 2 reserved for casting it.
Now if you're considering skipping some of those castings, then you have to start figuring out the optimal time to cast them. Spending them at the end of the rest is nice and all, but then you spend time breaking down camp and traveling through an area where if anything were going to attack you, it probably would have done it at night.
After the various opinions, I may look back at my original stance and reconsider how I rule this.
EDIT: SO I talked to my player and he clarified how he works his Mage Armor. And he cast it before the long rest (spell slots available). Which is 4 hrs. That way he has it for 4hs afterward and doesn't have to spend a spell slot right away. It is another reason why he asks the time of day, so he can keep up on when it goes, so he can recast it.
You might want to consider making a deal with him to simply mark off 3 castings per day and assume it is always on unless dispelled.
I used to do this on my elf mage, only needing 6 (4?) hours of sleep, I'd take the first shift, cast mage armor before sleeping and wake up with a few hours of mage armor left over
As a DM I don't see problems with this. You are not gaining any extra slots. You are just using yesterday's remaining slots. You just need to have someone wake up before you get your full rest or have an alarm clock. 😅
This wouldn't work if you used all of your slots.
Also we don't really pay much attention to MA duration anyways, because we rarely keep track of hours. It's rarely an important detail.
At early levels MA takes up one of your already limited slots and it's just not very much fun to nitpick on such a basic spell with a class that is already weak in terms of survivability. And later you have so many slots that lvl 1 spells become almost like cantrips.
So we usually just repeat it at some point during the day if we need to. I wouldn't mind MA having a 24h duration just for simplicity and a smooth run. The caster already sacrifices a prepared spell and a slot for something equal to a low tier armor.
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Thank goodness they are clarifying some of this stuff in the 1D&D UA’s
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
Yeah. Rest casting is still possible though. Practically encouraged even.
Anyway, let's let the zombie thread return to its slumber.
What I usually do when my players start trying to cheese weasel the game and get freebies is go even further than they asked and give them more. Way more. In this case, I'd just say, "Hey, how would you like a boon from your deity that you always have Mage Armor applied?"
If they are brazen enough to accept this, I'd offer them more. "And how about everyone else in the party?"
They take that, I'd add, "And what about Aid? Would everyone like a boon of Aid that is always applied?"
At this point, if they accept, I would just automatically hand them the victory of the campaign. "You wake to the news that the Cult of the Dragon has all committed mass ritual suicide. They've mailed all their magic items to you and you've been awarded the highest honors in the land. Congratulations, you all won the game!!"
And scene. Because it sounds like they just want an easy victory. Why not just give it to them?
I read that as "if (...) you walk for an hour (45 min is ok, i guess?), or if you engage in any combat, or cast any spells (Ritual or not), or do any other activity that requires mental or physical stress" your long rest is forfeit.
You must have slept 6 hours (total) and performed no more than 2 hours of light activity, "such as reading, talking, eating, or standing watch" in an 8 hour period to gain the benefits.
So no, no casting Mage Armor 30 minutes before the rest is ending, then taking an other 30 minute nap and still restore the spell slot. To take it furter, if you do so, you also don't gain any other benefits from the long rests.
Yes, that's exactly the correct interpretation. It baffles me to see threads as late as 2021 - 2022 where everyone in the thread gets it wrong.
Either the spell lasts until the end of a long rest or you give the kid their spell slot because they're gonna have to cast that thing 2-3 times in a tough adventure sequence.