"A Short Rest is a 1-hour period of downtime, during which a creature does nothing more strenuous than reading, talking, eating, or standing watch"
"A short rest is stopped by: Rolling Initiative Casting a spell other than a cantrip Taking any damage"
I have a player telling me that the rules for short rests are very explicit as to what interrupts a short rest: rolling initiative, casting a leveled spell, taking any damage, that those three things are a 100% exhaustive list, and anything that isn't one of those three things doesn't interrupt a Short Rest.
I know as DM i can home rule whatever I want in my games, but I wanted to check in with others and see if I've been running my games wrong for years.
riding a galloping horse isn't rolling initiative, casting a leveled spell, or taking damage, so they are arguing it doesn't interrupt a short rest. Long distance running isn't rolling initiative, casting a spell, or taking damage, so they are arguing it doesn't interrupt a short rest. Engaging in manual labor like building a barn, cutting wood with a two person hand saw, lifting beams, etc, are not rolling initiative, casting a spell, or taking damage, so they are arguing it doesn't interrupt a short rest.
Please answer the poll questions and maybe I'll have to change the way I handle short rests....
I have been reading the rules for short rest as saying you cant do anything "strenuous" and then it gives some examples of what is not strenuous (reading, talking, eating) and it gives some examples of things that ARE strenuous (initiative, spell casting, damage), and then its up to the DM to take anything specific that the player wants to do, and apply the rules adn examples to determine if its strenuous or not.
The alternative way is to say that the rules give an exhaustive list of what interrupts a short rest: inititiave, spell casting, damage, and anything not on that list is allowed.
I've never heard that second approach before and wanted to check in with others.
If you rested at least 1 hour before the interruption, you gain the benefits of a Short Rest. See also “Short Rest.”
So if you do 1 hour of walking or other physical exertion, that interrupts a long rest. and if you long rested for an hour before that interruption then you get the benefit of a short rest.
Which, means that if you start long resting and sit for 15 minutes, then start walking, you interrupt your long rest. and because you only went 15 minutes, then you don't qualify for a short rest, which, correct me if I'm wrong here, means that you cannot walk or do other physical exertion for a short rest either.
I'd say that the word rest is pretty important. The idea behind the short rest is that you're taking a breather to regroup, patch your wounds, recover some strength. Try bandaging your wounds while riding a galloping horse or running a marathon.
I would not allow a player to try and rules-lawyer their way into getting you to agree that "anything which is NOT on the list of things that interrupt a rest is allowed," because that will be an extremely large amount of things. This is a flag of an adversarial player who might end up derailing the game for tens of minutes to argue over a loophole in the rules, to the annoyance of the players and the detriment of the game. Just say that as the Game Master, you will decide (on a case-by-case basis if necessary) what things are allowed or forbidden during a rest, and if they have any complaints, they can take it up with Rule 0.
I started playing sometime around when second edition came out. The rules have changed a LOT since then. And sometimes a rule chnages and I dont realize it and I end up enforcing something that's not a rule in the latest editions. I just recently made the switch to 2024, and I'm still bumping into little changes that trip me up once in a while. And I wanted to make sure this wasn't one of those changes I missed. Because this would be a BIG change.
To me doing marathon, construction work or horseriding for hours is streneous activies not prone to rest during.
Having said that, many times as DM i try to allow Short Rest whenever possible even if the activity or duration is not always conform, especially in time-pressure or hostile area where resting is had to do, often favoring balance as opposed to realism.
"point out the not-exactly-strenuous things that still interrupt it."
Thats a good point: Rolling initiative is a meta-action done by the player, and has nothing to do with any strain on the player-character. Yet rolling initiative, even if the character never fights and never takes damage, interrupts a short rest.
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The rules for short rest say:
"A Short Rest is a 1-hour period of downtime, during which a creature does nothing more strenuous than reading, talking, eating, or standing watch"
"A short rest is stopped by: Rolling Initiative
Casting a spell other than a cantrip
Taking any damage"
I have a player telling me that the rules for short rests are very explicit as to what interrupts a short rest: rolling initiative, casting a leveled spell, taking any damage, that those three things are a 100% exhaustive list, and anything that isn't one of those three things doesn't interrupt a Short Rest.
I know as DM i can home rule whatever I want in my games, but I wanted to check in with others and see if I've been running my games wrong for years.
riding a galloping horse isn't rolling initiative, casting a leveled spell, or taking damage, so they are arguing it doesn't interrupt a short rest. Long distance running isn't rolling initiative, casting a spell, or taking damage, so they are arguing it doesn't interrupt a short rest. Engaging in manual labor like building a barn, cutting wood with a two person hand saw, lifting beams, etc, are not rolling initiative, casting a spell, or taking damage, so they are arguing it doesn't interrupt a short rest.
Please answer the poll questions and maybe I'll have to change the way I handle short rests....
I have been reading the rules for short rest as saying you cant do anything "strenuous" and then it gives some examples of what is not strenuous (reading, talking, eating) and it gives some examples of things that ARE strenuous (initiative, spell casting, damage), and then its up to the DM to take anything specific that the player wants to do, and apply the rules adn examples to determine if its strenuous or not.
The alternative way is to say that the rules give an exhaustive list of what interrupts a short rest: inititiave, spell casting, damage, and anything not on that list is allowed.
I've never heard that second approach before and wanted to check in with others.
The rules for Long Rest include the following:
Interrupting the Rest. A Long Rest is stopped by the following interruptions:
If you rested at least 1 hour before the interruption, you gain the benefits of a Short Rest. See also “Short Rest.”
So if you do 1 hour of walking or other physical exertion, that interrupts a long rest. and if you long rested for an hour before that interruption then you get the benefit of a short rest.
Which, means that if you start long resting and sit for 15 minutes, then start walking, you interrupt your long rest. and because you only went 15 minutes, then you don't qualify for a short rest, which, correct me if I'm wrong here, means that you cannot walk or do other physical exertion for a short rest either.
I'd say that the word rest is pretty important. The idea behind the short rest is that you're taking a breather to regroup, patch your wounds, recover some strength. Try bandaging your wounds while riding a galloping horse or running a marathon.
I would not allow a player to try and rules-lawyer their way into getting you to agree that "anything which is NOT on the list of things that interrupt a rest is allowed," because that will be an extremely large amount of things. This is a flag of an adversarial player who might end up derailing the game for tens of minutes to argue over a loophole in the rules, to the annoyance of the players and the detriment of the game. Just say that as the Game Master, you will decide (on a case-by-case basis if necessary) what things are allowed or forbidden during a rest, and if they have any complaints, they can take it up with Rule 0.
Thanks for the feedback.
I started playing sometime around when second edition came out. The rules have changed a LOT since then. And sometimes a rule chnages and I dont realize it and I end up enforcing something that's not a rule in the latest editions. I just recently made the switch to 2024, and I'm still bumping into little changes that trip me up once in a while. And I wanted to make sure this wasn't one of those changes I missed. Because this would be a BIG change.
I'd say that the list of things that interrupt a rest or there to point out the not-exactly-strenuous things that still interrupt it.
To me doing marathon, construction work or horseriding for hours is streneous activies not prone to rest during.
Having said that, many times as DM i try to allow Short Rest whenever possible even if the activity or duration is not always conform, especially in time-pressure or hostile area where resting is had to do, often favoring balance as opposed to realism.
"point out the not-exactly-strenuous things that still interrupt it."
Thats a good point: Rolling initiative is a meta-action done by the player, and has nothing to do with any strain on the player-character. Yet rolling initiative, even if the character never fights and never takes damage, interrupts a short rest.