Gritty Realism is an optional rest variant presented in the DMG in which short rests take 8 hours to complete and long rests require a week to complete.
With these rules in mind, taking short rests between encounters in the day becomes unlikely and taking long rests become only possible if the party is in a safe place and dedicates their time to downtime activities and other non-combat pursuits.
This seemingly makes things harder for everyone playing, but not every class will be affected in the same way. How do you think Gritty Realism affects balance between classes and which class do you think benefits the most (or is "nerfed" the least)?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews!Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
If the campaign pace is similarly slowed it might not make any difference and it depends on the focus of the campaign, but all the core abilities of Fighters are either at will or short rest (as are the subclass abilities of the battle master and champion), and the ability to recover 1d10+level hit points every day (second wind) is pretty significant.
I just imagine entering a dungeon, in the first room you meet a group of creatures and have a pitched battle. The party then packs up, goes back to town where they spend a week bandaging their wounds before they travel back in the hope of checking out the second room. It takes them two months to clear the dungeon...
I just imagine entering a dungeon, in the first room you meet a group of creatures and have a pitched battle. The party then packs up, goes back to town where they spend a week bandaging their wounds before they travel back in the hope of checking out the second room. It takes them two months to clear the dungeon...
Or perhaps they'll actually deal with 6-8 encounters between long rests, like they're supposed to...
I just imagine entering a dungeon, in the first room you meet a group of creatures and have a pitched battle. The party then packs up, goes back to town where they spend a week bandaging their wounds before they travel back in the hope of checking out the second room. It takes them two months to clear the dungeon...
Or perhaps they'll actually deal with 6-8 encounters between long rests, like they're supposed to...
I understand where you're coming from but the recommended encounters per day is one of 5e's dumbest and most broken systems.
I just imagine entering a dungeon, in the first room you meet a group of creatures and have a pitched battle. The party then packs up, goes back to town where they spend a week bandaging their wounds before they travel back in the hope of checking out the second room. It takes them two months to clear the dungeon...
Or perhaps they'll actually deal with 6-8 encounters between long rests, like they're supposed to...
I understand where you're coming from but the recommended encounters per day is one of 5e's dumbest and most broken systems.
Well, yes, because a day is such a short time. It becomes less dumb if you extend the period between rests.
I can't help but wonder if Wizards won't still be the most powerful. Casters still get a ton of spell slots, much more than I think is reasonable to be honest. Many of their spells end up being world altering later on, so probably still more powerful than what a fighter could do for instance.
I did vote fighter though, but I didn't take high level into play. I dunno :)
I can't help but wonder if Wizards won't still be the most powerful. Casters still get a ton of spell slots, much more than I think is reasonable to be honest. Many of their spells end up being world altering later on, so probably still more powerful than what a fighter could do for instance.
I did vote fighter though, but I didn't take high level into play. I dunno :)
Definitely not a load of spell slots at early levels - and making them last a week will be very tough on them!
he party then packs up, goes back to town where they spend a week bandaging their wounds before they travel back in the hope of checking out the second room. It takes them two months to clear the dungeon...
The party return a week later, and find that the first room has become populated again.
I can't help but wonder if Wizards won't still be the most powerful. Casters still get a ton of spell slots, much more than I think is reasonable to be honest.
I may be biased from most recently playing a wizard, but... no, they really don't.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I just imagine entering a dungeon, in the first room you meet a group of creatures and have a pitched battle. The party then packs up, goes back to town where they spend a week bandaging their wounds before they travel back in the hope of checking out the second room. It takes them two months to clear the dungeon...
Or perhaps they'll actually deal with 6-8 encounters between long rests, like they're supposed to...
Sure they might have non-combat encounters, but if we are talking the amount of decent combats you can have without resting... If your party has its hp reduced, spell slots used, rechargeable skills used, then they must know they are at a severe disadvantage should another combat occur. Saying "we lock the door and take half an hour to clean ourselves up" works just about anywhere. While being in the middle of an enemy stronghold and breaking out the camping equipment to sleep 8 hours doesn't really work.
It feels like "gritty realism" needs to consider many more facets and would be more like an AD&D ruleset than just a small change to 5e. Just changing rest without rebalancing spells, healing or skills sounds incomplete.
I'm going to go with Rogue because they not only have very few skills that I'm aware of that rely on long rests, and they have a lot of skills that are focused on outright avoiding damage. A fighter has the HP and AC to stay front and center in combat better, but when it comes to gritty realism, every hit taken is a serious problem, and simply Hiding and not being a viable target at all is going to get you through more challenges than having a higher pool of HP. Cunning Action is so useful in these moments it's almost worth taking a 2 level dip in Rogue for most other subclasses just for the survivability it adds.
Gritty Realism is an optional rest variant presented in the DMG in which short rests take 8 hours to complete and long rests require a week to complete.
With these rules in mind, taking short rests between encounters in the day becomes unlikely and taking long rests become only possible if the party is in a safe place and dedicates their time to downtime activities and other non-combat pursuits.
This seemingly makes things harder for everyone playing, but not every class will be affected in the same way. How do you think Gritty Realism affects balance between classes and which class do you think benefits the most (or is "nerfed" the least)?
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
My vote is for monk, since a majority of their features are "always on" and they can still regain their ki points on a short rest.
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
Either warlock or monk, since they're both short rest classes. Most full casters are horrible, since their spells have to last for a week.
I have a weird sense of humor.
I also make maps.(That's a link)
Depending on archetype, Rogues may not need resting at all to regain abilities.
Correction: the capstone ability Stroke of Luck refreshes on a short rest. That's all though.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
If the campaign pace is similarly slowed it might not make any difference and it depends on the focus of the campaign, but all the core abilities of Fighters are either at will or short rest (as are the subclass abilities of the battle master and champion), and the ability to recover 1d10+level hit points every day (second wind) is pretty significant.
I just imagine entering a dungeon, in the first room you meet a group of creatures and have a pitched battle. The party then packs up, goes back to town where they spend a week bandaging their wounds before they travel back in the hope of checking out the second room. It takes them two months to clear the dungeon...
Or perhaps they'll actually deal with 6-8 encounters between long rests, like they're supposed to...
I understand where you're coming from but the recommended encounters per day is one of 5e's dumbest and most broken systems.
All things Lich - DM tips, tricks, and other creative shenanigans
Well, yes, because a day is such a short time. It becomes less dumb if you extend the period between rests.
My bad. I misread it while my headspace was focused on long rest/24hrs, etc, etc.
All things Lich - DM tips, tricks, and other creative shenanigans
I can't help but wonder if Wizards won't still be the most powerful. Casters still get a ton of spell slots, much more than I think is reasonable to be honest. Many of their spells end up being world altering later on, so probably still more powerful than what a fighter could do for instance.
I did vote fighter though, but I didn't take high level into play. I dunno :)
Altrazin Aghanes - Wizard/Fighter
Varpulis Windhowl - Fighter
Skolson Demjon - Cleric/Fighter
Definitely not a load of spell slots at early levels - and making them last a week will be very tough on them!
The party return a week later, and find that the first room has become populated again.
I may be biased from most recently playing a wizard, but... no, they really don't.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Sure they might have non-combat encounters, but if we are talking the amount of decent combats you can have without resting... If your party has its hp reduced, spell slots used, rechargeable skills used, then they must know they are at a severe disadvantage should another combat occur. Saying "we lock the door and take half an hour to clean ourselves up" works just about anywhere. While being in the middle of an enemy stronghold and breaking out the camping equipment to sleep 8 hours doesn't really work.
It feels like "gritty realism" needs to consider many more facets and would be more like an AD&D ruleset than just a small change to 5e. Just changing rest without rebalancing spells, healing or skills sounds incomplete.
1-3 combats between short rests, 6-8 between long rests, is a pacing that works perfectly well when a short rest is a night.
That'd make for 3-ish short rests between long rests though, so not really one long rest per week.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I'm going to go with Rogue because they not only have very few skills that I'm aware of that rely on long rests, and they have a lot of skills that are focused on outright avoiding damage. A fighter has the HP and AC to stay front and center in combat better, but when it comes to gritty realism, every hit taken is a serious problem, and simply Hiding and not being a viable target at all is going to get you through more challenges than having a higher pool of HP. Cunning Action is so useful in these moments it's almost worth taking a 2 level dip in Rogue for most other subclasses just for the survivability it adds.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
It's entirely reasonable to have days with no combats.
I do it all the time and I don’t use gritty realism.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting