Hello! I'm a new DM for a 5e campaign. The handbook describes how to stabilise a creature, and how short and long rests allow you to regain HP. One thing I was wondering though is what you can do if none of your party has healing spells, and no one in the party has a healing potion. In that case aren't you in a bit of a limbo, where a 0 HP character can't gain HP, as you need 1 HP to gain health from rests?
From what I remember of the rules, you must be conscious in order to begin a Long Rest. You do not need to be conscious in order to begin a Short Rest. Even if everyone has dropped to zero hit points and hasn't actually died, they will regain consciousness after 1d4 hours. Thus everyone can take a short rest (if they so desire) during the minimum of one hour they're unconscious and burn whatever hit dice they have. They'll regain that amount of health and wake up after the number of hours they've rolled.
If the party has no healers and no health potions then they should be carrying Healing Kits. Then they can stabilize someone without the need for a medicine check by expending one charge of the kit. If the character doing the stabilizing has taken the appropriate feat then the character being stabilized will regain 1 hp from it.
Consciousness is not a requirement for taking a rest:
Resting
Heroic though they might be, adventurers can't spend every hour of the day in the thick of exploration, social interaction, and combat. They need rest--time to sleep and eat, tend their wounds, refresh their minds and spirits for spellcasting, and brace themselves for further adventure.
Adventurers, as well as other creatures, can take short rests in the midst of a day and a long rest to end it.
Short Rest
A short rest is a period of downtime, at least 1 hour long, during which a character does nothing more strenuous than eating, drinking, reading, and tending to wounds.
A character can spend one or more Hit Dice at the end of a short rest, up to the character's maximum number of Hit Dice, which is equal to the character's level. For each Hit Die spent in this way, the player rolls the die and adds the character's Constitution modifier to it. The character regains hit points equal to the total (minimum of 0). The player can decide to spend an additional Hit Die after each roll. A character regains some spent Hit Dice upon finishing a long rest, as explained below.
Long Rest
A long rest is a period of extended downtime, at least 8 hours long, during which a character sleeps for at least 6 hours and performs no more than 2 hours of light activity, such as reading, talking, eating, or standing watch. If the rest is interrupted by a period of strenuous activity - at least 1 hour of walking, fighting, casting spells, or similar adventuring activity - the characters must begin the rest again to gain any benefit from it.
At the end of a long rest, a character regains all lost hit points. The character also regains spent Hit Dice, up to a number of dice equal to half of the character's total number of them (minimum of one die). For example, if a character has eight Hit Dice, he or she can regain four spent Hit Dice upon finishing a long rest.
A character can't benefit from more than one long rest in a 24-hour period, and a character must have at least 1 hit point at the start of the rest to gain its benefits.
The way resting works is that, as long as the requirements are met a rest has occurred. So, if a PC spends one uninterrupted hour doing little to nothing, they gain the benefits of a short rest whether they intended to or not. In fact, a PC kinda has to intentionally do stuff periodically if they want to avoid having a short rest happen. If a PC spends 8 uninterrupted hours doing little to nothing and at least 6 of those hours are spent sleeping, and as long as it’s been at least a full day since the last long rest, then a long rest has occurred. As long as that PC had at least 1 HP at the start of their rest, they took a long rest (whether they wanted to or not) even if they didn’t intentionally attempt to take a long rest.
When a creature goes down to 0 HP, as long as it’s stabilized (through any means, the spare the dying spell, a Medicine check, a healer's kit, whatever) it will automatically awaken in 1d4 hours with 1 HP. That creature can then just lay there and immediately go into a long rest to regain HP & Hit Dice again as long as it’s been a whole day since the last long rest.
after combat, stable creatures regain 1 hp after 1d4 hours, it's in the player handbook
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/phb/combat#StabilizingaCreature
Also, the basic rules link
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/combat#StabilizingaCreature
They could also do a medicine check with a DC of 10.
From what I remember of the rules, you must be conscious in order to begin a Long Rest. You do not need to be conscious in order to begin a Short Rest. Even if everyone has dropped to zero hit points and hasn't actually died, they will regain consciousness after 1d4 hours. Thus everyone can take a short rest (if they so desire) during the minimum of one hour they're unconscious and burn whatever hit dice they have. They'll regain that amount of health and wake up after the number of hours they've rolled.
If the party has no healers and no health potions then they should be carrying Healing Kits. Then they can stabilize someone without the need for a medicine check by expending one charge of the kit. If the character doing the stabilizing has taken the appropriate feat then the character being stabilized will regain 1 hp from it.
Consciousness is not a requirement for taking a rest:
Resting
Heroic though they might be, adventurers can't spend every hour of the day in the thick of exploration, social interaction, and combat. They need rest--time to sleep and eat, tend their wounds, refresh their minds and spirits for spellcasting, and brace themselves for further adventure.
Adventurers, as well as other creatures, can take short rests in the midst of a day and a long rest to end it.
Short Rest
A short rest is a period of downtime, at least 1 hour long, during which a character does nothing more strenuous than eating, drinking, reading, and tending to wounds.
A character can spend one or more Hit Dice at the end of a short rest, up to the character's maximum number of Hit Dice, which is equal to the character's level. For each Hit Die spent in this way, the player rolls the die and adds the character's Constitution modifier to it. The character regains hit points equal to the total (minimum of 0). The player can decide to spend an additional Hit Die after each roll. A character regains some spent Hit Dice upon finishing a long rest, as explained below.
Long Rest
A long rest is a period of extended downtime, at least 8 hours long, during which a character sleeps for at least 6 hours and performs no more than 2 hours of light activity, such as reading, talking, eating, or standing watch. If the rest is interrupted by a period of strenuous activity - at least 1 hour of walking, fighting, casting spells, or similar adventuring activity - the characters must begin the rest again to gain any benefit from it.
At the end of a long rest, a character regains all lost hit points. The character also regains spent Hit Dice, up to a number of dice equal to half of the character's total number of them (minimum of one die). For example, if a character has eight Hit Dice, he or she can regain four spent Hit Dice upon finishing a long rest.
A character can't benefit from more than one long rest in a 24-hour period, and a character must have at least 1 hit point at the start of the rest to gain its benefits.
The way resting works is that, as long as the requirements are met a rest has occurred. So, if a PC spends one uninterrupted hour doing little to nothing, they gain the benefits of a short rest whether they intended to or not. In fact, a PC kinda has to intentionally do stuff periodically if they want to avoid having a short rest happen. If a PC spends 8 uninterrupted hours doing little to nothing and at least 6 of those hours are spent sleeping, and as long as it’s been at least a full day since the last long rest, then a long rest has occurred. As long as that PC had at least 1 HP at the start of their rest, they took a long rest (whether they wanted to or not) even if they didn’t intentionally attempt to take a long rest.
When a creature goes down to 0 HP, as long as it’s stabilized (through any means, the spare the dying spell, a Medicine check, a healer's kit, whatever) it will automatically awaken in 1d4 hours with 1 HP. That creature can then just lay there and immediately go into a long rest to regain HP & Hit Dice again as long as it’s been a whole day since the last long rest.
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