Z's Realistic Resting (5e Variant Rule)
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Z's Realistic Resting[edit]
No plagiarism intended; I'm posting this for easy reference.
With this variant rule, rests now come in four types - Breather, Short Rest, Long Rest, and Full Rest.
Grit Factor[edit]
With this variant rule, the existing rest types are somewhat nerfed, in that they restore fewer hit points, preventing immersion-breaking miraculous recovery by way of "sleeping it off".
Thus, a Long Rest no longer restores a creature's missing hit points of its own accord - Hit Dice must be expended in order to regain health froma Long Rest.
However, creatures with particularly strong vitality can expend their hit dice when they are healed by magic or medicine, making a stronger recovery.
Medical Attention[edit]
With this variant, a character cannot benefit from expending more than one Hit Die during any given rest, unless one of the following occurs at some point between the beginning and end of that rest for the character:
- A creature makes a successful DC 10 ability check on them using the Medicine skill;
- A creature makes a successful DC 12 ability check on them using the Herbalism Kit;
- A creature expends one use of a Healer's Kit on them;
- A creature restores hit points to the character by means of a feature that does not depend upon the expenditure of Hit Dice, such as a Common Potion of Healing, the Cure Wounds spell, or the Lay On Hands feature.
Bonus Hit Die[edit]
With this variant, each creature, at level 1, gains one additional Hit Die, which is a d8, increasing their maximum hit points by 5; Your Constitution modifier is not applied to this special Hit Die. Thus a 1st-level Barbarian with a con score of 16 would have 20 hit points with this variant, rather than 15, and they would have two Hit Dice - A d8, and a d12.
Healing Surge[edit]
When a character regains hit points outside of a rest, by means of anything save for feature that depends upon the expenditure of Hit Dice, they may expend and roll one of their Hit Dice, adding the number rolled on the Hit Die, and their Constitution modifier, to the number of hit points they regain.
An individual creature my do this a number of times equal to their Proficiency Bonus, and regain all expended uses when they finish a Long or Full Rest.
Breather[edit]
A Breather is a quick rest that lasts only 5 minutes, perfect for catching your breath.
Beginning a Breather requires an Action. For the next 5 minutes, you must obey the following restrictions, or your Breather is interrupted with no benefit:
- You may not perform any Actions, Bonus Actions, or Reactions;
- You may not move more than half of your movement speed;
You may end a Breather at any time as a Bonus Action to recompose yourself, receiving no benefit from that Breather, but removing the restrictions on action and movement.
If you complete the Breather (The full 5 minutes), you may expend one available Hit Die, rolling it, adding your Constitution modifier to the result, and regaining that number of hit points.
Once you have benefitted from a Breather, you may not do so again until you complete a Short, Long, or Full Rest.
Short Rest[edit]
With this variant, the duration of a Short Rest is reduced from 1 hour to 30 minutes.
However, the amount of recovery gained from a Short Rest is reduced - A creature may only expend a number of Hit Dice not exceeding one-half of their Proficiency Bonus when taking a Short Rest, and a creature cannot benefit from expending more than one Hit Dice without receiving Medical Attention.
At the end of a Short Rest, after expending Hit Dice to recover, a creature regains one expended Hit Die.
Once a creature has benefitted from 2 Short Rests, they must finish a Long Rest before they may do so again.
Long Rest[edit]
With this variant, a Long Rest's 8-hour period is divided into two "blocks" spanning 4 hours, taken individually. One of these blocks must be a "Recovery Block", and the other may be a "Recovery Block" or a "Watch Block".
Each individual may designate the nature of the two blocks they experience while resting - A creature may designate both blocks to be Recovery Blocks, designate their first Block as their Recovery Block and the second as their Watch Block, or designate their first Block as their Watch Block and the second as their Recovery Block.
Creatures that only require 4 hours of rest - Such as an Elf, Warforged or Reborn - May choose to take two Watch Blocks instead of a Recovery Block, performing only light activity throughout the entire Long Rest.
Regardless of which order the blocks are taken in, the benefits are the same:
- At the end of the first "block" of 4 hours, a creature regains all of their abilities that they would ordinarily regain at the end of a Short Rest (Such as a Monk's Ki Points), and they may expend Hit Dice to regain hit points. The number of Hit dice a creature expends must not exceed their Proficiency Bonus when taking a Long Rest, and a creature cannot benefit from expending more than one Hit Dice without receiving Medical Attention.
- At the end of the second "block" of 4 hours, a creature regains all of their abilities that they would ordinarily regain at the end of a Long Rest (Such as a Wizard's spell slots), and they regain expended Hit Dice equal to one-half of their maximum Hit Dice.
As usual, 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.
However, the activity a creature is restricted to during a "block" differs based on the nature of that block:
- During a Watch Block, a creature may stand watch, talk, read, or perform other light activity.
- During a Recovery Block, a creature may only perform necessary activity - Such as sleeping, eating, drinking, or tending to wounds.
A creature may not benefit from more than one Long Rest within any 24hr period.
Full Rest[edit]
A Full Rest is a 24-hour rest period that can only be taken within a safe, comfortable location (Such as a town, city, fortress, hospital, or etc.), where time, resources, and medical attention are far less limited.
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 the Full Rest, a creature regains lost hit points equal to half of their maximum hit points. They may expend any of their remaining Hit Dice to regain additional hit points, and subsequently, they regain all of their expended Hit Dice. Additionally, once a character has finished a Full Rest, they regain all of their abilities that they would ordinarily regain upon finishing a Short or Long Rest.
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| Author | Zhenra-Khal + |
| Identifier | 5e Variant Rule + |
| Rating | Undiscussed + |
| Summary | Some grittier-but-often-shorter rests, allowing for more flexible gameplay that doesn't let someone recover from a mortal wound with just a good night's sleep. + |
| Title | Z's Realistic Resting + |
