Odyssey Resting Rules

I've never been happy with the resting rules in 5e.

The resting rules are far too generous in how much they allow you to recover. It's far too easy to take on a few encounters, or even just one, and regain everything.

I think rests are flawed on two levels.

Generous to a Fault

The 5e resting rules give you a lot. Short rests can potentially let you recover all of your hit points. Many classes have features that allow full or partial recovery of class features. Pushing the characters to the brink of death has little to no consequences in the game as long as the characters can get a good night's sleep.

Too Reliable

I also think that rests are far too reliable. You always know what a rest can give you. There's no uncertainty, a key part to keeping a game interesting and exciting. So many TTRPGs use dice because the uncertainty of an outcome is what makes the game play so fun. Putting rests on to rails undermines a lot of the game's dramatic potential.

Changes I've Made

Odyssey uses short and long rests, but with two critical wrinkles.

Rest Quality: The DM judges the conditions of a rest based on four questions. For each yes, the rest gains one quality level. Are the PCs comfortable? Is their campsite clean? Do they have ready access food, water, and fresh air? Is this place safe enough that the party does not need to set a watch? The quality level boosts the benefits of the rest.

Random Element: In Odyssey, each class has a recovery die ranging from a d6 for mages to d10 for fighters. You roll your recovery dice to determine how many hit points and resolve you regain. If your rest is higher quality, you get more rolls.

Short and Long Rests: Short rests are 10 minutes, but only allow you to heal if you are bloodied. You don't regain resolve on a short rest. Long rests are 8 hours and allow anyone to heal and restore resolve. Long rests also allow you to remove exhaustion levels.

Cadence: In this system, long rests can replenish you at low levels. Beyond tier 1, though, you need more than one rest to return to fill power. That assumes you have good resting conditions. The important thing is that if you commit to launching an alpha strike at high levels - burning through tons of resources in a single fight - you're looking at two long rests to get back to full power.

I'm also ripping all of the free rest spells - rope trick. etc. - out of the game. When you are in a dangerous area, finding a safe place to rest is a critical challenge. I don't like the idea of a spellcaster magicking up a four star hotel room.

For paid subscribers, the current Odyssey resting rules are included below:

Rest and Recovery

During an adventure, you can recover hit points and resolve by taking a short or long rest.

Quality of Rest

The quality of a rest depends on the resources you have on hand and the safety, comfort, and cleanliness of the area you are resting in. A rest starts with a quality of 0.

Resources: Do you have sufficient food and water to consume during the rest, along with fresh air? If so, the rest gains +1 quality.

Safety: The rest gains +1 quality if you do not post a watch.

Comfort: Do you have comfortable bedding? Is it warm and dry? If so, +1 quality.

Cleanliness: Is the area clean, free of insects, foul odors, or anything else that makes it difficult to rest?  If so, +1 quality.

Other Factors: Some areas might impose an additional penalty or bonus to a rest’s quality. A haunted forest that echoes with the shrieks of the damned might apply a –1 quality modifier, while a chamber in a horrid dungeon that was blessed by a saint might give +2 quality. These factors can’t reduce quality below 0.

Interrupting Rests

You need to restart the rest if you take damage or spend resolve while resting.

Long Rest

A long rest lasts 8 hours, including 4 or more hours of sleep. When you finish the rest, you gain the following benefits:

Healing and Resolve: Roll your recovery die once per comfort level. Add those rolls together to determine the total recovery pool for the rest. Each point you spend from the pool allows you to heal 1 hit point or regain 1 resolve. You lose any unspent points.

Exhaustion: If you have any exhaustion levels, lose levels equal to half the rest’s value.

Short Rest

A short rest lasts 10 minutes. If you are bloodied, you regain hit points equal to a roll of your recovery die + the rest’s quality. If you are not bloodied, you gain no benefit.