A short rest is an important game mechanic in Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition that allows characters to recover some resources during an adventure. Here is a comprehensive look at the official rules for short rests in D&D 5e.
What is a Short Rest?
A short rest is a period of downtime, at least 1 hour long, where characters do nothing more strenuous than eating, drinking, reading, and tending to wounds. A short rest usually involves the party stopping and making camp, hanging out at an inn, or otherwise taking an extended break during or between encounters.
A short rest differs from a long rest which is a period of extended downtime that is at least 8 hours long. Long rests allow for more significant recovery of health and resources.
Short Rest Duration
Officially, a short rest must be at least 1 hour long. There is no maximum duration defined in the rules for a short rest. As long as the characters adhere to the guidelines of not doing anything too strenuous, the short rest can technically last as long as the party desires.
However, short rests longer than 1 hour provide no additional mechanical benefits. So most short rests fall in the 1-2 hour range. The party only needs to rest long enough to eat, tend wounds, and recover their abilities.
Activities Allowed During a Short Rest
During a short rest, characters are allowed to do the following activities:
- Eat, drink, read, and talk
- Tend to wounds and provide first aid
- Use healing kits and treat injuries
- Refresh exhausted characters so they are no longer exhausted
- Regain the use of expended abilities that recharge on a short rest
Characters cannot do anything too physically or mentally demanding such as walking long distances, fighting, casting spells, or exploring dungeons. The short rest will be interrupted if strenuous activities are attempted.
Interrupting a Short Rest
Any strenuous activity will interrupt a short rest and reset the duration back to zero. Activities that will interrupt a short rest include:
- Casting spells
- Traveling or exploring for more than an hour
- Engaging in combat
If a short rest is interrupted, the party must begin the rest again from the beginning if they want to gain the benefits. For example, if the party is ambushed 45 minutes into a short rest, the short rest is interrupted. They must take another full 1 hour short rest after dealing with the threat to gain the benefits.
Benefits of a Short Rest
The primary benefits of a short rest are:
- Regain Hit Dice: Characters regain the use of any expended Hit Dice, up to half their total. This allows PCs to heal HP by spending Hit Dice.
- Regain Features: Some class features, like a monk’s Ki Points or a wizard’s Arcane Recovery, recharge on a short rest. Any expended uses of these features are regained.
- Regain Exhaustion: A character suffering from the exhausted condition will recover and no longer be exhausted after a short rest.
Those are the main mechanical benefits provided by a short rest in 5e. Next we’ll look at each of those benefits in more detail.
Regaining Hit Dice
During a short rest, PCs regain Hit Dice they may have expended earlier in the day. Specifically, the rules state:
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. The character regains hit points equal to the total. The player can decide to spend an additional Hit Die after each roll.
A character regains up to half their total Hit Dice at the end of a short rest. For example, a 5th level fighter has 5d10 Hit Dice. At the end of a short rest they would regain up to 2d10 lost Hit Dice to spend on healing.
Spending Hit Dice during a short rest is an optional rule, but most DMs allow it. It gives characters a reliable way to heal up between fights without relying on spells or other limited resources.
Regaining Class Feature Uses
Many class features and abilities have a limited number of uses per short or long rest. A short rest allows PCs to regain any expended uses of features that recharge on a short rest.
Some examples of class features that recharge on a short rest include:
- Fighter: Second Wind, Action Surge
- Monk: Ki Points, Unarmored Movement
- Rogue: Sneak Attack, Cunning Action
- Warlock: Spell slots, Mystic Arcanum, Pact Magic
- Wizard: Arcane Recovery
Consult your class feature descriptions to see which abilities recharge on a short or long rest. Tracking your remaining uses is an important part of managing your character’s resources during adventures.
Recovering from Exhaustion
The exhausted condition imposes disadvantage on ability checks and halves a character’s speed. This condition is removed if the character takes a short or long rest:
If an already exhausted creature suffers another effect that causes exhaustion, its current level of exhaustion increases by the amount specified in the effect’s description.
A creature suffers the effects of its current level of exhaustion as well as all lower levels. For example, a creature suffering level 2 exhaustion has its speed halved and has disadvantage on ability checks.
An effect that removes exhaustion reduces its level as specified in the effect’s description, with all exhaustion effects ending if a creature’s exhaustion level is reduced below 1.
Finishing a long rest reduces a creature’s exhaustion level by 1, provided that the creature has also ingested some food and drink.
So if a character is exhausted, a short rest will remove the exhausted condition entirely and allow them to operate normally again.
Things That Don’t Recharge on a Short Rest
While short rests provide some useful benefits, there are some resources that short rests do not restore:
- Hit points (beyond spending Hit Dice)
- Spell slots (for most classes)
- Sorcery points
- Superiority dice
- Channel Divinity
Those features will only be restored by a long rest. Consult your class and ability descriptions to be clear on which resources require a long rest versus a short rest to recharge.
Short Rest Variant: Gritty Realism
The DMG provides an optional “gritty realism” variant to the short rest rule. Under this variant, short rests are 8 hours long while long rests are 7 days long. This slower recovery pace is designed for campaigns where the DM wants the party to manage resources more carefully over longer adventures.
The gritty realism rest rules affect class abilities as follows:
- Abilities that recharge on a short rest now require 8 hours.
- Abilities that normally recharge on a long rest now require 7 days.
This variant places added importance on abilities that recharge on a short rest since long rests are so infrequent. Parties will need to take more 8 hour short rests rather than rely on a daily long rest for recovery in gritty realism campaigns.
Short Rest Guidance for DMs
Here is some guidance for DMs on managing short rests in your campaign:
- Short rests should generally be available when it makes sense within the story and environment.
- If the party is time pressured or in dangerous territory, restrict access to short rests.
- Long periods without short rests can drain party resources, so provide regular opportunities.
- 1-2 short rests between long rests is typical, but adjust based on your campaign.
- Interrupting a short rest should only happen when appropriate.
As DM, you have control over the circumstances that allow or prevent short rests. Use your judgment to decide when short rests are available based on the situation the party finds themselves in.
Short Rest Examples
Here are some examples of situations where the party could plausibly take a short rest during an adventure:
- Stopping to camp out in the wilderness overnight
- Holing up in an abandoned room in a dungeon
- Spending a few hours relaxing in a tavern or inn
- Pausing to eat and recover after a tough battle
- Fortifying and guarding a small safe zone in a dangerous area
And here are some examples where short rests may not make sense or be interrupted:
- Traveling through enemy territory or exposed areas
- Pressed for time to complete a mission or quest
- Ambushed by enemies within the first hour
- Forced to flee or relocate due to external threat
Use your best judgment as DM when choosing if and when to allow short rests over the course of an adventure day.
Conclusion
Short rests provide an important opportunity for characters to catch their breath, tend wounds, eat, and recover some of their abilities during adventures. Understanding the rules around short rests will help DMs and players use them effectively.
The key guidelines for short rests are:
- Last at least 1 hour with no strenuous activity
- Regain half of total Hit Dice
- Regain uses of abilities that recharge on a short rest
- Remove the exhausted condition
A short rest should generally be allowed whenever the party has time and safety to breathe for an hour or so. Interrupt or deny short rests when circumstances make sense. And remember the optional gritty realism rules for longer recovery cycles.
With these short rest rules mastered, DMs and players can best manage resources, health, and abilities over the course of epic adventures!