How important is resting in D&D? The rules allow for characters to rest between encounter in order to heal and regain the use of encounter powers, but just because the rules state that characters can rest does that mean that character should rest?
At low levels DMs always try to find ways to keep the party moving forward. Without a compelling motive, many games end up suffering from a bad case of the 5-minute work day. The players don’t want their characters to die so they’re always looking for an excuse to rest and regain the use of their best powers.
However, I’ve realized from my own recent gaming experiences that as characters get tougher the players are a lot more willing to keep their PC’s adventuring without resting between every single encounter.
When PCs reach paragon tier they enter a new arena. Their actions are more far-reaching and they face foes immensely more powerful than those they faced in the heroic tier. The goal of the adventure will often impact more than just a small village or a tribe of wandering barbarians. The party’s victory or failure will have significant and lasting ramification on the world in which the game is played. For this reason, the players seem more willing to do what makes sense for the overall story and forgo benefits (like taking a short rest between encounters). Achieving the story goals becomes more important than exploiting every gaming mechanic.
Assuming the character aren’t stupid enough to just forget to take a short rest, there are three possible scenarios in which the might have to continue into a second fight without resting between encounters.
Scenario 1 – The Mean DM
Every once and a while a DM may intentionally throw another quick encounter at the party without allowing them to rest. This is not something I’d encourage DMs to do very often. Denying the PCs a rest in this way is, in effect, breaking the rules. However, it can serve as a good way to remind overly confident players that they aren’t as tough as they think they are. Low level character will suffer the most (and face a real possibility of death) if forced into multiple encounter without gaining the benefit of a short rest in between. For higher level character this isn’t as likely to kill them, but players will likely be annoyed.
Scenario 2 – The Power Gamers
The PCs have active powers in effect and want to rush quickly into the next fight in order to gain additional the benefit from them. When the PCs choose to take this course of action they knowingly continue onward after weighing the pros and cons (as we recently discussed in the article Blurring the Lines Between Encounters). What’s important to note in this scenario is that the player have every opportunity to rest, as the rules dictate, but they choose not to because they feel there’s an advantage to pressing on without it.
Scenario 3 – The Power of Plot
The story demands that the PCs continue. Although many DMs will build a sense of urgency into their game, few DMs will do so in such a way as to deny the PCs a short rest between encounters. However, players don’t always realize that and they will act accordingly.
During our last campaign there were two separate instances when the PCs decided to continue without taking a 5-minute rest. We choose to advance without resting because it made sense for the story.
The first time, the PCs suspected that another encounter may be imminent, but we decided to risk it. We knew that any battle would be difficult, especially since three of the five PCs were completely out of healing surges and already bloodied. But in the greater context of the story, the urgency of our quest outweighed the need to rest for 5 minutes. We did survive the resulting encounter, but it was a nail-biter.
The second time, the PCs knew full well that we were heading into the climax of our latest adventure arc. At the most basic level the encounter was accentuated by a ticking bomb. The heroes knew it could explode any second and that resting for 5 minutes before proceeding didn’t make sense.
Afterward the DM told us that the bomb was counting down at the speed of story. When we entered the room with the bomb the PCs had six rounds to disarm it. This would have been was case whether we’d rested or not.
When Resting Becomes Unnecessary
When PCs reach a certain level (I’m estimating mid-paragon) they possess enough magic items and have access to so many different powers that they can easily take on more than one fight without resting between every one. In fact, after playing at level 17 and 18 for the past few months I found I enjoyed the challenge of going into subsequent encounters down some resources. In all cases it wasn’t obvious that this was how things would play out so it wasn’t like I could plan which powers to use during the first encounter and which ones to use during the second encounter. I just use what seemed most appropriate during encounter one and then managed with whatever I had left during encounter two.
Throwing the PCs a Bone
During a game that I ran about a year ago the PCs were in a similar situation where the circumstances of the story didn’t really allow for a 5-minute rest. I knew that if the PCs were going to have any chance of success they needed to heal up and regain the use of their best powers. Although the players were willing to advance without the rest I didn’t fell that tweaking the encounter to account for depleted recourses was the right way to go. I used the opportunity to turn the 5-minute rest into a skill challenge. This was my compromise and it worked really well.
Resting between encounters is a fundamental part of 4e D&D. Without a rest between fights the game changes. I strongly discourage DMs from denying the PCs a rest for any reason, but at the same time I encourage more players to push their characters to the limit. As you reach higher and higher levels of play rest as the story allows it rather than as the rules allow it. I’ve found that story rewards and the additional gaming challenge have far outweighed the inconveniences suffered from forgoing a short rest.
How often have you taken on more than one encounter without resting in between? Have you found that paragon level PCs can handle this “burden” more easily? Have you ever pushed on without resting and then regretted doing so? How many DMs intentionally push their PCs into multiple encounters without allowing them to rest in between?