To Rest Or Not To Rest?

Right now my players are in a conundrum. They can’t decide whether to take a long rest, a short rest, or no rest at all.

Here is the Situation

The party is on a mission to kill the leader of a local goblin tribe which has been causing problems for the local village. The goblin leader is rumored to be a huge, hairy, dog-faced creature intelligent enough to demand tribute from the village. In other words, the goblin leader is not a goblin. At the end of the last session the party tracked a band of goblins through a 5 mile stretch of wilderness and then entered an abandoned temple. They had one large, but easy battle near the entrance and then the session ended.

This session they have been exploring the temple – a smallish dungeon in a ruined temple with about 9 named locations on level 1 and 7 on level 2. The complex is relatively straight-forward, though it has a few empty rooms and loops, so it is more complex/interesting than a string of 9 linear encounters. They have battled their way through most of the upper level of the complex, having bested a few groups of goblins, disabled some traps, and mapped almost the entire level. The most difficult thing they have encountered was a giant spider (actually 2 of them) that they dispatched without a lot of fanfare.

Really they have had 4 easy combats and 2 medium difficulty combats, none of which have significantly reduced their resources (other than spells expended). The party consists of a halfling thief (lvl 3), human wizard (lvl 3), elf wizard (lvl 3), human fighter (lvl 2), and half-orc cleric (lvl 1). [Aside: Yes, the PCs are at different levels based on when they joined the party – which is a post for later this week] In the party, one of the wizards has his level 2 spell slots left, but the other has used all but 1 level 1 spell slot (but don’t forget that 5e D&D allows wizards damage-dealing cantrips without using up a spell slot). The fighter is fine and is at just under full health. The cleric is out of healing (note that he is only level 1). The thief is basically fine, but has taken a beating. Only one of them has spent any hit dice.

They are trying to decide whether or not to take a rest, and if they do rest, whether to take a long or short one. The cleric is voting for a long rest, and the wizards agree with him because they want all their magic back. The fighter wants to carry on, telling them that they should be staying back, out of melee, and letting him deal with the various close threats. He also pointed out that the dangers they have faced haven’t been extremely dangerous – the goblins were easy as long as they took them out early and didn’t get surrounded, and the spiders were subdued without anyone even getting poisoned.

As they are debating this, I, as the DM, remind them that they are not in an unoccupied place – they aren’t in a vacuum – they are in a complex in which humanoids obviously live. They could attempt to bar the door, but that may not stop the inhabitants of the place from seeking them out, possibly setting an ambush, or at the very least gathering reinforcements and being more numerous and possibly tougher the next day. In the previous battle two goblins escaped and so the rest of the complex has been alerted to the party’s presence for sure.

We ended the session without them making a decision. We decided to discuss further at the beginning of the next session and go from there.

This is a real conundrum for them – they honestly don’t know what to do. Three of the five players are new to RPGs, and they are taking a much lighter approach to the decision – “Oh well, let’s just rest and see what happens. I want my spells back!” – which I think comes from a more video-game approach than a table-top approach. Whereas the two experienced players are on opposite sides of the debate – one thinks it is too dangerous to take a long rest and the other thinks it is necessary for the group’s survival.

DM Tools

I am enjoying the debate – I like to see how the individual players are approaching the situation. I think they are, right now, addressing it as though there is one right answer, and the truth is that no matter what they choose, there are consequences that could be devastating. As they discuss, I reminded them of that by saying, “There are consequences no matter what you choose.”

As a DM, there are a couple of tried-and-true ways to lean on the group and affect the resting choices they make:

1) I can give them a time crunch. That is, I can put them in a situation in which there is a time limit for completing their task. The standard kidnap victim is one such way to force a rush (i.e. if you don’t get the bad guy in time, the kidnapped victim will surely die). The other standard way to add a time pressure is by having an NPC team vying for the same goal. If they reach the bad guys first, they get the prize and the party loses out.

2) I can affect their resources. Yes, they brought enough food into the dungeon to live down there for a week, but they didn’t expect their food to spoil! That is basically adding a time component to their adventure – if they don’t get done in time, they will begin to starve and will become fatigued. Alternatively, they can  run into an area where their light spells don’t work and so they must expend the torches they brought. Once again, this comes down to a time constraint on the mission.

3) I can use intelligent and adaptable creatures to add pressure to the decision. This means more than having a wondering monster show up and interrupt their rest… it means that the creatures that live within an environment do not sit idly and wait for the party to come and find them (commonly known as the ‘monster in the closet’ effect), but instead will seek out the interlopers and try to get rid of the menace, or will gather reinforcements and strength, or may set up an ambush in anticipation of the party coming to find them.

Using these 3 simple things can make for a more difficult, but also more rewarding game. In this particular scenario, I have used #3 alone – the players know that the creatures within this complex are aware of them and intelligent, and that they will surely muster a response if the party rests for too long.

The Rest Rules

Here is what the free Player’s Handbook pdf says about rests:

Yes, the 5e D&D healing rules are much more lenient than the classic versions of D&D (or any of the various retro-clones available), but they are still capable of producing a dangerous game. The sort of situation described above is why 5e D&D feels starkly old school to me compared to the two most recent editions. In 4e D&D it would be a no-brainer at this point to take a short rest and heal up while regaining all but expended daily powers. The group could sit around for 5 minutes – not even really long enough for the goblins to gather reinforcements – and then be ready to go again with little to no consequences. But in 5e D&D, the decision is much more nuanced and has consequences that the party can only begin to imagine.

My Old School Roots

I started playing Basic D&D back in 1982 and I have a decidedly different approach to the game than my players. I put a lot of value in good role-playing and creative problem solving. I rely less on the skill system and more on player ingenuity. Because my players are products of more modern systems I am having to walk them through the lessons of an old school play style – they are still learning. They still rely too much on what their character sheet says, whether or not they have any spells left, and they forget to ask me good questions about their environment. But they are getting better, and 5e is eeking toward a more old-school flavor for the group.

But I digress, back to the problem at hand…

If my players were more old-school savvy they would know that resting in the dungeon right now is a baaaad idea. At the very least, they would leave the temple and try to find a safer, more defensible position outside of the complex – where, if things went horribly wrong, they could at least flee the scene. Instead, no one in the party has yet to suggest they exit and return later, when more capable of completing their task.

The fact of the matter is that this is no easy decision. If they take a short rest, which is at least an hour long, they will gain full HP by expending their hit dice. However, the wizards will not regain any spells. Also, there is a chance they will be ambushed in the room as they attempt to rest. If they take a long rest, they have the same issue of possible ambush, but if they survive the rest the cleric will regain all of his healing and the wizards will regain all of their spells. If they don’t rest at all they may not survive the next 3 combats they are anticipating, especially the one with the main opponent – the leader of the goblins. If they leave and take a long rest in the wilderness surrounding the temple, the goblins will have a chance to fully reinforce their positions, place traps and ambushes, and warn their leader with enough time to hatch a dastardly plan.

This session brought me right back to my mid 80s DMing, waiting for the party to figure out how to deal with their reduced resources. I am really pushing the group to play in a more old school manner – they have had to learn to be careful about how they explore the dungeon and how to pay attention to the way in which I describe the area they are investigating (traps and puzzles are there to keep them on their toes and my descriptions often hold clues to what they should look for). They are really feeling the resource crunch in a manner they did not expect. I know they didn’t expect it because of the nonchalant manner in which they gathered supplies and resources before assaulting the temple.

So… with that decision in front of you, what would you do? Rest, or continue on?
As a DM, would you make it an easier decision or a more difficult decision for the players?

Until next time, I wish you good gaming!
~DMSamuel