Short and Long Rests, What an Hour and a Night Buy You
A fight ends. The party stands in a doorway with half their Hit Points gone, and someone asks the oldest question in the game: "Can we rest?" SRD 5.2.1 gives two answers, a Short Rest and a Long Rest. Each takes a set time, gives back set things, and breaks on set events. Here they are, quoted, with a Fighter at the table.
The Short Rest: one hour
The SRD defines it in one line:
A Short Rest is a 1-hour period of downtime, during which a creature does nothing more strenuous than reading, talking, eating, or standing watch. To start a Short Rest, you must have at least 1 Hit Point.
An hour buys two things. First, Hit Point Dice:
You can spend one or more of your Hit Point Dice to regain Hit Points. For each Hit Point Die you spend in this way, roll the die and add your Constitution modifier to it. You regain Hit Points equal to the total (minimum of 1 Hit Point). You can decide to spend an additional Hit Point Die after each roll.
Second, features that say so: "Some features are recharged by a Short Rest."
Where Hit Point Dice come from
Your class sets the die. A Fighter's is a d10, a Wizard's a d6, a Barbarian's a d12. The count follows your level: "At level 1, your character has 1 Hit Die," and "each time you gain a level, you gain an additional Hit Die." A level 3 character holds three. Spent dice stay spent until a Long Rest.
A level 3 Fighter rests
Our Fighter has Constitution 14 (+2) and the fixed Hit Points from the SRD: 10 + 2 at level 1, then 6 + 2 for each level after. That makes 28 maximum. A goblin ambush leaves the Fighter on 9.
One Hit Point Die is d10 + 2: anywhere from 3 to 12, 7.5 on average. Three of them average 22.5, enough to fill most of the gap. But the rule lets you stop after any roll, so roll one at a time:
| Roll | Die | Total HP |
|---|---|---|
| First | 6 + 2 = 8 | 17 |
| Second | 9 + 2 = 11 | 28 |
Full after two dice. The third stays in the pocket for the next fight, or the next hour.
Each die has a 60% chance to give 7 or more (a 5 or higher on the d10). Two dice average 15. That math is why a d10 class can shrug off a bad fight and a d6 Wizard, at 3.5 + Con per die, cannot.
The Fighter also gets a feature back. Second Wind lets a Fighter "regain Hit Points equal to 1d10 plus your Fighter level," usable twice, and "you regain one expended use when you finish a Short Rest." Action Surge resets too: "you can't do so again until you finish a Short or Long Rest." So the short rest pays out Hit Points and one more Action Surge for the next room.
What breaks a Short Rest
Three things stop it:
- Rolling Initiative
- Casting a spell other than a cantrip
- Taking any damage
And the price is harsh: "An interrupted Short Rest confers no benefits." Fifty-nine minutes then a wandering monster means nothing gained. Post a watch.
The Long Rest: eight hours
A Long Rest is a period of extended downtime—at least 8 hours—available to any creature. During a Long Rest, you sleep for at least 6 hours and perform no more than 2 hours of light activity, such as reading, talking, eating, or standing watch.
You need at least 1 Hit Point to start, and a cap on frequency: "After you finish a Long Rest, you must wait at least 16 hours before starting another one." One a day, in other words.
The payout:
- Regain All HP. "You regain all lost Hit Points and all spent Hit Point Dice. If your Hit Point maximum was reduced, it returns to normal."
- Ability Scores Restored. Any reduced score returns to normal.
- Exhaustion Reduced. Exhaustion drops by one level.
- Special Feature. Features that recharge on a Long Rest recharge.
Note "all spent Hit Point Dice." Under the 2024 rules you wake with every die back, not half. Our Fighter wakes on 28 with three dice and both Second Winds.
What breaks a Long Rest
The list adds one item to the Short Rest's three: "1 hour of walking or other physical exertion." But a Long Rest forgives where a Short Rest does not:
If you rested at least 1 hour before the interruption, you gain the benefits of a Short Rest.
And you can pick it back up: "You can resume a Long Rest immediately after an interruption. If you do so, the rest requires 1 additional hour per interruption to finish." An owlbear at 3 a.m. costs the party one extra hour of sleep, not the whole night.
At the table
- Count dice aloud. "I spend one, rolled 8, I'm on 17, I'll spend one more." Everyone sees the pool shrink.
- Track what resets where. Mark Short Rest features and Long Rest features in different places on the sheet.
- GMs, the interruption list is your clock. A patrol every few hours turns "we rest" into a decision.
- Rest at 1 Hit Point, not 0. A character at 0 can't start either rest, even once stable. Heal first.
The Book of Dice covers the d10 and its odds in Part I, The Object, and the arithmetic of rolling dice one at a time in Part III, The Rolling.
This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 ("SRD 5.2.1") by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
