Adventurers can’t fight all day. Rests are how characters recover between fights. There are two kinds, and knowing what each gives back helps you decide when to push on and when to stop.
Short rest: one hour
A short rest is at least an hour of downtime — eating, bandaging wounds, reading. During it you can spend Hit Dice to heal: roll one of your Hit Dice (a d10 for a fighter, a d8 for a cleric or rogue, a d6 for a wizard), add your Constitution modifier, and regain that many hit points. Repeat as many times as you have Hit Dice to spend.
Some features recharge on a short rest too, including a warlock’s spell slots, a fighter’s Second Wind and Action Surge, and a wizard’s once-a-day Arcane Recovery.
Long rest: a night’s sleep
A long rest is at least eight hours, mostly sleeping, with no more than a couple of hours of light activity like keeping watch. At the end you:
- regain all lost hit points;
- regain spent Hit Dice — up to half your total in the 2014 rules, all of them in the 2024 rules;
- regain your spell slots and most once-a-day features;
- reduce exhaustion by one level (if you have had food and water).
You can benefit from only one long rest in 24 hours, and you need at least 1 hit point when it starts.
What interrupts a rest
In the 2014 rules, a long rest is interrupted by at least an hour of walking, fighting, casting spells or similar adventuring; a brief disturbance doesn’t spoil it. The 2024 rules are stricter: rolling initiative, casting a spell other than a cantrip or taking damage interrupts any rest, though an interrupted long rest still counts as a short rest if it lasted at least an hour. Interrupting the party’s camp is a classic DM move — a good reason to set a watch.
When to rest
- Short rest after a hard fight, when a few people are hurt and the warlock or fighter is out of tricks.
- Long rest when the casters are out of slots or the party is low on Hit Dice. Most groups manage one or two short rests between long rests.
- Time pressure is what makes rests interesting: if the ritual completes at dawn, sleeping has a cost.
One click on your sheet
Roleplayer character sheets have Short rest and Long rest buttons: spend Hit Dice and roll the healing, refill spell slots and limited-use features, and drop a level of exhaustion — no eraser needed.