Do Majestic Word and Song of Rest stack?

Question

I'm playing a 2nd level Bard with Charisma 18 and I'm wondering if, taking the necessary time, I am allowed to apply the Song of Rest benefit (+ Charisma modifier to the hit points regained by spending a healing surge during a short rest) to the healing surge expenditure triggered by Majestic Word (which, by itself, adds Charisma modifier to the hit points regained).

I am aware that I have to wait a whole short rest to regain the use of Majestic Word, but what if I make other characters wait 5 minutes in order to recharge it and use in concert (pun intended) with Song of Rest?

Thank you.

Answer 1

No, they do not stack

In many ways, they are used for complementary purposes. As per the long argument here, song of rest applies to your whole party, whereas you must take a subsequent short rest to recover the healing powers spent during a short rest.

Under the rules for short rest:

Spend Healing Surges: After a short rest, you can spend as many healing surges as you want. If you run out of healing surges, you must take an extended rest to regain them.

Using Powers while You Rest: If you use an encounter power (such as a healing power) during a short rest, you need another short rest to renew it so that you can use it again.

There are no rules suggesting that song of rest applies to all surges spent during a short rest, merely those spent at the end of the rest. While there's overlap between the two, the song of rest allows for fast and efficient short-rest healing, as opposed to the normal tactic (that may make some DMs grumpy) of chained short rests.

However, it may be reasonable to request your DM to house-rule that song of rest enhances surge value during a short rest with the tradeoff being that the players give up their rights to take chained short rests.