14
\$\begingroup\$

Are you required to spend hit dice to take a short rest?

I couldn't find this anywhere, but my DM is adamant on the idea that in order to benefit from a short rest, you have to spend a hit die. I haven't found anything that supports this. Is he right, or is he maybe just DM house-ruling it?

I mainly was wondering because I play a wizard and it would be helpful to know whether I can use my Arcane Recovery feature during a short rest that others are taking.

|improve this question
\$\endgroup\$
  • \$\begingroup\$ Welcome to RPG.SE! Take the tour if you haven't already, and check out the help center for more guidance. Good first question! \$\endgroup\$ – V2Blast♦ Jun 29 '19 at 4:48
28
\$\begingroup\$

Hit Dice are not required to be spent during a Short Rest to otherwise benefit from it

A short rest is a period of downtime, at least 1 hour long, during which a character does nothing more strenuous than eating, drinking, reading, and tending to wounds.

A character can spend one or more Hit Dice at the end of a short rest, up to the character's maximum number of Hit Dice, which is equal to the character's level. [...]

—Short Rest, Player's Handbook, pg. 186

Emphasis mine. If you were required to spend Hit Dice during a Short Rest to take a Short Rest, then the rules would expressly say so, perhaps with language like "A character must spend one or more Hit Dice at the end of a Short Rest in order to benefit from it". But they do not.

So if you're a Wizard trying to use your Arcane Recovery feature, or a Fighter recovering your Action Surge, or a Warlock recovering Spell Slots, or any other character that can gain additional benefits from a Short Rest beyond healing from Hit Dice, you can gain those benefits without spending Hit Dice.

|improve this answer
\$\endgroup\$
  • \$\begingroup\$ Thank you. So I guess he was just house ruling it, from our last campaign to prevent a player in the group from just resting every hour with a short rest so that he could get his druid spell slots back to full. \$\endgroup\$ – Necrolance Jun 29 '19 at 3:15
  • 4
    \$\begingroup\$ @necrolance a druid can't recover spell slots on a short rest. How are they doing that? \$\endgroup\$ – daze413 Jun 29 '19 at 3:56
  • 4
    \$\begingroup\$ @daze413: Land druids have a feature similar to Arcane Recovery... but it, too, is once per long rest. \$\endgroup\$ – V2Blast♦ Jun 29 '19 at 4:51
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ @Necrolance Oof, your DM appears to be in the midst of a comedy of errors. ;) Land Circle Druids do have a feature that lets them recover a few Spell Slots on one Short Rest.... Only... one Short Rest, per Long Rest. PHB 68, Natural Recovery feature. I respect your DM's intentions to make sure that class features don't overpower the campaign, but I would advise them to pay closer attention to how they work, I think he might find it's not as necessary to revise/houserule things if he better understands their mechanics. \$\endgroup\$ – Xirema Jun 29 '19 at 5:05
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ @Necrolance There is an answer talking about limiting short rests a bit here: rpg.stackexchange.com/a/133653/22403 Your DM may be interested in that one... \$\endgroup\$ – fabian Jun 29 '19 at 9:57

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.