Even the mightiest of warriors and adventurers need rest, as such they can't spend every hour of every day socializing, fighting, traveling and exploring. Resting comes in different forms, either lighter or heavier rest, short rest and long rest. Creatures can take short rests in the midst of a day and a long rest to end it, meaning; a long rest can only be taken once every day.
During both short or long rests, a character can spend one or more Hit Dice to regain hit points, up to a character's maximum number of Hit Dice, which is equal to the character's level. After a long rest, a character regains all spent Hit Dice.
> #### Regaining Hit Points from Hit Dice > Your character's hit points define how tough your character is in combat and other dangerous situations. Your hit points are determined by your Hit Dice (short for Hit Point Dice). > > At 1st level, your character has 1 Hit Die, and the die type is determined by your creature size. You start with hit points equal to the highest roll of that die, as indicated in your class description. (You also add your Constitution modifier, which you'll determine in step 3.) This is also your hit point maximum. > > Record your character's hit points on your character sheet. Also record the type of Hit Die your character uses and the number of Hit Dice you have. After you rest, you can spend Hit Dice to regain hit points (see "Resting" in chapter 8). >
> #### Hit Dice > For each Hit Die spent, the player rolls the die and adds the character's Constitution modifier to it. The character regains hit points equal to the total (minimum of 0). The player can decide to spend an additional Hit Die after each roll. A character regains spent Hit Dice upon finishing a long rest.
Short Rest
A short rest is a small time of pause and repose, for one to catch one's breath, ranging from at least 30 minutes to 4 hours long, during which a character can take time to eat, drink, read, meditate, cast rituals and tend to illness and wounds.
For each short rest without a long rest, short rest times increases.
| Short Rest | Time |:-:|:-:| | 1st | 30 min | 2nd | 1 hour | 3rd | 2 hours | 4th + n | 4 hours
Death save failures reset on short rest. At the end of a short rest, players may spend 1 hit dice to recover 1 level of exhaustion. Only 1 dice per short rest per long rest may be spent this way.
Long Rest
Long rests take 8 hours, during which a character sleeps for at least 6 hours and performs no more than 2 hours of light activity, such as reading, talking, eating, or standing watch.
At the end of a long rest, a character regains spent Hit Dice, up to half the character's maximum, rounded up. A character does not automatically regain any lost hit points, but finishing a long rest reduces a creature's exhaustion level by one, provided that the creature has also ingested their full requirement for food and drink.
A character can't benefit from more than one long rest in a 24-hour period, and a character must have at least 1 hit point at the start of the rest to gain its benefits.