Healing and the Long Rest

There are countless ways for players to lose Hit Points, but only a precious few ways to regain them. Potions and berries are handy. Paladins, Bards, Druids, and Clerics all have access to healing spells, and those can be a big help in combat. But the best way to recover Hit Points is a long rest.

A long rest is eight hours of uninterrupted sleep or meditation for the adventurers. A player simply announces to the Game Master that their character intends to take a long rest. The Game Master decides what, if anything, interrupts their rest. And if no encounters happen, eight hours of game time passes. At the end of a successful long rest, the adventurer recovers all lost Hit Points and regains all of their spell-casting ability.

If the eight hours of rest is interrupted, no Hit Points or spellcasting ability is recovered.

A Game Master should always roll for random encounters while the players attempt a long rest. Any encounter, even if it doesn’t lead to combat, can spoil the long rest and force the players to try again later. How often and what types of encounters are determined by the adventure. But cautious players will always do their best to hide, barricade doors, or otherwise secure an area when attempting a long rest.