Short Rest vs Long Rest in 5e

A short rest takes at least 1 hour. You can spend hit dice to heal, and some class features come back. A long rest takes at least 8 hours and gives back all your hit points, your spell slots and up to half your hit dice. You can only benefit from one long rest every 24 hours. Here's what each rest does, and why the difference matters to your party.

The two rests at a glance

The short rest

A short rest is at least an hour of downtime. You can eat, drink, read and tend to wounds, but nothing more demanding than that.

The main thing a short rest gives everyone is the chance to spend hit dice. You have one hit die per level, and its size depends on your class: a d6 for a Wizard, a d10 for a Fighter, a d12 for a Barbarian. For each one you spend, roll it, add your Constitution modifier, and regain that many hit points. You spend them one at a time, so you can roll one, see how you did, and decide whether to spend another.

For example, a 3rd-level Fighter with a Constitution modifier of +2 has three d10s. Spend one, roll a 6, and they get 8 hit points back. Spent hit dice don't come back on a short rest, so save some for later in the day.

What a short rest recharges

Some class features say you get them back when you finish "a short or long rest". These are the classes that care most about short rests:

• Warlock: all your pact magic spell slots come back. This is why Warlocks have so few slots but can cast often.
• Fighter: Second Wind (a bonus action to regain 1d10 + your Fighter level in hit points) and Action Surge (one extra action on your turn) both recharge.
• Monk: all your ki points come back, as long as you spend at least 30 minutes of the rest meditating.
• Cleric: Channel Divinity recharges.
• Wizard: once per day, after a short rest, Arcane Recovery lets you get back spell slots whose levels add up to half your Wizard level (rounded up). None of them can be 6th level or higher.

Anything that recharges on a short rest also recharges on a long rest. If you're new to how slots work, our guide to spell slots explains them.

The long rest

A long rest is at least 8 hours. You spend it sleeping or doing light activity, such as reading, talking, eating or standing watch for no more than 2 hours. You need at least 1 hit point when you start it.

When you finish, you get:

• All your lost hit points back.
• Spent hit dice back, up to half your total (minimum one). A character with 8 hit dice regains 4. A 1st-level character regains their one die.
• Everything that recharges on a long rest. That includes spell slots for most casters and a Barbarian's rages.

One long rest per 24 hours

You can only benefit from one long rest in any 24-hour period. You can't sleep for 8 hours, have a fight, then sleep another 8 and expect a second full reset. Short rests have no such limit in the SRD.

When a rest gets interrupted

A long rest is broken by at least 1 hour of strenuous activity, such as walking, fighting or casting spells. If that happens, you have to start the rest again to get anything from it. Going by the SRD wording, a quick scuffle at midnight doesn't cancel the rest on its own, though some DMs rule otherwise.

The SRD has no interruption rule for short rests, so if a fight breaks out halfway through one, it's your DM's call. The 2024 rules are stricter: rolling initiative, taking any damage or casting a spell other than a cantrip interrupts either kind of rest.

How many short rests per long rest?

The SRD doesn't set a number. It's your DM's decision, and it depends on the pace of the adventure. Guidance for DMs that sits outside the SRD suggests a typical adventuring day includes around two short rests, but many tables take fewer.

It matters more than it looks. Warlocks, Fighters and Monks lean on short rests to get their best tricks back. If your group never stops for an hour, those characters run dry while a Wizard or Barbarian is still going. If you're playing one of them, it's fair to ask for a short rest after a hard fight. Our guide to the classes shows which ones run on which rest.

Resting is also when you can catch your breath on the rules. If you went down in the last fight, our guide to death saving throws explains what happened.

Questions

How long is a short rest in 5e?

At least 1 hour. During it you can only do light things, like eating, drinking, reading and tending wounds. A long rest takes at least 8 hours.

How many short rests can you take in a day in 5e?

The SRD sets no limit on short rests. Only long rests are limited, to one every 24 hours. In practice you're limited by time, by your hit dice running out, and by what your DM's story allows.

Do you get spell slots back on a short rest?

Only some characters. Warlocks get all their pact magic slots back on a short rest, and a Wizard can use Arcane Recovery once per day after a short rest to get a few back. Most other casters need a long rest.