Part 1: The Basics ☰
Rests are extremely important for the physical and mental health of an adventurer, as they give characters time to breathe, wind down, go over any intel they may have gained, repair their equipment, heal and recover from their wounds, and more. In I&A, there are three kinds of rests: a quick rest, a night’s rest, and a day’s rest, each described below.
For every 24 hours that a character goes without a night's or day's rest, their Maximum Health is temporarily reduced by 25%, to a minimum of 1. Each rest taken thereafter restores 25% of that character's Maximum Health.
Quick Rest. Typically lasting about an hour or so, a quick rest sees the party stop for a little while to collect and patch themselves up a bit. During a quick rest, party members are able to regain Health via rolling one of their Health die (the same one they use to determine their Health when leveling up) and adding their CON score to the result. Quick rests do not restore abilities that require a rest to recharge (unless explicitly stated otherwise), and the benefits of a quick rest can only be gained twice between night's or day's rests.
Night's Rest. A night’s rest is 6-8 hours long and usually (but not always) involves the party winding down, setting up camp, and taking it easy for the next several hours, such as via sleeping, patching themselves up, or tending to their equipment. During a night’s rest, a character has their Health replenished by 50% of their maximum and regains the use of any class features or abilities that require a rest in order to be used again. Lastly, despite the name, a night’s rest does not actually need to occur at night.
Day's Rest. A day’s rest is about 16-24 hours long and restores Health to full; additionally, a character can perform any downtime activity that they desire (provided they have the necessary resources). A day's rest requires that the character feels safe enough to let their guard down, and so must be spent in an area of safety, such as a city/town/village, fortress, military camp, etc.
Whenever characters experience a particularly high-quality night's or day's rest - such as staying in good lodgings or taking a day to simply enjoy themselves and recover from their travels - they become Well-Rested. A character that is Well-Rested can grant themselves advantage on a single check, attack, or save of their choice between the end of their particularly good rest and the start of their next one.
When exactly a character gains this benefit is up to the GM, but some examples of things that would prevent a character from gaining it are: