[RPG] How are resources recovered during a long rest that was interrupted

dnd-5erests

A DM can choose (deliberately or randomly) to interrupt the players long rests with a random encounter. See for example this question: Our DM keeps interrupting our long rests

Now rules as written say that less than 1 hour of interruption, even strenuous fighting, doesn't invalidate the long rest. The players can fight the monsters that attacked them during their rest, go back to sleep, and still get the benefits of the long rest.

But how does that apply to resources like spell slots that were spent during the rest? Imagine the interruption happens one hour before the end of the long rest, the barbarian uses one of his rages, the casters use up spell slots, and so on, do they get all of that back one hour later? Or do they only recover the resources they had spent before starting the long rest?

Best Answer

Resources are regained at the end of a long rest.

The barbarian's rage class feature states:

you must finish a long rest before you can rage again.

Spellcaster's spell slot section states:

You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.

For hit points and hit die:

At the end of a long rest, a character regains all lost hit points. The character also regains spent Hit Dice...

So it doesn't matter what is spent during the rest as long as the PCs get to finish that rest. This also means that any resources spent before the rest started remain spent during the rest and ensuing combat, until the long rest is completed.

It's also worth noting that it's not intended for the PCs to be able to gain the benefits of a short rest during a long rest, as per this unofficial guidance by rules designer Jeremy Crawford on Twitter:

Q: can a PC benefit from short rests during a long rest? A PC (fighter) is abusing second wind to save hit dies.

A: The intent is that you can't take a short rest and a long rest at the same time.

Obviously a DM can rule whichever way they want but the designers didn't intend for a long rest to include a short rest.