(Related to What happens when you bring a creature down to 0 HP entirely by a "Sword of Wounding", but choose to deal nonlethal damage? Because answering this "yes" would provide the end-run to that dilemma.)
Let my character be at 0HP and stable. Per PHB p.198 we roll a d4 and learn that my character will regain 1HP naturally in, say, 2 hours.
At the end of an hour can I claim the benefits of a short rest and choose to spend a Hit Die?
Arguments for:
- My character has done nothing more strenuous than eating, drinking, reading, and tending to wounds. (I've been napping, after all.)
- That's the only requirement stated for a short rest. The clause "a character must have at least 1 hit point at the start of the rest to gain its benefits," which appears in "Long Rest," is conspicuously absent from "Short Rest."
Argument against:
- In "Short Rest" spending a Hit Die is stated as an action taken by a character, not a player; perhaps the character needs to be conscious to take that action? (Weak)
It strikes me as bizzare to think of spending a bunch of hit dice and leaping up with lots of hit points an hour into my d4-death-bed. But perhaps that's what the rules actually say?
