Baldur's Gate 3: How to rest

Want to know how to rest in Baldur's Gate 3? When you're low on HP or Spell Slots in Baldur's Gate 3, you'll need to rest. Resting is split into two types: Short and Long Rests. Short Rests are more useful for a quick break between fights, while Long Rests will send you back to camp and allow you to have some evening chats before tucking yourself into bed.

In this guide, we'll break down how to rest in Baldur's Gate 3, so that you can take a break from adventuring and focus on restoring lost resources before heading off for new adventures.

How to rest in Baldur's Gate 3

To rest in Baldur's Gate 3, click on the campfire icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen, to the right of the action bar and the Turn-Based Mode button. This will bring up a sub-menu with three more icons: Short Rest, Long Rest, and go to Camp.

Below, we'll break down the differences between a Short and Long Rest, so that you can better understand which you might need in a specific situation.

Short Rest

A Short Rest will recover 50% of the current Hit Point Maximum for all characters in your party. It'll also restore some class-specific features such as a Fighter's Superiority Die or a Warlock's Spell Slots.

Some magic items will also restore their functionality upon having a Short Rest. My Wizard, for example, has a magic Staff that grants one free use of Ray of Sickness per Short Rest. You can hover over spells and abilities on your action bar to see whether they need a Short or a Long Rest to replenish them.

You can only have a Short Rest twice per Long Rest. After having two, the option will do nothing until you take a Long Rest, at which point it'll replenish your Short Rests for the following day.

Long Rest

A Long Rest will recover all of your Hit Points and class features. Spell Slots for most classes (except the Warlock, as mentioned above), the Barbarian's Rage charges, the Cleric's Channel Divinity, and anything else that you might rely on in the most dire of circumstances.

When you Long Rest, you will teleport back to Camp. There, you'll be able to chat with all of your companions and anyone else who resides in your camp. Many of them will have new dialogue scenes, in which they might reveal more about themselves or talk about the events of the day, so make sure to check in with everyone before sleeping.

When you're ready to rest, head to the bedrolls scattered around the campfire in your camp. When you interact with one, it'll open a new menu with all of your food and drink items that count as Camping Supplies. To Long Rest, you must select items that are cumulatively worth 40 Camping Supplies on the Explorer or Balanced difficulties, or 80 Camping Supplies on Tactician difficulty.

If you do not have the appropriate number of Camping Supplies, you can instead opt to take a Partial Rest. This restores half of your HP and Spell Slots, and does not give you more Short Rests. If you take a Partial Rest, expect to need another one very soon after.

That wraps up everything you need to know about resting in Baldur's Gate 3. While in Camp, make sure to also chat with Withers, a mysterious skeleton who can revive characters when needed. He'll also let you respec your character, which is useful if you've been dabbling in multiclassing. If you're considering taking up a new class and want to know more about the various playstyles, make sure to check out our Baldur's Gate 3 classes page. To get steamy with your companions, take a look at our Baldur's Gate 3 romance guide.

Disclosure: Former RPS deputy editor Adam Smith (RPS in peace) now works at Larian and is the lead writer for Baldur's Gate 3. Former contributor Emily Gera also works on it.