Could you elaborate on what you mean by this? I'm uncertain if we're in agreement...
I think that this is already a problem: short-rest classes (monk, warlock, fighter) are nerfed compared to long rest classes because of the current emphasis on frequent long rests and the limit of 1 short rest.
If Larian added more short rests per long rest, this would increase the amount of healing available before each long rest. And it would do a better job of preserving balance between classes.
We are probably not in agreement, or halfway there.
I meant that those exact classes may get overpowered if short rests may become to frequent. And the fact that we don't know yet what Larian will do about it.
I don't think you should ever consider healing from 5 to 50hp with food. If you're close to unconsciousness from a combination of exhaustion and wounds, then no amount of food should heal you back to perfect health.
To be clear, I also dislike 5e's full heal on long rests for similar "it doesn't make sense for sleep to fully heal your wounds" reasons.
Yes, about never considering: that's exactly what I'm trying to achieve here, but without making food totally useless. Heal 2hp lost after getting into vines by food - yes! Heal 45hp lost after the fight by food - no!
And about the actual D&D system... loss of hp isn't actually a wound. HP stands not for literal health but your character's grasp for life in general:
Hit Points represent a combination of physical and mental durability, the will to live, and luck.
Keeping that in mind sleeping or even eating to full hit points seems quite logical. We are not wounded, we are simply exhausted by fight.
