With the current abundance of food in the game I'm surprised short rests are free. Surely like a 10-15 supply cost for a short rest, and forced 2x short rest before long rest unlocks leading to a total of 70 supply cost for a day.
I like this idea. Very much.
Agreed. I'd also suggest a relationship between rest cost and party size. Solo? 10 food units for long rest. All companions plus druid traveling companion? That's 70.
For the short rests, I'd swag 3× size of active party, so 3-12.
I'm not sure about requiring short rest before long rest, because maybe you think you're doing a minor encounter before a big one, and you're just unlucky.
Maybe a cleaner way disencentize long rests is to not allow them in unlikely locations. You have to be in the home base of the faction you're in good standing with, or in the wilderness far from baddies. Tollhouse is okay, blighted village is only safe if you're goblin-aligned or a drow, etc
Obviously that is (a) too complicated to implement, (b) difficult to make clear to players, and (c) defeated by fast travel, so it's an unreasonable suggestion, but I think it's better than requiring short rests before long ones.
