D&D 5E My house-rules for extreme weather and sleeping in armor

[KahlessNestor]

Still too complicated for me if I have to read an essay of rules.

Cold travel: DC 10+1 per hour. Disadvantage if you don't have cold weather gear.

Cold camping: DC 13 or 15. Advantage for appropriate gear (mostly thinking tent, since bedroll doesn't really add much).

Hot travel: DC 10+1 per hour. Advantage if have twice as much water. Disadvantage heavy armor.

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[Oofta]

Still too complicated for me if I have to read an essay of rules.

Cold travel: DC 10+1 per hour. Disadvantage if you don't have cold weather gear.

Cold camping: DC 13 or 15. Advantage for appropriate gear (mostly thinking tent, since bedroll doesn't really add much).

Hot travel: DC 10+1 per hour. Advantage if have twice as much water. Disadvantage heavy armor.

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I would disagree with the bedroll not helping much in the cold - not sleeping on cold ground can make a huge difference.

 

[machineelf]

Still too complicated for me if I have to read an essay of rules.

Cold travel: DC 10+1 per hour. Disadvantage if you don't have cold weather gear.

Cold camping: DC 13 or 15. Advantage for appropriate gear (mostly thinking tent, since bedroll doesn't really add much).

Hot travel: DC 10+1 per hour. Advantage if have twice as much water. Disadvantage heavy armor.

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The DMG already has a rule that says if you have cold weather gear, then you automatically succeed on the check. So your rule changes that. And I shyed away from an hour-by-hour approach if characters were properly geared, contrary to what you suggested, because after 8 different rolls in a day (for 8 hours of traveling), eventually one or a few of the characters will fail and get a level of exhaustion. That seemed too harsh to me.

My rules simply expanded on what were already in the DMG. And they were just a paragraph or two, not an essay. But they are that length because I tried to think about every angle that I could. So, if you have cold weather gear, you have nothing to worry about while traveling. Yet if you are caught in the extreme cold without protection, you will then deal with the hour by hour roll, and that would nicely approximate a slow death by cold exposure. All that is what the DMG already says.

My addition is for camping at night in extreme cold. If you are camping, even with cold weather gear, you will have to make one nightly roll. But if you are properly equipped, with shelter and a bedroll (which in my game is a thick wool blanket), then you have a very good chance of being fine.

I think your more brief approach doesn't account for all of those considerations. And by the way, what you suggest means the bedroll is completely useless for anything, which is fine if that's what you want. I wanted to make a few pieces of gear in the PHB a bit more useful than they currently are.

 

[KahlessNestor]

It's up to you if it's useless or part of required cold weather gear. I really don't care. It comes standard in tje equipment pack every character already starts with, so why get bent up about it? I don't see the value-add to it.

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[machineelf]

It's up to you if it's useless or part of required cold weather gear. I really don't care. It comes standard in tje equipment pack every character already starts with, so why get bent up about it? I don't see the value-add to it.

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I'm not bent up about it. I find out fun to have gear have some meaningfulness in gameplay, and if in your game you adhere to weight and encumberance rules, it's a heavy piece of gear to carry around for no use.

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[Saeviomagy]

If everyone sleeps just fine in the wilderness, then who ever needs a tent or sleeping pad?

You bring a tent because rain.

I personally wouldn't bother bringing a sleeping pad if I was worried about weight. It's purely a luxury item. You can almost always find somewhere that's comfortable enough to sleep.

Now what I might do is hand out a bonus for NOT roughing it. Something like long rests only taking 4 hours, but if you take the whole time you get inspiration or an extra hit die. But that would require staying at an inn or the like.

 

[Caliban]

...The hygiene and olfactory issues caused by wearing the same gambeson for three weeks running ...

Prestidigitation keeps the whole party smelling fresh and clean.

 

[Quartz]

I never got to use this; I hope you enjoy it.

The Fighter's Companion aka The Instant Armourer.

This is a simple but well-made hand-sized cross of wood, with the cross offset. On utterance of a command word it will enlarge to full size - about four feet tall and two feet across and a base to make it stable. This is then planted on the ground. Clothing, robes, armour, shoes, gloves, gauntlets, helms, etc may be placed on the cross. They are then gradually freshened and cleaned by an Invisible Servant. On utterance of a second command word, the owner is instantly clothed with the items.

My original idea was that the PCs would come across some armour on the cross and take the armour, only to be told about the cross on their return, so they'd have to go back and get it. <evil g>

 

[transtemporal]

I ran my Dark Sun campaign in this mode for a while. It was fun initially because it emphasized how different and dangerous Athas was but eventually I stopped using it for regular play because in a normal session, the PCs have the gear and provisions they need to survive, and without time pressure the PCs would be able to practice their desertcraft just fine. Rolling dice for it was redundant.

I kept the rules in reserve though, just in case they ever got caught out without gear.

 

[transtemporal]

I ran my Dark Sun campaign in this mode for a while. It was fun initially because it emphasized how different and dangerous Athas was but eventually I stopped using it for regular play because in a normal session, the PCs have the gear and provisions they need to survive, and without time pressure the PCs would be able to practice their desertcraft just fine. Rolling dice for it was redundant.

I kept the rules in reserve though, just in case they ever got caught out without gear.