Well, if you are sleeping in armor, there is a good chance you may not be taking it off often enough, and the effects of continuously wearing it would start to surface. So you could create penalties for not finding time to remove it, replace underclothes or let them dry, doing hygiene, etc, etc. Of course even regular clothes can start have similar effects if you wear them constantly.
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D&D 5E Sleeping in armor
- Thread starter Tush Hog
- Start date
evileeyore
Mrrrph
I've found that mostly the whole "Don't wear armor when you sleep" tends to come from two places:
1 - DMs who don't know it really isn't that outrageous.
2 - DMs who want to catch the Fighters with their Hauberks down...
The first is less egregious problem than the second.
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Individual experiences may differ but when I had to sleep in body armor in Iraq, the next half a day sucked. Sure its doable, but there is a great difference between grabbing some shut eye, and getting real rest. After a few days of this you're more like a zombie than an active person, and why that first time you sleep in a real bed you fall into the "combat coma" lol.
I never wore any reenactment armor but I think it would fit this same style pretty close. Sure anyone can tough it out a day or two, after a few days or a week though thats going to really take its toll. Basic hygiene will always be an issue, weather plays an important role, and think of the life styles and training as well. Todays training for real soldiers is far superior to what was normally given, and the equipment we use is designed to improve the duration of wear. Layers of padding and leather leave little room for the body to breath especially when another layer of metal is added over it, hell even our casual shirts are made of better material than what they were made of back in the day.
I'm not sure what penalties I may apply to players who have to sleep in armor, but luckily my group tends to avoid this for realism unless, its just not safe enough. Limiting rests to short rests only while in armor sounds good to me though.
I never wore any reenactment armor but I think it would fit this same style pretty close. Sure anyone can tough it out a day or two, after a few days or a week though thats going to really take its toll. Basic hygiene will always be an issue, weather plays an important role, and think of the life styles and training as well. Todays training for real soldiers is far superior to what was normally given, and the equipment we use is designed to improve the duration of wear. Layers of padding and leather leave little room for the body to breath especially when another layer of metal is added over it, hell even our casual shirts are made of better material than what they were made of back in the day.
I'm not sure what penalties I may apply to players who have to sleep in armor, but luckily my group tends to avoid this for realism unless, its just not safe enough. Limiting rests to short rests only while in armor sounds good to me though.
Actually linen clothes breathe really well. Linen was a common fabric. Pure linen is an expensive fabric today though, so few clothes are made out of it. That being said, wool does not breathe as well, which was common as well. A Maille Hauberk would generally go over a padded gambeson, so it would get gross pretty fast. That said, Maille isn't that bad to lay down in, though not necessarily good for the maille as the rivets in the ring can cause kinks and wear. Well fitted plates are much more comfortable to lay down in that the body armor with plates we wore in Iraq. It would have been individually fitted as well.
Your experience obviously differed from mine. The body armor would not affect my sleep other than make me stiff and sore for a 10-15 minutes after waking. That said, the conditions themselves took a toll and getting the armor off so my body could breathe was really important. So the body armor conbined with conditions could contribute to exhaustion. But it was other factors that affected my sleep whether I was on armor or not.
FitzTheRuke
Legend
As usual, people are so used to hearing things like "the average person needs 7 or 8 hours of sleep per night" and think that means "everyone" does.
I have a friend who asserts that "anyone who needs more than 3 or 4 hours of sleep a night is LAZY."
What he really means is, HE's GIFTED. And he'd make a great soldier. He's a superb outdoorsman, very skilled.
My wife, on the other hand, has nocturnal seizures (epilepsy) and sleeps something like 8-10 hours, and is usually not well rested during the day either.
evileeyore
Mrrrph
I need 6. I can function on 4. 8 makes me groggy for hours when I get up.
However I tend to get 6 per night most nights, and then one a day off I'll "be lazy" and go back to sleep for another 2 hours (usually because I got crappy sleep one or two nights during the work week).
FitzTheRuke
Legend
Yeah, that's how I see it. My players are pretty good at imagining what their characters are going through, so they'd be likely to sleep in their armour in a dire situation, but take it off and bathe at an inn. I don't think you should go for weeks (or even days, really) on end without getting out of your armour, but in most D&D situations, a proper rest comes up often enough that they players can say "NOW I take my armour off! Finally!"
I'd only use con checks and whatnot if the scenario is already supposed to involve hardship that way.
doghead
thotd
Interesting thread.
I used to be of the view that sleeping in armour should carry some form of penalty. Now I am inclined to let it go for a reasons mentioned:
1. environmental conditions (cold or heat) are more likely to be debilitating, and I don't generally impose checks or penalties for these.
2. modern first world notions of the conditions required for a good sleep are probably quite different from those of the characters.
Thanks to all of those who shared their own experiences.
From my own experience, I know that it is possible to remain functional through a day on an hour and a half of sleep. My sleep patterns are rather messed up, so I do this fairly regularly. 3.5 hours gets me though my first REM cycle, 5.5 hours my second and 6.5 my third.
It is possible to go 20-30 hours without sleep. There are consequences however. The guidance we have is that 17 hours without sleeping can lead to impairment the equivalent of 0.02 Blood Alcohol Content. 21 hours, 0.05 BAC. Also problematic is sustained periods of reduced and/or interrupted sleep. Over time you accumulate sleep debt. Short sleeps help to reduce the impact, but eventually you need to make some of it back with a solid uninterrupted sleep. Combat Coma, yeah sounds about right.
I do think that some form of exhaustion/fatigue penalty could be appropriate in the some contexts as a means to build tension - say operating in a hostile area with an ongoing threat of attack, requiring living in armour and maintaining watch overnight for a extended period. A fairly low initial DC increasing over time with failure resulting in a fairly small penalty initially, but increasing with each subsequent failure. Some form of recover should be possible. And of course, it should be something the PC's can use to grind down an opponent.
thotd
I used to be of the view that sleeping in armour should carry some form of penalty. Now I am inclined to let it go for a reasons mentioned:
1. environmental conditions (cold or heat) are more likely to be debilitating, and I don't generally impose checks or penalties for these.
2. modern first world notions of the conditions required for a good sleep are probably quite different from those of the characters.
Thanks to all of those who shared their own experiences.
From my own experience, I know that it is possible to remain functional through a day on an hour and a half of sleep. My sleep patterns are rather messed up, so I do this fairly regularly. 3.5 hours gets me though my first REM cycle, 5.5 hours my second and 6.5 my third.
It is possible to go 20-30 hours without sleep. There are consequences however. The guidance we have is that 17 hours without sleeping can lead to impairment the equivalent of 0.02 Blood Alcohol Content. 21 hours, 0.05 BAC. Also problematic is sustained periods of reduced and/or interrupted sleep. Over time you accumulate sleep debt. Short sleeps help to reduce the impact, but eventually you need to make some of it back with a solid uninterrupted sleep. Combat Coma, yeah sounds about right.
I do think that some form of exhaustion/fatigue penalty could be appropriate in the some contexts as a means to build tension - say operating in a hostile area with an ongoing threat of attack, requiring living in armour and maintaining watch overnight for a extended period. A fairly low initial DC increasing over time with failure resulting in a fairly small penalty initially, but increasing with each subsequent failure. Some form of recover should be possible. And of course, it should be something the PC's can use to grind down an opponent.
thotd
On a side note, I actually sleep on a japanese style bed now because of my sleep experiences as an infantryman in the Army. One day I had an idea to think of the best sleep I ever had when our old mattress was wearing out. I realized that oddly enough that some of the best sleep I had ever had was in the field laying on a grass bed. So in trying to figure out how to recreate that, I came across the japanese style bed of a cotton futon mattress in a tatami mat. The bed simulates sleeping on the ground providing solid support for the body, while the futon has just enough give to be like laying on a bed of thick grass/foliage. I sleep great now without being sore in the morning like I did on a standard mattress, and my wife who had chronic back pain due to a curvature of the spine only complains intermittently of back pain anymore. Before, she complained daily of back pain.
Just throwing that out there, that sleeping on the ground isn't that bad. The bone structure of the body actually supports the body instead various muscles. The problem with sleeping on the ground isn't the sleeping on the ground (other than debris/roots poking at you), but being exposed to the elements.
It seemed relevant given the nature of the conversation.
Just throwing that out there, that sleeping on the ground isn't that bad. The bone structure of the body actually supports the body instead various muscles. The problem with sleeping on the ground isn't the sleeping on the ground (other than debris/roots poking at you), but being exposed to the elements.
It seemed relevant given the nature of the conversation.
pkt77242
Explorer
I think that greatly depends on the person. I love a nice firm bed as long as I have a small blanket or decent pillow to tuck under my head, but my wife needs a super soft bed that she can sink into and 3+ pillows otherwise she doesn't sleep and is sore the next day.
