D&D 5E Long Rest while trapped in an alert Dungeon

[dpkress2]

I'm just curious what kind of things other DM's do when a party blocks themselves off in a dungeon for a long rest when the entire complex is alerted to their presence.

In my situation, the party is in a very small cramped kobold mine. They made a dramatic retreat from a big fight and are about to wall themselves off in a small chamber. I'm trying to decide if it's reasonable to let them get through a long rest. I generally root for the party so my inclination is to let them get away with it, but I would be nice to have a justification.

Now the kobolds have been do pretty well holing themselves deep in the mine and letting the party come to them so they can fight on there terms. So there is that.

 

[iserith]

I generally set up specific rules for a given dungeon environment such as frequency of wandering monsters and whether short or long rests are tenable. In some cases, certain objectives have to be met before resting can take place, such as clearing a certain number of areas or the like. This gives the players minor goals to achieve as they delve.

I would say don't be afraid to simply state that the dungeon is still too populated to permit a long rest and offer alternatives. Typically this will mean that they just have to go outside of the dungeon and deal with the threat of wandering monsters in the forest or whatever. It would be reasonable to have the frequency of wandering monsters be lower outside the dungeon than inside, permitting a long rest.

 

[alienux]

Another thing to consider is whether or not the kobolds know precisely where they are. You did say that they're alerted to their presence, but do they know where they retreated to and are trying to hide/hole up? If not, I'd still check for wandering monsters, and maybe with a perception check for the kobolds to see if they discover the hidy hole. If the kobolds do know where the party is, but the party sealed themselves in well enough to keep the kobolds out for the duration of the long rest, the party would have a very large group of kobolds waiting to fight them when they leave the resting spot.

 

[Fanaelialae]

They are kobolds, so it would be in keeping with their nature to fortify (setting traps and whatnot, that might be inconvenient under normal circumstances) rather than hunting the party down. Alternately, if they don't think they can win, they might pack up and leave.

 

[Gardens & Goblins]

Another thing to consider is whether or not the kobolds know precisely where they are. You did say that they're alerted to their presence, but do they know where they retreated to and are trying to hide/hole up? If not, I'd still check for wandering monsters, and maybe with a perception check for the kobolds to see if they discover the hidy hole. If the kobolds do know where the party is, but the party sealed themselves in well enough to keep the kobolds out for the duration of the long rest, the party would have a very large group of kobolds waiting to fight thems when they leave the resting spot.

This is where the cunning kobolds unleash their best/worst bards to play around the clock - loudly, badly. Trying to kip with the 32nd rendition of, '1001 Goblins with Beards on the Wall' echoing around the place is going to be.. ..tricky.

 

[Sacrosanct]

If they are alerted to their presence, 8 hours is a long time to try to find them. Especially if they are just in a room or back cave somewhere. Chances are pretty good the party location will be known pretty early on unless magic is used. So then the question becomes this:

Can the kobolds reach the party? If so, then chances are they will not get a long rest. The kobolds will regroup, possibly getting nearby allies, and assault the PCs long before 8 hours have passed. If they can't reach the party, then they will have reinforcements in place, traps set up, and it will be quite the gauntlet for the PCs once they emerge because they more than likely will be facing the entire remaining dungeon inhabitants in one go, as the monsters will be waiting for them.


On a related note, when people talk about how 6-8 encounters per day isn't right, it's usually because situations like this aren't considered. I.e., the party may want to rest, but either they can't and will face more encounters, or the next "adventuring day" is against all of the remaining encounters in the area pretty much at once. Many "adventuring days" may only be 3-4 encounters, depending on how easy it is to rest. Other may be up to a dozen.

 

[Nailen]

I think it partly depends on how much effort the party take to hide away, disguise their location and keep watch.
And how do you want the 'story' to pan out??

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[Cap'n Kobold]

Even if the Kobolds don't have high-end magic, they're likely to be able to make life difficult for a party that gives them 8+ hours of unrestricted access to the area around the room where they hole up.

Obvious tactics involve pouring biting insects into the cracks and air holes and then sealing them up. Or setting fires outside to draw the air out of the room.
Its pretty much a given that if the party sealed themselves into the room, the Kobolds can do the same to make sure the party stay sealed. Easiest method would simply be collapsing all the tunnels around the room. If the kobolds are feeling merciful, they might make an escape tunnel to the surface for the party as an incentive to leave. If not they'll just seal them up and wait a month or so.

Undermining the room the party are in is also on the table: Kobolds are expert miners. Dropping the party into the next level of the dungeon to be someone else's problem for example. Likewise they can probably gather their forces and tunnel into the room the party are resting in to mob them in a couple of hours.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Realistically, even a short rest should be impossible through mundane means. I would expect the kobolds to mass, and possibly just collapse the tunnels on the PC's depending on how valuable the area the PC's are hiding in. Bare minimum, there will be constant banging of pots and pans and attempts to smoke them out. Imagine someone had broken into your home and locked themselves in your bathroom. What are the odds you'd give them a full night's rest?

Rope Trick becomes an option at 3rd level to somewhat offer a solution, though it can be detected and countered. As a lowly 2nd level spell, it should be fairly common knowledge in the D&D world, so it goes back to DM fiat on how the kobolds deal with it.

I'm increasingly of the opinion that resting should just be entirely awarded by the DM. JUst hand out a number of short/long rest tokens at the start of the adventure and let the players use them whenever. Out of rest tokens? Doesn't matter how long you camp out, you aren't getting more spells. It avoids the need to have a bunch of arbitrary time limits on every adventure (while still keeping it so lax that people can take an hour long siesta in the middle of a dungeon).

 

[jgsugden]

You're telling a story. Have the story develop naturally. If they decide to block themselves off in a dangerous, alert, organized enemy stronghold and catch their breath, they better have a great plan to handle the enemy getting organized to contain them... and as a DM, you should drop a few hints about how to allow them to get out of the mess they put themselves in by resting there. Maybe a secret escape door from the room they are in?