D&D 5E Can Elves Watch Over the Party Though the Night?

[Oofta]

According to the sage advice an elf can get a long rest in 4 hours but must otherwise satisfy all requirements of a long rest. The base rules include 6 hours of sleep and no more than 2 hours of light activity which includes "standing watch".

All elven trance does is reduce the 6 hours of sleep to 4 hours of trance. They still need 4 hours of not standing watch.

 

[iserith]

Good instinct. Setting watches is a waste of table time. Much better in my view to assume everyone takes a roughly even shift at keeping watch and if the rest does get interrupted, roll randomly for which character was on watch when it happened. If there’s an elf or a warforged in the party who want to take more than one watch shift, or the players specifically say that they want to do something else weird with the shifts you can adjust the probabilities as necessary, but most of the time it won’t matter that much anyway.

Agreed, that's what I do in my games.

 

[Hriston]

According to the sage advice an elf can get a long rest in 4 hours but must otherwise satisfy all requirements of a long rest. The base rules include 6 hours of sleep and no more than 2 hours of light activity which includes "standing watch".

All elven trance does is reduce the 6 hours of sleep to 4 hours of trance. They still need 4 hours of not standing watch.

That was the old sage advice explanation of trance. The new explanation, as of August 2017, is that a trancing elf finishes a long rest in four hours. I kid you not!

 

[Oofta]

That was the old sage advice explanation of trance. The new explanation, as of August 2017, is that a trancing elf finishes a long rest in four hours. I kid you not!

Right ... but they still need that 4 hours of trancing without doing any light activity including standing watch.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it! Well, in my campaign anyway.

EDIT: I did check the most recent sage advice, so I don't see how it matters. Maybe I'm just missing something.

 

[Charlaquin]

That was the old sage advice explanation of trance. The new explanation, as of August 2017, is that a trancing elf finishes a long rest in four hours. I kid you not!

Yep, because of a change in the wording of the long rest requirements.

 

[CleverNickName]

Semiconscious is not the same as conscious. (shrug) Not sure where the argument is.

 

[aco175]

I tend to allow the party to just have the elf keep watch, king of like having a dog around. I do let them know that he makes perception checks at disadvantage though.

Most of the time the elf takes his watch and ends up studying his spellbook in my campaigns, which still is like half watch while the halfling makes breakfast on the last watch, making him only on half watch as well.

 

[Charlaquin]

Right ... but they still need that 4 hours of trancing without doing any light activity including standing watch.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it! Well, in my campaign anyway.

EDIT: I did check the most recent sage advice, so I don't see how it matters. Maybe I'm just missing something.

Under the previous ruling, an elf who only spent 4 hours in trance at the start of the rest still needed to spend another 4 doing light activity before they got their hp and spell slots back. Under the new ruling, they get that stuff back after just 4 hours in trance, which means they’ll be in much better shape to fight than anyone else if the party gets attacked during the second half of the rest.

 

[Oofta]

Under the previous ruling, an elf who only spent 4 hours in trance at the start of the rest still needed to spend another 4 doing light activity before they got their hp and spell slots back. Under the new ruling, they get that stuff back after just 4 hours in trance, which means they’ll be in much better shape to fight than anyone else if the party gets attacked during the second half of the rest.

Right, which I thought I made clear initially. An elf can take two watches but they still need 4 hours of not doing anything other than trancing, even being on watch.

As far as being on watch while meditating, I've been known to not hear people talking to me while reading a book. If I'm reading a good story I may not even look up if a gaggle of orcs tromped through my living room*. Guess I don't see meditating as any different.

*Although in fairness when I was a kid if my mom mentioned my name anywhere within a 2 mile radius my ears perked up.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Right, which I thought I made clear initially. An elf can take two watches but they still need 4 hours of not doing anything other than trancing, even being on watch.

As far as being on watch while meditating, I've been known to not hear people talking to me while reading a book. If I'm reading a good story I may not even look up if a gaggle of orcs tromped through my living room*. Guess I don't see meditating as any different.

*Although in fairness when I was a kid if my mom mentioned my name anywhere within a 2 mile radius my ears perked up.

Same. I figure, there are sensory triggers in your brain that would go off if someone entered your home uninvited.

Yep sorry got that wrong, still an elf saves time just in case.

For sure!

Do you meditate with your eyes open?

Can you "watch" something with your eyes closed?

I rest my case.

Some people do.