D&D 5E What interupts a long rest?
- Thread starter Ancalagon
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Plaguescarred
Hero
I never truly thought that you could fight 550 rounds without interrupting a longrest but whatever.
If i throw a combat encounter at my party in the middle of the night, i don't necessarily want them to restart over and force resting prolongation more than necessary. But if they face multiple combats within 2-3 hours each lasting up to 10 rounds each (1 minute) i would probably tell them that their rest is seriously compromised as combat usually involves streneous activities, spellcasting etc
If i throw a combat encounter at my party in the middle of the night, i don't necessarily want them to restart over and force resting prolongation more than necessary. But if they face multiple combats within 2-3 hours each lasting up to 10 rounds each (1 minute) i would probably tell them that their rest is seriously compromised as combat usually involves streneous activities, spellcasting etc
el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
Mannahnin
Scion of Murgen (He/Him)
It seems pretty clear to me that the intent in 5th is that you can have a fight or two on watch without it ruining a long rest. It has to be a more extended interruption to do that.
But if a threat emerges which forces you to spend an hour or more in activity- for example, fighting and then breaking camp to move it somewhere safer, or fighting, being on alert for the sound of more enemies approaching for twenty minutes, fighting again, and then spending time rebuilding camp, disposing of bodies, (etc.) All that can add up to an hour or more of strenuous activity which will actually break the long rest.
I'd be supportive of a house rule to make any fight or casting ruin it, though, in the right campaign.
But if a threat emerges which forces you to spend an hour or more in activity- for example, fighting and then breaking camp to move it somewhere safer, or fighting, being on alert for the sound of more enemies approaching for twenty minutes, fighting again, and then spending time rebuilding camp, disposing of bodies, (etc.) All that can add up to an hour or more of strenuous activity which will actually break the long rest.
I'd be supportive of a house rule to make any fight or casting ruin it, though, in the right campaign.
Maxperson
Morkus from Orkus
Now change that mosquito into an armed burglar trying to kill you and see how your night goes.
J.Quondam
CR 1/8
Now change that mosquito into an armed burglar trying to kill you and see how your night goes.
Even worse if you end up clobbering the burglar and have to dispose of the corpse.*
* That's why I always keep a freshly excavated 7ft hole in the garden. I've found that minimizing the amount of unexpected nighttime digging in my life has really improved the quantity and quality of my beauty rest!
Maxperson
Morkus from Orkus
I think a lot of people here are underestimating the adrenalin rush and overestimating the ability to just drop back off to sleep after a fight for your life.
Laurefindel
Legend
Yep. The (imminent) threat of deadly combat alone is probably enough to f*** up your night.
not sure if I’d go there in my games, but it wouldn’t be unreasonable otherwise
J.Quondam
CR 1/8
Definitely. I imagine there's a big difference popping off a few arrows to chase off some overly curious jackals and being ambushed by a troop of bugbears, even if the total number of rounds in question is the same.
I think this is one of those rules that potentially stomps on commonsense by including the hard "1 hour" number. Ultimately, I guess that sort of distinction just comes down to how well the DM and players trust each other.
Charlaquin
Goblin Queen (She/Her/Hers)
I think that adrenaline rush is perfectly reasonable grounds on which to form a ruling that any amount of combat breaks a rest (or perhaps any amount of combat that adds up to at least an “easy” encounter? reasoning that a trivial encounter is more akin to swatting a mosquito than fending off a burglar?). I just don’t think it’s what the words written in the book actually say.
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