D&D 5E What interupts a long rest?

[clearstream]

Ooh, interesting. The top two results I get when I search Long Rest in D&D Beyond have different wordings.

I found the same problem. It seems many sources we could reasonably assume would be up to date, aren't. Let's focus on "no more than". I contend that no more than includes less than.

 

[Rune]

Perhaps that is what they wanted to clarify. That a long rest requires N hours of sleep. That was where I started this line of discussion from.

I actually had it in my memory that long rests technically don’t require sleep. I hadn’t noticed the errata until I looked it up today. But even my memory of the old text wasn’t quite right.

 

[MarkB]

I found the same problem. It seems many sources we could reasonably assume would be up to date, aren't. Let's focus on "no more than". I contend that no more than includes less than.

Sure, but I've always interpreted that as meaning that you can split your resting time between sleep and light activity, so long as the light activity doesn't take up more than two hours of it - so, for instance, you could sleep for 7 hours and do 1 hour of light activity. Prior to this thread I've never seen it interpreted as letting you do non-light activity as part of those two hours.

 

[Charlaquin]

So taking the RAI to be that up to an hour of fighting doesn't interrupt the rest, what does that mean?

1. When I rest, I must sleep or perform up to and no more than 2 hours of light activity. The implication is that I must sleep for 6 hours.
2. I can perform up to an hour of fighting, marching, casting spells. Seeing as I must sleep for 6 hours, the implication is that this will take the place of an hour of light activity.
3. The RAI allows a party to start a long rest, and then continue adventuring for up to an hour.
4. The 6 hours sleep can come anywhere in that 8 hours.

Because of that, where the RAI lands is that a long rest is 6 hours sleep.

@Ancalagon @Maxperson @Charlaquin to whom that may be of interest.

Not quite. A long rest is a period of at least 8 hours during which the characters sleep for at least 6 hours, engage in light activity for up to 2 hours, and engage in other activity for no more than 1 hour. There are different ways you can configure your time engaging in these various types of activities, but they have to total 8 hours, not exceed 1 hour of total of adventuring and 2 hours total of light activity, and must include at least 6 hours of sleeping.

So, can the party declare that they’re starting a long rest and then just continue adventuring? Sure, but if they are still adventuring over an hour later, if they don’t sleep for at least 6 of the next 8 hours, or if they spend more than 2 of the next 8 hours doing non-adventuring, non-sleeping activity, they won’t be able to finish the rest and gain it’s benefits.

 

[clearstream]

Sure, but I've always interpreted that as meaning that you can split your resting time between sleep and light activity, so long as the light activity doesn't take up more than two hours of it - so, for instance, you could sleep for 7 hours and do 1 hour of light activity. Prior to this thread I've never seen it interpreted as letting you do non-light activity as part of those two hours.

I'm not saying that your interpretation is unreasonable. I hope that is clear? I'm really just getting at what's allowed by the rule if taken per RAI. It's allowed to spend only one hour in light activity (or less, if desired). Therefore I can fit in my less than an hour of adventuring while still "resting".

 

[MarkB]

I'm not saying that your interpretation is unreasonable. I hope that is clear? I'm really just getting at what's allowed by the rule if taken per RAI. It's allowed to spend only one hour in light activity (or less, if desired). Therefore I can fit in my less than an hour of adventuring while still "resting".

Yeah, I get it. I think we just disagree regarding the intent. To me, the "no more than 2 hours of light activity" is a holdover from when the amount of sleeping wasn't defined, and was a way of saying "okay, you can do some minor active stuff during your rest, but only for up to two hours - the rest of the time you're supposed to be, at the very least, laid down and resting, and preferably actually sleeping." It's a limitation on how much of your rest you can dedicate to activities, not a permission to include other non-restful activities in your eight hours.

 

[Charlaquin]

Ooh, interesting. The top two results I get when I search Long Rest in D&D Beyond have different wordings.

The version in Rick and Morty is just the pre-errata version of the text. Rick and Morty must have missed the errata somehow.

 

[clearstream]

Not quite. A long rest is a period of at least 8 hours during which the characters sleep for at least 6 hours, engage in light activity for up to 2 hours, and engage in other activity for no more than 1 hour. There are different ways you can configure your time engaging in these various types of activities, but they have to total 8 hours, not exceed 1 hour of total of adventuring and 2 hours total of light activity, and must include at least 6 hours of sleeping.

So, can the party declare that they’re starting a long rest and then just continue adventuring? Sure, but if they are still adventuring over an hour later, if they don’t sleep for at least 6 of the next 8 hours, or if they spend more than 2 of the next 8 hours doing non-adventuring, non-sleeping activity, they won’t be able to finish the rest and gain it’s benefits.

So perhaps you can see that for some, adventuring is not resting. No amount of adventuring should be able to occur, while resting.

 

[clearstream]

Yeah, I get it. I think we just disagree regarding the intent. To me, the "no more than 2 hours of light activity" is a holdover from when the amount of sleeping wasn't defined, and was a way of saying "okay, you can do some minor active stuff during your rest, but only for up to two hours - the rest of the time you're supposed to be, at the very least, laid down and resting, and preferably actually sleeping." It's a limitation on how much of your rest you can dedicate to activities, not a permission to include other non-restful activities in your eight hours.

Well, if your party is using 2 hour watches, then no amount of fighting etc can occur (that involves the whole party) without extending the rest (because the watchers all also need 6 hour sleeps). So there is a common case in which what you prefer can emerge from play. Just so long as they are not all elves... or watch-elves, as they ought to rightly be known.

 

[Charlaquin]

Ok, here is the complete up-to-date text on the long rest:

A Long Rest is a period of extended downtime, at least 8 hours long, during which a character sleeps or performs light activity: reading, talking, eating, or standing watch for no more than 2 hours. If the rest is interrupted by a period of strenuous activity—at least 1 hour of walking, fighting, casting spells, or similar adventuring activity—the characters must begin the rest again to gain any benefit from it.

We have established that, as per Jeremy Crawford’s clarification and the wording in the playtest, walking, fighting, and casting spells, are all part of the category “adventuring activity.” A long rest is a period of 8 hours during which you sleep for at least 6 hours and perform light activity for no more than 2. An interruption of an hour or longer of adventuring activity also forces you to restart the rest.

Now, let’s suppose a party of adventurers sleeps for 3 hours, wakes up and begins adventuring for 59 minutes, goes back to sleep for 3 more hours, wakes up and spends 61 minutes reading. Has this party completed a long rest? Let’s check.

Has the period been at least 8 hours long? Yes.
Has it included at least 6 hours of sleep? Yes.
Has it included more than 2 hours of light activity? No.
Has it been interrupted by at least an hour of adventuring activity? No.

My conclusion would be that this adventuring party has indeed completed a long rest, as the RAW defines it.