D&D 5E Camping Equipment Required for Long Rest Houserule

If we going for realism, on the extreme hot either add sun shade or bug netting or sun tan lotion.

Oofta said:

I just get tired of people adding in things for "realism" when it's not justified and when they have no clue or it's just silly. Who the heck needs a blanket when it's 80 degrees like the chart a few posts up?

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Edited above. I wasn’t sure where to put that, but I just looked up that heat loss from radiation and conduction doesn’t occur until 68 degrees, which is in the middle of “mild” conditions.

My goal here isn’t realism per se. It’s to have the few items on the equipment list matter for the purpose of driving a role playing decision point with reference to encumbrance.

Oofta said:

I've slept in a snow shelter, it was comfy even though the temperature dipped to sub zero at night.

On the other hand you do need to know how to make one which is why I was recommending a survival check in my first post.

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Yes, I’d ask for a Survival check to build a shelter if materials were available, but I wouldn’t want to get into asking for a check every time someone tries to rest as some posters have recommended. My goal is some simple rules that establish the minimum gear required to benefit from a rest under certain conditions which you either have, because you’ve allocated some of your limited carrying capacity, or you don’t.

It does more than just drive a roleplaying decision point for encumbrance IMO. There's a whole range of decision points around resting that you get by going this route. A party might have to drive on rather when resting exactly when they'd like because they lack equipment, that sort of thing.

Hriston said:

Edited above. I wasn’t sure where to put that, but I just looked up that heat loss from radiation and conduction doesn’t occur until 68 degrees, which is in the middle of “mild” conditions.

My goal here isn’t realism per se. It’s to have the few items on the equipment list matter for the purpose of driving a role playing decision point with reference to encumbrance.


Yes, I’d ask for a Survival check to build a shelter if materials were available, but I wouldn’t want to get into asking for a check every time someone tries to rest as some posters have recommended. My goal is some simple rules that establish the minimum gear required to benefit from a rest under certain conditions which you either have, because you’ve allocated some of your limited carrying capacity, or you don’t.

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I get it, I guess. But survival gear is going to add, what 20 lbs per person? Maybe? Then become even less relevant once the caster can cast Tiny Hut. In the meantime all you're applying is a minor GP/weight tax. The biggest things I've had to worry about when backpacking were food, water, cooking gear, not tent and sleeping bag.

I get what you're trying to do, but there are some things D&D just doesn't do very well. If I were to go down this road I'd want something a little more dynamic which yes would mean a bit more complex.

You can always try it out, worst case it just becomes some extra overhead that needs to be tracked. But unless you have a means of removing equipment or limit supplies it just seems like minor overhead and paperwork.

Although I guess it might give people a reason to not dump strength, play dwarves or hire a henchman to carry gear.

Flamestrike said:

How was that even a question that came up?

I cant imagine going camping and thinking to myself 'would there be a benefit to sleeping in a tent and a sleeping bag, or should I just lie in the mud?'

Just slap them with a level of exahaustion, tell them how miserable their night was, troll them for not bringing a sleeping bag or tent camping, and get on with the game.

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It was part of a “session 0” where I pointed out that most of them were encumbered, so we were a little ahead of the characters actually committing to sleeping in the rough with no supplies, and I wanted to give them the opportunity to make an informed decision.

Encumbrance is the answer to dumping STR, that's for sure. That and, oddly, all my treasure troves morph into much larger piles of SP. Wacky how that happens.

How often can you discuss this in game before it becomes more work than fun?

Fenris-77 said:

Encumbrance is the answer to dumping STR, that's for sure. That and, oddly, all my treasure troves morph into much larger piles of SP. Wacky how that happens.

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Bah. Back in the day we had copper pieces! When that wasn't heavy enough we went with iron drabs and rocks! Heavy rocks! That weren't worth anything but we had to carry them anyway because that's just what we did.

Oofta said:

Bah. Back in the day we had copper pieces! When that wasn't heavy enough we went with iron drabs and rocks! Heavy rocks! That weren't worth anything but we had to carry them anyway because that's just what we did.

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Uphill both ways to the dungeon!

Fenris-77 said:

Uphill both ways to the dungeon!

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Fighting off owlbears with our spiral ring notebook. Oh, and we kept eggs in our gloves to keep them from freezing! But they turned out to really be rot grub eggs that ate us instead! 'Cuz we knew that our characters were disposable and made of tissue paper and hope.

Ah, the good old days.