Are there official rules for "lack of sleep"?

[Sonofapreacherman]

I know there are fatigue rules caused by forced marching and the like, but what about lack of sleep? Is it right under my nose in one of the core rulebooks and I just missed it?

Kolja

 

[PaulGreystoke]

I know there are fatigue rules caused by forced marching and the like, but what about lack of sleep? Is it right under my nose in one of the core rulebooks and I just missed it?

Kolja

Yes. IIRC you can find it under the rules for sleeping in armor under the Endurance feat. A character that does not get a good night's sleep is fatigued. The penalties for fatigue are -2 STR & -2 DEX & the character cannot run or charge. A fatigued character who does anything that would normally induce fatigue instead becomes exhausted. 8 hours of complete rest removes the fatigued condition from the character, as do Lesser Restoration, Restoration, Greater Restoration, & Heal.

 

[Sonofapreacherman]

Thanks Paul. But how about plain old regular "lack of sleep" (having nothing to do with armor)?

 

[kwiqsilver]

If a character doesn't get a "good night's sleep", he is fatigued, as PaulGreystoke pointed out.

 

[Camarath]

If a character doesn't get a "good night's sleep", he is fatigued, as PaulGreystoke pointed out.

Could you please post a rule that states that? I can not find such a rule.

 

[Olive]

Could you please post a rule that states that? I can not find such a rule.

It's already been pointed out: under the endurance feat. It's also in the SRD under conditions:

Fatigued: A fatigued character can neither run nor charge and takes a –2 penalty to Strength and Dexterity. Doing anything that would normally cause fatigue causes the fatigued character to become exhausted. After 8 hours of complete rest, fatigued characters are no longer fatigued.

 

[PaulGreystoke]

Could you please post a rule that states that? I can not find such a rule.

Neither can I. As far as I know there isn't one. That's why I referenced the info from the Endurance feat. But I think you can infer the rule from the rules on sleeping in armor.

PHB p. 122 "Sleeping in armor: A character who sleeps in medium or heavy armor is automatically fatigued the next day. He or she takes a -2 penalty on Strength and Dexterity and can't charge or run. Sleeping in light armor does not cause fatigue."

The rule says that sleeping in non-light armor causes fatigue, while sleeping in light armor does not. A rules lawyer might argue that to avoid fatigue a character can choose to sleep in light armor or choose not to sleep at all, as only sleeping in non-light armor incurs fatigue by the RAW. But I think the intent is that the fatigue is caused by not getting a good rest (as a result of wearing non-light armor) & the sentence about light armor clarifies that sleeping in light armor qualifies as good rest. Otherwise by the RAW only wizards need to rest - & they need do so only to be able to prepare spells. If they chose not to do so, they could go without rest 24/7 like every other class - which is ludicrous.

 

[Felix]

There is a little bit here:

Forced March: In a day of normal walking, a character walks for 8 hours. The rest of the daylight time is spent making and breaking camp, resting, and eating.
A character can walk for more than 8 hours in a day by making a forced march. For each hour of marching beyond 8 hours, a Constitution check (DC 10, +2 per extra hour) is required. If the check fails, the character takes 1d6 points of nonlethal damage. A character who takes any nonlethal damage from a forced march becomes fatigued. Eliminating the nonlethal damage also eliminates the fatigue. It’s possible for a character to march into unconsciousness by pushing himself too hard.

Of course, a rules lawyer would say that resting does not have to include 8 hours of sleep. A person resting by a tree is entitled to a Spot check, while a sleeping person isn't. These rules make no specific distinction twixt at rest and sleeping. It seems that the game designers have relied on players and DM's sensibilities to determine how much sleep a character must have. 8 hours is the standard, while many people can operate for a very long time on 6 hours a night, or some very few as little as 3 hours a night (my uncle Bob).

But I'd give a wry eye to any player claiming his character didn't need to sleep ever.

 

[PaulGreystoke]

Of course, a rules lawyer would say that resting does not have to include 8 hours of sleep. A person resting by a tree is entitled to a Spot check, while a sleeping person isn't. These rules make no specific distinction twixt at rest and sleeping. It seems that the game designers have relied on players and DM's sensibilities to determine how much sleep a character must have. 8 hours is the standard, while many people can operate for a very long time on 6 hours a night, or some very few as little as 3 hours a night (my uncle Bob).

But I'd give a wry eye to any player claiming his character didn't need to sleep ever.

Agreed. Since the RAW is silent about how much rest characters need, it might be instructive to review the rules for wizards, who do need to rest in order to prepare spells.

PHB p. 178 "Rest: To prepare her daily spells, a wizrd must have a clear mind. To clear her mind, she must first sleep for 8 hours. The wizard does not have to slumber for every minute of the time, but she must refrain from movement, combat, spellcasting, skill use, conversation, or any other fairly demanding physical or mental task during the rest period. [snip - about interrupted rest] If the character does need to sleep for some reason, she still must have 8 hours of restful calm before preparing any spells."

I would think that the wizard's rest requirement is the most rigorous of any character class. Since a wizard does not have to sleep for 8 hours, I doubt that any other class would need to do so. But it is up to the DM just how much sleep or "restful calm" a character needs in order to avoid being fatigued.

 

[Camarath]

It's already been pointed out: under the endurance feat. It's also in the SRD under conditions:

Endurance feat says nothing about the consequences of not sleeping or resting and neither does the quote you provided. Kwiqsilver claimed that "If a character doesn't get a "good night's sleep", he is fatigued" and I was asking if he knew of an actual rule that stated that (i.e. no rest = fatigued). I have looked for such a rule in the past and have not found any such rule. I believe that by the RAW one does not need to rest unless one wishes to gain the benefits of resting (spell preparation, healing, removal of fatigue). One can extrapolate out some guidelines for penalties for failing to rest out of some of the existing rules but the RAW do not provide any such penalties.