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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Zaruthustran" data-source="post: 6403490" data-attributes="member: 1457">Someone else mentioned the tedium of setting up camp. Personally I *love* working out logistics, but it's important to respect the time of everyone at the table. So I strongly encourage you to ask your players to spend time on a single set of Standard Operating Procedures for "setting up camp." That way, the time is spent *once*, and there's never any question of how the camp was set up.For your specific questions:2) I agree that nearby, consistent shouting ("Alarm! Alarm! We're under attack! Wake up! To arms!") should automatically wake up sleepers. Certainly, a whistle should be auto-success (and whoever is on watch should have a whistle). But perhaps a single shout should be a DC 20 Perception check.3) As others have pointed out, Alarm is a Ritual spell. The party wizard should spend an hour casting this 6 times, and create two perimeters (far and immediate). Hey, it gets him out of cooking and latrine-digging duty.4) I've slept in chain, and I've slept in plate. Chain is easy: it's like sleeping under a heavy blanket. Kind of comfortable, actually. Sleeping in plate sucks. If you're tired enough you can do it, but no one would *want* to. For game mechanics I suggest allowing sleep in light or medium armor with no adverse effects if you're proficient in it. But sleeping in heavy armor two nights in a row introduces one level of exhaustion (but you get the other benefits of a long rest, such as refreshing abilities and such). Keep in mind that anyone in heavy armor is a tough (to meet min Str requirements) professional soldier (proficiency) in a dangerous area who relies on that armor to protect his or her life. They'll put up with discomfort, temporarily.5) Trance used to be "fully alert" in the playtest, but now I see it's a "deep meditation." I'd treat that as awake, but disadvantage on Perception checks. So they'd definitely notice if someone walked into camp, or the moon turns bright pink, or whatever. But anything non-obvious--anything that requires a roll, such as detecting a sneaking creature--has disadvantage.6)  Familiars are magical creatures. Specifically, fey or fiends. Do fey and fiends need to sleep in your campaign?7) Develop a Standard Operating Procedure for camp. I suggest: two people on watch with whistles (or one person + elf and/or familiar), layered Alarm spells, a pre-planned escape route and two rally points near ("that standing stone 200 yards away") and far ("the old mill an hour down the road"), sleeping in armor, clever use of Prestidigitation (you can instantly light or douse your campfire, as needed). And some general notions on who cooks, who gathers wood, what state do you leave the camp in (do you try to conceal that you were there, or just pack and go), and so on. This will help the DM figure out how easy it is to track you, and who gets plucked by sprites while hunting kindling.And don't neglect page 157 and 159 of the PHB. 25gp buys you a guard dog with +3 Perception, and Advantage on hearing and smell checks. 2gp/day will hire a dedicated watchman.</blockquote>

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