Can you sleep in armour with no penalty?

[jimmifett]

Pretty sure dudes who murderize eye tyrants and bugbears can sleep in a bit of metal.

Also, I rarely if ever do night raids.

I don't sleep.
Several hours each night I meditate on murderizing eye tyrants and bugbears.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

just keep in mind that if you do utilize some sort of mechanic/system for sleeping in armor penalty / requirements, then you have a situation where your "armor classes" (fighters, paladins, even rogues) have a game mechanics that affects/penalizes them a lot more than the "caster classes" (wizards, monks, sorcerers). Which may very well be justifiable. Just be aware of that side effect in case it is something you want to take in to consideration.

I normaly throw easy soft balls for encoutners at 'ambush'

like a 9th level party being attacked by 3rd and 4th level kobolds...or the most fun I had, a level-3 or 4 solo... yea put a dragon against a party with no equipment ready and watch them flip... then expect ALOT of bragging when they win.

 

[Geffor]

Results of experimentation !

Just thought people might like to know my experience of putting on and sleeping in armour. Please note that I am a human being and not a fictional hero so this shouldn't affect game mechanics if you're happy with the results you get (and there are some good suggestions here).

The primary criteria I found was flexibility and padding. The more flexible and padded the armour, the easier it was to sleep/rest in. This means that the cuir-boulli armour I tried (Hide?) was less comfortable than plate because it was just as rigid and didn't have the same level of padding underneath. A softer leather armour had the flexibility but suffered from the fact that there was very little padding and the wretched buckles dug in somewhere whichever way I lay down!

The most comfortable armour I have slept in is mail (chainmail), this benefits from a nice padded jack underneath, great flexibility and no buckles (provided it's a one piece hauberk of course!). The least comfortable was Lorica Segmentata.

Finally a little thought putting armour on. While it is possible to dress yourself in most armours (except those which buckle/lace down the back), this is a slow process especially for the rigid armours. To get into a full Milanese harness within 5 minutes requires two squires who know what they're doing

 

[Saeviomagy]

This seems to be a really, really common topic, and pretty much every single time most GMs weighing in seem to want to punish half their players, and everyone who ever joins the conversation who's actually slept in heavy armor says "it's not really that bad, no worse than roughing it would normally be".

Now given that heroes don't suffer any penalties from being having been stabbed, shot, beaten, having fire breathed over them and being dissolved in pits of acid the previous day it seems silly that a night of roughing it would consume a surge or inflict a penalty.

 

[Journeymanmage]

This seems to be a really, really common topic, and pretty much every single time most GMs weighing in seem to want to punish half their players, and everyone who ever joins the conversation who's actually slept in heavy armor says "it's not really that bad, no worse than roughing it would normally be".

Now given that heroes don't suffer any penalties from being having been stabbed, shot, beaten, having fire breathed over them and being dissolved in pits of acid the previous day it seems silly that a night of roughing it would consume a surge or inflict a penalty.

^^ That right there.

Similar to Geffor's post, I've slept in hard-leather armor and chain mail. The leather armor was more of a pain than the chain mail. Trying to sleep in armor is not as comfortable as just sleeping in your "standard mode", but it didn't cause any 'extra' fatigue the next day.

As Saeviomagy points out, the people wearing the heavy armor are the people who are getting, stabbed, bashed, smashed, breathed on, pummeled, etc., etc. ... and they keep going back for more. The Heroes are people who are sleeping out in the wild under rock ledges in the middle of winter, with only a single blanket, wondering if those are common wolves howling in the distance or an army of Goblins and Worgs on their trail.

Could the Heroes smell a bit after a few days or weeks in their armor? I don't think the smell of sweaty leather is the smell to be worried about ... try the dried blood, bits of monster flesh and necrotic body parts the pcs are carrying around. Also remember, unless you have a Roman-esk setting, it's unlikely that anyone bathes that often anyways ... and forget such niceties as running water to wash your hands after answering nature. ("I can't believe it, he doesn't know about the three sea shells")

 

[Unwise]

...got at most 2-3 hour of restless sleep and then climbed Half-Dome. I obviously did not lose half of my total life force as a result of this awful night of sleep. I was darn exhausted though and if I were forced to do it again the next night, I would probably have become seriously ill and unable to function. On the other hand, I am not a legendary hero with super-human strength either...

My post might not have been clear sorry. In my game PCs only 'recover' half of their healing surges eg they had lost 4, they regain 2 if they sleep in armor, or have any other sort of bad rest, like when they tried to rest too close to a Banshees lair and the noise tormented their sleep, or when they made bad survival roles in the snow. In the case of an otherwise healthy person, their maximum healing surges just drops by one. It is not a big deal until you do it a lot of nights in a row.

A knight or paladin may well decide that they will sleep in their armor when on campaign in potentially dangerous areas. That is a choice they make that has a minor downside. All it takes is one good nights rest and they are fine again. In my current game, the knight often sleeps in his armor, but it is a choice with consequences each time, not a default. It is making it a default that is really 'gamey' imo.

 

[Pheonix0114]

My favorite thing about this issue: it is one more area where the swordmage has many advantages over other defenders. If we assume they can sleep in light armor with no penalty while sleeping in heavy armor gives one, and if we say that a character that sleeps clutching a weapon is a paranoid one, the swordmage is the perfect answer. He stands up in his leather, uses swordbond to pull his sword to his hand, and is then ready while the paladin is fumbling with buckles and straps.