Falling Asleep

[WhatGravitas]

As far as I know, there are no core rules for falling asleep or staying up too long.

I've done my own little system:

After 24 hours without sleep, a character becomes fatigued and must make a Constitution check for every hour (DC 5 + 1/previous check).
If he fails a check, he becomes exhausted, and continues to make checks. If he fail another check, he falls unconscious (falls asleep) for hours equal the number of checks he made. If he is waked before, he is exhausted and continues to make checks as before, but the DC is reduced by 1 for each full hour of sleep he had.

What do you think? Has someone better rules? Any other tips/ideas/criticism?

 

[Raven Crowking]

The longest I have been awake before falling asleep was approximately 3 days. Under your system, after the first 24 hours I would have to make Con checks every hour....i.e., at least 24 Con checks by the end of the second day, and at least another 12-15 Con checks before I passed out (this was in the glory days of my youth, on a long weekend at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana). So, say, a conservative total of 39 hours sleep required before I am not exhausted?

In real life, I slept about 3 hours then a friend woke me up to go and do something else. After an initial period of grogginess (lasting maybe an hour, memory is fuzzy here) I was good to go for another 6-8 hours.

So I would say, consider making Con checks at 4-hour intervals if the character is active (it is easier to stay awake doing stuff), or 30-minute intervals if not (hard to keep watch; Concentration checks might be appropriate here). Once the character sleeps, require 8 hours of sleep for the first 24 hours, plus another hour sleep per 8 hours thereafter (this means, for example, that my sleep requirment should have been about 13 hours).

If the character is awakened early, he is fatigued, but is allowed a Con check each hour to "throw the condition off", becoming alert again. However, he must then make a Con check each hour to avoid becoming fatigued, then exhausted, then asleep.

 

[Rothe]

Check out what U.S. Navy Seals go through in training, or probably any other elite military force. You'd be surprised how little sleep those in superb shape need and still function in combat. Of course maybe D&D has a version of "go pills"

 

[Piratecat]

As a sleep and alertness expert in real life, let me say that you definitely want to emulate, and not simulate, fatigue in D&D. In other words, don't worry about getting it perfect. Something that "feels right" is certainly good enough.

If you want to give a nod to realism, for someone used to a normal (daytime) schedule, sunlight would give a circumstance bonus for staying awake and darkness would give a circumstance penalty; those early hours of the morning (2-5am) would give a great big one.

You don't need to make up lost sleep on a 1:1 basis. Even after extreme lack of sleep, getting 8-10 hours is enough to pretty much push you back to normal alertness.

Check out what U.S. Navy Seals go through in training, or probably any other elite military force. You'd be surprised how little sleep those in superb shape need and still function in combat.

They're trained how to react and compensate for little sleep, and how to grab sleep in catnaps when possible (something that works really well!) but the need for sleep is physiological and can't be trained away. Performance degredates astoundingly quickly when soldiers go without sleep. In fact, staying up for 24 hours gives an equivalent reaction and performance time as someone who is legally drunk.

The National Sleep Foundation website has all kinds of cool information. http://www.sleepfoundation.org/

 

[ceratitis]

Check out what U.S. Navy Seals go through in training, or probably any other elite military force. You'd be surprised how little sleep those in superb shape need and still function in combat. Of course maybe D&D has a version of "go pills"

just nit picking here... while under combat conditions nothing can be promised under 'normal' training everyone, and i do mean everyone regardless of physic, must sleep at least 6 hours a day or they will start devaleping a condition called "shin splints", if untreated (simply by rest) when it hits grade 5 your bones are so weak its as if you broke them not to mention the abominal pains you go through first. at this point treatment is a cast on both and bed rest for 4-8 weeks.
they put you through hell for a few days at a time and training is tough all through but if you want your men to be combat worthy by the end of training you give them 6 hr of sleep a day as often as possible.
Z

 

[Piratecat]

[hijack] I'm almost positive that shin splints have nothing at all to do with sufficient rest, other than the fact that your body's immune system takes a big hit when you're fatigued. Shin splints come from repeated shocks (such as jogging), not simply from getting insufficient sleep.

I agree, though, that a tired combatant is a less efficient combatant -- whether fantasy or real.

So as not to hijack, if anyone wants to discuss sleep and fatigue, lets start a thread in the OT forum. [/hijack]

 

[Nyaricus]

PirateCat, he whom never ceases to amaze

 

[WhatGravitas]

So, the new version:

After 24 hours without sleep, a character becomes fatigued and must make a Constitution check for every 4 hours (DC 5 + 1/previous check).
If he fails a check, he becomes exhausted, and continues to make checks. If he fail another check, he falls unconscious (falls asleep) for hours equal the number of checks he made to a maximum of 12 hours.
If he is waked before, he is fatigued and continues to make checks as before, but the DC is reduced by 1 for each full hour of sleep he had.

If the character is in a well-lit area (like daylight), he gets a +2 circumstance bonus on the checks
If he is in shadowy or darker illumination, he gets a -2 circumstance penalty on the checks.

 

[Lokar]

Yeah I'm pretty sure the thing about shin split is false, I on average sleep roughly 4-5 hours a day for weeks if not months at a time. (My sleep schedual is pretty screwy ). Though I can certainly feel the drain most of the time, I remain about as alert and active as I do in normal situations. (Though I suppose I could be wrong on this... after all I can't remember the last time I slept normaly!)

Also being a night owl myself I can personaly say that light or dark really has no effect on my sleeping patterns, I sleep in bright conditions just as well as I do in dark. There should be room for adjustment on the circumstance penalty. For instance if the player has spent the last few months more active at night and less during the day they shouldn't suffer the same penalty in the dark (though I don't think they should receive the bonus for darkness ether, I can't think of a time darkness has helped keep me awake ) Or perhaps you could offer it as some kind of feat.

[General]Night Owl
Benefit: Someone with the Night Owl feat receives a +2 cirrcumstance bonus on checks to become exhausted or to fall asleep due to lack of sleep while in shadowy or darker illumination.
Normal:Someone without the Night Owl feet receives a -2 circumstance penalty to become exhausted or to fall asleep due to lack of sleep while in shadowy or darker illumination.

Maybe it's a bit weak for a feat, but it's an idea

[SIZE=-2]Edit: Wow typoed feat into feet twice.. I'm not sure what one would do with Night Owl feet, but I imagine they wouldn't sleep well if the rest of them wasn't a creature of the night [/SIZE]

 

[ceratitis]

when i was reering to shin splints i was thinking of combat training so one would be running and taking hits and all. in order to allow the body to repair this damage one needs sleep. sorry for the misunderstanding. i didnt mean night owls get shin splints.
Z

btw- the feat would be nice as a bonus for good role playing or something.