How do you protect your sleeping character?

[Pax]

If you have spellcasters who need to take watches, remember, you an camp for more than 8 hours. Four characetrs, two of whom need to rest to regain spells?

Camp for 12 hours. 3-hour watches, in order:

Spellcaster
Nonspellcaster
Nonspellcaster
Spellcaster

Everyone gets NINE hours of sleep, while never having noone on watch; both spellcasters get nine hours of UNBROKEN sleep, which is very desireable on their part.

 

[Cedric]

If you have spellcasters who need to take watches, remember, you an camp for more than 8 hours. Four characetrs, two of whom need to rest to regain spells?

Camp for 12 hours. 3-hour watches, in order:

Spellcaster
Nonspellcaster
Nonspellcaster
Spellcaster

Everyone gets NINE hours of sleep, while never having noone on watch; both spellcasters get nine hours of UNBROKEN sleep, which is very desireable on their part.

I like the way you think!!

 

[Legildur]

In my tabletop game, our party has a system in place. Usually we have a minimum of 6 characters to base it around. Sometimes more (NPCs, familiars, animal companions) and sometimes less (unconscious or otherwise helpless characters).

We figure on a basic 9-hour watch period and break that into 3 watches. The watch order is then organised around classes, races (vision in particular) and Listen and Spot check modifiers.

The basic aim is to try and balance the various abilities:

Vision - split Darkvision able characters across watches, use Low-Light Vision capable characters as a back-up.

Listen and Spot checks - partner high check modifier characters with low.

Elves - make the pointy-eared fairies pull double stag.

Classes - try and balance it so that there is at least one warrior type (fully armored) on each watch.

Other hints - Druid's have access to the Dawn spell. While it won't act as early warning or the like, it does wake everyone up quickly.

Try and keep light hidden (except if you don't have any humanoid types) but available at a moment's notice.

 

[Zaruthustran]

The other unfortunate problem of sleeping in the outdoors, is the need to leave a light of some kind going, or run a high risk of being devoured in your sleep by a grue. Admittedly, this can happen just as well if you lose your light source and can't see in the dark while you're awake, but it's much worse in your sleep.

This can be reduced somewhat by sleeping in trees, which keeps off a number of other things, and possibly may keep away grues. I don't think grues climb very well.

But what would you use for light? Some kind of battered brass lamp?

 

[iwatt]

Get an elf ranger... for only those 4 hours of trance. He can take care of most of the guard shifts.

Get nocturnal companions and familiars. Nothing sneaks againsat an Owl Familiar. Wolves get scent.

In my group, we have the following memebers: Human Cleric, Human Fighter, Human Wizard, Elf Ranger, Half-Elf Rogue. The guards work like this:

Human-Cleric (3 hours) includes the time setting camp.
Human-Fighter (3 Hours)
Elf Ranger (6 hours)

Our wizard we let sleep, because he does the cooking and cleaning
Our Rogue, sleeps tied up and hanging from a tree. We don't trust him even a 10'th of th distance we can throw him, cause we can throw him pretty far. (3 characters with Str 16+) .

Actually, the rogue usually guards with the fighter.

The ranger doesn't feel he's taken advantage. If you're going to be attacked at night, wouldn't you rather be the one awake?

P.S. Always sleep in Armor. If you wear plate mail, get some chainshirts as pijamas.