Lack of sleep and running

[Telperion]

I'm planning on running a session where I will use Preychasers. These are wilddogs, that have a special ability to cause Fear effects on those who hear their howling.

The plan is that the Praychasers will hound the group for 5 - 8 days in a row. The Preychasers will be using their howling to keep the party awake during nighttime and stop spell casters from resting properly. And because the Preychasers' howl causes a Fear effect everyone who hears it must make a Will save to avoid becoming panicked for 2d6 rounds.

Once a panicked character, animal companion or horse runs away from the party the Preychasers will pursue him/it until him/it drops from exhaustion. Then they will eat the character / animal companion / horse.

Now, I'm really surprised that I can't seem to find rules for "lack of sleep", "exhaustion" or "running and exhaustion". There's a line in the PHB that states that characters can run for as many rounds as the has Constution score. Then he must rest for a minute before continuing. Well, what happens when a panicked target tries to run beyond his capacity to run? It should affect his combat abilities, and make him fatigued or even exhausted. I just can't find the rules, so could someone help me with this?

 

[Darklone]

I simply treat them as fatigued for that minute... though I don't have rules support here.

 

[MarauderX]

I seem to recall that characters that go without sleep for a night are automatically fatigued. I also think that you can run for a number of rounds equal to your constitution score at 4x speed, and after that a fortitude DC check needs to be made, starting at 10 and increasing by 1 each round. Once you miss the DC you are limited to 2x movement... unless my memory is recalling 3.0E.

I run a similar adventure for 1-shots that involves running from some pack animals for days back to civilization and it's great for some horror gaming. I use some of my own mechanics for running, no sleep, and fatigue, to quell the players that think their PCs are impervious machines that can operate 24-7 without rest.

 

[Camarath]

I seem to recall that characters that go without sleep for a night are automatically fatigued.

I believe that you are probably recalling a house rule since no one has ever been able to provide rule support for that assertion in any of the threads we have had on that subject.

 

[scholz]

I believe the belief in fatigue after lack of sleep is derived from the rules about wearing medium armor. Characters can sleep in light armor without penalty, but if they try to sleep in medium or heavy armor they are fatigued.

This is huge lacuna in the D&D rules. There are several rules which seem to suggest features of sleep and rest but none are well connected to the others. However, it is difficult to make good rules that are not overly complicated.

ENDURANCE [GENERAL]
Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus on the following checks and saves: Swim checks made to resist nonlethal damage, Constitution checks made to continue running, Constitution checks made to avoid nonlethal damage from a forced march, Constitution checks made to hold your breath, Constitution checks made to avoid nonlethal damage from starvation or thirst, Fortitude saves made to avoid nonlethal damage from hot or cold environments, and Fortitude saves made to resist damage from suffocation. Also, you may sleep in light or medium armor without becoming fatigued.

Normal: A character without this feat who sleeps in medium or heavier armor is automatically fatigued the next day.

Special: A ranger automatically gains Endurance as a bonus feat at 3rd level. He need not select it.

OVERLAND MOVEMENT
Characters covering long distances cross-country use overland movement. Overland movement is measured in miles per hour or miles per day. A day represents 8 hours of actual travel time. For rowed watercraft, a day represents 10 hours of rowing. For a sailing ship, it represents 24 hours.

Walk: A character can walk 8 hours in a day of travel without a problem. Walking for longer than that can wear him or her out (see Forced March, below).

Hustle: A character can hustle for 1 hour without a problem. Hustling for a second hour in between sleep cycles deals 1 point of nonlethal damage, and each additional hour deals twice the damage taken during the previous hour of hustling. A character who takes any nonlethal damage from hustling becomes fatigued.

A fatigued character can’t run or charge and takes a penalty of –2 to Strength and Dexterity. Eliminating the nonlethal damage also eliminates the fatigue.

Run: A character can’t run for an extended period of time.

Attempts to run and rest in cycles effectively work out to a hustle.

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.

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.

These are rules taken form the SRD. I would guess that the following rule could be synthesized.

If you run for more than one minute (10 rounds) you must make a Constitution check DC 10 +2/additional round. If you fail, you take 1 point of nonlethal damage and are fatigued (and since you are fatigued you cannot run). If you do something that would fatigue you from that standpoint (like hustle for more than an hour) then you become exhausted.

 

[Telperion]

Okay, thanks for the input. Since there doesn't seem to be a decent answer in the D&D system as it is I'll take this conversation over to House Rules.