Resting in the dungeon

[SuperFlyTNT]

OK, my pc's decide to rest any time they are out of spells, one of them is low on hp etc etc... I dont think its too tough for them to get through a single dungeon crawl with napping two or three times. I mean its annoying and frustrating to me. My dungeons arent to hard they just want to play it really safe. How do I deal with this?

 

[Corsair]

And that is why god invented wandering monsters. Especially intelligent wandering monsters who are curious as to why the normally openable doorway is now closed and jammed shut, and will soon investigate, along with a half-dozen of their toothy-mawed best friends.

 

[Dark Jezter]

If the group needs a safe place to sleep in the dungeon, your party's wizard only needs to know two words:

Rope Trick

 

[Trainz]

If they decide to rest IN the dungeon, then quite often (depending on that particular dungeon ecology) they will be bugged during their resting time, maybe to dire levels.

If they decide to rest outside, then quite often whoever lives in there will either seek out the PC's outside wherever they're resting, reinforce the lair for an eventual PC return (but not to the point where PC's have to redo from scratch every room they already explored), or maybe both.

Of course, some dungeons simply do not have that type of interaction, such as some dungeons completely inhabited by constructs who are just staying put until an intruder is spotted. Even then, maybe those dungeons have some constructs whose main purpose is to patrol the lair.

YMMVAAT

 

[reanjr]

OK, my pc's decide to rest any time they are out of spells, one of them is low on hp etc etc... I dont think its too tough for them to get through a single dungeon crawl with napping two or three times. I mean its annoying and frustrating to me. My dungeons arent to hard they just want to play it really safe. How do I deal with this?

It doesn't take much to disrupt arcane spellcaster preparation. I believe it's two minor interruptions throughout the night and they don't get to prepare in the morning. These can even be red herrings. A weird light might set the guard duty person to wake everyone up. Upon further investigation, the light leaves the area.

As for resting in general, you should pay attention to those without Endurance who leave their armor on. They get fatigued and subsequently exhausted. Donning armor takes a looooong time in combat, so a night ambush while the party is unarmed and unarmored (move action to draw a weapon, even if they leave it at their side, another move action to stand up, possible suprise for flat-footedness, everyone is without armor). Remember to apply all the appropriate penalties to spot and listen checks for the person on watch (-1 for every 10 feet from target for instance, IIRC). You don't even need to attack them with a major encounter from the dungeon since a minor one should do.

Another thing to do when possible is give them incentive to complete the dungeon quickly. Maybe the BBEG is leaving that night, or there is another group after the same goal, or the aprty is being tracked by creatures beyond their power to deal with and they need to get done and out before they get backed into a corner.

Another good one is the nightmare spell.

And two applications of a 2nd level spell, silence, can almost guarentee an ambush. One on the ambushers so that they can not be heard (or invisibility depending on the situation, but ins a dungeon with winding corridors, spot isn't usually so much of a problem). The other one (when nearing) on the guard (or a point in space 11 feet behind him; he is forced to take a full move backwards to notify his companions, or move forwards towards the ambush - whichever he chooses). If you can get the whole party, all the better.

If the party is more of an alarm group, throw random wandering animals at them of tiny size or larger. The enemy (if savvy) may even have a dog or other trained animal for this purpose. Even a bird flying over (unlikely to be seen or heard by the guard duty, if the party likes backup plans) can set off the alarm. Bam. You've taken down their defense for a later ambush and woken them once to disrupt spell preparation.

Even if most of the party gets through with rest, etc. as long as you get one wizard to be useless the next day, then you have made a player who will vote against resting unless necessary. Keep working at it until the players are conditioned to sleep only when necessary, not when they are out of spells.

 

[Greylock]

Man, how quick can they run through HP and spells? Are they blowing every bit they have on every 2 bit encounter? You really need to rough them up at their rest, like the others say. I'd go nuts playing in such a party. I can't imagine DMing them.

 

[reanjr]

If the group needs a safe place to sleep in the dungeon, your party's wizard only needs to know two words:

Rope Trick

Strangely, in none of my player's groups has anyone ever learned rope trick. Even if they knew it, they probably wouldn't want to "waste" a slot.

And anyway, an intelligent foe (maybe with a couple ranks of Spellcraft to know the inner workings of the spell) can get past a rope trick no problem. You can have a tiny scout watch the party, tailing them (or arcane eye or something). You can locate the "window" of the spell pretty easily, since it is stationary (assuming you interpret the window to be physical, which the spell seems to imply). Have the enemy paint the window with something opaque. Guarentee the party will break camp and come out to take care of the menace. The idea of a trap being laid to get them when they come out would be too much for a party to let go.

Even if you do not interpret the window as physical, you can still lay a trap. From something simple like caltrops to something more elaborate like an entire squad of archers with readies actions (remember only one person can climb out at a time) or something involving some infernal juryrigged machine with spikes, etc.

Dispel will take out the thing, leaving everyone in the party pretty darned surprised and likely suffering falling damage.

At eight hours you could even have a team wall them in the room they cast the spell in. If there is only one passageway, for instance, a small team of bricklayers could create a 10 foot thick wall. Normally this would cause lots of noise, but the party won't know because they can't hear anything going on outside.

Now, of course, a lot of these ideas require some specific criteria, but a dungeon usually has what's necessary for a creative evildoer to trap and kill a party that puts themselves in such an oblivious situation in their very lair.

 

[SuperFlyTNT]

Man, how quick can they run through HP and spells? Are they blowing every bit they have on every 2 bit encounter? You really need to rough them up at their rest, like the others say. I'd go nuts playing in such a party. I can't imagine DMing them.

Well they are getting better I must say. Sadly my old D&D group is disbanded due to everyone being in a different state for school... anyway I met these kids and they are new so I have to train them. They always want to play prestige classes and make all this crazy . FInally I started a campaign and Im making them all be good alligned core races core classes. They threw a lot of fits at teh begining but at least they are learning the game. It was like pulling teeth getting them to read the rule books. :sigh: I wish I had my old group.

 

[IronWolf]

Just rough 'em up while they rest. At the very least they will have to make more advanced preparations to get a good night's rest in the dungeon. Pretty soon it will be more work to rest within the dungeon than to just push on a little further or work on conserving resources more.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

They shouldn't be resting in the dungeon. If they cleared the monsters on the way in, there shouldn't be too many monsters preventing them from going out.