Rules on Sleep Deprevation

[JacktheRabbit]

What is causing them to not get sleep? If it is something invading their dreams then I can see it affecting the elves as well. One cannot meditate for 4 hours if your mind is continually being invaded by horrible dream like visions.

In fact I would consider making the effect worse on the elves. Creatures that sleep are used to functioning on ocassion on no or little sleep. Elves though meditate and can generally get away with it just about anywhere. So it wouldnt surprise me if they are much less adapted to the rigors of not getting their down time on a regular basis.

 

[Kyramus]

I like the KISS principle. Keep it simple stupid. (not a derogatory remark but what kiss usually stand for).


I'd say for each day that they do not get their full 8 hours of sleep (4 hours for elf meditating), give them a -1 penalty to all rolls. This will show the fatigue, the heaviness of the weapon, the not so superior dex, etc.
If they have a -4 or higher, anytime they do something strenous, they need to do either a will check or a concentration check. IE fighting, climbing steep mountains, climbing a tree, casting a spell, etc.

Things to break Elven Reverie?
That really depends on how you play youre elves. The SRD doesn't mention that elves don't sleep, just that they are IMMUNE to MAGICAL sleep.
So they go to sleep as normal unless for some off chance that they have the meditation feat.

Then all you need to do is wake the elf up somehow before 4 hours are up, preferably every 2 hours.

In the case that you do play with reverie. Have it somewhere in the background story that the elf was captured awhile back and was freed. During the capture he /she was knocked out. unbeknownst to the character, he/she was grafted with a poison bone. You could have this particular bone hurt and have problems with his sleep. or have the poison do it, giving him join paints, cramps, throwing up, etc. hehe purely for effect for now, later you could consider placing a bigger penalty on constitution due to the poison being in the body too long.

Heck a random encounter every 2 hours that spooks that party would do it.
Passing skeletons that don't pay heed to the party but wakes them up with the noise they do (makes pc's paranoid)
Ghouls feasting on a body, slobbering adn growling over meat. (again not against the pcs but noisy)

The howling of wolves.
The heavy steps of a bear.
The sudden silence.
The hissing of a snake somewhere nearby.

In the city,
1) cats fighting
2) prostitues arguing about who's next to be chosen
3) thugs fighting it out
4) fire
5) mistaken room
6) mistaken person
7) framed
8) framed for murder- wait for deep sleep, someone steals their weapon and returns with it bloody, then let the town guards make the rukus

 

[Khorod]

Those things don't even need to be used just to keep players awake. It occurs to me that I don't use enough non-relevant sounds in my games. Thanks for the reminder, Kyramus!

 

[Kyramus]

hehehe prey on the paranoia of the players that try to keep their characters alive.

An illusionist that changes the sound of a bear to a small rabbit is something to be feared.

Hehehe imagine the players hearing a rabbit then a bear arrives to wreck the camp cause the invisible illusionist was having his way with painting the tents with honey. lol.

 

[seasong]

Keep it simple.

Short Term Sleep Dep

Give a -1 competence penalty to all rolls after the first 24 hour mark of wakefulness. Up to that point, a person can reasonably 'borrow against' their physical and mental resources to do stuff reasonably well. For each 12 hours of wakefulness past that, give another -1 competence penalty.

Someone who has been awake for 60 hours (I suffer insomnia under stress; I've been in this dark, dark place) will take a total of -4 to all rolls, which is pretty nasty.

Saves vs Sleep: It can be hard to stay awake. Adrenaline will only do so much, and then your body just starts to tell you 'no'. At 24 hours, and then every 6 hours after that, have the characters may a Will saving throw vs sleep. DC 10 for the first one, +2 DC per time after that. Add the competence penalty in - the DC increase takes that into account (at 60 hours, they should be rolling at -4 vs a DC 24). Failure means they lay down and get comfy (regardless of actual terrain). Circumstances may give a bonus (like being in the drow caverns), but it's amazing how persuasive sleep can be.

Second Wind: Most people get a second wind for short sprints, in the morning for people tied to their metabolic cycle, around noon for people who aren't. As an optional rule, you could halve the penalties (round down) for a few hours around that time.

Long Term Sleep Dep

For long-term sleep dep, where people are only getting a few hours a night, it's a lot less cut and dried. I've been going on 5-6 hours of sleep a night for the past year, and while I don't like it, I'd classify myself at the -1 penalty only. On the other hand, I've known people who simply couldn't function well with just one or two days of reduced sleep.

Personally, I'd treat the first few nights of reduced sleep as a -1 competence penalty, and then increase that by -1 per stage in time (a few weeks, a few months, a few years). And allow the following feat for the freaks like me:

Sleep Is For Wimps
Benefit: You suffer less from reduced sleep over the long term. Halve any penalties, rounding up (you always suffer at least -1). You may take this multiple times, halving the penalty each time.

 

[priscilla0079]

I guess I should have put more information about the adventure itself....

The sleep deprevation would be from early waking that increases gradually until they are getting only about 1 hour per night. (like dramack said, I am borrowing heavily from the novel Insomnia by Stephen King) It is caused by a supernatural being that is trying to induce almost a constant dreamlike state in order to persuade the PC's to help him stop an evil force from throwing the balance of Random and Purposeful deaths. The reason for the sleep deprevation is to keep the PC's sane while making them feel insane so they are more likely to accept what is going on around them.

I don't want to impose a whole lot of penalties, especially not to the point where the players get discouraged and just want to kill me, but enough that they will try to find out what is happening and be willing to work towards stopping it.

Also...if anyone has any suggestions for a new DM, please let me know. And thanks to everyone that has made suggestions, I'm not as lost as I was.

 

[Kyramus]

hmmmm interesting.
so the being is TRYING to put them in a state where they can handle the random and purposeful deaths around them, right?

if you want to, add me to your buddies and we can talk online. my aim name is kyramus.

 

[Azure Trance]

The average person needs 8 hours of sleep to remain fully unaffected. Most people can get by for one or two days on very short sleep with few side effects. After that, though, fatigue begins to take its toll. In terms of reaction time and the ability to reason logically, being awake for 24 hours is equivalent to a .10 blood alcohol level. Yup, really tired people act similar to folks who are drunk. Also expect irritability and poor judgment.

This is without coffee and blessed, blessed caffiene, correct?

 

[Azure Trance]

Actually, since you seem to be the foremost expert on this subect at the moment ;D Is it true that if you don't get 8 days of sleep that you'll die? Of course not. But I hear it so often, if you do not get any sleep after a certain lengthy time period would there be serious side effects? You know, insanity, brain spasms, what have you.

 

[Piratecat]

This is without coffee and blessed, blessed caffiene, correct?

Well, caffeine makes you more irritable - and does some unpleasant things to your digestive system - but it thankfully pushes up your alertness levels for roughly four hours after drinking some. This can help offset sleepiness. It isn't a cureall, though, and a lot of times drinking too much caffeine actually contributes to poor sleep by disrupting sleeping patterns.

And absolutely, you could conceivably die after not getting any sleep. That'll never happen in real life, though, unless someone is pumping you with drugs or giving you electric shocks. Your body will shut down and make you sleep long before that point. Extended sleeplessness (after a few days) can cause some nasty hallucinations and short-term neuroses, too - definitely not recommended.

Regarding the adventure, it sounds fascinating. I need to think about it a bit, but you could do some really cool things. Fun idea, Priscilla!