Sleeping In Armor

[Dayspire]

I'm not a big fan of character's sleeping in armor. To me, it's just not in genre - and therefore worthy of a small houserule. What are your thoughts on this, readers? I'm looking to keep it fairly simple, and yet be a penalty. So if you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Light Armor: You recover all your healing surges -2 when sleeping in this armor.

Heavy Armor: You recover all your healing surges -4 when sleeping in this armor.

Another minor question - how do you think this proposed houserule would interact with the Eladrin 'trance' sleep?

 

[generalhenry]

fluff wise sleeping in armor is to me, ignorable, it doesn't really come up.

crunch wise sleeping armor is perfectly balanced. Paladins and wizards are balanced when the paladin is wearing armor.



So why penalize the defenders?

 

[Anthony Jackson]

Realistically, while sleeping in armor isn't terribly comfortable, it's often more comfortable than the ground, because your armor does protect you from rocks, tree roots, and the like. Sleeping in armor is historically not that rare.

 

[evileeyore]

If you've never slept in armor, you shouldn't even try to claim you know what it's like.

Light armors like Padded Cloth and Leather, no problem for short periods like 5-6 days. Eventually though you want out of the damn armor. It stinks, it really isn't that comfortable, and you do lose some sleep.

Light metal armors, chain, scale, and half plate, aren't bad either, but it is a bit more uncomfortabel than leathers.

Full plate? Sure, you can sleep in it. But only under duress, it will pinch and poke in ways you don't expect when standing up.

I can see adding the movement and skill penalties together and applying that to Surges.


Take it from me, I've napped in a few different armors in the SCA.

 

[erik_the_guy]

As far as I'm concerned, the PCs are sleeping with their armor on, their weapons drawn, and their eyes open. I throw in some realism. Sleeping in town between adventures generally I assume no armor. Sleeping in the wild or when they are afraid of being attacked: armor on. No penalties for sleeping in armor just like there are no penalties for sleeping in a sleeping bag on the forest floor.

EDIT: I do this because I value easy bookkeeping and balance over realism to an extent. Always having the defenders 2 surges less than the rest of the party just means the party will take more extended rests (slowing gameplay).