Sleeping in armor?

[Solodan]

My character's don't sleep, so its not much of an issue. I pretty much assume that they are all Jack Bauer on 24 and just don't sleep/pee/eat while the action is going on.

 

[Nebten]

There's also nothing RAW dealing with not sleeping for 2 weeks straight, so take from that what you will (i.e., DMs need to make some stuff up...the books don't have all the answers).

Actually there is a rule about sleeping on page 263 in the PHB:

You need at least 6 hours of sleep every day to keep functioning at your best. If, at the end of an extended rest, you've haven't slept at least 6 hours in the last 24, you gain no benefit from that extended rest.

It states that an extended rest includes relaxation. I would say wearing heavy armor is not relaxing, therefore you don't gain the benifits of an extended rest. That's my opinion.

 

[aurance]

Has anyone ever slept in armor? How does it feel? (This is an honest question, as I really have no idea how bad it is.) Any gamers who were servicemen slept in the body armor with the inserts?

 

[ValhallaGH]

Has anyone ever slept in armor? How does it feel? (This is an honest question, as I really have no idea how bad it is.) Any gamers who were servicemen slept in the body armor with the inserts?

Yes, I have.
It's not bad. Kind of like having a blanket wrapped around your torso, only. And it keeps the rocks from poking you in the back. It is rigid, meaning you can't curl up if that's your inclination, and the layer around the torso makes it difficult to keep the body evenly insulated (causing some odd cold spots / warm spots). Still, I've had many an hour of sleep in armor.
Helmets are great. They're like a pillow that's strapped to your head. No complaints at all about sleeping in my helmet.

In my experience (2000 to 2003), the drawbacks are mostly psychological. Your hindbrain doesn't fully relax while you're wearing armor, so the sleep isn't quite as good as what you get when you're in a safe bed back home. Nor is it quite as good as what you get curled up in a sleeping bag with no armor on. Still, even that's not really a problem for the first three weeks or so.

I hope that was helpful.

 

[CapnZapp]

I would say wearing heavy armor is not relaxing, therefore you don't gain the benifits of an extended rest. That's my opinion.

In other words, you force heavy armor users to fight night ambushes at a severe disadvantage (compared to what's intended).

If your players are aware that this probably makes these classes so much weaker that there's no point in playing them, all the power to you.

But if they don't, you really ought to inform them of this circumstance.

Either that, or give them some substantial bonus to compensate.

 

[CapnZapp]

Rest in safe places.

Do you have any idea of how many adventures where this simply isn't an option?

 

[CapnZapp]

Encounters indeed are BALANCED based on the thought that heavily armored characters will be wearing their armor, so be aware of that!

On the other hand, if you keep an eye on the effects this will have, by all means run encounters where the party isn't totally suited up for it. Just really, really be aware of the consequences (maybe have the encounter be a bit less challenging in Level so the deficiency is offset a little?)

Good advice.

Remember, though, that any time you have a significant power discrepancy between the strongest and weakest characters in your party, it can be a real hassle to present a balanced encounter in a way that's fun to all.

Make the opposition to weak, and it'll be a cake-walk to the stronger characters. Make it too strong, and the weaker characters can't contribute meaningfully or they'll die.

In short, having to fight nighttime ambushes without your heavy armor sucks badly and will likely reduce the fun.

So ask yourself: is the slight increase in verisimilitude worth such a reduction in fun?

 

[Prism]

In short, having to fight nighttime ambushes without your heavy armor sucks badly and will likely reduce the fun.

We use a house rule that penalizes sleeping in heavy armour and we still have fun. Having a fight without your armour on can come up in a number of situations and its no problem at all as long as the DM balances the fight. I have played many adventures in the past with characters less than optimally armed and armoured (such as after been captured, attending a ball, sleeping, ambushed). 4e doesn't make it any different

We rule that if you sleep in heavy armour you lose a healing surge plus another for each check penalty - so plate puts you at -3 surges for the next day and chain -2. At laters levels since its possible to remove these penalties I can imagine high level characters sleeping in full plate

 

[timbannock]

I have played many adventures in the past with characters less than optimally armed and armoured (such as after been captured, attending a ball, sleeping, ambushed). 4e doesn't make it any different

Maybe I'm misremembering, but every Dark Sun adventure I've ever played in started with the PCs being slaves or getting enslaved, and losing everything.
Considering it was a "tougher than normal setting," that always seemed like overkill...

It's fun if handled properly, but as Cap states, it's not easy to balance encounters that way. I mean, your Wiz, Warlock and Rogue types are likely operating at full power and defense (or damn close to it!) while the Fighter, Paladin, Cleric and Warlock can attack at full force but have their defences COMPLETELY NEUTERED. Either throw creatures that have low "to hit" scores at them or do significantly less damage than a typical encounter that would be balanced.

Sending in Lurkers or Brutes might be big trouble.

If your players like that kind of challenge though, do it up. If they whine even once, never, ever pull that trick on them again. It's like ending a campaign with "...and you wake up, realizing it was all a dream."

I literally got my #@$ kicked for doing that. Literally. It was sore for days.

 

[aurance]

I hope that was helpful.

Yes ValhallaGH, thanks very much!