D&D 4E Standing Guard in 4e...no rest for you?

[Crothian]

If that's what you want go play one and leave us alone, if not play this and use your imagination.

Don't be rude. You came into this thread and you choose to read and post here. If you don't like what people are talking about then you can leave them alone. This thread and the posters have done nothing to you.

Back to the topic:

I'm more of an all or nothing gamer in these cases. It won't happen a lot but sometimes it is fun for everyone to interrupt rest and strike at the PCs when they aren't ready for it.

 

[eleran]

Don't be rude. You came into this thread and you choose to read and post here. If you don't like what people are talking about then you can leave them alone. This thread and the posters have done nothing to you.

Back to the topic:

I'm more of an all or nothing gamer in these cases. It won't happen a lot but sometimes it is fun for everyone to interrupt rest and strike at the PCs when they aren't ready for it.

I have to agree with the all or nothig camp. I also like to use a nighttime rest interrupting encounter early on when the group is low on resources to see who are the diehards players or characters.

 

[Blackbrrd]

Rule #1 don't fall asleep in a dungeon corridor.
Rule #2 DM summons Bebilith on you when you fall asleep in dungeon corridor.

Really, if you are going to camp in a dungeon, either you find a room with a door, you go out of the dungeon, you climb into an extra dimensional space (ok, that is so 3e!), or you try to hide in some way. Under no circumstances do you camp somewhere where wandering monsters can easily attack you.

Personally I wouldn't let you get any HP/Healing surges/Dailies until you were finished resting.

With a party of four, 2 hours of guard duty and 6 hours of rest should be good. If you have a party of five and one is an Eladrin, you get twice as many on guard at all times

From my last playtest, the characters had just cleared out all the kobolds from Raiders of Oakhurst, and hadn't touched the hobgoblins at all. If they had tried to camp inside the cave, I might have ambushed them in the middle of the night. If they went some way outside the cave, they would probably be home free.

 

[LowSpine]

HOLY FREAKING GOD!

What is wrong with you people? Are you allergic to just having fun? Can't anything at all about this made up fantasy game be simple for you?

LET ME ASURE YOU, THIS GAME IS FUN... IF YOU WILL LET IT BE.

Believe it or not D&D is a roleplaying game.

Setting camp, cooking that deer you killed earlier, who is on watch when a wild boar attacks, a character caring (Heal) for a sick character who needs total bed rest, etc is part of that.

The Extended Rest just needs some rough guide lines to help fill that in.

 

[Eridanis]

'hojo - another threadjack like that will earn you three-day ban. If something in a thread gets you that angry, then perhaps the best course is to step away from the computer for a little while until you can have a calmer reply.

 

[Xorn]

I'm hoping for a clear book-rule on this, as I completely agree that interrupting their rest is a fairly common occurence. I did handle this in a Raiders of Oakhurst fan delve I ran (I call it a delve now), when several of the group were adamant that they should rest up before moving on. (Coincidentally, the dragon was the only encounter left--I think someone was reading the adventure, tsk tsk.)

So halfway through their rest, I had a raiding party return. They got back half of their total hit points (putting some of them to full, others at half) plus half their total healing surges back, no daily powers yet. They fought, kicking a lot of butt, but taking some heavy wounds.

Then they finished resting (I just continued where they left off) and they got back half of their total HP and surges, and their daily. Incidentally, the fighter only had 3/4 health, and had to blow a surge to get full. Had he been wounded much worse, he would have had to blow two.

I was firing from the hip, but I hope to see a similar book rule.

 

[Zaruthustran]

I'd like to hear Piratecat's opinion on this--I recall he's an expert on sleep, rest, and recovery.

 

[LowSpine]

I would define it as such (personally)

Extended Rest.


* Sitting watch does not prevent rest effects and the time counts towards rest.
* Characters must define a watch rotation for the purposes of a possible encounter.
* Encounters will not ruin an Extended Rest as long as the characters can return to that rest as soon as it is over and doesn't cause them to leave their rest location/camp/inn/house/etc.
* The rest must involve some sleep. The amount doesn't matter as long as the DM decides it is enough. (Kobolds throwing rocks at the PCs in the night and running off, then doing it again and again and again could ruin the rest.)
* The characters cannot perform any major tasks that would not be considered restful or relaxing.
* The characters may cook, read, oil armor and weapons and other light menial tasks.
* The enviroment must be comfortable enough. Sleeping out in a blizzard just isn't going to work.

 

[Zaruthustran]

I like LowSpine's paradigm. Assume that the rule for 6 hours of rest includes reasonable watches. Decide as a group (of players, and DM) what's reasonable.

I'd add that the benefits of resting all kick in at the end of the 6 hours. Imagine it to be like a loaf of bread in the oven, or a pot of water set to boil. If you interrupt the process, you haven't achieved your goal and you don't realize the desired result. The process is simply not finished, until it is.

In other words: no HP, dailies, or surges regained until the 6-hour timer goes "ding!"

 

[malraux]

I'd say to go for a binary approach you've fully rested/have not fully rested as well. One of the big points of a night time encounter is to catch the pcs with their resources unavailable: armor off, most spells gone, etc. Of course, the pcs can sleep in the next morning a bit to catch up on lost sleep, but stopping them from recovering their abilities at all is just mean/unfun.

I'd also add in the ability of any character to use a 2nd wind, even if they were out of HS, to account for the effect of some rest.