Sleeping.
Not my best skill, or from my wife’s point of view, what I’m always doing. I run a long day starting before sunup and proceeding until around, after, or just before midnight. I’m mostly one move from off. If it gets dark and the lights go out (watching TV or going to the movies/theater/any kind of show really) my brain now takes that as a sign that it’s “night night time” for me. Within moments of my head hitting the pillow, or me being in a darkened room, I’m gone. Apparently that’s not good. Lee notes that falling asleep faster usually means a person is not getting enough sleep. I know this to be true and am working on fixing this. I’m hopeful, just not presently successful. By now you’re probably asking what my sleeping habits have to do with D&D?
Rest in D&D means a bunch of different things. In OD&D/AD&D/2e one night of dedicated down time means getting 8 hours of sleep in order for spell casters to be able to re-study spells and all characters get one hit point back. It requires smart parties to set a watch. It focuses characters on still maintaining a vigil worrying over the DMs rolling of wandering monster checks. Higher level characters have animals, companions, henchmen, magic items, and spells which also serve as a guardian of sorts while they each attempt to get precious sleep. A screw up interruption sometimes means spell casters didn’t get enough sleep and wind up without their spells being ‘reset’. 5e changed all that. The goal of 5e has always appeared to me as more action for half the price and time. This is not a slam but an observation about how efficiencies in the game have evolved to ensure maximum game time. While I don’t always like it, I agree with it and understand the rules value to real time play.
The current version of D&D modernised and streamlined rest periods by breaking the process into a variety of solutions. A short rest allows characters to recover some hp and heal while a long rest of the 8 hour variety gives a full character reset of their unique 5e class and racial abilities, and spell and hit point recovery. Did you read that right? Yes you did. Sleep or rest 8 hours and boom you’re back. Up to snuff and all abilities healed/restored brand new from the showroom floor. When I think of 5e D&D ‘full rest’ I envision the arrival of a player in the video arcade game Joust astride their ostrich mount as they materialize on the battlefield. I even hear the 8-bit arcade humming sound which ends with a playful rip as the player zaps in.
Meanwhile in old school D&D a full day’s rest is much like my own experience. When I played as a young person, going to sleep meant total regeneration of my body. Aches and pains vanished for the most part. I sprung out of bed eager to tackle the day. Now I am more like the tackling dummy. I go to sleep tired, and when I wake, while thankful for still being here, I either still have the pains from the night before, or sometimes I’m blessed with a whole new mysterious ailment. Gotta love getting old.
As a club with a longstanding set of unique rules which are addendums to our game, I liken the need to readdress the older game mechanics to allow for rest to more accurately reflect the adventurers spirit if not the Harpers aching body. WARP has examined spell casters and their level progression in that way and come up with a powerful solution. That my friends is a missive for another post in Real Time. –ASP
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