Sleep

Just as in the real world, characters spend many hours sleeping, usually as part of a long, full, or extended rest. Most monsters also need to sleep. While a creature sleeps, it is subject to the unconscious condition.

Waking Someone

A creature that is naturally sleeping, as opposed to being in a magically or chemically induced sleep, wakes up if it takes any damage, or if somebody uses an action to shake or slap the creature awake.

Often, ambient noise levels can be compared to a sleeping creature’s Awareness score to determine if it wakes. However, in initiative (for example, during a campsite ambush), the GM will typically have the players roll an Awareness check for their character on that character’s initiative, instead of using the passive Awareness score. A list of useful DCs and thresholds follows below:

• The sound of ongoing battle awakens someone that is sleeping naturally, provided that they have an Awareness score of 5 or higher. In initiative, this is a DC 5 Awareness check.
• A sudden loud noise (such as yelling, thunder, or a ringing bell) awakens someone that is sleeping naturally, provided that they have an Awareness score of 10 or higher. In initiative, this is a DC 10 Awareness check.
• Speech at a normal volume awakens a sleeper if the environment is otherwise silent (no wind, birdsong, crickets, street sounds, or the like) and the sleeper has an Awareness score of 15 or higher. In initiative, this is a DC 15 Awareness check.
• Whispers don’t disturb sleep, unless a sleeper’s passive Awareness score is 20 or higher and the whispers are within 10 feet of the sleeper. In initiative, this is a DC 20 Awareness check.

Sleeping in Armour

Sleeping in light armour has no adverse effect on the wearer, but sleeping in medium or heavy armour makes it difficult to recover fully during a long rest.

When you finish a long rest during which you slept in medium or heavy armour, the rest doesn’t reduce your exhaustion level, should you have any levels of exhaustion. If you do not already have any levels of exhaustion, then you suffer one exhaustion level.

Going Without A Long Rest

A long rest is never mandatory, but going without sleep does have its consequences.

Whenever you end a 48-hour period without accumulating a total of 8 hours of sleep, you must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution (Athletics) check or suffer one level of exhaustion.

It becomes harder to fight off exhaustion if you stay awake for multiple days. After the first 48 hours, the DC increases by 5 for each consecutive 24-hour period without a long rest. The DC resets to 10 when you finish a long rest.