Resting

[PaucaTerrorem]

What are the penalties of not resting during the day(besides arcane casting)? When does fatigue set in?
This came up the other night and we couldn't find an answer in PHB, DMG, or SRD. Please give me your playground knowledge.

[supervillan]

First thing that happens is that you get fatigued, if you haven't had 8 hours rest. You stay fatigued until you get 8 hours rest (see glossary in PHB).

If, whilst fatigued, you do anything else that would cause fatigue (eg you go a second night without resting 8 hours) you become exhausted (again see PHB glossary).

Apart from rest, certain spells such as Restoration can also remove the fatigued and exhausted conditions. There is no spell that allows arcane casters to replenish spells or spell slots without having had 8 hours rest however (Plane Shift cheese notwithstanding).

[Vortenger]

The rules state that a arcanists needs eight hours of sleep (or a full nights rest)

The rules for healing indicate you only heal when sleeping for 8 full hours (a full nights rest)

Resting in medium or heavy armor causes you to awaken fatigued.

The rules are otherwise rather quiet about why a player would ever want to sleep. There don't seem to be any other rules or impositions on the matter. So have a player who sleeps 4 hours a night and is quite happy, or play Tyler Durden and never sleep at all. As near as I can tell the DM can't slap you with fatigued/ exhausted without creating a houserule.

Double checked Rest and Sleep on the SRD. Already mentioned all findings, save the spell.

[Gemini476]

Elder Evils page 9, under the Sign "Appalling Fecundity", states:

Strong:Living creatures that require sleep lose the ability
to do so, as their bodies fidget and their thoughts race.
Physical exhaustion sets in, and eventually minds break. A living
creature can go without sleep for a number of days equal
to its Constitution modifier (minimum one). Thereafter
it is fatigued, remaining in this state for a number of days
equal to its Constitution modifier (again, minimum one); if
it would become fatigued during that time, it is exhausted
instead. Each day after that period, the creature takes 1 point
of Wisdom damage. If the total Wisdom damage exceeds its
Hit Dice, the creature is affected as if by an insanity spell.
Once its Wisdom score drops to 0, the creature becomes
unconscious but cannot recover lost Wisdom naturally.
Only a sleep or deep slumber spell or equivalent effect can
grant rest for a time, after which the effects of the sign
begin anew.
although this is a clear case of the writers just making things up as they go along. For some reason they never expected anyone to try to stay awake multiple nights.
When questioned about it, the Pathfinder devs (having inherited the {lack of a} rule,) said that what happened should be "Common sense".
Of course, "common sense" isn't exactly common, and there are hundreds of houserules and implementations for sleeplessness in various games.

[Vortenger]

So the only word on it is from an obscure book that few people own. Oh, goody.

Still thanks for the note, I have somewhere to reference people to, now.
Also, looks like a good way insert a 'sanity meter' in game by forcing your players to never get a chance to sleep... *dusts Ravenloft off again*

[Raven777]

In the same vein... what happens if characters don't eat?

[Gemini476]

In the same vein... what happens if characters don't eat?

DMG p.304

STARVATION AND THIRST
Characters might find themselves without food or water and with
no means to obtain them. In normal climates, Medium characters
need at least a gallon of fluids and about a pound of decent food
per day to avoid starvation. (Small characters need half as much.)
In very hot climates, characters need two or three times as much
water to avoid dehydration.
A character can go without water for 1 day plus a number of
hours equal to his Constitution score. After this time, the character must make a Constitution check each hour (DC 10, +1 for each
previous check) or take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage.
A character can go without food for 3 days, in growing discomfort. After this time, the character must make a Constitution
check each day (DC 10, +1 for each previous check) or take 1d6
points of nonlethal damage.
Characters who have taken nonlethal damage from lack of food
or water are fatigued (see page 84). Nonlethal damage from thirst
or starvation cannot be recovered until the character gets food or
water, as needed—not even magic that restores hit points (such as
cure light wounds) heals this damage.
It's probably in the SRD somewhere as well.

For a little dysfunction, this never actually kills you. You just lie there unconscious until someone feeds you or you die of old age.

[PaucaTerrorem]

Thanks for the reply's. DM ruled that after 24 hrs make a DC 10 Fort save every hr that goes up by 1 each time. Fail and fatigued. DC 12 Fort, +1 each hr to prevent exhaustion.

[TuggyNE]

First thing that happens is that you get fatigued, if you haven't had 8 hours rest.

This is the only part that doesn't happen by RAW; nowhere is fatigued listed as a penalty of not resting in general, and it's only suggested at all by the rules in Elder Evils, as mentioned.

The houserule PaucaTerrorem's DM came up with is probably fine, though.