For species that don't need sleep, like warforged, elves, thri-keen, and autognomes, do they still need to take long rests, or do they only have to take them to heal and lose exhaustion?
Sleep is a large part of taking a long rest but isn’t the only component. Getting rid of sleep allows for a player to be able to take a long rest without sleeping, but longrests are still needed to bypass exhaustion.
a player who makes use of various features to mitigate sleep usually benefits by not needing to be unconscious during the rest. This mitigates the effects of surprise and ambushes against the player and makes the party a bit more resilient in those situations.
There can be other features that stay active during the long rest too. So as an example let’s take a warforged Paladin. The warforged has a feature that lets it rest in an inactive state, but it isn’t sleeping. As such, the benefits of its Aura of Protection would be active the entire long rest since Aura of Protection turns off when a Paladin is incapacitated and unconscious.
other features that completely remove sleep without imposing a trance or motionless state on the player leaves them open to do “light” activities as a part of the long rest, but they still need to abide by the other restrictions needed to accomplish a long rest.
My perspective as a DM is even though the races/species you listed may not need sleep to some degree, they still need time to rest and 'recharge,' and there is where Long/Short rest comes into play.
I am not asking about benefits and mechanics of a rest, but if they have to take a long rest outside of adventuring, or if they could just continue normal activity while in downtime.
Sleep is a large part of taking a long rest but isn’t the only component. Getting rid of sleep allows for a player to be able to take a long rest without sleeping, but longrests are still needed to bypass exhaustion.
a player who makes use of various features to mitigate sleep usually benefits by not needing to be unconscious during the rest. This mitigates the effects of surprise and ambushes against the player and makes the party a bit more resilient in those situations.
There can be other features that stay active during the long rest too. So as an example let’s take a warforged Paladin. The warforged has a feature that lets it rest in an inactive state, but it isn’t sleeping. As such, the benefits of its Aura of Protection would be active the entire long rest since Aura of Protection turns off when a Paladin is incapacitated and unconscious.
other features that completely remove sleep without imposing a trance or motionless state on the player leaves them open to do “light” activities as a part of the long rest, but they still need to abide by the other restrictions needed to accomplish a long rest.
This is how I would rule it.
"You do not need to sleep" is different from "you do not need to rest". You can rest without sleeping, but you cannot sleep without resting. It also makes more sense from a game balance perspective.
They still need to take long rests, but in the racial features it'll usually say something about sleep not being required but instead a period of inactivity is necessary. I know warforged say that while they don't need to sleep during a long rest, they still need to enter a period of inactivity of at least 4 hours, during which they are still aware of their surroundings.
You don't need to sleep doesn't mean you don't need to rest. Resting is a refresh mechanic that when spelled out, is required in order for a feature to be available again.
You no longer need to sleep and can't be forced to sleep by any means. To gain the benefits of a long rest, you can spend all 8 hours doing light activity, such as reading your Book of Shadows and keeping watch.
This is a Warlock thing. But very clearly explains how, even when you will never ever EVER sleep again... you still need to "rest"
For species that don't need sleep, like warforged, elves, thri-keen, and autognomes, do they still need to take long rests, or do they only have to take them to heal and lose exhaustion?
Ask your DM.
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This was a question of curiosity, and I understand that the DM can override, but I just want to know in general
Sleep is a large part of taking a long rest but isn’t the only component. Getting rid of sleep allows for a player to be able to take a long rest without sleeping, but longrests are still needed to bypass exhaustion.
a player who makes use of various features to mitigate sleep usually benefits by not needing to be unconscious during the rest. This mitigates the effects of surprise and ambushes against the player and makes the party a bit more resilient in those situations.
There can be other features that stay active during the long rest too. So as an example let’s take a warforged Paladin. The warforged has a feature that lets it rest in an inactive state, but it isn’t sleeping. As such, the benefits of its Aura of Protection would be active the entire long rest since Aura of Protection turns off when a Paladin is incapacitated and unconscious.
other features that completely remove sleep without imposing a trance or motionless state on the player leaves them open to do “light” activities as a part of the long rest, but they still need to abide by the other restrictions needed to accomplish a long rest.
My perspective as a DM is even though the races/species you listed may not need sleep to some degree, they still need time to rest and 'recharge,' and there is where Long/Short rest comes into play.
I am not asking about benefits and mechanics of a rest, but if they have to take a long rest outside of adventuring, or if they could just continue normal activity while in downtime.
Thanks, that makes sense, it also prevents using those species to simplify coffeelocks, which is good.
This is how I would rule it.
"You do not need to sleep" is different from "you do not need to rest". You can rest without sleeping, but you cannot sleep without resting. It also makes more sense from a game balance perspective.
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They still need to take long rests, but in the racial features it'll usually say something about sleep not being required but instead a period of inactivity is necessary. I know warforged say that while they don't need to sleep during a long rest, they still need to enter a period of inactivity of at least 4 hours, during which they are still aware of their surroundings.
You don't need to sleep doesn't mean you don't need to rest. Resting is a refresh mechanic that when spelled out, is required in order for a feature to be available again.
This is explained:
You no longer need to sleep and can't be forced to sleep by any means. To gain the benefits of a long rest, you can spend all 8 hours doing light activity, such as reading your Book of Shadows and keeping watch.
This is a Warlock thing. But very clearly explains how, even when you will never ever EVER sleep again... you still need to "rest"
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I’m pretty sure Xanathar’s confirms that forgoing a long rest (regardless of sleep) is what leads to exhaustion.