And really...how much fun is it to be murdered in your sleep in the first place? Should we really be doing that to players?
People should be taking interesting precautions against that, not using a one and done spell. The main point of attacks during sleeping is to force precautions and occasionally deny long rests.
And the main point of utility spells is to trivialize some aspect non-combat. They have spells that make food, water, and light so you don't have to buy or deal with rations, waterskins, or torches. And they have tiny hut (and several others) to make long rests safer.
Where do you draw the line on utility spells? If being able to sleep unmolested is too much, what about eating without hunting? Or seeing in the dark? Or healing without resting? Or doing damage without a weapon?
Goodberry is a problem spell as well. I don't mind eventually trivializing certain challenges, but the options should either be reasonably expensive to use or should be at a level where those challenges are more an annoyance than a legitimate concern even without use of those spells. For example:
A 10-foot-radius immobile dome of force springs into existence around and above you and remains stationary for the duration. The spell ends if you leave its area.
Nine creatures of Medium size or smaller can fit inside the dome with you. The spell fails if its area includes a larger creature or more than nine creatures. The hut protects from rain and snow, temperatures between hot and cold, and wind up to a strong wind, and provides advantage against more severe weather effects.
Until the spell ends, you can command the interior to become dimly lit or dark. The dome is opaque from the outside, of any color you choose, but it is transparent from the inside.
At Higher Levels: when cast with a 4th level spell slot, the hut fills a 20' cube and may have solid walls (AC 17, 60 HP, damage threshold 20) and doors (AC 15, 30 HP, damage threshold 10, may be barred from within).
That's roughly a combination of what the 3e spells Tiny Hut and Secure Shelter do, but the 4th level version cannot be cast as a ritual (giving it a meaningful cost) and is less of a tactical advantage than a wall of force that only blocks enemies.
And really...how much fun is it to be murdered in your sleep in the first place? Should we really be doing that to players?
People should be taking interesting precautions against that, not using a one and done spell. The main point of attacks during sleeping is to force precautions and occasionally deny long rests.
What is "interesting" about characters setting a watch? Hell, in half the games out there run by competent people, they don't even have the players determine who's watching. They just roll to see who's up during any given nighttime encounter.
Or they use one of the dozen other methods of defusing the situation. My battlesmith has a mechanical watchmonkey that never needs to sleep and which has a surprisingly high Perception modifier; give it a bell or a set of cymbals or something and nobody else ever needs to keep watch again. Got a warforged? Boom - watching handled. So long as it can spend six hours immobile, y'all are good. Got a party with two elves in it? Boom - watching handled. Nobody else ever needs to short themselves on sleep again. Did you buy animals? Mules, horses, dogs, whatever? Watching more-or-less handled. Animals are always much harder to spoof than people are - ever try to sneak through a house with four terriers in it at night to get some water? Not happening, mang.
There are so many ways to trivialize night watches that it's rare for a party not to have access to one, and even if they don't, a regular night watch is itself trivial. The only time it's an issue is when you have fewer than four people in a party; a three-or-fewer party with no elves, warforged, or sentry creatures is the only time you see "interesting precautions", and after the tenth or twentieth night of the party using their same successful precaution, I guarantee you it will stop being interesting.
Let it go, man. Tiny Hut is no Healing Spirit or Goodberry or the like. It's fine. DMs that want to constantly harry and deny long rests should learn to chillax anyways. Sometimes, it's perfectly okay for the players to manage to pull off a night's restful sleep.
And really...how much fun is it to be murdered in your sleep in the first place? Should we really be doing that to players?
In a word....yes?
Adventuring is a very dangerous profession. Uncivilized places are full of monstrosities, eldritch beings, and worse, and they're HANGRY, man. They view any adventurers as a moving buffet.
Player characters voluntarily (one way or another) go into very dangerous locations and regions. It should be understood that being murdered in your sleep is often one of the hazards that comes with such choices.
All that said: Leomund's tiny hut is annoying but not insurmountable. While I may grumble, it's ultimately a challenge to my creativity as a DM, not a hindrance.
And the main point of utility spells is to trivialize some aspect non-combat. They have spells that make food, water, and light so you don't have to buy or deal with rations, waterskins, or torches. And they have tiny hut (and several others) to make long rests safer.
Where do you draw the line on utility spells? If being able to sleep unmolested is too much, what about eating without hunting? Or seeing in the dark? Or healing without resting? Or doing damage without a weapon?
Actually theres no food ritual other than PURIFY food, but point taken.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
Goodberry is a problem spell as well. I don't mind eventually trivializing certain challenges, but the options should either be reasonably expensive to use or should be at a level where those challenges are more an annoyance than a legitimate concern even without use of those spells. For example:
That's roughly a combination of what the 3e spells Tiny Hut and Secure Shelter do, but the 4th level version cannot be cast as a ritual (giving it a meaningful cost) and is less of a tactical advantage than a wall of force that only blocks enemies.
What is "interesting" about characters setting a watch? Hell, in half the games out there run by competent people, they don't even have the players determine who's watching. They just roll to see who's up during any given nighttime encounter.
Or they use one of the dozen other methods of defusing the situation. My battlesmith has a mechanical watchmonkey that never needs to sleep and which has a surprisingly high Perception modifier; give it a bell or a set of cymbals or something and nobody else ever needs to keep watch again.
Got a warforged? Boom - watching handled. So long as it can spend six hours immobile, y'all are good.
Got a party with two elves in it? Boom - watching handled. Nobody else ever needs to short themselves on sleep again.
Did you buy animals? Mules, horses, dogs, whatever? Watching more-or-less handled. Animals are always much harder to spoof than people are - ever try to sneak through a house with four terriers in it at night to get some water? Not happening, mang.
There are so many ways to trivialize night watches that it's rare for a party not to have access to one, and even if they don't, a regular night watch is itself trivial. The only time it's an issue is when you have fewer than four people in a party; a three-or-fewer party with no elves, warforged, or sentry creatures is the only time you see "interesting precautions", and after the tenth or twentieth night of the party using their same successful precaution, I guarantee you it will stop being interesting.
Let it go, man. Tiny Hut is no Healing Spirit or Goodberry or the like. It's fine. DMs that want to constantly harry and deny long rests should learn to chillax anyways. Sometimes, it's perfectly okay for the players to manage to pull off a night's restful sleep.
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In a word....yes?
Adventuring is a very dangerous profession. Uncivilized places are full of monstrosities, eldritch beings, and worse, and they're HANGRY, man. They view any adventurers as a moving buffet.
Player characters voluntarily (one way or another) go into very dangerous locations and regions. It should be understood that being murdered in your sleep is often one of the hazards that comes with such choices.
All that said: Leomund's tiny hut is annoying but not insurmountable. While I may grumble, it's ultimately a challenge to my creativity as a DM, not a hindrance.