[Basic] Advantage of the Week (#42): Doesn't Sleep, Less Sleep

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Bruno

Not entirely true.

I've been in campaigns using Study Time, where of course this is useful. University would be very different if people could buy this off-the-shelf for the period of their education. People try, but coffee just isn't the same.

More relevant to adventurers: FP loss from sleep deprivation. Travelling from point A to Point Z, and points B through Y are in hostile territory? You're probably going to post guard shifts. If you only camp for 8 hours, everyone on guard duty that night doesn't have enough sleep. If you camp for 12 hours, with three shifts of 4 hours, the first and last shift can try to get 8 hours of sleep, but the guy on the middle shift is sort of fubar.
Everyone gets woken up if there's a disturbance or fight.
This causes FP loss that can't be regained until you get a good nights sleep... which you can't if you keep not getting 8 hours sleep.

I'm missing something:
The middle shift still gets about 8 hours of sleep per day, so should not be suffering FP loss, at least realistically. In fact, having two doses of sleep 6 hours each, per day, seems like a logically net-positive thing for FP lost to sleep. Plenty of people don't take all of their sleep in one go, whether out of preference, habit or necessity. I occasionally do too.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

I'm missing something:

It's not two 4s, it's two 6s.

And what Bruno is missing is that you shift the schedules every day, so the "middle shifters" aren't on middle shift every night. Also, most people can get used to getting a pair of 4s just fine (I've a lot of military buddies who got used to it during field exercises) on the short term, just not for extended periods of time (though some do stay on that "4 hour" sleep rotation and prefer it).

One guy I know was mechanized cav recon and their were just enough guys in his squad (four of them naturally) that they only took 2 hour watch rotations and got various combos of 2+6, 4+4, 6+2, or straight 8 hours of sleep... so he got used to sleeping in 2 hour shifts and since he slept fine that way always volunteered for the middle most shift.

[Otaku]

Bruno does have a point, though, at least for

• Characters who realistically shouldn't have acclimated to sleeping split shift
• Have other sleep related issues

This is me giving you all the benefit of the doubt; it seems like if I don't sleep at least five hours, it doesn't really "count". Granted, I have a couple health issues that affect that. I usually need to block out 9 or 10 hours to get an effective 6 to 8 hours of sleep, or include time for an afternoon nap.

I have to wake up at least once per night for restroom usage, sometimes two or three. As long as it is brief and I avoid turning on too many lights (can't navigate well enough in the dark), I can try and go back to sleep. When circumstances don't permit, there is a real chance I'll be awake the next two to four hours, until I'm ready to pass out in the morning. I also cannot have significant amounts of caffeine unless I don't plan on going anywhere (digestive health issues). Until a few months ago, I just couldn't have caffeine, but I made an exception when they brought back Crystal Pepsi, and am seriously wondering if it is possible to suffer a decade of caffeine withdrawal because I felt amazing even with mild abdominal discomfort.

Oh, right, back on topic. So for sure if you've got something like Light Sleeper, that split shift is going to be rough. If your background doesn't really cover the kind of situations where you handle sleeping in a split shift regularly... well it strikes me as not unlike familiarity penalties for equipment. Not worth charging CP, but it ought to take some time to acclimate, at least in a mostly realistic setting.

Which is my long, rambling way of stating that in realistic, and especially grittily realistic settings, a level of Less Sleep looks like a real good investment to me. ^^'

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Otaku

Which is my long, rambling way of stating that in realistic, and especially grittily realistic settings, a level of Less Sleep looks like a real good investment to me. ^^'

The Deep Sleeper Perk ought to cover it well enough.

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Otaku

seriously wondering if it is possible to suffer a decade of caffeine withdrawal

The half-life of caffeine in the body is under 6 hours. Initial symptoms peak in about a day, maybe lasting 48 hours. Some withdrawal symptoms might last a week, possibly two at a stretch.

[Otaku]

Originally Posted by Icelander

The Deep Sleeper Perk ought to cover it well enough.

Good point.

...

Okay, puns aside, Deep Sleeper can also be invaluable, and also handles everything I was just worried about. I told myself to save [Basic] Perks for their own, one-week entry in this series, but I've covered a few already, and really ought to have included it here. Plus there are at least two Disadvantages, Extra Sleep and Light Sleeper, that also probably deserved a mention. My bad. Of course, as you would hope with the more expensive solution, Less Sleep has its other benefits.

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

The half-life of caffeine in the body is under 6 hours. Initial symptoms peak in about a day, maybe lasting 48 hours. Some withdrawal symptoms might last a week, possibly two at a stretch.

Another "my bad" moment. It got very lazy with my wording.

The short version is I went from drinking multiple cups of coffee and/or other caffeinated drinks throughout my morning to for about 15 years to not being able to have any at all, which meant dealing with fatigue in the usual manner. Except it wasn't the usual manner, as various other health issues either were already present or since were added...

...which caffeine helps mask. Of course, some of it is psychological as well; when you're the one person who can't enjoy the morning coffee, especially when you're tired and also the one who has to make or at least fetch it for others, focusing on your own fatigue is rather easy. XP

[Flyndaran]

I drink quite a bit of caffeine in the form of diet soda. But I found that it doesn't matter how much or little I consume. My sleep is never affected, neither is my chronic anxiety. Never understood that. Every other stimulant including small doses of decongestants or even vitamins with B12 screw me up.

One issue about sleep (dis)advantages is that it seems many here have some different ideas of just how much default humans can adapt to altered sleep patterns.
Should the ability to sleep in 2 four hour or 4 two hour shifts in a day be default or a perk?
Without Deep Sleeper, I'd say that one must lose around 15 minutes each set slowly falling into restful sleep increasing the overall amount spent "in bed". But perhaps others disagree.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Should the ability to sleep in 2 four hour or 4 two hour shifts in a day be default or a perk?

Depends on how finely you wish to grate the system.

Personally I'd call that "below the resolution of what I care to track". However, if I desired to track sleep to that level of detail, I'd call it a Perk.

[jason taylor]

Is there one for being able to precisely customize one's sleeping patterns? People with odd occupational demands along that line have some ability to do so but suppose it was more precise. For instance what if you knew you had a long yomp coming tomorrow so you tell your body to sleep for 24 hours and it does so?

In a SF game this can be done technologically. For instance the Imperial Marines are ready to heroically jump on the bloodthirsty terrorists/ferociously swoop down on the gallant rebels. They are in artificial hibernation until they reach the area of operations. So they have several days before they go out. If this is bad biology add some genetic manipulation phlebotanium as a smokescreen.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

Depends on how finely you wish to grate the system.

Personally I'd call that "below the resolution of what I care to track". However, if I desired to track sleep to that level of detail, I'd call it a Perk.

I think it's important for machines that sleep to determine what's default for this. Some GMs may count sleep debt Fatigue as actual Ht damage, or dictate machines just fall over when awake too long in a similar way to running out of fuel. That's a bit more of a negative effect than a human just getting tired and wobbly.