4 Ways to Reduce The Amount of Sleep Your Pathfinder Characters Need

Sleep is one of those things we rarely think about in Pathfinder. Most of the time it's just a way to get back spells, repair ability damage, and put a tic in a box that another day on the road has ended. However, if you've ever been ambushed in the middle of the night by angry monsters, there's a good chance you started looking for ways to keep your characters functioning with less shut-eye.

Here are 4 methods that will reduce your need to sleep. While there are others, these common methods are open to a wide variety of characters, and don't require playing a particular race or template, or taking a particular class or prestige class. Also, while there are spells that reduce or delay your need for sleep, and purchasing them in wand or scroll form is fairly simple, this article will be focusing on more permanent methods.

Now, without further ado...

Method #1: The Ring of Sustenance

Actual appearance may vary.

Probably the most common method of reducing your sleep is to buy a ring of sustenance (Core Rulebook 483). For a mere 2,500 gold, and a week to attune the ring to the wearer, you no longer have to eat or drink, and you only need to sleep for 2 hours a night. If you ever take the ring off, have it stolen, or one may assume wander through an anti-magic field, it will take an additional week to re-attune to your body.

Still, it's a great way to make sure you don't end up in the middle of the desert without enough water.

Method #2: The Verdant Bloodline

Never be afraid to branch out to other solutions.

The verdant sorcerer bloodline (Advanced Player's Guide 141) grants you photosynthesis at level 3. This ability lets you snack on sunlight, reducing your need to eat, sleep, and drink as if you were wearing a ring of sustenance (and, one presumes, if you are in a place where you're getting plenty of light). The ability also gives you a +2 on saves against poison and sleep effects.

Before you start pointing out that I said I wouldn't be covering class abilities, I'd like to show you how you can get this power without being a sorcerer. All you need to do is take Eldritch Heritage and Improved Eldritch Heritage (Ultimate Magic 149 and 152), and select the verdant bloodline. This method requires a middling-to-high charisma score, and eats up a lot of feats, but it can work for those who are willing to pursue it.

For other useful things you can do with this feat tree, check out Powering Up Your Pathfinder Characters With Eldritch Heritage Feats.

Method #3: The Light Sleeper Trait

I think I heard the rogue. Down the hall, behind a locked door.

A trait I recommended in my Unsullied character build, Light Sleeper allows any character to gain the benefits of a full night's rest after sleeping for only 4 hours. While you could just play an elf with the elven trancing trait from Elves of Golarion, this trait allows you to gain the same, short-sleep benefits while expanding on the reasons for them. Is the wizard's consciousness attuned to the motion of the spheres, energizing her and setting her rhythms? Is the half-orc used to the brutal life of kill or be killed, and as such has learned to function on less sleep to remain less vulnerable? Or did the alchemist simply invent red bull, and it's altered the way his circadian rhythm works?

Method #4: The Awakened From Stasis Trait

WHAT YEAR IS IT!?

Most players are going to get a louder-than-average "No!" for this option (something you're going to hear a lot whenever you try to take something out of People of The Stars), but this one is my personal favorite. Awakened From Stasis states that you woke up recently from slumber in a glass egg. You were in a cavern surrounded by other beings who were still asleep, and watched over by strange, silent automatons shaped like massive crabs. You gain a full night's sleep after only 2 hours due to your time in stasis, but you still have no idea where you came from. Are you from another plane? Another planet? Were you from the time of the Azlant Empire? And why were you chosen to be put in this bizarre bubble?

Perhaps if you go adventuring, you'll find out!

Bonus 5th Method! Restful Armor

Found on page 210 of the Advanced Class Guide, restful armor gives you the benefits of 8 hours of sleep in 2, and it allows you to comfortably sleep in whatever kind of armor you're wearing. It may be the only way to make a suit of plate armor as comfortable as a down bed. You can only gain this effect once per day, though, and you gain no additional benefits from further rest.

No Rest For The Wicked

That concludes this week's Crunch topic, but I've got a question for my readers. Do you prefer this listicle setup, or do you prefer broader topic coverage as with previous guides? Also, if you have alternative methods for shortening the amount of rest a character needs, feel free to leave them below in the comments. If there are methods I overlooked, but which are still generally available (not restricted by class or race), I'd be happy to revise the list to include them.

It's a big game, I'm sure I left something out.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by! If you want to get all of my updates, then plug your email address into the box on your right, or follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. If you'd like to help support Improved Initiative, then stop by my Patreon page and become a patron today! $1 a month goes further than you might think, trust me on that one.

Who The F@#k Is My DND Character? A Random WTF Generator For Gamers

I'd like to start today's post with a brief aside. Are you the sort of reader who loves sword and sorcery stories that feature barbarian warriors facing off against rusting, defunct machines guarding long-buried ships from beyond the stars? When Paizo introduced Iron Gods were you bouncing in your seat to play it? If so then you should really check this out!

Why are you still here? Go check it out already!

Shadows of a Fading World is a great anthology for those who love weird tales set in the twilight of man where the looming shadow of the end times colors all. My contribution to this book, Paths of Iron and Blood, is a tale about a chieftain on the trail of a machine-cult that has stolen the tribe's children for an unknown but no doubt nefarious purpose.

It may, or may not have been inspired by a Kellid barbarian of mine to whom I wanted to grant a last, great adventure.

Anyway, onto this week's Moon Pope Monday Post!

Who The Fuck Is My DND Character?

Do you remember back in the before-fore time when you would roll your stats in order and then based on what you rolled you would be able to pick your class? While that isn't the way things are done these days it was a special kind of challenge to fulfill the role your dice gave you; especially if that role was not what you were typically comfortable with.

For those who'd like to trust the fickle hand of fate check out the Who The Fuck Is My DND Character page by clicking right here!

And how exactly does this voodoo bullshit work?

The page is pretty simple, actually. It's built with the WTF engine, and it throws together a list of random suggestions in order to built a basic character back story. You might be a bitchy dwarf bard who has already gained and lost a fortune, or a composed tiefling druid who is uncomfortable around old people because they smell like death.

The list goes on and on, and while it might not be everyone's bag it's a fun experiment. So if you want to see what the gods decide for your next DND party have everyone sit down and go to www.whothefuckismydndcharacter.com and see what the Internet grants you.

As always if you want to help support Improved Initiative then you should stop by my Patreon page and consider becoming a patron today! If you want to be sure that you get all of my updates then either plug your email address into the box on the right hand side of the screen to join my mail list, or follow me on Facebook and Tumblr!