Lifestyle Choices (5e Variant Rule)

Work In Progress

Lifestyle Choices

A variety of simulationist factors are overlooked in the greater adventure. But, just for fun, let's consider them here in this rule. We'll take all sorts of things into account, like hygiene and even what you sleep on in the road. This rule is intended to be used alongside tracking food, water, and various items of inventory that are often not considered in games that don't want to get into this nitty gritty bits.

Sleep Quality

An adventurer isn't always some hardened person that is able to sleep just about anywhere. Someone from the noble background might be super uncomfortable sleeping among the boughs of a tree. A person with low constitution might wake up with aches and pain upon neglecting to find a better sleeping area or position. Someone sleeping on an empty stomach might be kept up all night from their hunger. These factors affecting quality of sleep would feasibly affect how a person wakes up. They might end up more tired than even before! Below is a table with examples roughly detailing the situations and how they would affect sleeping.

For creatures that do not need sleep, you can still use some effects of this table, depending on how you deem it may be difficult for them to rest the way they do. For example, elves meditate instead of resting, entering trance. However, perhaps they can't maintain this rest very well if they happen to be trying to rest in a very noisy forest, which would impact the quality of their rest even if they do not sleep. Some races can be ruled completely immune to issues with sleep quality, like warforged. If you want, you can add specialized factors that would make their rest also capable of being affected by quality. For example, if a warforged sleeps in a location with poor humidity factors or even electromagnetic/magical interference, they might not get a good rest while powered down.

Table: Sleep Quality

Sleeping Conditions	Quality	Effect
Squalid	1 + CON DC 15 for +1
Poor	1 + CON DC 10 for +1
Modest	2
Comfortable	2 + CON DC 15 for +1
Wealthy	2 + CON DC 10 for +1
Aristocratic	3

A Bad Rest

A bad rest means you were particularly badgered while asleep, pretty much unable to glean the good of rest at all. You can roll on the below table to determine what deleterious effect that has on your character.

Table: Bad Rest Effect

1d6	Effect
Squalid	1 + CON DC 15 for +1
Poor	1 + CON DC 10 for +1
Modest	2
Comfortable	2 + CON DC 15 for +1
Wealthy	2 + CON DC 10 for +1
Aristocratic	3

Cleanliness

Adventuring on the road and constantly fighting would mean you become a ball of flesh smelling of sweat and blood pretty soon. Keeping clean would affect how you interact with people, particularly those of higher standing and in cities with better hygiene standards. Arriving like an unwashed savage screaming that goblins are coming to attack will make people more convinced that you're the threat, for example. To upkeep cleanliness and appearance, there should be more use of items like soap and clippers for hair and nails. Or, you could just be extra careful with your dagger there! Below is a general table of how cleanliness can be judged of a character based on their habits, like if they spend their downtime bathing and stuff.

Table: Cleanliness

Habit	Appearance	Effect
Squalid	1 + CON DC 15 for +1
Poor	1 + CON DC 10 for +1
Modest	2
Comfortable	2 + CON DC 15 for +1
Wealthy	2 + CON DC 10 for +1
Aristocratic	3

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