Can a rest be taken in a moving cart?

Question

This question comes from a discussion with a DM friend of mine, whose players asked him if they could take a short rest while traveling in a moving cart. His initial reaction was to think that wouldn't work, but upon considering the rules for short rests:

A short rest is a period of downtime, at least 1 hour long, during which a character does nothing more strenuous than eating, drinking, reading, and tending to wounds.

There doesn't seem to be anything explicitly prohibiting it there. One could argue that driving the cart could be considered a strenuous activity, but doing nothing more than sitting in the back seems to be a harder to justify as such.

Taking it a step further, we also considered the possibility of a long rest. Looking at the rules for long rests:

A long rest is a period of extended downtime, at least 8 hours long, during which a character sleeps for at least 6 hours and performs no more than 2 hours of light activity, such as reading, talking, eating, or standing watch. If the rest is interrupted by a period of strenuous activity - at least 1 hour of walking, fighting, casting spells, or similar adventuring activity - the characters must begin the rest again to gain any benefit from it.

We again considered that sitting in moving vehicle isn't explicitly called out, and intuitively doesn't seem to qualify as a "period of strenuous activity". Assuming one could rest on a sailing adventure (with the ship being a vehicle), and suddenly this seems less absurd.

And yet it's a concept that appears to go against the norm, with stopping and finding a place to specifically rest or set up camp, and I haven't seen the questions asked here or elsewhere. Is there something else written anywhere that prohibits this, or is our interpretation here wrong?

Answer 1

Short answer: rules seem to be fine with it for both short and long rests.

As a rule-based answer, I'd say there's nothing against it, as you noted. I've personally allowed characters to take short rests in a cart because it seems within rules. The only thing that would prevent the long rest is the bumpiness of the cart preventing the minimum 6 hours of sleep the long rest demands. But even then, the basic rules don't strictly go against it.

I'd simply suggest being consistent. If cart-rests would go against a grittier campaign or such, or you have encounters planned where you want them stopped and perhaps unable to run, then you could effectively houserule with your group that there's no cart-resting. But if it wouldn't break things for the campaign, be it mechanically or flavorfully, then the rules seem to support it, and it can also help speed things along for the plot.

Instead of saying they have to stop, then travel for hours with a generally monotonous journey that they may not get much description from anyway, they just rest through that while traveling (assuming someone is steering). And if they would encounter something along the way, it might be even more interesting now that they decided not to rest prior to traveling, instead getting interrupted during the travel and having to deal with the encounter not yet rested.

Answer 2

The rules support resting in a cart fine, as you point out. I think the intent is to be able to rest on a vehicle; otherwise, sailors would die from exhaustion at an alarming rate. The only thing I'd say for long rests is if it's a particularly bumpy ride, I'd call for con check checks to see if they manage to get enough sleep. Short rests should not be an issue. Even if it's bumpy, sitting in a cart is still enough of a reprieve from fighting, marching, etc.

Keep in mind this would have to be a rented cart with an NPC driver, as if you are driving it, you cannot be resting (strenuous activity). I suppose you could take turns resting if you wanted your short rest to take 2 hours—one short rest for everyone but the driver, one for the driver while someone else drives.

Keep in mind if you do this, any bonus the driver might be able to provide on a short rest, like song of rest, would only apply to their own short rest, not the rest of the party. Also if you are attacked during the 2nd hour, the driver will not have the benefits of the short rest at all. Also if something happens that requires a driving check and the person covering for the driver while they rest doesn't have land vehicle proficiency, it might end badly.

Answer 3

I would allow this, if the cart was on a decent road in a relatively civilized area. If the party is out in the wilderness, or in the ruins of an abandoned area, then I'd say the cart ride would be too rough, unless there's special circumstances. Maybe in a few cases, the road is still in decent enough shape even though abandoned. Or maybe they are in the wilderness, but happen to be on a great big salt flat.

I'd probably allow the drover to also get a short rest, if the animals are trained well. Maybe make an Animal Handling check to keep everything calm enough. But the drover will not be able to sleep and get a long rest. If they have enough people to take turns driving the cart, like keeping a watch, they might be able to get in a long rest for everyone.

But then don't forget that the animals need to rest, too. Unless your cart is being pulled by Skeleton horses that are immune to fatigue.

Answer 4

When it comes to rules, you're right, there isn't anything to suggest that a ride in the back of a cart is "doing" something strenuous.

But for practical consideration--have you ever ridden in the back of a moving cart? It's anything but restful. There's no air-filled tires, rubber, quality shocks, or smooth roads. Even "paved" roads before modern times were often cobblestones, which are used for durability, not comfort.

Getting rest in a moving cart would require either extreme fatigue or significant investment in shocks for the cart and large amounts of padding or straw in the back