[RPG] Long Rest interrupted AFTER 4 hour Trance

dnd-5eelfracial-traitsrests

Now that there has been strict errata saying an Elf DOES indeed finish a Long Rest after 4 hours if they decide to meditate through Trance, I assume this also means they are forced to gain the benefits of that long Rest after only 4 hours?

If this is indeed the case, if a party with one Elf and 3 humans are interrupted by a combat after 6 hours and the Elf has already benefitted from their 4 hour Long Rest, what happens if each member of the party used 1 spell slot each?

The 3 humans go back to sleep to finish their Long Rest and recover their slots and HP, while the Elf who Tranced hours ago…. doesn't?

This seems like a step down suddenly.

Best Answer

The elf gains the benefits of a long rest immediately after being in a trance for four hours.

Trance states:

Elves don’t need to sleep. Instead, they meditate deeply, remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. (The Common word for such meditation is “trance.”) While meditating, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are actually mental exercises that have become reflexive through years of practice. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.

So if the elf spends 4 hours in the trance, then they gain the benefits of a long rest. They benefit from the rest immediately at the end of the 4 hours. Remaining hours of light activity are not necessary, as explained in my answer here:

A human benefits from a long rest after 8 hours of sleep, and an elf gets the same benefits as an 8-hours-sleeping human with 4 hours of Trance.

Let's focus on this portion of Trance:

After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.

The rules for long rests state:

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.

Thus, if a human sleeps for 8 hours, then they benefit from a long rest (8 is at least 6, and 0 hours of activity is less than 2). 8 hours of sleep is in no uncertain terms a sufficient condition for benefiting from a long rest. Here is an incomplete list of benefits a human gets from sleeping 8 hours:

  • a long rest

Now, Trance states that an elf gets the same benefits from meditating for only 4 hours. So the list of benefits is the same for a human sleeping 8 hours and an elf meditating for 4 hours. So here is an incomplete list of benefits an elf gets from meditating for 4 hours:

  • a long rest

This conclusion is easily accessible from a plain reading of Trance and the rules for a long rest. There is no need to get Jeremy Crawford involved.

4 hours of trance is a sufficient condition for an elf to complete a long rest. At the end of 4 hours of trancing, their long rest is complete, and all the associated benefits, such as spell slot and hit dice restoration, are realized.