>>4146
>I like the idea of having the Panther hunt for food, maybe together with Cat but isn't burning mana points for it a waste? They will take a lot of rest

She has 2 at level 1 and she will regain 1d6 per hour of rest so it's a very valid strategy assuming she can get back to her clothes until she's able to afford 500 gold for shiftweave material. An hour rest is likely enough. In that light, she will probably take cat naps throughout the adventuring day and stay up more at night as watch, because she has no night vision and only very short blindsight, though she has a truesight spell, she could use that and then rest for one hour before you all go on for the day to replenish that one point. On a moonless night, she could also sleep last and spend the night as a panther prowling and watching with her truesight which is part of the demon panther's natural abilities. It would be very advantageous for her to do that as truesight is a very powerful magic sight.

>during this time Ashley has no access to her skills

It depends on the skill, but she's not Scooby Doo or Lassie so she won't be communicating what she knows if anything. She's been recently practicing her Panther Self and is very excited to try it now that she's being evaluated for a buff. Her panther self will be worth using for offense and will level with her.

>If I'm correct you need 8h of inactivity for a long rest with no more than 2h of keeping watch.

I'm not sure where you found that but I have a plan for that. Each hour of rest will heal you for 1 hit die. Each hour of rest will also regain your hit die in spell points. Long rest is any 8 hours of rest in a 24 hour period and they don't have to be consecutive. you may also sleep during that time even if during the day. In terms of sleep, you will need 8 hours in a 24 hour period not needed to be consecutive. You can do other things during rest other than sleep, see online, but 8 of the hours needs to be "sleep". I will not be strict with this. Also, if you skip sleep you will gain 1 level of exhaustion after 48 hours and will require 8 hours of sleep to remove that. This is an integration so that time will need to be made up. We can nerf it if it becomes a problem.

Sleeping is separate and rotating guard is recommended if Ashley isn't designated night watch. Normally for 3 people, you will have 12 hours of "sleep time" one person will be up for a 4 hour shift at any given time.
I can go into greater detail if you're still confused. I spoke of this earlier as well. I eliminated the "long rest" and added sleep requirement. I will be somewhat lenient on this however.

If you do "other than rest" for more than 8 hours then you will need additional pro-rated rations. So if you say walked for 16 hours, that would be a 2 ration day. If you rode the cart or a horse, then that counts as rest and you could sleep on the go too but not if you're controlling an animal. Sleep is always just 8 hours.