Method: MOderate vs DEep Regime in NeuroIntensive care SEdation (MODERNISE) is a prospective, randomized, open, two-center trial. Patients with acute ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage or subarachnoid hemorrhage who need to be ventilated are eligible for enrollment. It is intended to enroll 50 patients per group (n=100). Patients are randomized within 72h from admission to either moderate sedation as defined by Richmond Agitation Sedation Scale (RASS) >= -3 or to deep sedation as defined by RASS < -3 for the next 72h, after which weaning from sedation is aimed for in a stepwise fashion in both groups. If reduction of sedation is not feasible, patients remain at their respective sedation level for another 12 hours, and sedation reduction is then tried again. Patients are multimodally monitored for systemic and cerebral parameters (the latter including bispectral index (BIS) monitoring). The primary endpoint is ICU length of stay (ICU-LOS); secondary endpoints are several pre-defined variables of the ICU course, feasibility of sedation levels without violation of pre-defined safety criteria, pre-defined complications, and short- and long-term functional outcome and mortality.