anyone know if this glaring error was subsequently addressed in any other publication (the more i look at numbers in the PHB and DMG, the sadder I get):
PHB, CHAPTER 8
Food.A character needs one pound of food per day and can make food last longer by subsisting on half rations. Eating half a pound of food in a day counts as half a day without food.
i think i'm going with the 1 pound rule for adventurers (you'd think would burn more calories than the average joe)...average calorie consumption these days for Earthers is 1,600 to 2,400 calories per day for adult women and 2,000 to 3,000 for men...but we eat soooo much garbage. 1 pound of hamburger has 1,500 calories...you certainly wouldn't get fat on it, but think 1 pound works for field/adventuring rations.
i also think this rule is total poo... "A normal day of eating resets the count of days without food to zero." that means if i have 13 CON, i can go 4 days without food before suffering a penalty, and then eat 1 ration and reset...so in a month i could live off of 4 pounds of food with zero consequence, remaining buffer than I am IRL (which isn't saying much though). that's silly.
That is an interesting discrepancy, but I don't think I've ever really tracked rations or carrying capacity, save for Dark Sun, where its part of the point of the setting. Or when I played a cleric, I typically burned a spell slot for create food and water, which I guess is basically tracking it for the whole party. When I DM, I just assume players are foraging enough to survive. Unless, like dark sun, they're going through an area where there isn't available food. Otherwise, I just ignore the bookkeeping involved.
anyone know if this glaring error was subsequently addressed in any other publication (the more i look at numbers in the PHB and DMG, the sadder I get):
PHB, CHAPTER 8
Food.A character needs one pound of food per day and can make food last longer by subsisting on half rations. Eating half a pound of food in a day counts as half a day without food.
I always assumed it was packaging and containers (probably a bit excessive).
i think i'm going with the 1 pound rule for adventurers (you'd think would burn more calories than the average joe)...average calorie consumption these days for Earthers is 1,600 to 2,400 calories per day for adult women and 2,000 to 3,000 for men...but we eat soooo much garbage. 1 pound of hamburger has 1,500 calories...you certainly wouldn't get fat on it, but think 1 pound works for field/adventuring rations.
MREs weigh a little over 1lb, contain 1/3 the daily amount of calories and vitamins needed and probably about half their weight is packaging, so that is about 2lb per day. And they are not even the most calorie dense as food can get as they mostly resemble normal meals. So not too unrealistic as far as game rules go.
i also think this rule is total poo... "A normal day of eating resets the count of days without food to zero." that means if i have 13 CON, i can go 4 days without food before suffering a penalty, and then eat 1 ration and reset...so in a month i could live off of 4 pounds of food with zero consequence, remaining buffer than I am IRL (which isn't saying much though). that's silly.
Your math is wrong 4×4=16≠30, you would actually need 7-8 meals per month. But yeah, the rule is totally unrealistic.
But what is worse is eating half a ration delays the penalty by a day, but doesn't reset anything. This means that eating half a ration every day for 6 days has the same effect as not eating anything for 3 days and you still need to eat a full meal to reset. You wasted 3 full rations and this is supposed to make food go further. And it only gets worse the higher your CON is.
Just saying, the consequences would be they would lose weight. Significant weight. Oh sure they could continue on and adventure for a while, but I as they DM would have them start making CON saves for exhaustion. Because you aren’t going to rulebook away common sense.
Just saying, the consequences would be they would lose weight. Significant weight. Oh sure they could continue on and adventure for a while, but I as they DM would have them start making CON saves for exhaustion. Because you aren’t going to rulebook away common sense.
Don't forget about the starvation rules. I love to pull those at players that don't keep track of eating.
Characters who don’t eat or drink suffer the effects of exhaustion. Exhaustion caused by lack of food or water can’t be removed until the character eats and drinks the full required amount. A character needs one pound of food per day and can make food last longer by subsisting on half rations. Eating half a pound of food in a day counts as half a day without food. A character can go without food for a number of days equal to 3 + his or her Constitution modifier (minimum 1). At the end of each day beyond that limit, a character automatically suffers one level of exhaustion. A normal day of eating resets the count of days without food to zero.
Oh yeah, that's good. But I prefer to have them make a DC 14 Con save without eating food every 1 or 2 days ; and a DC 20 con save without drinking water every day. Rather than you can just go without eating or drinking for a certain amount of time.
Given that 1 days rations would probably contain high energy food (such as dried fruit) along with some high carbohydrate based food (heavy breads or hard biscuits) and high protein foods (jerky and dried beans to make a nice stew or thick soup). Then factor in that each ration pack only provides food for 1 day, even though each weighs 2lbs, and you can see how the adventurer has plenty of everything the body needs (bar water) for each day.
Remember that you have to use common sense for the rules sometimes, like how 2024 invisibility doesn't actually say you're invisible. Never let someone only eat every 4 days and be fine.
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anyone know if this glaring error was subsequently addressed in any other publication (the more i look at numbers in the PHB and DMG, the sadder I get):
PHB, CHAPTER 8
PHB, CHAPTER 5
i think i'm going with the 1 pound rule for adventurers (you'd think would burn more calories than the average joe)...average calorie consumption these days for Earthers is 1,600 to 2,400 calories per day for adult women and 2,000 to 3,000 for men...but we eat soooo much garbage. 1 pound of hamburger has 1,500 calories...you certainly wouldn't get fat on it, but think 1 pound works for field/adventuring rations.
i also think this rule is total poo... "A normal day of eating resets the count of days without food to zero." that means if i have 13 CON, i can go 4 days without food before suffering a penalty, and then eat 1 ration and reset...so in a month i could live off of 4 pounds of food with zero consequence, remaining buffer than I am IRL (which isn't saying much though). that's silly.
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
That is an interesting discrepancy, but I don't think I've ever really tracked rations or carrying capacity, save for Dark Sun, where its part of the point of the setting. Or when I played a cleric, I typically burned a spell slot for create food and water, which I guess is basically tracking it for the whole party. When I DM, I just assume players are foraging enough to survive. Unless, like dark sun, they're going through an area where there isn't available food. Otherwise, I just ignore the bookkeeping involved.
I always assumed it was packaging and containers (probably a bit excessive).
MREs weigh a little over 1lb, contain 1/3 the daily amount of calories and vitamins needed and probably about half their weight is packaging, so that is about 2lb per day. And they are not even the most calorie dense as food can get as they mostly resemble normal meals. So not too unrealistic as far as game rules go.
Your math is wrong 4×4=16≠30, you would actually need 7-8 meals per month. But yeah, the rule is totally unrealistic.
But what is worse is eating half a ration delays the penalty by a day, but doesn't reset anything. This means that eating half a ration every day for 6 days has the same effect as not eating anything for 3 days and you still need to eat a full meal to reset. You wasted 3 full rations and this is supposed to make food go further. And it only gets worse the higher your CON is.
ha, yeah. that. i suppose 2 lbs does make more sense, especially if you're walking everywhere (which needs calories of course).
xalthu, agree, trying to build a level 0 adventure where everyone are still average joe's - so food and weight are an issue in this one
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
Just saying, the consequences would be they would lose weight. Significant weight. Oh sure they could continue on and adventure for a while, but I as they DM would have them start making CON saves for exhaustion. Because you aren’t going to rulebook away common sense.
Don't forget about the starvation rules. I love to pull those at players that don't keep track of eating.
Characters who don’t eat or drink suffer the effects of exhaustion. Exhaustion caused by lack of food or water can’t be removed until the character eats and drinks the full required amount. A character needs one pound of food per day and can make food last longer by subsisting on half rations. Eating half a pound of food in a day counts as half a day without food. A character can go without food for a number of days equal to 3 + his or her Constitution modifier (minimum 1). At the end of each day beyond that limit, a character automatically suffers one level of exhaustion. A normal day of eating resets the count of days without food to zero.
Oh yeah, that's good. But I prefer to have them make a DC 14 Con save without eating food every 1 or 2 days ; and a DC 20 con save without drinking water every day. Rather than you can just go without eating or drinking for a certain amount of time.
Given that 1 days rations would probably contain high energy food (such as dried fruit) along with some high carbohydrate based food (heavy breads or hard biscuits) and high protein foods (jerky and dried beans to make a nice stew or thick soup). Then factor in that each ration pack only provides food for 1 day, even though each weighs 2lbs, and you can see how the adventurer has plenty of everything the body needs (bar water) for each day.
Remember that you have to use common sense for the rules sometimes, like how 2024 invisibility doesn't actually say you're invisible. Never let someone only eat every 4 days and be fine.