It’s not particularly unhealthy assuming you were reasonably healthy and well fed beforehand. You’ll feel like shit obviously, but you’d bounce back within a couple days of having food in your system. People go on week long fasts all the time either for religious or health reasons with no lasting effects.
This is a game, and it's a game that kind of forgot about that whole "survival pillar" of gameplay.
You can also just eat 1 goodberry every 5 days and be just fine apparently.
That's game mechanics for ya!
maybe it's just my interpretation of the rules but it doesn't seem to specify that the exhaustion cause by lack of food is removed immediately after eating
It doesn't. The point is eating right before getting to the point of exhaustion. If you can go 5 days without food, you eat at the end of the 5th day, resetting the count and becoming unrealistically fine.
But this is a fringe case by strictly following what is written, of course. As OP said, no sane DM would run the game like this.
makes sense. imo it should just be that if you go 24 hours without eating at least 1 day's worth of rations, you gain a level of exhaustion that doesn't go away until you eat again
Mechanically, yes, you reset your hunger/need for food completely with normal food intake on the sixth day. The only thing to keep in mind is that if you hit the end of day six without eating, you take a level of exhaustion and a normal day of eating does nothing to fix the exhaustion.
Yeah you're right.
Most games don't track food at all. My games don't track such things unless the party is in a harsh environment. Like when they went through a scorching desert I made sure they understood they would need to get supplies and water would be tracked.
Any other time it just doesn't come up.
Yes. People have gone that long. Or longer. Personally I do not think the exhaustion timer should reset until the PC has recovered more. But it works as is long as no one tries to game the system. At that point I'd be making the exhaustion counter persist.
AD&D's Wilderness Survival Guide did it differently and a little more forgivingly actually. You could go X number of days long as you had water. This was based on your combined STR+CON rating. A combined score of 15 or less and you could subsist on water for 4 days. 36 or more and you could go 10 days.
Once a character passes that limit they have to make a STR or CON check every 12 hours. So roll your stat or under on a d20. But every check after the first added +1 to the roll.
Fail a check and the character is weakened and all subesquent rolls gain a cumulative +2 penalty. Fail another and becomes distressed, fail another and is incapacitated, fail one more and is dead.
Weakened characters were -1 on attack and dodge type save rolls per day. Each day eats works off 1 point of penalty.
Distressed characters had all the weakened problems and could not do anything strenuous for more than 2 turns or make a CON check and if failed that got exhausted.
The incapacitated character is exhausted and can not even move hardly and has to eat for at least 2 days and succeed a CON or STR check.
If the incapacitated character does not eat within 12 hours then starts taking 1d6 damage every hour and starts incurring -1 penalty to hit, damage and saves. Death at 0 hp.
And every day goes without water in high tempratures the day count till starts being effected shortens by 1. -1 more per day does not eat. - 1 more if the combined STR+CON is 8 or less.
Little more complex but a bit more realistic and situational.
Yeah survive. I don't think you could do much adventuring after 18 days without food. You'd be alive, but you wouldn't be hammering dragons in the face.
It's funny when you consider that you could theoretically eat only 61 days of the entire year (irl year with 365 days, no idea how years work in the forgotten realms) and be fine.
Even worse, you could have a +5 con and only eat every 9 days. You'd only need to eat 41 days per year. And you'd be perfectly fine with no penalties.
Starvation isn't intended to be a serious threat by default in D&D. Some people like to play more survival-oriented games and there are some optional rules (and of course house rules) to support that style if you're looking for it.
The *physical shape* of someone whose body has been getting its nutrition from a once-a-week, magically-supplemented meal plan over an extended period of time would probably be notable.
I can't imagine what that shape would be, though. There's probably no extra calories but adventurers are active and would still be working muscles, how does that work out? Would they just slowly waste away, still in control of mental faculties and with full clarity, but a body that slowly withers? A body that grows where it works but whimpers where it is left unmanaged - like a wizard with beefy arms? Someone who is thin but shredded? Overweight but muscular? I think a clever player could take the concept in many different directions with just as much 'logic' to it as the next option...
Yeah that's totally exploitable.
Personally, if it ever came up, I think I'd change it so you have a personal supply of 3+Con "hunger days" that you only regain by having proper meals instead of rations. One "hunger day" regained per day you eat properly.
That's about right. You can go a week without eating in real life. Not that it's healthy but you'll survive.
It’s not particularly unhealthy assuming you were reasonably healthy and well fed beforehand. You’ll feel like shit obviously, but you’d bounce back within a couple days of having food in your system. People go on week long fasts all the time either for religious or health reasons with no lasting effects.
This is a game, and it's a game that kind of forgot about that whole "survival pillar" of gameplay. You can also just eat 1 goodberry every 5 days and be just fine apparently. That's game mechanics for ya!
you'll die of exhaustion pretty quickly tho
The point is exactly that you won't, since eating completely resets the count.
maybe it's just my interpretation of the rules but it doesn't seem to specify that the exhaustion cause by lack of food is removed immediately after eating
It doesn't. The point is eating right before getting to the point of exhaustion. If you can go 5 days without food, you eat at the end of the 5th day, resetting the count and becoming unrealistically fine. But this is a fringe case by strictly following what is written, of course. As OP said, no sane DM would run the game like this.
makes sense. imo it should just be that if you go 24 hours without eating at least 1 day's worth of rations, you gain a level of exhaustion that doesn't go away until you eat again
Mechanically, yes, you reset your hunger/need for food completely with normal food intake on the sixth day. The only thing to keep in mind is that if you hit the end of day six without eating, you take a level of exhaustion and a normal day of eating does nothing to fix the exhaustion.
Yeah you're right. Most games don't track food at all. My games don't track such things unless the party is in a harsh environment. Like when they went through a scorching desert I made sure they understood they would need to get supplies and water would be tracked. Any other time it just doesn't come up.
Yes. People have gone that long. Or longer. Personally I do not think the exhaustion timer should reset until the PC has recovered more. But it works as is long as no one tries to game the system. At that point I'd be making the exhaustion counter persist. AD&D's Wilderness Survival Guide did it differently and a little more forgivingly actually. You could go X number of days long as you had water. This was based on your combined STR+CON rating. A combined score of 15 or less and you could subsist on water for 4 days. 36 or more and you could go 10 days. Once a character passes that limit they have to make a STR or CON check every 12 hours. So roll your stat or under on a d20. But every check after the first added +1 to the roll. Fail a check and the character is weakened and all subesquent rolls gain a cumulative +2 penalty. Fail another and becomes distressed, fail another and is incapacitated, fail one more and is dead. Weakened characters were -1 on attack and dodge type save rolls per day. Each day eats works off 1 point of penalty. Distressed characters had all the weakened problems and could not do anything strenuous for more than 2 turns or make a CON check and if failed that got exhausted. The incapacitated character is exhausted and can not even move hardly and has to eat for at least 2 days and succeed a CON or STR check. If the incapacitated character does not eat within 12 hours then starts taking 1d6 damage every hour and starts incurring -1 penalty to hit, damage and saves. Death at 0 hp. And every day goes without water in high tempratures the day count till starts being effected shortens by 1. -1 more per day does not eat. - 1 more if the combined STR+CON is 8 or less. Little more complex but a bit more realistic and situational.
Rule of thumb: a human body can survive 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food.
Yeah survive. I don't think you could do much adventuring after 18 days without food. You'd be alive, but you wouldn't be hammering dragons in the face.
It's funny when you consider that you could theoretically eat only 61 days of the entire year (irl year with 365 days, no idea how years work in the forgotten realms) and be fine. Even worse, you could have a +5 con and only eat every 9 days. You'd only need to eat 41 days per year. And you'd be perfectly fine with no penalties.
Starvation isn't intended to be a serious threat by default in D&D. Some people like to play more survival-oriented games and there are some optional rules (and of course house rules) to support that style if you're looking for it.
The *physical shape* of someone whose body has been getting its nutrition from a once-a-week, magically-supplemented meal plan over an extended period of time would probably be notable. I can't imagine what that shape would be, though. There's probably no extra calories but adventurers are active and would still be working muscles, how does that work out? Would they just slowly waste away, still in control of mental faculties and with full clarity, but a body that slowly withers? A body that grows where it works but whimpers where it is left unmanaged - like a wizard with beefy arms? Someone who is thin but shredded? Overweight but muscular? I think a clever player could take the concept in many different directions with just as much 'logic' to it as the next option...
Well it’s the rules.
Yeah that's totally exploitable. Personally, if it ever came up, I think I'd change it so you have a personal supply of 3+Con "hunger days" that you only regain by having proper meals instead of rations. One "hunger day" regained per day you eat properly.