starvation from insufficient food supply

[ayvango]

Normally you should eat 3 times a day to stay healthy. But my characters should endure a long (about 3 month) journey with a few rations. I calculated that he should eat only once per day to prolong food for entire journey. What penalties awaits him for denutrition?

[flappeercraft]

I would put one or 2 of the following effects, Fatigue, Exhaustion or only be able to take partial actions. I would probably make it a survival check and the better the result the less hampering the effect. So lets say a Survival check and he gets a 2 then Exhausted and able to take Partial actions, a 10 Partial actions, 15 exhaustion or something along those lines.

[Jack_Simth]

Normally you should eat 3 times a day to stay healthy. But my characters should endure a long (about 3 month) journey with a few rations. I calculated that he should eat only once per day to prolong food for entire journey. What penalties awaits him for denutrition?
Let's see...
First off, the entry for Trail Rations (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/goodsAndServices.htm#adventuringGear) is listed as "Rations, trail (per day)" (emphasis added). That 5 sp cost is not expended three times a day, just once. Whether that's three sets of stuffs that you prepare at brekfast, lunch, and dinner, or whether that's one really big meal that sticks with you all day, or whether that's a bag full of dried nuts & berries that you snack on while you're hiking is left up to world-building fluff. So if you were planning on 1.5 gp/day, you were planning on far too much.

Next, we look at Starvation (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/environment.htm#starvationAndThirst):
Characters might find themselves without food or water and with no means to obtain them. In normal climates, Medium characters need at least a gallon of fluids and about a pound of decent food per day to avoid starvation. (Small characters need half as much.) In very hot climates, characters need two or three times as much water to avoid dehydration.

A character can go without water for 1 day plus a number of hours equal to his Constitution score. After this time, the character must make a Constitution check each hour (DC 10, +1 for each previous check) or take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage.

A character can go without food for 3 days, in growing discomfort. After this time, the character must make a Constitution check each day (DC 10, +1 for each previous check) or take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage.

Characters who have taken nonlethal damage from lack of food or water are fatigued. Nonlethal damage from thirst or starvation cannot be recovered until the character gets food or water, as needed—not even magic that restores hit points heals this damage.
If you have a solid meal every three days... RAW, nothing happens. You're fine (provided you're also getting water, but that's just a cantrip).

Also... Survival (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/survival.htm) includes "Get along in the wild. Move up to one-half your overland speed while hunting and foraging (no food or water supplies needed)" at DC 10. It's also usable untrained. Any PC who did not dump wisdom can take ten to handle it. Everlasting Rations (Magic Item Compendium, page 160) are just 350 gp and can feed one person indefinately. A Survival Pouch (Magic Item Compendium, page 187) is just 3,300 gp market, and can sustain ten people indefinitely (if they have a source of water - but again, that's just a cantrip) in addition to doing quite a few other things. Goodberry (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/goodberry.htm) is a first level spell. There's an item based off of it, too - the GoodBerry Bracelet (Magic Item Compendium, page 108) which makes 5 a day (with a kicker, and you don't need to find the berries, the bracelet grows them).

Edit: Or are you looking for homebrew?

[Grod_The_Giant]

If you want to create an ad-hoc penalty for being on half rations, Fatigue seems about right.

[ayvango]

Let's see...

Also... Survival (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/survival.htm) includes "Get along in the wild. Move up to one-half your overland speed while hunting and foraging (no food or water supplies needed)" at DC 10. It's also usable untrained. Any PC who did not dump wisdom can take ten to handle it. Everlasting Rations (Magic Item Compendium, page 160) are just 350 gp and can feed one person indefinately. A Survival Pouch (Magic Item Compendium, page 187) is just 3,300 gp market, and can sustain ten people indefinitely (if they have a source of water - but again, that's just a cantrip) in addition to doing quite a few other things. Goodberry (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/goodberry.htm) is a first level spell. There's an item based off of it, too - the GoodBerry Bracelet (Magic Item Compendium, page 108) which makes 5 a day (with a kicker, and you don't need to find the berries, the bracelet grows them).

Edit: Or are you looking for homebrew?
I'm looking for rules perspective.

The magic winter fails in the wild, so I would get hard days with untrained survival. There is no cleric the party to create everlasting rations, there is no clerics in 1000 miles radius to sell it. Survival pouch and all other items that requires the Create Food and Water spell are unfeasible. Goodberry is good but requires fresh berries and winter is coming. I though about applying unquent of timelessness on fresh berries to preserve basket of it. Then take 8 berries, cast dispell on them (to make them eatable) and use goodberry spell. But fortunately I found goodberry bracelet in MIC that provides the same service and I could create it. It has limitation just as I described: you could has only one full meal per day.

[ShaneMRoth]

From the 3.5 SRD


A character can go without food for 3 days, in growing discomfort. After this time, the character must make a Constitution check each day (DC 10, +1 for each previous check) or take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage.

Characters who have taken nonlethal damage from lack of food or water are fatigued. Nonlethal damage from thirst or starvation cannot be recovered until the character gets food or water, as needed.*

[Jack_Simth]

I'm looking for rules perspective.

The magic winter fails in the wild, so I would get hard days with untrained survival. There is no cleric the party to create everlasting rations, there is no clerics in 1000 miles radius to sell it. Survival pouch and all other items that requires the Create Food and Water spell are unfeasible. Goodberry is good but requires fresh berries and winter is coming. I though about applying unquent of timelessness on fresh berries to preserve basket of it. Then take 8 berries, cast dispell on them (to make them eatable) and use goodberry spell. But fortunately I found goodberry bracelet in MIC that provides the same service and I could create it. It has limitation just as I described: you could has only one full meal per day.
What about Ioun Stones (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#iounStones)? A "Clear Spindle" "Sustains creature without food or water" and markets at 4k. The only real requirements are Craft Woundrous Item and being a 12th level caster.

Also of note is that if you are a Druid-3 (or better) with Craft Wondrous... the Goodberry Bracelet is sufficient for simple survival purposes (and most likely for you and your entire party). It's just unpleasant to live off one meal a day, it has no RAW mechanical impact that you're only eating the equivalent of one full meal.

[Slipperychicken]

If I was writing rules for it, I'd want to give people a stacking -1 to all rolls for each day they go without sustenance. If they have sustenance, but not enough, the -1s stack up every other day. It's just hard to get things done when you're hungry. Once that penalty goes over your con score, you need to make hard fort saves (DC 20 plus one for days over the limit) or expire.

I think thirst should be something like: Fatigue after a full day without any water (or two days if eating sufficient food that contains some water), then exhaustion the next one or two days without it, then scaling fort saves against death each day (DC 10 + days without enough water?). That fatigue or exhaustion bypasses normal immunity so long as you have a need to eat.

[Necroticplague]

Normally you should eat 3 times a day to stay healthy. But my characters should endure a long (about 3 month) journey with a few rations. I calculated that he should eat only once per day to prolong food for entire journey. What penalties awaits him for denutrition?

Only eating once per say is enough, according to the rules of dnd.



Characters might find themselves without food or water and with no means to obtain them. In normal climates, Medium characters need at least a gallon of fluids and about a pound of decent food per day to avoid starvation. (Small characters need half as much.) In very hot climates, characters need two or three times as much water to avoid dehydration.

A character can go without water for 1 day plus a number of hours equal to his Constitution score. After this time, the character must make a Constitution check each hour (DC 10, +1 for each previous check) or take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage.

A character can go without food for 3 days, in growing discomfort. After this time, the character must make a Constitution check each day (DC 10, +1 for each previous check) or take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage.

Characters who have taken nonlethal damage from lack of food or water are fatigued. Nonlethal damage from thirst or starvation cannot be recovered until the character gets food or water, as needed.*

* Not even magic that restores hit points heals this damage.
Assuming, of course, that the meal is at least a pound of food.

[Slipperychicken]

Assuming, of course, that the meal is at least a pound of food.
That's excluding the water present in most normal meals.

Most of the meals that we eat contain water in the food. A traveler is usually carrying dried rations so that they will last, and picking up water as they go. A pound of dehydrated food plus a gallon of reasonably-clean water is pretty believable as a full day's sustenance.

Also bear in mind that adventurers tend to lead extremely active lifestyles by modern standards. These are guys who walk around for 8 hours every day (or ride if they're lucky) with over 50 pounds of equipment on their back. Even before the constant violence, training, and other excitement, that's burning through a lot of calories.

[daremetoidareyo]

See my survival guide in Sig. You can forage in cities too.

[Starkeeper]

The Everlasting Rations is just 350gp and specifies that it feeds a medium creature for one day while the Everfull Mug costs a mere 200gp for 12 ounces of water, cheap ale or watery wine thrice a day.

If you really must, there's always the Field Provisions Box which produces food and water for up to fifteen humans or five horses, I'm sure you can substitute humans for most other humanoids unless you're playing with ridiculously strict RAW.

[ayvango]

The Everlasting Rations is just 350gp

They requires clerics and clerics a very rare specie in the god damned world where the character adventures.

[Rerednaw]

They requires clerics and clerics a very rare specie in the god damned world where the character adventures.

Or an artificer who can make items w/o the spell pre-requisites.
I am assuming the characters do not have an arcane either who can cast appropriate alternatives...

[Necroticplague]

Or an artificer who can make items w/o the spell pre-requisites.
I am assuming the characters do not have an arcane either who can cast appropriate alternatives...

Or a warlock. Or a Midgard dwarf. Or an Archivist. Or any way to wish it into existence. Cleric very optional.

[Slipperychicken]

Or an artificer who can make items w/o the spell pre-requisites.
I am assuming the characters do not have an arcane either who can cast appropriate alternatives...

Or literally any crafter in PF because they can raise the DC by 5 to compensate for not meeting a requirement.

In 3.5, a crafter can get someone else to contribute the spell.