Vogie
2023-09-21, 03:47 PM
I'm one of those DMs who are annoyed by consumables. I like the concept of consumables, because as a DM I think it is important that your players can run out of things if they're not in town... but hate most of the executions that I see of it.
So this idea is essentially using a variant of the Psionic Talent dice from the UA Wild Talent feat. For those who don't recall, it was a feat that fueled a couple of psychic abilities with a d6 that would grow and shrink based on the use. If you roll the maximum amount, you are overextending yourself and the die shrinks a step (from a d6 to a d4). If you roll a 1, on the other hand, you are preserving power for later, represented by the die increasing one step (from a d6 to a d8).
For this implementation, we're giving the dice a bit more latitude - all you have to do is roll a 3 or higher to have not run low on the resource in question. This means that the more a character invests in a resource, the more likely it's going to last for a long time. However, the resource steps down whenever you roll a 1 or 2 on that dice - meaning that each time you use that resource at the 1d4 level, you have a 50% chance of dropping to 1, which would mean they have precisely 1 use left. 1 use may be a rest for things like rations or healing supplies, or 1 more combat encounter for things like ammunition
The dice steps would be d20, d12, d10, d8, d6, d4 and 1.
Initially, this will be used for:
Food
Water
Arrows, Bolts and Bullets
Non-magical healing implements such as healing kit charges, bandages, antitoxins, and the like
Each time a consumable resource is used in a generic period of time, the dice is rolled. This includes
At the end of each combat encounter for ammunition such as arrows, bolts or bullets where that resource was used more than once.
During a rest where natural healing is used, such as when hit dice are rolled or regained in 5e or the Resting Exploration action in PF2e.
During a period of time in extreme environments, such as bitter cold or punishing heat.
For example, at the end of a combat round where a healthy ranger relied solely on their bow, and the badly-wounded wizard, who had eventually ran out of spell slots, used their crossbow once, only the Ranger would roll their supply dice for their consumed arrows
Interactions in the wild
When using a trained level or higher Survival check (or equivalent) to go out and find additional food or water, once the DC is met or exceeded, they can choose one supply dice in their party to increase by one step (for example, if the ranger has a d10 of food remaining, but the wizard has only a d4 left, they may be increasing the wizards' supply rather than their own). A critical success would increase the supply dice for an additional person.
Similarly, increasing the die size of mundane ammunition, if one has the ability to do so, a successful check would increase their mundane ammo supply by one step and a critical success would move it two steps.
When using a Survival check (or equivalent) by an untrained PC is using it in a way to "live off the land" instead of using their supply, a successful roll will give a -1 modifier to a Supply check.
When rolling a supply check to split one PC's Supplies with multiple people, they would take -3 for the first person, and -2 for each additional person beyond the first, provided that the total able to be rolled is at least 2. This means a PC with a d10 supply die could provide up to a party of four once (as themselves and three party members would be a -7 modifier).
When using a cooking skill (or equivalent) where the trained PC takes additional time to set up a campfire and use cooking tools, the roll can be made with a +1 modifier (thus only decreasing if a 1 is rolled). There isn't an untrained equivalent, only for those PCs that invested into that cooking skill at the expense of other skills.
Then comes the obvious requirement - how do I then fill up when we go back to town? This is still in flux, but right now I'm think the value will be an amount of currency equal to your level to go up a single dice size. This would very wildly depending on the system as
In 5e, Rations 5 silver a day (5s for 1 day's rations) for food and 4 silver a day (2 waterskins of water for 1 gallon, 2 sp each), resulting in 90 sp (9gp) for a tenday (their week equivalent); where as in Pathfinder 2e 4 sp is a week's rations and 5 copper for a day's water, resulting in a 7-day week being 7.5 sp.
In 5e, arrows are 1gp for 20; in PF2e it's 2sp for 20
In 5e, bullets are 3gp for 10, but are relatively rare; in PF2e, where there's an entire gunslinger class, it's 2sp for 10
To me, all of that is relatively asinine. To make everything relatively simple, I would expect filling the consumables would be between 1 gp (PF2e) to 10 gp (5e) each to fill up to a d20 - It would depend on if your system (or campaign) is relatively currency-light, or up to the "What do I do with all this useless gold?" economies. Things like Water would likely be refilled for free
If the party has the ability to purchase things in bulk, such as having a barrel of water on their cart, you could represent those types of things with multiple dice - a barrel of water could have about 2d12 amounts of water, and each time they "refill" one supply die size it'd be rolled with a target number of 3 or higher, making it relatively long-lasting. You could do the same if you're trying to have a more gritty game, where something like a felled game animal might provide 2d8 worth of rations. This system is relatively similar to Torchbearer's treasure system, where all loot and treasure has a variable value representing the worth of things as you sell them - 1d6 is the equivalent to a pouch full of copper, 2d6 is a pouch full of silver, 3d6 is a gem or pouch full of gold, et cetera.
Once a home base is created, the party could be able to fill up certain things all the way for free when they return to their home/ship/guildhouse/tavern/et cetera.
This system could also be expanded to include:
Generic thrown weapons (nonmagical throwing knives, javelins, etc), with the supply die representing the ability to be retrieved at the end of the battle
Magical Components in a Pouch (which, while thematic, is a nonbo with things like wands, orbs and staves), or materials to make basic poisons, if that's a common
Spending money, although this would require a complete rewrite of how purchasing things work. This would be useful with any sort of abstracted
Supply costs for failures during the exploration phase - as a sort of non-combat penalty for poor rolls (your campfire spreads, you use a step of your water to put it out; you lose a die step of ammo when you almost fall off the ledge; and so on)
So this idea is essentially using a variant of the Psionic Talent dice from the UA Wild Talent feat. For those who don't recall, it was a feat that fueled a couple of psychic abilities with a d6 that would grow and shrink based on the use. If you roll the maximum amount, you are overextending yourself and the die shrinks a step (from a d6 to a d4). If you roll a 1, on the other hand, you are preserving power for later, represented by the die increasing one step (from a d6 to a d8).
For this implementation, we're giving the dice a bit more latitude - all you have to do is roll a 3 or higher to have not run low on the resource in question. This means that the more a character invests in a resource, the more likely it's going to last for a long time. However, the resource steps down whenever you roll a 1 or 2 on that dice - meaning that each time you use that resource at the 1d4 level, you have a 50% chance of dropping to 1, which would mean they have precisely 1 use left. 1 use may be a rest for things like rations or healing supplies, or 1 more combat encounter for things like ammunition
The dice steps would be d20, d12, d10, d8, d6, d4 and 1.
Initially, this will be used for:
Food
Water
Arrows, Bolts and Bullets
Non-magical healing implements such as healing kit charges, bandages, antitoxins, and the like
Each time a consumable resource is used in a generic period of time, the dice is rolled. This includes
At the end of each combat encounter for ammunition such as arrows, bolts or bullets where that resource was used more than once.
During a rest where natural healing is used, such as when hit dice are rolled or regained in 5e or the Resting Exploration action in PF2e.
During a period of time in extreme environments, such as bitter cold or punishing heat.
For example, at the end of a combat round where a healthy ranger relied solely on their bow, and the badly-wounded wizard, who had eventually ran out of spell slots, used their crossbow once, only the Ranger would roll their supply dice for their consumed arrows
Interactions in the wild
When using a trained level or higher Survival check (or equivalent) to go out and find additional food or water, once the DC is met or exceeded, they can choose one supply dice in their party to increase by one step (for example, if the ranger has a d10 of food remaining, but the wizard has only a d4 left, they may be increasing the wizards' supply rather than their own). A critical success would increase the supply dice for an additional person.
Similarly, increasing the die size of mundane ammunition, if one has the ability to do so, a successful check would increase their mundane ammo supply by one step and a critical success would move it two steps.
When using a Survival check (or equivalent) by an untrained PC is using it in a way to "live off the land" instead of using their supply, a successful roll will give a -1 modifier to a Supply check.
When rolling a supply check to split one PC's Supplies with multiple people, they would take -3 for the first person, and -2 for each additional person beyond the first, provided that the total able to be rolled is at least 2. This means a PC with a d10 supply die could provide up to a party of four once (as themselves and three party members would be a -7 modifier).
When using a cooking skill (or equivalent) where the trained PC takes additional time to set up a campfire and use cooking tools, the roll can be made with a +1 modifier (thus only decreasing if a 1 is rolled). There isn't an untrained equivalent, only for those PCs that invested into that cooking skill at the expense of other skills.
Then comes the obvious requirement - how do I then fill up when we go back to town? This is still in flux, but right now I'm think the value will be an amount of currency equal to your level to go up a single dice size. This would very wildly depending on the system as
In 5e, Rations 5 silver a day (5s for 1 day's rations) for food and 4 silver a day (2 waterskins of water for 1 gallon, 2 sp each), resulting in 90 sp (9gp) for a tenday (their week equivalent); where as in Pathfinder 2e 4 sp is a week's rations and 5 copper for a day's water, resulting in a 7-day week being 7.5 sp.
In 5e, arrows are 1gp for 20; in PF2e it's 2sp for 20
In 5e, bullets are 3gp for 10, but are relatively rare; in PF2e, where there's an entire gunslinger class, it's 2sp for 10
To me, all of that is relatively asinine. To make everything relatively simple, I would expect filling the consumables would be between 1 gp (PF2e) to 10 gp (5e) each to fill up to a d20 - It would depend on if your system (or campaign) is relatively currency-light, or up to the "What do I do with all this useless gold?" economies. Things like Water would likely be refilled for free
If the party has the ability to purchase things in bulk, such as having a barrel of water on their cart, you could represent those types of things with multiple dice - a barrel of water could have about 2d12 amounts of water, and each time they "refill" one supply die size it'd be rolled with a target number of 3 or higher, making it relatively long-lasting. You could do the same if you're trying to have a more gritty game, where something like a felled game animal might provide 2d8 worth of rations. This system is relatively similar to Torchbearer's treasure system, where all loot and treasure has a variable value representing the worth of things as you sell them - 1d6 is the equivalent to a pouch full of copper, 2d6 is a pouch full of silver, 3d6 is a gem or pouch full of gold, et cetera.
Once a home base is created, the party could be able to fill up certain things all the way for free when they return to their home/ship/guildhouse/tavern/et cetera.
This system could also be expanded to include:
Generic thrown weapons (nonmagical throwing knives, javelins, etc), with the supply die representing the ability to be retrieved at the end of the battle
Magical Components in a Pouch (which, while thematic, is a nonbo with things like wands, orbs and staves), or materials to make basic poisons, if that's a common
Spending money, although this would require a complete rewrite of how purchasing things work. This would be useful with any sort of abstracted
Supply costs for failures during the exploration phase - as a sort of non-combat penalty for poor rolls (your campfire spreads, you use a step of your water to put it out; you lose a die step of ammo when you almost fall off the ledge; and so on)