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Author Topic: Suggestion: Adventuring Supplies Replace Food Canisters  (Read 752 times)

ObsidianOrb

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Suggestion: Adventuring Supplies Replace Food Canisters
« on: July 03, 2020, 07:04:52 AM »
The rations/consumables system is a bit odd, its completely optional and it has a slight benefit when used alongside resting, but that is arguably made redundant due to the ease in which healing potions are brewed, the large number in which potions can be stacked, healing kits being cheap and readily available to purchase, and of course the Cleric/Druid class. It's also very clear that the ration system is very old in its implementation, and there is the curious situation in that cooking meat on a campfire creates manufactured canned goods.

So its slightly jarring in character for me personally who likes to use the hunger system, to cook deer meat and get canned goods, Ive noticed in a store, I think it was in the Village of Barovia, there is an item called Food Supplies, it has an on use function, I tried to use it on myself, nothing, I tried to use it on the group, nothing, I used it on a campfire, nothing. It sells for 0 gold, and it has a generic description, so I honestly cannot figure out what to do with it, but I was looking at it the other week pondering what I should do with it, and I thought this would make more sense if this was what you got after you prepared meat on a campfire. It struck me in that cloth wrapping there might be some cooked meat, a wedge of cheese, some apples or vegetables, it could be prepared in the wild, and eaten a few hours later after a tiring journey or hellish dungeon run by a single person or a group.

It would make more sense if preparing food resulted in this in your inventory, it has 5 uses, and each use satisfies your hunger.

So would we miss the canned food? I don't think people would, you can make a few gold out of selling canned food to Petre, but if you added a few gold onto the value of the food supplies, then you would more than make up for the loss of the canned food, canned food is smaller it takes the least inventory space, but its heavier, the food supplies wouldn't need to weigh anymore than it's current value, because the increase in inventory space balances out its lower weight.

So how complex should it be to make this food supplies? That can vary, you could take a cooking pot, or campfire, give it an inventory, and add one bolt of cloth, a piece of uncooked meat, one or more vegetables, or pieces if fruit, a wedge of cheese (optional?) and a new item lets say a "carving knife", or a "cooking knife", use it on the campfire, a small animation of you poking the campfire/cooking pot, opening door handle, (sitting down?) and voila, a prepared food supplies, ready to be sold to Petre, or saved for when you character or party is hungry.

Khornite

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Re: Suggestion: Adventuring Supplies Replace Food Canisters
« Reply #1 on: July 03, 2020, 09:38:25 AM »
The rations/consumables system is a bit odd, its completely optional and it has a slight benefit when used alongside resting, but that is arguably made redundant due to the ease in which healing potions are brewed, the large number in which potions can be stacked, healing kits being cheap and readily available to purchase, and of course the Cleric/Druid class. It's also very clear that the ration system is very old in its implementation, and there is the curious situation in that cooking meat on a campfire creates manufactured canned goods.

I'd completely argue against the rations being useless. Especially at higher levels and for characters with large HP pools, sometimes you get so banged up that you need bandages and food and still won't get a full heal off a rest. Potions aren't really the end-all solution to healing either, the strongest potion only heal 110 HP which might seem like a lot but when some characters need three of these to fully heal and you take into account how much you have to invest into herbalism to be able to make them? And tracking down the eight herbs to make one potion? I think potions are fine where they are. And even then, why waste a bunch of potions when you can wait a bit and rest? Resource management and all.

So its slightly jarring in character for me personally who likes to use the hunger system, to cook deer meat and get canned goods

Easy solution, your character isn't just shoving cooked meat into their pockets or canned good aren't popping out of fires. Just justify it that a character is carrying around empty, re-useable storage containers for their food. Campers and hunters do it all the time. Each use can be a single portion, can even have many portions in one large canister.
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SardineTheAncestor

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Re: Suggestion: Adventuring Supplies Replace Food Canisters
« Reply #2 on: July 05, 2020, 04:19:35 AM »
Agreed with Khornite's findings.

For me, the only loss of immersion with these items is that cans didn't exist until the 1800s. But a host of other anachronistic stuff in DnD's settings, even in Ravenloft, prevent this from even being a blip on the radar for most people. I think I've even seen some items that resembled cardboard boxes, but it's been a while. An icon swap would be cool, but for the most part I just ignore it.

I think the system that exists right now is okay if imperfect. Most people probably figure out that the "canned" food rations are hardly preferable, as they are inferior to other food items from a gameplay standpoint and they're a bit generic too. Even if it would be cool to have cooking expanded with more detail (ideas proposed by the community in the past included choosing an icon for the food you made and writing the description of it yourself), it's probably low priority even if it would be cool to see.

Also, the item you found was someone's discarded quest item. It was meant for a delivery at some point but they either misunderstood the quest or gave up.
Insatisfait permanent, c'est ça l'apanage du champion.

ObsidianOrb

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Re: Suggestion: Adventuring Supplies Replace Food Canisters
« Reply #3 on: August 01, 2020, 09:09:56 AM »
Well I come across this Food Supplies item in a store, it sells for 1gp but sells for 0, so I am not sure if it could have been sold to the vendor. Perhaps it is getting into the stores in error.

SardineTheAncestor

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Re: Suggestion: Adventuring Supplies Replace Food Canisters
« Reply #4 on: August 01, 2020, 09:27:39 AM »
Yeah, it's a quest item. Whoever took the quest misunderstood it or gave up. They sometimes end up on the side of the road too.
Insatisfait permanent, c'est ça l'apanage du champion.

Yesper

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Re: Suggestion: Adventuring Supplies Replace Food Canisters
« Reply #5 on: August 01, 2020, 09:34:42 AM »
Well I come across this Food Supplies item in a store, it sells for 1gp but sells for 0, so I am not sure if it could have been sold to the vendor. Perhaps it is getting into the stores in error.

If it is a known quest item that was sold to a vendor, it is likely a bug and should be reported as such.

As far as the proposed updates to the way rations could be prepared, it will likely fall into the "could be revisited should a cooking system be developed" category. Would be very low prio as it has minimal impact on overall gameplay. Would it open up options for niche characters and RP? Sure. I personally find it more rewarding to RP the cooking process out, detailing methods used. Any updates to food just feels unnecessary.