How Does Your Character Stay Fed? What Does It Take?

Food is one of those things that a lot of us handwave away in RPGs. Just like we don't bother counting how many arrows the ranger has fired, or how many lute strings the bard has broken, we just assume that characters are drinking enough water and eating enough rations to sustain themselves as the adventure goes on. However, are you playing the sort of character who just walks around eating the fantasy or sci-fi equivalent of MREs whenever they're not in town? And does a single "ration" really satisfy both the willowy 85-pound halfling and his massive, 300-pound orc companion?

Because sure, we don't have to dig into this part of the game if we don't want to... but it can sometimes add a little extra flavor (pun very much intended) if we do!

How many calories does an orc need every day? Oh boy... that's a lot...

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How Much Do You Need To Eat To Stay Action Ready?

Now, I'm not going to pretend that I'm the first person to talk about this issue. After all, the popularity of Delicious in Dungeon has led to gods alone know how many adventuring chefs who are looking to cook and eat anything they manage to defeat in an encounter, and some of my most popular TTRPG supplements are 100 Fantasy Foods and 100 Sci Fi Foods respectively.

However, this is a topic that I've thought about a lot.

For those who don't know, I was an athlete when I was in high school, I spent the latter part of my 20s as a sword fighter (I didn't do any of the historical re-enactment, I just showed up for blade practice), and for the past half dozen years I've been an acolyte of the Rites of Iron (the cool fantasy-speak way of saying I lift a lot of weights to stay healthy). As such, I know that if you're someone who is doing anything active, you need to eat more than your average person. Not only that, but you need to have different foods depending on what goals you're aiming for, or preserving. Bigger individuals need more protein to maintain their muscle mass, for example, while carbs are extremely important for endurance activities (like walking overland for a dozen miles a day), and so on, and so forth. And everyone needs the proper amount of salts and hydration.

And while there aren't usually mechanics for this (aside from taking damage from starvation if you aren't eating at all) it can get really interesting the methods you find to address this in-game.

And this is before we talk about coffee consumption...

For example, if you're a dragonborn or a lizardfolk, do you eat massive meals, but digest them slowly, thus allowing you to wolf down a huge haunch of meat when your journey begins before crawling into the back of the cart to sleep off the coming days? If you're an orc or a dwarf do you have the ability to eat things that would be extremely harmful to other people, thus allowing you to eat poisonous plants, or even rotting meat, with no ill effects?

And aside from your creature type, there are so many weird resources that might factor into your diet. For example, are there alchemical nutrient blocks that are densely packed with all the calories, fiber, etc. one needs while on the road that are the fantasy equivalent of the protein bars gym bros always keep in their duffel bags? Are there specially-prepared types of bread that can keep you full on a bite or two a day? Are there spells that summon a healthy feast for the righteous, or magic items that let you subsist off sunlight and water? And what do these alternatives taste like, or feel like? Is magically summoned water the equivalent of pure spring bottled water, or is it always flat and tasteless? And if you happen to have someone with prestidigitation in your party, does that mean that every meal tastes like a feast when you have a spell that can make hot water in a canteen taste like cool juice, and even bland, tasteless gruel sing with notes of phantom cinnamon and sugar?

There's even the question of how you prepare your food, and what that means for your load out when you hit the trail. For instance, are you more of a Samwise who carries their pots and skillet hung off their pack, ready to be deployed whenever you make camp for the night? Does the barbarian with the flaming great ax also use the weapon as a portable grill, cooking long cuts of meat along its blade of an evening... and if they happen to be a tiefling or an ifrit, do they flip the meat over with their bare hands, barely bothered by the heat of the weapon? Does the bard sing while cooking, their song actually impacting the performance and flavor? Does the wizard cook using magic, or do they skip the cooking process entirely and just summon what they want to eat? Does the ranger harvest herbs and spices as they travel through the foliage, keeping them in wooden bottles looped inside their pack? Or do particular characters eat their food raw, either out of personal preference, or because that is the tradition among their people?

It's Just A Fun Exercise

Again, none of this is likely to have a mechanical impact on your game, barring rolls made to harvest meat from creatures who have poison sacks, or making Constitution checks for particularly poor choices of food. But it can add a lot to your characterization if you think about how much your character needs to consume in a given day, where they get their food from, and how they prefer to prepare it (or not). Whether it's the fighter grumbling about hard tack and trail rations because that's what he's used to, the cleric being given bountiful feats by their god, or the ranger and barbarian field dressing and fresh-cooking whatever they happened to bring down that day, just give it a few thoughts to see where your brain goes!

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What Do Your Characters Eat?

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Anyhoo, on to this week's update!

What Do Your Characters Eat?

There are certain parts of a game we sort of take for granted. We assume our PCs go to the bathroom when they need to, that they wash their clothes, shave, and upkeep their gear during downtime. While we might occasionally talk about how the fighter takes a whetstone to his sword, or how the wizard prestidigitates the cook pot clean, we just let a lot of this stuff happen off-screen. One of the things that falls into this category is food. We know our PCs are eating, and that they need to do it fairly regularly unless they're using magic, but we just sort of hand wave it away. If you bought rations, or make Survival checks, then you've ticked another box, well and good, on with the show!

However, what your character eats, and what they prefer to eat, can say a lot about them.

And about your world, too.

Preferences and Palate

It's pretty rare for the DM to actually tell you what's on the menu at the inn, or to get specific about what kind of forage you find on the trail. However, this is a detail that can add flavor to both your character, and they world they inhabit (pun very much intended).

As a for instance, if your character was a campaigner with the army, was he a grunt or an officer? If he was a foot soldier, did he get used to eating salt pork and beans? Or, if he was an officer, was he used to the fresh meat, vegetables, and other viands afforded to those in command? If your character grew up on a farm, are they used to things like fresh milk, eggs, and apples that can cost you a dozen silver pieces to get in the city? Or if you grew up in a monastery eating plain food, then is your palate just not refined enough to enjoy rich foods (to the point that it might make you sick if you indulge too copiously)?

One cup for breakfast, and for dinner a bed of it with some fish. Sometimes we'd even have salt!

Food plays a bigger part in our lives than we often think. For example, did coffee (or its fantasy equivalent) exist where your character is from? Is it harder to get where they are now? Is your character a vegetarian? Are they a picky eater? Do they like fruits, or vegetables? Do they prefer savory, sweet, or spicy foods? Is there cuisine of a particular type associated with where they're from that will always make their night better? Or do they eat things other people would never consider eating, like large insects, or spitting lizards? Also, can this character cook? Anyone can just brown a haunch of meat, but does your PC know which herbs to add, which spices to use, and how to make even the gamiest meat tender? If so, their companions are probably more than pleased to have them along on the trail.

Another thing to consider, since we have access to fantasy races and unusual class abilities, is whether some of your PCs eat things that would be dangerous for normal humans to consume. For instance, does your tiefling like to drink tea that's still boiling, since their fire resistance means it won't hurt them? Does your alchemist like to put deadly poisons on his food as spices, since they can't harm him due to his altered anatomy? Or does your character have an alternative method of gaining sustenance? Do they only eat food conjured magically, using spells like hero's feast? Do they have the ability to snack on sunlight, like a verdant-blooded sorcerer?

There's also the question of how much your character needs to eat. Because while your wizard might be an ascetic who only needs the bare necessities to survive, if you have a knight who's six and a half feet tall, weighing in at more than 300 pounds, it takes fuel to keep that machine going without losing bulk. Even if there is no game mechanic for such.

It's also important to remember the material plane is not the only plane in existence. What would fruit from the celestial realms taste like? Or a stew made from shadowlands serpents? What kind of liquor do they brew in the nine hells? There are all kinds of possibilities out there if you want to explore what fantasy foodies might consider "exotic" enough to send adventurers to retrieve.

And if you'd like a list of potential inns, restaurants, and taverns where such food might be found, you should definitely check out 100 Random Taverns from Azukail Games! They also put out my list of 100 Sci-Fi Cocktails, along with 100 Fantasy Drinks, which should give you plenty of unusual flavor for your characters... so to speak.

And, of course, if you're looking for new foods to add to your list, then you should take a look at my recently released 100 Fantasy Foods!

It's Just One More Aspect of Who Your Character Is

You can include, or not include, as much detail as you want when it comes to your PC. Everything from how they look, to who they're friends with, to where they've trained is often on the list, but you can go deeper if you want to. Often it's the little things, those insignificant details we don't always think about, that makes characters feel truly unique, though.

That's all for this week's Fluff piece. If you'd like more content from me, check out my Vocal archive, or head over to the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio where I work with other gamers to make skits, advice videos, and lore for the world of Evora. Also, if you'd like to check out my novel Crier's Knife along with my other books, head over to My Amazon Author Page!

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