How much food does a (fantasy) adventurer need?

No, it's risky. Think about a fight in a club - it doesn't last more than 5 minutes. Call it 5 encounters in a dungeon and lugging back the treasure/quest items to a cart. It's hardly more intensive than a workout in a gym.
Ever thought of buying a cart or a donkey?

No imagine doing it the whole day
Maybe several days in a row.

What? Fighting? You can't. It's too exhausting. It is mainly waiting or walking with a few extreme short moments of fighting.

Figuring out how you're going to eat and drink is one of the most fun things about D&D, though. Once you get established and have spells and whatnot that can handle that stuff it's not worth worrying about in most circumstances, but early on solving the problem of how you're just going to survive day to day in harsh territory and figure out what you're going to carry and what you're going to leave behind and when to wear your armor and who takes watch when is a huge part of the experience and does in fact constitute a major part of the story.

I wouldn't recommend it for games that aren't D&D or similarly focused on survival, resource, loot, and problem solving, but it's great for that kind of game.

>it doesn't last more than 5 minutes. Call it 5 encounters in a dungeon and lugging back the treasure/quest items to a cart. It's hardly more intensive than a workout in a gym.
Someone's either not challenging their players enough, or is deathly afraid of the gym

Well how many encounters does a typical dungeon have?

You're not fighting for your life in a club brawl though, and you're also not swinging around heavy metal implements and wearing heavy armor or using your mind to burn a hole into reality and gesturing like a wildling while running around.

From my experience in 4e you normally go
>Three short encounters, lasting two to five initiative passes
>Short rest
>Two short encounters
>One major encounter, lasting 7 to 12 initiative passes

Last dungeons I did had two golems, three oni, about thirty ogres, an enormous amount of trap, magical and mechanical, pit to jump, shit to climb, etc.
We had to rest in it, we were interrupted in the night, then rest again when the position is more secure.

It was not weird or out of the ordinary.

So 6 encounters. 5x5 + 12 = 37x6 = 222 seconds... Less than 4 minutes... It is less than a workout in the gym. Even if you add in the lugging around of loot to your cart/horses/whatever.

>the body simply cant handle an entire day of fighting
>definitely cant handle several days of nonstop fighting
>the best we can do is some walking
What is hell week?

Your body cannot handle an entire day of non-stop sparring. Your body can handle an entire day in combat, where 95% of the time you are in cover or are waiting or are walking to another position.

>what people in the real world can realistically do shape what people in a fantasy world can realistically do
Not how this works

But it is in reverse. Fantasy stuff isn't supposed to be MORE demanding than real world stuff.

I meant you shouldn't be burning more calories in fantasy world than in the real world for the same thing.

Well yes, that plus

>4 to 5 physical challenges like climbing a wall, jumping over a chasm or barricading a room
>Possibly (and pretty commonly) high temperature differences
>Adrenaline pumping through your veins due to a possibility of constant ambush

Your arguments make sense though, how does 2500 Kalories per day sound? I'd say mostly Carbs and as many fats as you can get your hands on including the associated proteins.

Grappling with an ogre that can crush your head with his hands is not more demanding because it's fantasy, it's more demanding because you're grappling a fucking ogre.

For 30 seconds....
I'd guess 3k on demanding days, 2k+ on average days. So I guess it would round out to 2.5k if you do a dungeon 1 day and travel for 2 weeks.

You actually dont know what hellweek is. Wow. They put you through shit like pic related for 20 hours a day for five days straight. If you're not doing body breaking exercises, you're rucking at a jogging pac, 100 pound combat load. The only "down time" they get is 4 hours of sleep and aquatic training. Aquatic training is treading water in BDU's with 30 pounds of gear or skull dragging through breakers.

Sparring is fucking cake compared to the shit they go through. I can spar for 10 minutes a day. Hell, i sparred for an hour straight with zero prior experience. Hit the gym, you fat piece of shit.

Deadlifting one ton for thirty seconds is very labor intensive user.

And that is supposed to be the worst possible conditions they can put them in. You're not supposed to be doing this every day. And this is training, not the actual real thing. Training is labor intensive.
But it doesn't burn calories, it rips your muscles so they can grow larger. Riding a bicycle or running burns calories.

2.5k is the average consumption for an adult male with a moderate activity. Hiking full time, i.e, 8 hours a day gives you 24 miles minimum. That alone is about 2.4k. You've nearly blown your calories from walking alone. Add in body function, hauling gear, anytime spent at above a walking pace and youre looking at 3500 calories a day.

To get a good starting point, the standard issue US ration is 1250 calories and 3 are eaten per day. 3,750 calories for the average infantryman.

>But it doesn't burn calories, it rips your muscles so they can grow larger. Riding a bicycle or running burns calories.
What the fuck. WHAT THE FUCK
DO YOU EVEN LIFT YOU FUCKING FAGGOT

I see. Then I guess 4k sounds fine.
No, but I know what cardio and power training is.

point is that the body CAN do it

Yes, and they handle the worst possible conditions. Conditions that simulate the stress, sleep dep, and physical exertion of combat. The same exertion as combst. For five weeks straight. 1,000 people every year in the seals alone do what you claim is impossible. Endure combat conditions, maximum physical exertion, not just for one day, but FIVE FUCKING DAYS STRAIGHT.

maybe a pig should not be lecturing an eagle about flying

>25% of the best of the best pass it
>point is the body CAN do it
There is also some guy who has skin which is a complete insulator and can touch electric cables with his hands.

>No, but I know what cardio and power training is.
No bitch, you clearly don't know shit

>its impossible
>except for these exceptional individuals
>in real life
>which is why its impossible in a fantasy game where high strength barbarians can dead lift boulders the size of minivans
>please dont mention the muscle wizards
Someone is a sore loser.

Lifting the heavy thing doesn't burn a lot of calories. Maintaining your heart rate high is what burns calories.
But when they are in combat, they face less exhausting conditions.
I never claimed what should and shouldn't be impossible in fantasy settings, I'm merely claiming that adventuring doesn't burn so many calories as you presume.

We're talking Adventures here user, depending on how you view things these are people with fantastical abilities, the martial and strong amongst them could send the "best of the best" crying home to mom.
So could the non-martially inclined ofc, just in a different way.

You're forgetting just how much adventurers carry.
Weapons, armor, supplies, bedroll, tent, rope, torches, and all the loot they can pillage add up.
And then add in all the fucking walking they do. Those ancient ruins aren't half a mile out of town. They're 200 miles in the wilderness, in a winding cave that itself is up a cliff.

>never claimed what should and shouldn't be impossible
>the body CAN NOT HANDLE an entire day of non-stop sparring (emphasis added by author)
>...fighting? You can't. It's too exhausting
Rip the dream, faggo.

>But when they are in combat, they face less exhausting conditions
Spoken as someone who has never been in combat.

Sure, but this is the most intensive training ever. Training is supposed to be intensive and to burn calories and put your body to the test. Combat and adventuring isn't about it - it is about killing the other guy. If adventurers train - sure make it even 5k-6k a day. But when adventuring and on the road - now when I have been corrected for the baseline of calories - 3-4k sounds fine.
And this is the reason you get mounts - donkeys, horses, mules, carriages, carts, boats, flying machines. If you were an adventurer after you lug the heavy load from the first dungeon, the first thing you would think about is getting a ride so you don't have to do it again.

Iirc soldiers on active duty often get 3000-3500 calories per day to keep up with their exercise, backpacking, fighting and such. The PHB "1 pound of food and 1 gallon of water per day" is a load of shit for people literally running around in plate armor, fighting demons, and dodging traps.

Dank u for ur cerbix.

Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know I was speaking with someone who passed that test and was in actual combat.

>Lifting the heavy thing doesn't burn a lot of calories
You have never lifted in your life

>you need to pass buds to see combat
>he thinks all soldiers are frogmen
Ten thousand hail /k/ubes as penance, faggot.

I put it to you that you have never lifted in your life.

Honestly "adventurers" are essentially full-time hikers with the occasional fight that lasts just a few minutes. Just look up how many calories hobbyist hikers need, for the ones who do it more frequently.

I have, and I do, that's why I'm calling you on it, weakling

I should've known this thread would devolve into Veeky Forumsposting but I didn't. Woe is me.

You should talk to an instructor then.

>he doesn't like Veeky Forumsposting and bro science

You should stop believing bro science

Walking with no load consumes around 80 calories per mile on average. At a brisk pace of three miles an hour, a full time day of hiking at 8 hours consumes thats 1920 calories from WALKING per day. Add in weight, terrain, clearing vegetation, running, and youre getting close to 4,000 calories daily.

Should I also not believe my body-builder dad?

There you go.

>doesn't even lift
>try to teach people about it
>muh dad
truly, weaklings are the worst

this looks delicious
I see frog legs, crayfish, grasshoppers, and mulberry
what is the rest?

Ask someone who knows about lifting. If you are trying to burn calories by doing power exercises you are doing it wrong.

Kill yourself, fat peace of shit!

Did I rustle your jimmies?

That's disgusting

>having such pleb tastes

The seafood is fine, but I'm not eating frogs and insects. Give me some proper food

Here's the full list of these fantasy rations
imgur.com/gallery/BWnHF

Seems they're just very large blackberries, and the stuff in the top left is irish moss with dried brine shrimp.

Conjure Pizza & Breadsticks.

Have some a whole steamed beef kidney then.

T-thanks

I have just the thing for types like you.

>Not eating frog legs
They are goddamn delicious

Are you hardcore enough to eat amethyst?

Nonono. Conjure Pizza & Breadsticks (with sauce).

I thought that's salt.

I don't know of any salt that looks like that.

The bullshit salt from the Himalayas is pink-ish.

I like pepperoni pizza and cheese bread with marinara sauce. Why isn't anyone else talking about it?

From top left: Menzoberranzan black truffle rothe cheese (Black Knight Tilsit), Donigarten Moss Snails (Escargot in shallot butter sauce), Blind cave fish caviar in mushroom caps (Lumpfish caviar), faerzress infused duck egg imported from the surface Realms (Century egg), Black velvet ear fungus (Auricularia Black Fungus Mushroom).

Transporting pizza dough through varied humidities is a guarantee to make it turn and pepperoni requires expensive spices and intense labor to make in a standard fantasy setting.

It's magic. Magic pizza. God I'm so hungry..

If you're using magic to summon food, why the fuck would you go for pepperoni pizza? Kaviar and the best chicken drums you can have, air dried beef ham and creamy panacotta with wild berries my man.

Modern soldier (and NATO soldier in particular) is pampered like a king compared to what troops had to live on 200 years ago. You usually had your meat ration, which was either rubbery and blue or decades-old salted reserve that you had to soak in water for days until it becomes edible again, and you usually had your flour ration, which you used to mix with water to bake thin patties of bread next to a fire. Notice how I said 'usually'. Pillaging and theft of foodstuffs were big issues for armies moving through friendly territory.

There's always been hardtack to eat!
Of course, hardtack is just a giant block of nearly tasteless cracker.

Hardtack (Commonly called "Tank cookie" in Germany btw) can be ground up and used to make even the most basic rations more filling though, I don't think I've ever seen someone just bite into one since basic training.

"Tank porridge" made with ground up hardtack and water or milk and sprinkled with whatever stuff you could find in your daily ration pack was quite popular in my unit for example.

My tdee is 3000 calories and I sit on my ass all day, if I adventured it'd be 4k easily.

That sounds troubling, where do those calories go? Or are you just young and still growing?

That's how these things were eaten. Put them into soup to make porridge, soak them in wine or milk and mix in some fruits and spices to make a pudding. If nothing else is available you'd pour hot water over it.

In the USA, atleast in the revolutionary war, the soliders had dried salted pork, hard tac, and whatever they could find. Hardtac was commonly made into "Soups" by putting it in the hot water with whatever meat and stuff they could find, or soaked in tea so you didn't lose teeth eating it.

Tbf its not far off fantasy / realism to at least talk about this subject. It makes sense, people need to eat and warriors more so, so finding food between battles isn't a huge push of the imagination, breaking immersion.

A lot of fantasy authors will discuss and describe food in their novels, and i don't just mean Tolkien with pages dedicated to describing hobbit festivals. The Dwarves series does a good job of interlacing food into the story, without it being hamfisted and forced.

It's like any other aspect. Focus on it too heavily, like how many calories are needed, and it becomes any other issue.

This precisely. The important thing about rations is that they don't spoil, and then that they provide a lot of calories and nutrition for their weight. Cured proteins (salted fish was a fairly popular one), grains and dried beans, nuts, sauerkraut or some similar kind of preserved vegetable, maybe hard cheese. You might drive some animals along with you for eventual slaughter and consumption, but only if there were enough of you to eat the thing more or less in one go.

Things like bread, fruit, fresh veg or meat, softer cheeses and the like are all too perishable, they'll only last a day or so without refrigeration.

Actually this is "Lizardman camp meal" which is kinda gay considering all the seafood.

At my most active job I was eating 7k a day to maintain my weight at 180. Adventurers probably aren't quite as active but they'd be carrying loads of gear to make up for it, possibly interspersed with multiple life or death fights per day, so AT LEAST 4k sounds reasonable to me.

Traveling overland rapidly (say over 20+ Miles a day) on foot with sustainment load out, weapons and armour is pretty exhausting. Look at military rations that are packed with thousands of calories per meal.

Using pre-cooked breakfast sausages? Bad form!

Following this and thinking about how to up my GM game for both adventuring rations and townside feasting, how does this sound:

>Roadside
Hard cheese, oats, unsalted hardtack (or salted for a slight decrease in availability), pickled veggies, water and wine. A little bit further down the line when the group can afford it some salted fish and meat jerky as well as tea.

>Townside
Soft cheeses, fresh meat cuts, salads, soft sausages and fruit

Bit of context here - British soldiers in WW1 ate at least 4000 kcal a day, as much as 4600 at the start of the war, and they didn't do much more than skulk in trenches most of the time. Modern military rations come in around the 4000 kcal mark.

Sounds broadly correct. Fruit, nuts, meat, fresh vegetables and the like are all costly, the kinds of things that adventurers might splurge on when they return to town with the loot. Grains and pulses are the kind of thing most people would eat most of the time, with perhaps some cured meat and fats for flavour. Spices, seasonings, and sugars were hella expensive until the 18th century, only affordable to the mega-wealthy. The equivalent of a few sweets might have cost more than a peasant could earn in a month.

Also, think local and seasonal. Diet varied enormously depending on where you were and the time of year.

Deadlifting a ton for thirty seconds it's impossible. In real life, deadlifting half a ton almost killed the strongest man in the world. Grappling with an ogre for thirty seconds would be fucking off the hook. If you managed it, you would be pooped, let me tell you.

The martial of the group probably maintains at 2500, so they're gonna hunger for more.