Food

This page discusses the requirements for food by humanoid characters; for further details about quality of food and cooking, see Nutrition & Preparation of Food

Food is necessary for the survival of characters and creatures alike. It may be purchased in market places and, if not eaten, must be stored properly or it will spoil.

Consumption

The amount of food that must be eaten is divided into 12-hour periods, or "½-days". This is so that if characters participate in combat in the morning, while resting in the evening, the amount of food required is different for each ½-day period.

From this, we may presume most of the food eaten by character's is consumed in two primary meals (with nibbling taking place throughout the day). The amount eaten depends on the energy required of a given activity. The table below indicates how much food is required for each activity type.

Combat

This is very strenuous work, requiring all of the character's doggedness while incorporating stress, cuts, bruises and torn ligaments. Restoring the body after combat needs a great deal of food. However, if a combat can be resolved in three rounds or less, it may be counted as "labour." Specifically, if up to four attempts to hit by the character with a weapon, or two spells are cast, the activity counts as "combat." Light combat lasts from 4 to 10 rounds in a 12-hour period. Hard combat describes any combat that lasts for 11 rounds or more.

Activity	Food per ½-day
Heavy combat	4
Light combat	3
Labour	2
Rest	1

Labour

This includes any steady activity, such as travelling, manual labour, managing animals or vehicles, repairs, looking after the health of others or continuous use of a sage ability. It may be assumed that if the character is tired at the end of the period, labour took place. The category also includes those who are healing from an injury, who therefore need more food than merely resting.

Resting

Describes characters participating in a minimum of physical activity: healing hit points, casual reading, shopping, visiting an event or tavern, meeting friends, being transported on a ship or wagon and so on. It may be assumed that if the character is at ease, and hasn't rolled a die during the period, rest took place.