Thirst and Dehydration: How much water?

[cmrscorpio]

I'm having trouble finding where in the rule books it says how much water one must drink in order to avoid thirst and dehydration. I see in the DMG it says how often one must drink on page 159 (saves start being made after 3 days). However, I cannot find the volume of water one must drink.

I assumed that one waterskin (1/2 gallon) was enough water for a typical day, but I can't find anything to back me up or prove me wrong. Can someone help me?

The reason I ask is because I am playing in a desert campaign and my character bought 7 waterskins before heading out. On our first day of travel, the DM asked for two Endurance checks. I failed both of them, and in addition to losing a healing surge for each failed check, the DM said that my character had to drink a total of 4 gallons of water to stay alive.

Thanks for any and all help.

 

[Warehouse23]

About a gallon a day per person is a typical recommendation for hot and arid climates.

 

[cmrscorpio]

About a gallon a day per person is a typical recommendation for hot and arid climates.

can you site source, please?

 

[Flipguarder]

Is a rule truly necessary for something so..... real?

And at no point would drinking 4 gallons of water be healthy or reasonable for any human being in one day.

In fact, 1 gallon of water in one sitting in such a dehydrated state would most likely cause "water poisoning" - a potentially lethal condition.

 

[Mort_Q]

I am currently trying to pass a kidney stone... my Dr. wants me to make an concerted effort to drink water to speed its passing... but not too much. 3 L per day is her upper recommended limit for water... but varies with electrolyte concentrations... and of course... how much is lost by perspiration, urination, and respiration.

1 US gallon = 3.78 L

This of course is bringing reality into a fantasy game... the DM is free to set whatever rules they want, but it's unfair for the player to not know that their character, in the gaming universe, drinks that much water...

... the old... fine, I didn't know that, but my player would have problem.

 

[cmrscorpio]

And at no point would drinking 4 gallons of water be healthy or reasonable for any human being in one day.

In fact, 1 gallon of water in one sitting in such a dehydrated state would most likely cause "water poisoning" - a potentially lethal condition.

That brings up something that I didn't mention in my original post, my character is a halfling. My halfing character drank 4 gallons of water in one day "just to stay alive".

 

[Nightson]

My source is the SAS Survival Handbook

You lose about .5 to .75 of a gallon per day. One waterskin a day should do you, you're at a slight negative balance in terms of water, but not enough to impair you.

Oh and as to drinking 4 gallons of water in a day, not only would it probably kill you, probably make you vomit, but it's also useless.

"Less fluid will not result in less sweating. Sweating is a cooling mechanism, not a way of losing moisture. If more fluid is drunk than needed it will be excreted and use to no purpose."

Miscellaneous tips
-Always drink water in small, regular sips, drinking too much at once will likely cause you to vomit losing lots of water
-Eat as little as possible, avoid fat, it takes the most water to break down and digest
-Don't talk and breathe through your nose
-Clothing goes like this, loose clothing>tight clothing>no clothing. Loose clothing provides an insulating layer of air which makes sweating more efficient, no clothing will cause you to lose sweat to evaporation, requiring more water to keep yourself cool, along with the much heightened risk of sunburn
-Ideally you should travel at night and rest in shelter during the day, you'd have an easier time

 

[Flipguarder]

That brings up something that I didn't mention in my original post, my character is a halfling. My halfing character drank 4 gallons of water in one day "just to stay alive".

I haven't heard of a halfling racial trait that requires them to urinate 10-15% of their body weight per day.

Id tell your DM to wiki "dehydration". But that's just me.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Just throw all the party water away, and wait for the DM to explore his "the party run out of water" storyline.

And if he just tpks you, quit playing with him.

 

[Tuft]

In fact, 1 gallon of water in one sitting in such a dehydrated state would most likely cause "water poisoning" - a potentially lethal condition.

You don't have to be dehydrated for this.

There was a case a while ago: When the Wii console was highly sought after, an US radio station had a competition with a to them very funny punnish theme - you had to stay the longest in their studio without going to the bathroom to win. When the competition started to drag on, they made the contestants drink large amounts of water to speed things up.
When a nurse called in to say how dangerous that was, she was dismissed with a bunch of
jokes.

Well, on the way home from the competition, one of the contestants fell ill and died from
water intoxication...


Water intoxication - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia