Adventuring Gear Questions

[DonaldRumsfeldsTofu]

I'm in a delima, and the PHB and Arms and Equipment guide are no help. So here are some questions. Feel free to estimate answers

How many days would two pounds of soap last assuming a character washed his hands before every meal and took a bath every fortnight?

How many standard pages of paper could you fill up with writing with one ounce of ink?

Is flint and steel finite? If so, how man days worth of campfires could you go with one set?

I know these are relatively hard questions, but any help would be appriciated.

 

[Felix]

1) Three weeks, two days, and breakfast. This assumes, of course, that the PC saves his leftover wedges and creates a soap-wedge ball to last him the final four days.

2) 71

3) It is breakable. The chances of breaking = (# of strikes on steel to set a spark)*(.002). Every 100th strike the FBF (flint breaking factor) increases by .005. This will, on average, yield 1,738 strikes on the flint. Mileage depends upon how skillful one is at setting the spark.

Estimates? We don't need no stinkin estimates!

 

[-Ekimus-]

That was EXQUISIT Felix! Solved myworries about soap!

 

[DonaldRumsfeldsTofu]

That was excelent, Felix. Thank you very much. I can now out-specify my DM and fellow players. What's the point of having soap if you're not atually going to have your character use it?

Edit: While you're at it, if my character has a pound of coffee beans, and he drinks a cup of coffee he makes with a percolator every day, how many days will this ammount of coffee well ammount to.

 

[Piratecat]

Decaf or regular?

 

[hong]

Edit: While you're at it, if my character has a pound of coffee beans, and he drinks a cup of coffee he makes with a percolator every day, how many days will this ammount of coffee well ammount to.

About six hectares, same as in town.

 

[Steverooo]

Re: Soap

How many days would two pounds of soap last assuming a character washed his hands before every meal and took a bath every fortnight?

A single bar (number of ounces unknown) will last me rougly a month (and I bathe more than once every two weeks, thank you)! Two pounds will last several months, sans falling into mud holes. Assuming a bar is four ounces (I can't find an unopened one to check), that's eight months (and I wash my hands more than three times/day, bathe more often, and my soap is used by others who do the same).

So, eight months, minimum.

OOPS! Just found a bar! 4.5 ounces (127 grams), although this will depend upon bar size, and density of soap. So!...

Two pounds (32 ounces)/4.5 = Seven and one-ninth months. Unless he is sharing his soap with the party (and assuming he IS saving the gibblets and making them into a soap ball), eight months, at the least.

 

[Steverooo]

Re: Ink

How many standard pages of paper could you fill up with writing with one ounce of ink?

Well over 100. A standard ballpoint pen holds less than an ounce of ink, and I run through several packs of paper before I run out of ink. Of course, wooden and quill pens are ink-inefficient.

 

[Steverooo]

Is flint and steel finite? If so, how man days worth of campfires could you go with one set?

Good Lord, man! Don't even worry about it!

I bought a cigarette lighter, ONCE, to carry specifically for starting camp fires. I have never yet had to replace the flint (although they DO sell them, as they eventually wear out), let alone the steel striking-wheel!

Yes, the flint will eventually wear out, but an adventurer can probably find one, free, on the ground somewhere, when he needs to replace it. Unless the PC is an Elf, the steel will probably outlast him, magical disasters not occurring.

Okay, okay, if HE makes his save vs. Disintegration, but his equipment fails, THEN you can make him buy a new one!... It's far more likely to get lost or stolen than ever wear out!

 

[Steverooo]

Re: Coffee

While you're at it, if my character has a pound of coffee beans, and he drinks a cup of coffee he makes with a percolator every day, how many days will this ammount of coffee well ammount to.

Zero!

First of all, you aren't going to get ANY coffee until after you grind them beans! You didn't specify getting them ground, and I see you listed no coffee or pepper mill on your equipment list, so obviously you forgot to bring it on this adventure!

Next, you can't have a percolator! That's a technomancer construct, and the Council of Magic has banned them! Furthermore, even if you had it, there would be no place to plug it in!

However, since I'm a kind-hearted GM, I will allow you to use a couple of flat rocks to pound and grind your bag of beans into coffee flakes, and then boil them in some water. Do you have a pot? No? (It's not on your equipment sheet.) Oh well, the things you learn, when you leave town!

I'd suggest that you head back to town. Have a merchant grind the beans for you, and then get an enameled steel coffee pot, and some sort of doo-hickey to put the ground in, like a collimator...

What? Oh, go look it up! Anyway, buy one of those, too...

Now, how long a "cup" of coffee will last you depends... No, I don't care if it's regular or decaf. How big is your cup? What, no cup? Back to the store!

Now, how big is it, and are you reusing the grounds, or tossing them after the first cup? How strong are your beans, anyway? Which variety did you buy?...

Mountain grown? What mountains? Columbia? Sorry, buddy, that's not part of the Prime Material Plane, so you OBVIOUSLY don't have that kind! You don't even know which variety of coffee beans you bought, DO YOU?!?...

I'm sorry, I don't think you can handle wilderness coffee-brewing. You obviously came ill-equipped for this task, and I don't think you have the skills to handle it. Maybe you should go ask the Ranger for help? I don't know that he has Knowledge (Coffee), either, but if he has Knowledge (Nature), he might know which type of beans you have...