D&D 5E (2014) Does anyone actually track rations?

[Will Doyle]

I have players that actually get real-life grumpy if I even mention the word encumbrance. Buying rations is fine, but only in the sense of "okay, you need to spend 10 gold each for supplies to and from the dungeon". Tracking rations by day isn't really bothered with.

I would track supplies and encumbrance in a traditional hex-crawl, but nowadays I'd definitely create some sort of simple slots system instead of actually tracking weights and measures.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

Not usually. Not for any better reason then I just don't feel like it. I tend to assume that the adventurers are better adventurers than the players and that they probably thought of bringing along mundane equipment like food, water, rope, etc.

Only when they are moving through territory (other planes, deep desert, the arctic, etc.) where those things would be difficult or impossible to get do I start tracking and then I just assume that they were full up before entering that territory.

I'm far more interested in the other aspects of an adventurers time.

 

[Li Shenron]

Not carefully keeping track of rations, but often I tell players stuff like "you have X days worth of food and water". It's just a small incentive to somewhat keep track of the passage of time.

I love campaigns where exploration is important. Expedition kind of stuff where the players have a chance prepare for the adventure, pack supplies, choose which spellbook to bring, etc.. Onet hing I've noticed, at least with my group, is how so much is trivialized with racials, cantrips, or low-level abilities.

Don't need torches (light spell).
Don't need rations (a single goodberry is all you need for the entire day, not to mention the healing is useful throughout)
Don't need flint/steel (so many free flame spells)
Even if you didn't have a light spell, nearly every race has darkvision baked in anyway.

I agree that this isn't the best, but it's complicated... The game is full of abilities (and especially spells) which can bypass entire categories of problems. My general idea is that problems are interesting, and in fact I consider "problem-solving" a major aspect of a RPG. But at the same time, even without spells, there's a risk that solving those kinds of problems becomes a mere routine. E.g. in an urban campaign -> rations finished -> "ok I go to the shops and buy food" -> problem solved If you replace a spell with an ability, it's not much of an improvement... for example a Create food and water spell vs rolling for a Survival check, it's not so that the first sucks and the second is brilliant.

It's ok to play a campaign where all the basic needs are assumed covered, and you focus on more heroic stuff. Nevertheless those mundane problems can sometimes be the key to improve "immersion" into your fantasy world. The main issue is always how to make them interesting instead of being a boring routine chore.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

I'll often get a hireling who is in charge of tending to my horse and a supply mule as well as doing camp chores.

 

[michaeljpatrick]

I haven't so far in my current campaign. I may if it becomes more of a survival style game for us, but so far it's been more high adventure and ridiculous situations.

 

[Rya.Reisender]

Not carefully keeping track of rations, but often I tell players stuff like "you have X days worth of food and water".

Actually that inspires me: Instead of keeping the food and waterskin items in your inventory and having characters to use them, character sheets should just have two number fields where you just put the number of days you have food and water for in. That would make keeping track much easier!

 

[Snoring Rock]

I was unaware that 5e did away with encumbrance, as the OP suggests. Actually, there are weights and encumbrance rules in the PHB. There are rations listed in the price list in the PHB. I track rations. I track encumbrance as well. In fact, I even list weight on the my treasure chests. That way when the party makes decisions, they do it based on what they can carry.

I cannot imagine plating D&D with little coins jumping up and making a "ding" sound and then just being added to an account in an electronic bank like Mario (video game). Unrealistic. Part of the challenge is figuring what to take and what to drop, or hiring pack handlers.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[sleypy]

I only do it when it matters to the story, the type of adventure dictates how important it will be. Usually used when the adventure has a war theme, and when stranded, lost or fleeing overland were limited supplies are story elements.

I'll also track supplies when I see players starting to keep up with those kinds of details. I try to add something that might only be meaningful to the players who like that sort of thing because I don't want to force it onto everyone.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Also, the rules on water are dumb in 5E. You need to drink two full waterskins of water in normal climate on a single day just to not suffer exhaustion! And you can't even cure exhaustion by drinking something. If I really was strict about it, it would end up with "Oh Ed and Peter forgot to say that they drink something this session, so the whole next session they both have to play with exhaustion level 2, hahaha, gotcha!" and then it will end up with my players saying right after every long rest "I find the next water resource and drink what I need for the day".

If my players were constantly looking for water resources I would be thrilled. It's an easy place to put adventure hooks, like Bog Beasts and crocodiles.