How much honey? (Ahhh, Halfling Chefs!)

[FCWesel]

First, I know someone will know the answer because this is the best site int eh world and someone always knows something about anything you might want to ask about. So here goes my inquiry:

How much honey can a "swarm of" bees collect/create/manufacture in a season? And when is that season?

Now, lets say that they were GIANT BEEs as in the SRD:

GIANT BEE
Medium Vermin
Hit Dice: 3d8 (13 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares), fly 80 ft. (good)
Armor Class: 14 (+2 Dex, +2 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+2
Attack: Sting +2 melee (1d4 plus poison)
Full Attack: Sting +2 melee (1d4 plus poison)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Poison
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., vermin traits
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +2
Abilities: Str 11, Dex 14, Con 11, Int —, Wis 12, Cha 9
Skills: Spot +5, Survival +1*
Feats: —
Environment: Temperate plains
Organization: Solitary, buzz (2–5), or hive (11–20)
Challenge Rating: 1
Treasure: No coins; 1/4 goods (honey only); no items
Advancement: 4–6 HD (Medium); 7–9 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: —

Although many times larger, growing to a length of about 5 feet, giant bees behave generally the same as their smaller cousins.

Giant bees are usually not aggressive except when defending themselves or their hive.

Poison (Ex): Injury, Fortitude DC 11, initial and secondary damage 1d4 Con. The save DC is Constitution-based.

A giant bee that successfully stings another creature pulls away, leaving its stinger in the creature. The bee then dies.

Skills: Giant bees have a +4 racial bonus on Spot checks. *They also have a +4 racial bonus on Survival checks to orient themselves.

The reason I ask is because my stout and hardy band of adventurer's recently had an encoutner with a large swarm of Giant Bees who got agitated by the groups's wizard's familair (a humming bird) and they took out the bees.

Now, two members of the group, a Halfling short-order cook (Rogue with aspirations Master Chef PRC) and his twin brother, a Halfling InnMaster (a divine sorcerer spellcaster like class), are planning on seeking out the hive of the giant bees and collecting the honey. So I want to "nail 'em" with just how much is there and how much effort its going to take to get it all.

Thoughts and ideas?

 

[thalmin]

A swarm of regular bees can produce up to 3 gallons of honey in a season, collected in early fall. (This was from A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe by Expeditious Retreat Press.)

 

[FCWesel]

HEY CURT! The answer was just down the street from me! Thanks, that's a book I want to get...

Hmmmm, okay...

They are bigger...
Lets say a regualr bee is roughly 1" (for ease of conversion) and that a Giant Bee is 4 feet. That's roughtly 48x bigger.

They are less in numbers...
I think its a safe assumption that a swarm of Giant bees is far less in number then regular Bees, say 1/20th? 1/50th? More?

Hmmm...how does 5x or 10x sound? Anyone good at size and masses adn all that stuff...obviously I am not.




FCWesel

Tracerbullet and I are on our way to the the GAMES PLUS in just a few minutes...

I want to maybe buy a book....

 

[SubMensa]

well as to the amount of honey in the hive I have no idea. However the following does come to mind.

1. No matter how angry the bees were the entire hive would not have gone to try to drive off the "attackers". There definitely will be still a home guard of bees left at the hive, including the queen.

2. The usuall method of subduing the bees in a hive is to make them think there is a fire large enough to threaten the hive so they go into a honey eating frenzy and ignore everything else. For your party to create enough smoke to trick the giant bees there will have to be one hech of a fire. See also #3 for one logistical issue.

3. The hive for giant bees most likely will be built underground. Otherwise the sheer size of it would attract even larger predators. So you have a built in dungeon crawl with all of the symbiotic/parasitic creatures living off of the bees productivity.

All in all this sounds like a cool idea for an adventure. I wish I could partake. Enjoy!

 

[thalmin]

HEY CURT! The answer was just down the street from me! Thanks, that's a book I want to get...

Hmmmm, okay...

Tracerbullet and I are on our way to the the GAMES PLUS in just a few minutes...

I want to maybe buy a book....

Don't forget to check out the new Draconomican while you're there. I am at home, so I'm not sure what else came in. BTW, fyi, MMS:WE is on the bottom tier of the third spinner rack. LOL.

 

[FCWesel]

Hey SM!

You are right on many levels...

1) There are more Giant Bees. Along with their QUEEN! I cannot wait to see the PCs face when this bad-mo-fo comes a huntin' on them.

2) Players probably don't know that...hehehehe and they are not rangers...

3) I was going to put it underground. I had a annoying experience when my lawnmower ran over a underground nest. Got stung 7 times. Lucky I am not allergic. I got my revenge...

3b) Any ideas on what critters might be feeding off of them... I know a bear might be interesting...

 

[RingXero]

There was a free adventure from Wizards a long time ago on their website dealing with giant bees and a candle caster wizard, and wax golems. could make for a good simple add-on. Also, the size of the chambers should be taken into consideration, as they will be filled with honey. They should be just wide enough for the width of a bee to squeeze through if I remember correctly, big enough for an adventurer to fall into a sticky honey pit. Don't forget to describe the larval forms within the comb. Imagine a field of hexes on the floor that the pcs have to cross, some are broken pits, most are sealed, when they walk across some of them the resident larvae would twitch causing the wax membrane to heave up abit (checks for balance).

I think I'll set this up for my party.


RX

 

[Pielorinho]

Very cool adventure idea!

One more note: the mead made from giant bee honey is legendary. A good hive of giant bees produces enough honey for 50 barrels of mead, and that mead will fetch a price about quadruple the normal price for mead.

There's also enough royal jelly in such a hive to act as the material component for 30 potions of bull's strength. You'll still need someone to enchant the royal jelly, but you won't need to pay the material cost for making these potions.

Daniel

 

[FCWesel]

Imagine a field of hexes on the floor that the pcs have to cross, some are broken pits, most are sealed, when they walk across some of them the resident larvae would twitch causing the wax membrane to heave up abit (checks for balance).

AWWW man! Now I want a hex map mat. DOH!

 

[Argent Silvermage]

3b) Any ideas on what critters might be feeding off of them... I know a bear might be interesting...

Giant Beas call for Dire Bears!