New Item - Elven Rations

[Northman]

I was putting a character together and was thinking... wouldn't it be cool to be able to buy lighter rations? More expensive but lighter... like Elven Rations!

Now, I'm surely not the first to think of this, but the thought crossed my mind that it could be an item for sale in the Thirteen Kingdoms. Perhaps it weighs .25 lbs for a day's rations. Maybe it is more nutritious and lasts longer. Maybe it tastes better too.

Kognus, CM of the Elven Kingdom could come up with a cool elven name for it. What do you think?

Maybe I should come up with a dwarven aquivilant... tastes like dirt but keeps the bugs away and keeps you regular...

What do you guys think?

 

[Emiricol]

I'm down with this idea It sounds very cool! Although the Dwarven equivalent probably wouldn't weigh less, but might last more than a day for example? Random thought.

Anyway, cool idea

 

[Northman]

How about something like this?

Elven Rations (Elven name pending)

• One day.
  cost = 2 gp.
  weight = .25lbs.
  A thin bread made of berries, nuts, and herbs. Very tasty for up to ten years.

Dwarven Rations (Dwarven name pending)

• One day.
  cost = 2 gp
  weight = 1lb
  A thick, hard bread made of boiled roots, tubers, nuts, and it is rumored: dirt. Rather bland and better eaten with a heathy portion of beer or ale.
  After eating the rations for one day it provides a +1 bonus to all fortitude saves for 24 hours.

 

[Northman]

I also thought about making the elven rations mildly magic...

 

[Kognus]

Hey all, Sorry I've been away. I'm in the process of buying a house, and as Northman can atest to, it's not an easy feat in southern California.

I think this is a great idea, the "Elven/Dwarven rations". How many times did you see "Return of the King" Northman? I can't believe I didn't think of this.

As far as magical, what if it cured fatigue? or made it so you could go with 4 hours of rest? I'm thinking that the only place the "Elven" sort can be made is the Fields of Fyndryna, the only open spot in Lorlynia. That way, DMs could control it and it's cost. The farther away, the more expensive and more rare.
I'll work on a name.

 

[Northman]

Yeah, buying a house is quite the committment. Hope you're having fun.

Having it heal fatigue would be cool, but it should probably only be a minor effect, or it would become a pretty expensive item. The price I threw out there seemed usable, and I figured a lot of it was the inaccessability of it. Maybe in Lorlynia they're the same price as normal rations. Same could be true of dwarven rations in Thoradur.

Now that I think about it, curing fatigue is similar to the dwarven effect of giving a bonus to fortitude. We might want to keep them pretty different. That was my thought when making them. But, it's not a big deal.

 

[Emiricol]

Why not have the Elven rations up Fort saves, while the Dwarven rations reduce sleep needed to 4 hours? Considering how slow a Dwarf army would move, such rations would be prized by a dwarven army.

 

[Lith]

I dunno, I like the idea of it, but it makes normal rations useless and no one would buy them any more.

That is if they're a common item and can be bought anywhere. Although I doubt the Elven or Dwarven Nations would want these items to be commonly available to everyone.

I don't really think they should give bonus to saves. otherwise they'ed have to be magical in my opinion.

Here's what I was thinking.

Dwarven Rations, ((aka Dirtbread))
One Day's worth of nutrients.
Cost: 2gp per unit
Weight: 2 lbs
Special: Allows someone to be rid of the fatigue of sleeping in medium or heavy armor.

Think of it as like a ginseng pick me up, in the morning. It wouldn't get rid of any other type of fatigue.

Elven Rations, ((Aka Featherloaf))
One Day's worth of nutrients.
Cost: 1gp per unit
Weight: 0.25 lbs

Nothing really special about it except it weighs less and that's perfect for the quick elf on the move.

 

[Northman]

I dunno, I like the idea of it, but it makes normal rations useless and no one would buy them any more.

They are 4xs as expensive, so low level characters probably wouldn't want to bother. A week costs 14gp instead of 3.5gp.

That is if they're a common item and can be bought anywhere. Although I doubt the Elven or Dwarven Nations would want these items to be commonly available to everyone.

They wouldn't be common, thus the high cost. Perhaps the cost is too low?

I don't really think they should give bonus to saves. otherwise they'ed have to be magical in my opinion.

Yeah, I think that' the point. They are mildly magical since they are created by the first races in the ancient tradition.

The suggestions are interesting. A couple of observations...

I can't imagine characters wanting to carry rations that weigh 2lbs a day. And the bennifit of not being fatigued from wearing armor while sleeping is HUGE. That seems much more than a +1 to fort saves. Perhaps the bonus could be to something specific instead of a general fort save.

What if the general price in non native lands was more like 4gp a day? Two weeks of rations would cost 56gp instead of the normal 7gp. That might be too expensive for anyone to consider using.

Basically the idea here is to make "masterwork" rations that has cool flavor and is better than normal rations.

 

[Lith]

I can't imagine characters wanting to carry rations that weigh 2lbs a day. And the bennifit of not being fatigued from wearing armor while sleeping is HUGE. That seems much more than a +1 to fort saves. Perhaps the bonus could be to something specific instead of a general fort save.

What if the general price in non native lands was more like 4gp a day? Two weeks of rations would cost 56gp instead of the normal 7gp. That might be too expensive for anyone to consider using.

Basically the idea here is to make "masterwork" rations that has cool flavor and is better than normal rations.

2lbs a day makes it definately inconvinient to carry around, but the effect is definately good. Also i was thinking the effect of fatigue would only wear off after the PC has eaten his ration. so if he wants to risk sleeping in his armor and being woken up mid sleep he would suffer the effects fatigue, unless he stops to eat 2lbs of food before he helps his buddies. If he gets attacked during the night, the ration is basically useless, if he doesn't it's like he switched armors to sleep.


These items should definately be rare, maybe a 5% chance of finding them outside of the respective dwarven and elven nations. With percentages going up if there's a significant elven or dwarven comunity in the other kingdoms. The prices should also reflect the rareness of these items, double, triple, quad or even quituple if the PC just got a lucky break on a roll to try and locate some, in some backwater town with 1 old elf or dwarf.