D&D 5E (2014) Water Management? :)

[Igwilly]

Honestly, I think resource management adds an interesting dimension to the game. We are in a "living world", we should act as one.
Both as player and DM, I always keep track of ammunition and food. Never really thought about water, so, that's a 3rd thing to track! ^^

 

[Guest 6801328]

Honestly, I think resource management adds an interesting dimension to the game. We are in a "living world", we should act as one.
Both as player and DM, I always keep track of ammunition and food. Never really thought about water, so, that's a 3rd thing to track! ^^

(putting my serious hat back on)

I agree with tracking ammunition because it adds a decision point to combat. I think archery is a bit too powerful, not just for the damage but for the range and movement options, and I prefer that archers to have to think about ammunition so that sometimes they will choose to (or be forced to) whip out the short swords. (Not to derail the thread; just explaining my personal viewpoint.)

But what's the point of tracking food and water? I *guess* it puts time pressure on the heroes; in a dungeon you might have to withdraw to your camp to get more water if none can be found in the dungeon. But isn't that what the Long Rest mechanic is supposed to enforce? Why is it actually fun to worry about food and water? (Caveat: if simulation and resource-tracking is fun for you, then it is a self-answering question.)

I think where I come down on this question is that in situations where worrying about food & water add an interesting dimension then you turn the trackers on, and otherwise ignore it. E.g., if you're pursuing (or fleeing) across a desert, your water supplies become a vital factor. But even then I'd introduce some abstract rules, instead of making them count and weigh and track the water ounce by ounce.

EDIT: If you are being pursued across a dessert you have other problems to worry about.

 

[Derren]

But what's the point of tracking food and water?

Whats the point of having a setting at all and not only a string of 20ft rooms with orcs and chests in them? If you want to play a murderhobo hack&slash game then yes there is no sense in tracking water (or anything at all). But in a setting that is supposed to feel alive things like this are essential. Suddenly instead of 4-6 murderhobos vanishing into a dungeon for a week and then reemerging with more gold than what they could realistically carry the adventurers now have to set up a base camp where they can store the supplies they need when they expect to stay longer in the dungeon. The camp has to be guarded so enter the hirelings. But not only do they want to get paid, they also need more supplies, so you likely need to get a cart and pack animals to carry them (which has the advantage that they can help you to carry the loot back)

 

[Eltab]

EDIT: If you are being pursued across a dessert you have other problems to worry about.

One of Grimtooth's Traps is a simple plain old 10-foot-by-10-foot-by-10-foot pit trap ... seven feet deep in Cool Whip.
(You can't swim in the stuff, you are too dense.)

 

[Guest 6801328]

Whats the point of having a setting at all and not only a string of 20ft rooms with orcs and chests in them? If you want to play a murderhobo hack&slash game then yes there is no sense in tracking water (or anything at all). But in a setting that is supposed to feel alive things like this are essential. Suddenly instead of 4-6 murderhobos vanishing into a dungeon for a week and then reemerging with more gold than what they could realistically carry the adventurers now have to set up a base camp where they can store the supplies they need when they expect to stay longer in the dungeon. The camp has to be guarded so enter the hirelings. But not only do they want to get paid, they also need more supplies, so you likely need to get a cart and pack animals to carry them (which has the advantage that they can help you to carry the loot back)

Oh, wow. So because I disagree with you about the optimum level of detail required I'm just a powergaming murderhobo?

Ok, I'll raise the ante on you: do you track actual calories when you track food? How about water purity? How many times have you modeled giardia in your water?

Weapons and armor getting damaged?

And exactly which body damage location home brew do you use to model temporary and permanent injuries? When one of your characters loses an eye, does it affect melee combat or ranged more?

....

Give me a break.

 

[Guest 6801328]

One of Grimtooth's Traps is a simple plain old 10-foot-by-10-foot-by-10-foot pit trap ... seven feet deep in Cool Whip.
(You can't swim in the stuff, you are too dense.)

Halflings can eat their way out.

Half-orcs can stand on the halflings.

 

[BookBarbarian]

The only thing I find more fun that water management is simulating waste elimination.
I mean what do you do with all that fecal matter? Does everyone carry a shovel?

Stillsuits would help with both problems!

 

[BookBarbarian]

Something I've found helpful when this sort of thing happens is asking the DM to set the stakes up front.

"Hey, I want to hunt for us all. What type of DC would I need?"

On the other hand, Outlander doesn't even require a roll, so your DM really doesn't get it. Is he the sort where a gentle reminder would be useful?

Yep. Describing the consequences of a failure before the roll has done a lot to improve the speed of my games and trust between me and the players. And, yes, this DM is either not understanding how the Outlander feature works, or has chosen to change how it works. If they've chosen to change how it works they should have let the players know.

 

[schnee]

(putting my serious hat back on)

But what's the point of tracking food and water?

AD&D was built on a wargame, where tracking logistics was essential - 'An army marches on its stomach' and all that. Having played that way, literally tracking torches, daily rations, turns, torches, etc., added a dimension of vulnerability and tension. You had rapidly depleting assets that were somewhat fragile (one encounter with green slime or gelatinous cube = a backpack full of stuff gone) that had to be protected.

It fit together perfectly with the encumbrance limitations, random encounter/monster mechanic, long wizard spell memorization time, etc. to really press people for time in a way that didn't require a specific '6-8 encounter a day' mechanic. We didn't know how long we had, or if we could re-equip, so we kept a move on so we didn't run out. We also had to act to preserve those things, because item depletion and breakage were a larger part of the game.

(Example: Crossing a huge underground lake on strange boats, then being attacked by tentacled horror things, had more tension when realizing that our packs getting dunked would make the party effectively blind and starving unless the Cleric dumped a LOT of their spells each day. Protecting the consumables turned into a major factor in the battle.)

Tracking that stuff closely makes it a fundamentally different feel (that I don't recommend for everyone), but I do think even when you're aiming for 'heroic', it helps to be grounded with some connection with the physical world. That takes the game out of the realm of only tactical combat and into inhabiting a living character.

That doesn't mean some dumb straw man like managing every ounce of water. But hand-waving away everything but the combat is a wasted opportunity. Even the 'heroic' LOTR had a significant plot driver with starvation and running out of Lembas bread.

 

[BookBarbarian]

Whats the point of having a setting at all and not only a string of 20ft rooms with orcs and chests in them? If you want to play a murderhobo hack&slash game then yes there is no sense in tracking water (or anything at all). But in a setting that is supposed to feel alive things like this are essential. Suddenly instead of 4-6 murderhobos vanishing into a dungeon for a week and then reemerging with more gold than what they could realistically carry the adventurers now have to set up a base camp where they can store the supplies they need when they expect to stay longer in the dungeon. The camp has to be guarded so enter the hirelings. But not only do they want to get paid, they also need more supplies, so you likely need to get a cart and pack animals to carry them (which has the advantage that they can help you to carry the loot back)

Are you saying that people who don't want to track food and water should just stop playing D&D?

A lot of people play the game in a lot of different ways, at a lot of different levels of abstraction. If a group thinks it's more fun to track water, that awesome because they are having more fun. If a group thinks it's more fun not to worry about water, that's also awesome, for the exact same reason.