Hunger question

[Dobergirl]

So, I was wondering recently exactly how long can you operate in the game without food before penalties and what kind, and how long until you die, for an average human? Would the penalties also be lessened for half dead or would they just be able to stay unfed for longer?

[Pepsi Jedi]

I THINK... Think.... there are rules for this in one of the Rifts Dinosaur swamp books. I could be wrong. don't go buying them just for that.

[azazel1024]

I am not aware that the books make mention. The first Dinosaur Swamp book does not mention.

I'd say no penalties for the first 36hrs. After that I'd say that the character tires twice as quickly, suffers -2% to all skills from 36-72hrs. After that -1 to PE, -2 to SPD, -1 to PS and the penalty is -7% to skills up to 5 days. After that I'd say -1 to PE, -1 to SPD and -1 to PS and -3% to skills for every 24hrs without food. Also at the 5 day mark, -1 to IQ, ME and MA for every 3 days. Also at the 5 day mark you start to suffer -1 to save vs. poison/disease every 3 days. You recover from the initial 36-72hr penalties within 2hrs of having a decent meal. If it has gone beyond that you recover the penalties at a rate 2x faster than they occured. IE if you were at day 8, it would take a day and a half to get back to the 5 day penalty mark and then a further couple of days to be pretty much recovered. This is with regular meals and resting/light exercise.

As for how long, if the person/character can survive without food. If well feed/healthy weight to begin with, the average adult human can survive approximately a month (30 days) without food if not overly exerting themselves. As with the penalties above, after about a day and a half without eating, it is going to go beyond just some hunger pains. You'll tire much faster, lose strength, endurance, energy, motivation. You'll begin losing mental focus after several days and tire very rapidly and lose a lot of physical strength.

As I mentioned, once you are starved to a certain point, it isn't as simple a good meal or two and you have all your strength and energy back and maybe a few pounds trimmer. After a few days, even with some fat reserves left, your body will begin losing muscle tone and strength. Once your fat reserves are nearly gone your body will begin metabolizing muscle mass in lieu of fat, which causes a massive and rapid loss of strength. This takes a long time to recover from (my twice as rapid recovery isn't really life like accurate, if you are starved for say 3 or 4 weeks and pretty close to deaths door it can take MONTHS to recover).

[filo_clarke]

Starvation rules can be found in PFRPG Land of the Damned: Book 1, page 144.
Dehydration rules can be found in PFRPG Baalgor Wastelands: page 17

[Icefalcon]

Page 37 of the Dead Reign sourcebook 1, Civilization Gone. The rules for starvation are among the other rules for stuff like dehydration and illnesses.

[Kovoston]

Thanks for pointing the way to the rules!

[Icefalcon]

Any time