[DF] Pixies & Potions, & reduced consumption - Clarification requested

[jfowler]

Ok, so I am trying to gear up to GM a DF game, with simplified GURPS rules, for my 10 year old son and 6 year old daughter. They are quite excited about it, and I've used their input to do the heavy lifting and generate the details on their characters.

The 10 year old has a Gnome Cleric, which was somewhat straightforward (the SM rules do cause the extra complication with equipment). However, I have an SM-related question about the Pixie Wizard the 6 year old dreamed up.

in particular, potions. DF3 and DF13 both have some guidance, but, my question is, what would be the relationship of a Pixie-size dose of a drinkable potion (say, Paut) to a normal-size dose, in both volume and cost?

Potions seem to be in the 'Bulk goods'/'Things that don't scale' category from DF13, p.4. The most relevant quote seems to be "...healing potions, etc. must be large enough to affect any likely recipient". Given that Pixies have Reduced Consumption 4 (about 1% of food rations necessary), would there be a similar relative amount of potion necessary, if it is only intended for the Pixie? E.g., would a single normal dose of Paut ($135, 0.5 lb) be enough for 100 Pixies doses?

I'm not completely hung up on this point, as I intend to use quite a bit of the 'when in doubt, roll & shout' command, but, still, any advice offered here will be carefully considered...

thanks!
John

[vierasmarius]

Basing it on Reduced Consumption could work, but 1% weight and cost feels very small for a potion. Another option is to simply scale it by HP (well, the base HP for the race, probably). So a 1 HP pixie would consume 1/10 the quantity of a potion for the same effect. Or base it on the SM linear scale multiplier, which is how ST and HP are normally scaled, and in this case would give the same result (SM-6 is x1/10 linear size).

[Blind Mapmaker]

In order not to make small characters too attractive, I would introduce some mago-babble that allows pixies to use potions scaled-down in proportion with their other gear, but at the same (or a slightly increased cost).

Imagine an in-game explanation like: "Pixie alchemists possess knowledge of a distillation process that allows them to isolate the essence of a potion without sacrificing its efficacy. Unfortunately, it only works for pixies, afterwards."

If the mage knows alchemy she might even do that to found potions in her spare time.

For normal-sized potions I would not require pixies to drink the whole potion, but the rest should be either used externally or mystically lose its efficacy once the pixie drank the portion equivalent to what a human would consume.

[munin]

For magic, a dose is a dose. The fact that "...healing potions, etc. must be large enough to affect any likely recipient..." simply means that healing potions only come in one size -- a dose that has its effects on any size creature. The pixie's size or Reduced Consumption doesn't affect that. A GM might only require them to take a sip from the potion (asking them to drink 0.5 lbs. is like asking a human to drink nine gallons) -- but that sip uses up the potion's potency. Having to carry around an SM-7 potion bottle is just one of the disadvantages of their size (though they do have sufficient ST).

Originally Posted by jfowler

... Given that Pixies have Reduced Consumption 4 (about 1% of food rations necessary)...

Actually it's worse than that. Pixies are 1/12 scale ("feet to inches") so have 1/144th the consumption rate of humans just from their size ("realistically", thirty-six 1/1728-weight meals per day -- see GURPS Bio-Tech, p. 63) -- Reduced Consumption isn't necessary to indicate that a smaller creature eats less (Bio-Tech, p. 62), that happens automatically with size. Adding Reduced Consumption 4 means they can go 100 times as long between meals (one 1/1728-weight meal about every three days). If a regular human meal of food and water weighs one pound, a single ounce of food and water will nourish a pixie for 300 days.

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by munin

Actually it's worse than that. Pixies are 1/12 scale ("feet to inches") so have 1/144th the consumption rate of humans just from their size ("realistically", thirty-six 1/1728-weight meals per day -- see GURPS Bio-Tech, p. 63) -- Reduced Consumption isn't necessary to indicate that a smaller creature eats less (Bio-Tech, p. 62), that happens automatically with size. Adding Reduced Consumption 4 means they can go 100 times as long between meals (one 1/1728-weight meal about every three days). If a regular human meal of food and water weighs one pound, a single ounce of food and water will nourish a pixie for 300 days.

I don't think DF is meant to use the more complex scaling rules from Bio-Tech. The Pixie just has Reduced Consumption instead of modifying consumption by SM. Look at the other Faerie Folk: the only other small race is the Leprechaun, and it's also the only other one with Reduced Consumption.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by vierasmarius

I don't think DF is meant to use the more complex scaling rules from Bio-Tech. The Pixie just has Reduced Consumption instead of modifying consumption by SM. Look at the other Faerie Folk: the only other small race is the Leprechaun, and it's also the only other one with Reduced Consumption.

No, the leprechaun is another Faerie and gets Reduced Consumption because it's a faerie, not a "real creature". There are also Halflings and Gnomes, who are also small races. Neither gets reduced consumption, and Kromm has confirmed that this is because all creatures are expected to need to eat less (or more) due to their size. DF game or not.

Note that Barbarians and Ogres don't get Increased Consumption either. They just eat "more bigger" meals than everyone else.

DF Loadouts clarifies how food is supposed to scale - this is basically covering the table from Biotech for DF.

EDIT: Pixies are supposed to be sipping tiny dew drops and nibbling on the occasional crumb of sugar cookies. They need Reduced Consumption, because just reducing meal size in proportion actually results in small creatures eating more volume (compared to their body size) than large creatures. Compare shrews, that eat their entire body mass in food every day or two, or hummingbirds, who have to hibernate instead of sleep, because otherwise they'd starve. Pixies have the advantage of being insanely strong for their size, but the sight of a pixie hauling around a food bag its size is a little counter peoples mental image. So they get Reduced Consumption 4.

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by Bruno

No, the leprechaun is another Faerie and gets Reduced Consumption because it's a faerie, not a "real creature". There are also Halflings and Gnomes, who are also small races. Neither gets reduced consumption, and Kromm has confirmed that this is because all creatures are expected to need to eat less (or more) due to their size. DF game or not.

Note that Barbarians and Ogres don't get Increased Consumption either. They just eat "more bigger" meals than everyone else.

DF Loadouts clarifies how food is supposed to scale - this is basically covering the table from Biotech for DF.

Ah, I don't have DF Loadouts. Thanks for clearing that up for me! I had assumed that the SM-1 and SM+1 creatures were just treated the same for simplicity's sake.

[Kuroshima]

Originally Posted by Bruno

EDIT: Pixies are supposed to be sipping tiny dew drops and nibbling on the occasional crumb of sugar cookies. They need Reduced Consumption, because just reducing meal size in proportion actually results in small creatures eating more volume (compared to their body size) than large creatures. Compare shrews, that eat their entire body mass in food every day or two, or hummingbirds, who have to hibernate instead of sleep, because otherwise they'd starve. Pixies have the advantage of being insanely strong for their size, but the sight of a pixie hauling around a food bag its size is a little counter peoples mental image. So they get Reduced Consumption 4.

Well, really, seeing the pixie eat humongous amounts of food, for it's size, is not something that would run counter to my mental image. I just imagine the little critter to say "hey, I might be small, but do you know how fast my metabolism goes?" ;) Also, it's funny to imagine them removing their belts prior to meals, as they get bloated for a while after eating.

[Ze'Manel Cunha]

Originally Posted by Kuroshima

Well, really, seeing the pixie eat humongous amounts of food, for it's size, is not something that would run counter to my mental image. I just imagine the little critter to say "hey, I might be small, but do you know how fast my metabolism goes?" ;) Also, it's funny to imagine them removing their belts prior to meals, as they get bloated for a while after eating.

Sure, if you're modeling Hellboy piranha-like pixies who can swarm a person and eat them down to the bone in seconds, but not so much for the Tinkerbell pixies most 6 year old girls want to play.

[Kuroshima]

Originally Posted by Ze'Manel Cunha

Sure, if you're modeling Hellboy piranha-like pixies who can swarm a person and eat them down to the bone in seconds, but not so much for the Tinkerbell pixies most 6 year old girls want to play.

Wait, aren't the piranha pixies the default? I mean, Disney pixies are so... ;)

Now seriously, it's also funny to imagine a human female and a pixie female at the tavern, and with the human female eating small "diet" tidbits, while the pixie lithe pigs out, and the human female thinking "Life is SO unfair! I HATE you!".