06-01-2016, 07:57 PM | #1 |
Join Date: May 2016
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Hobbits: Hungry Quirk, or Human-Sized Appetite?
I was thinking about hobbits today (probably because my coworker looks kind of like Elijah Wood) and it got me thinking--the hobbits of Lord of the Rings seemed always hungry while on the trail, and even burned through their "elven rations" that are supposed to last a day. I assume elven rations aren't necessarily filling but the point remains--are hobbits Gluttonous, or do they simply have bigger dietary needs?
Further details: Due to their fertile pastures and green thumbs, hobbits are practically buried in food, but are pretty average in build. We've seen more obese dwarves than hobbits, and those dwarves were nomads and exiles! Maybe hobbits just have SM+0 appetites! What do you think? |
06-01-2016, 08:41 PM | #2 |
formerly known as 'Kenneth Latrans'
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Wyoming, Michigan
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Re: Hobbits: Hungry Quirk, or Human-Sized Appetite?
I think a combination of Increased Consumption and Samwise personally having Gluttony as a Disadvantage (bought down with earned character points as the adventure progressed!) and not knowing that the lembas was supposed to last so long for how light it felt.
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06-01-2016, 09:10 PM | #3 |
Join Date: May 2011
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Re: Hobbits: Hungry Quirk, or Human-Sized Appetite?
In the movies, Merry and Pippin talk about second breakfast, elevensies, lunch, tea... I don't think it's just Sam. In the books, which I haven't read for some time, I recall fondness for food being a common trait to all hobbits. I think Gluttony is pretty reasonable. Increased Consumption seems possible, but Gluttony just means eat whenever you have an opportunity, unless you make a control roll.
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06-01-2016, 11:35 PM | #4 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Hobbits: Hungry Quirk, or Human-Sized Appetite?
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As far as Hobbits goes, maybe it's more a matter of not having to allow for security needs. Freedom from hardship has to go somewhere and they simply put it into food. Then too, maybe it's just that they are such efficient farmers, not to mention there is a shortage of markets since the fall of the North Kingdom. If they normally cultivate more efficiently then men, and the nearest technological sources are far away the best thing to do with their food is eat it.
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"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison |
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06-01-2016, 11:52 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Brighton
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Re: Hobbits: Hungry Quirk, or Human-Sized Appetite?
I'd go with quirk: hungry, rather than human sized appetite (or extra consumption etc).
They like eating*, aka "they live to eat, not eat to live" *and drinking and smoking Last edited by Tomsdad; 06-02-2016 at 12:34 AM. |
06-02-2016, 12:30 AM | #6 |
Join Date: May 2016
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Re: Hobbits: Hungry Quirk, or Human-Sized Appetite?
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06-02-2016, 08:20 AM | #7 |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: Hobbits: Hungry Quirk, or Human-Sized Appetite?
While most of the hobbits in the movies are skinny, in the books they tend to be portly - the way Bilbo looks at the beginning of The Hobbit series of movies is probably closer to the way he looks after he starves in Murkwood in the book (there are many references to the tightening of belts as rations dwindle). Now, some hobbits are particularly fat, like Fredegar "Fatty" Bolger, although IIRC Samwise wasn't much larger than the rest of the hobbits in the books.
Hobbits seem to have similar dietary needs to dwarves, and I'd expect the latter (with their broad profile and high muscle density) to have about the same needs as humans, so I'd say hobbits would indeed have a human-sized appetite along with something like Gluttony (12), but individual hobbits can modify the SC roll or even downgrade it to Hungry. You might be able to justify Reduced Consumption 1, however (assuming you're basing consumption off a human baseline, not the character's SM). As an interesting aside, with respect to them eating many meals per day, BioTech actually suggests a 1/2 scale (SM-2) modified human would tend to eat 6 meals a day, rather than 3, although they'd be smaller meals. |
06-02-2016, 10:11 AM | #8 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
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Re: Hobbits: Hungry Quirk, or Human-Sized Appetite?
Hobbits aren't compelled to eat lots of food; they're just accustomed to it. At most it'd be a quirk: "Complains when food is scarce." Hobbits on an extended adventure would probably eventually buy off this quirk at the insistence of their traveling companions.
Lots of hobbits would indeed have Gluttony, but it wouldn't be a racial trait. They probably do have Overweight as a racial trait, with some overriding it with Fat. Despite images and lines in various films, I am not aware of anything in the book that suggests Sam was any fatter than, say, Frodo, Pippin, or Merry. |
06-02-2016, 03:57 PM | #9 |
Join Date: Jul 2006
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Re: Hobbits: Hungry Quirk, or Human-Sized Appetite?
Isn't there a bit in Biotech about more frequent meals for smaller critters? Sort of like hummingbird syndrome - they eat smaller amounts, more often - but probably require more energy by mass due to the whole surface area:volume thing to maintain body temperature...
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06-02-2016, 11:54 PM | #10 | |
Join Date: May 2016
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Re: Hobbits: Hungry Quirk, or Human-Sized Appetite?
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Tags |
hobbit, lord of the rings, lotr, size modifier |
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