Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Alternatives to food giving hp?

So I was thinking what if food just gave you a well-fed bonus that was +1 to ability checks or +1 to skill checks. The quality of the food would determine how long the bonus lasts and when you'd need to eat again. No more hp restoration from eating. It makes sense that you'd think clearer and be stronger on a full stomach. It wouldn't be as game breaking as food restoring hp, still keeps food useful, and wouldn't be as intensive as incorporating food into the rest system. If they did try to attach food to resting, I'd imagine food would have different values, like +1 for a apple, +5 for a steak, and you would need X amount of food value to have a short rest or a long rest. Which would be cool and immersive as well. Downsides would be with food being finite in the world, you could potentially lose the ability to rest and it could be annoying being forced to track down potatoes. Not everyone wants a super immersive experience. Another option could be like a picnic table in your camp you keep stocked. If you go to sleep and there wasn't X amount of food value on the table you wake up with a fatigued penalty that would be like -1 to skill checks. A potentially less annoying consequence for not having food. Could even have stricter penalties if you use exhaustion from 5e rules

I'd personally go with the option of food just giving you a bonus, keeps things simple. Maybe too powerful skewing the dice in your favor, but you can choose to not eat food, same as not save scumming. Don't really have a choice if you attach it to resting. Open to hear other people's opinions

Rather just see a +1-+5 hp thats it.

You know what food does, outside of things like Heroes' Feast which is a spell, in my campaign? It gives you a full belly.. that's it. Good Berries give 1HP if eaten and I do allow my players to scum these a bit. General food however is just that. There is no reason eating a leg of pork should give you 5-12 HP back. Food is also so abundant, and you can eat it as a bonus action, that you don't even need to think about having a healer in your party in BG3 right now. Also potions.. so many healing potions. I think it all needs to be toned back quite a bit.

You know what, I find the sausages and pork roasts inside the temple to be the greatest treasure in the place. Everything else get sold or eaten by Gale, but the food, nope I keep that. It's just too valuable.

I think there is a lot of healing potions because of the surfaces causing more damage. At this point, I don't understand why they didn't double the character HP like they did enemies to compensate. I'm pretty sure they added the physical/magical armor system to DOS2 because they couldn't control the surfaces too.

Looking at the types of food we currently have I think there may be a cooking option at some point. It is possible that cooked meals may do something like what you have mentioned but I would prefer this to have only slight buffs, maybe a +1 to one stat which would depend on the meal eaten. I do not think food should heal at all and it should also be necessary to eat each day, maybe our characters could give hints about this like they do now about resting. There should also be exhaustion effects. I do not want any effects from basic things like potatoes, it should only be from meals.

Oh I like the idea of +1 to one stat modifier, although maybe just do the saving throw. I wouldn't expect too robust of a crafting system, given how it was in DOS2. I think meals could last 10-30 rounds be like +1 to strength and constitution saving throws, or +1 to intelligence and wisdom. While more raw ingredients like a potato would just be +1 strength and for 2 rounds.

The game won't be like dnd campaigns especially when it comes to loot. So many rpgs and even other dnd games are like that where you can just loot all the containers and strip your fallen enemies down when you normally wouldn't do that in dnd. There's people complaining about too many empty containers, not enough loot, and then other people complaining too many scrolls and potions. So having some food that is a little useful is an okay concession. Even though I play as a loot goblin with stacks of cheese, apples, and all kinds of other junk, I wouldn't mind toning down the amount of loot the game throws at you. I don't think we'd miss food giving hp either if Larian tones down encounters as well with their hp bloat, aoe attacks, etc.

Just remove food.
There are too many unnecessary items in this game... Exactly like in DoS....

Get rid of food items.

Food healing in an RPG is a ridiculous concept to begin with. The fact that you can do it in combat is beyond ridiculous. Silly nonsensical things like this are a constant reminder that BG3 is a funny video game instead of an immersive fantasy world.

The myriad food items clutter your inventory, weigh you down without adding anything meaningful to the game. They are mechanically healing potions.

D&D abstracts food and healing into Short Rests and there is zero reason to deviate from this in BG3.

Have you noticed that we cant drink water?

I think the way to handle food is with the cooking skill. Their already seems to be precedent for cooking based things I have come across in EA.

I use a homebrew cooking rule-set for one of my dnd players with proficiency in cooking. Basically you can only cook during a long or short rest.

On a short rest, based on the roll they get a minor benefit such as +1 to a single skill until the next short rest. Or you can just eat raw food, such as an apple, and gain a minor heal bonus. Usually a 1d4 or 1d6 based on the item.

For a long rest they can get, upto +1 to +3 in a skill, max hp bonus, +1, +2 or advantage on the next save, temp hp or DR between 1-3 points. Most of these effects also end the next time you short rest or once you use it one time and are minor in nature. I also allow for special meals that give larger bonuses or special effects based on the rarity or quality of the good. So a basilisk steak gives advantage on saves verse petrification for a few hours.

That being said I think the effect should be minor so its something people can choice to do, but they don't feel like to have to do it.

I would either make food only consumable outside of combat or even more preferable make rest outside of camp only available with food (still not allowing food consumption within combat).

Food shouldn't heal, lack of food should cause Exhaustion same as lack of water and sleep.
BG3 needs Time to be a concept that covers more than simply rounds.

If they insist on having a food system this is how it should be.

Survival check to cook a special meal during a long rest that grants minor bonuses until the next short rest or some other time period, like...

+1d8 temporary HP (really good for level 1's) or +1 to Str and Con saves

How about they work as "noncombat heal" you can use them not during combat, but outside combat.

Totally agree!
I would like the food to work something similar as the old "Eye of the Beholder" (bridging the time and d&d editions gap).

I would prefer to have them just use it as Camp Rations per Long Rest like you do in a tabletop. When you run out people can start making con Checks to see if you start to get Starvation status effects as per 5e Ruleset. There are spells and backgrounds that can help obtain some ( Like Outlander ) but that would be the choice the player can make on their own

This would then put a finite timer on the amount of long rests one could actually do in Act 1.

Yes and it is bloody annoying.


Really don't like the idea of food healing at all. Potions are easy to come by, scrolls for healing spells can be used by everyone currently, clerics can heal outside combat if you don't have anything else.


This would be a lot better

Have short rests require a few food items for everybody.

There solved food and short rest at the same time

Reduce loot boxes thus reducing the number of pointless empty boxes and therefore also the need for pointless little loot like food. Turn food in something like camp supplies for resting and you have something that reduces the amount of rests as well. In any pen&paper either good DM will use food as a way to create urgency for the story or not bother with the inventory management that it burdens the players with.

Currently its another issue I have to say BG3 is doing poorly by adding mechanics that the system doesn't need.

With the combination and crafting hints that look like they're in place, I think the food might end up being used later on down the line. But who knows!

As it is now, food -can- be abused for those of us that micromanage every potential action. However, I also think that we're a minority.