I find it funny the things bored gamers will discuss. :-D
The spell says it makes food pure and suitable to eat. It doesn't say what kind of food, just that it needs to be food. A tiefling variant trait allows them to eat and gain nourishment from ash, cinders, dust and sand. That is food to them. Would they be unable to purify it with Purify Food and Water because it isn't "food" to other things?
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Putrefy Food and Drink gives a pretty good basis for how Purify works.
This spell causes otherwise edible food to rot and spoil instantly, and water and other liquids to become brackish and undrinkable.
If whatever you're trying to purify goes far enough out of what the GM considers reasonable beyond "rotten/spoiled food" or "brackish/undrinkable water", then it doesn't work.
No, it won't purify feces into food.
Why?
Situation : An apple falls into the sewer. You retrieve the apple from the sewage, you cast 'Purify Food and Water' on it. Does it remove the sewage? If yes, then sewage is not food, and it purifies the apple to remove the sewage. If no, then sewage is food, and you get an apple with sewage on it at the end.
Now, I don't think anyone wants to argue that removing sewage from bread, apple, cheese, etc is not what the spell does (the wording indicates it can remove adulterations, which sewage would be), ergo, the sewage is not a valid target of the spell to purify into food, not being food.
Purify food and water would remove the sewage, yes, but that's because you specifically targeted the APPLE with the spell. Now, had you targeted the waster ON the apple, then you might have had an entirely different effect (namely, edible waste).
And you guys can thank Cerberus Seven for bringing this back to mind.
This is the first time I've seen this thread and I've been laughing the entire time reading it.
To all of the people saying that poop is not food I present exhibit A!
http://www.dailytech.com/Japanese+Make+Delicious+Nourishing+Steaks+From+Hum an+Feces/article21932.htm
Thanks to the scientists of japan poop is now a food group.
If my players were doing this in a game situation like the OP (an extended siege) I'd say no. I'd only say that 'cause it's gross. I'd then remind them that animals/vermin eat carrion and live in settlements, so get crackin' with some Survival rolls. I'd rather have my players rolling for an untrained Wis-based skill and a "low-level NPC cleric" (presumably with a decent Wis) to move about the area they're defending at half-speed while foraging for food and collected rainwater. If said scrounging produced edible vermin, small animals, birds etc but these creatures had been feeding on carrion, I'd explain that the NPC cast's his spell on THAT rather than feces.
... cause that's gross. Also the Survival thing could easily feed them all indefinitely so long as small animals/vermin still exist. If one 1st level PC/NPC in the entire area of the siege has at least 1 rank in Survival then the rest of the party could possibly use Aid Another, Guidance, or other things to boost that person's roll high enough that they could feed a whole group. That or have a couple PCs go on daring raids for food across enemy lines (SIDE QUEST!!!)
Anything to keep from eating waste. There is ALWAYS a better option than eating waste. What're we, goblins here?
If carrion creatures and vermin were enough to feed an army during a siege, then sieges wouldn't really work so well...
I think yall are looking at this the wrong way.
The question isn't if poop is food. The question is how much food is in the poop.
Human waste will contain small amounts of food remnants, and the spell would act on those food remnants. The spell would remove the waste, leaving eatable whatever was still eatable. The spell would get rid of most of the poop, the inedible non-food portion of the poop...almost all of it. You'd be left with a little of food.
I'm sure it would be a very small quantity of material, however. While our digestive system isn't perfect, it is pretty good.
So, if you had enough poop to go through, you could possibly extract enough of the food remnants to make a normal meal proportion... but, the question we should be asking is...
How much food is left in poop?
I'm not going to go find out, lol, I'm satisfied with my current level of familiarity with human excrement, and have no desire to expand on it.
If carrion creatures and vermin were enough to feed an army during a siege, then sieges wouldn't really work so well...
Wait, I thought you said "the party". If you're talking "feed the army" during a siege then no; forget what I said. They're all going to die.
Looks like scientists have figured out a way to convert feces into food in real life.
So why not magic too? :P