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How would you adjudicate using scent during a snowstorm, particularly in a narrow valley where the wind is whipping around in all directions, not just one? The rules are pretty clear except for scent, and the players have two animal companions (one an Ape with 4 Int).
I am using the rules for Blizzard:
-4 to ranged attacks for Severe Wind
-4 to Fly for Severe Wind
-4 to Perception due to snow
50% chance blow out protected flames
Visibility: 5' normal, 10' at 20% miss chance, no visibility farther
Double move (it is quad move for heavy but i don't want the players to have to stand in one place all the time, want the module to eventually end!)
However, nothing on that page mentions the effect on scent. All it says is downwind normal 30' scent ranged is doubled to 60, and upwind halved to 15. But that is normal wind. And since the players are in a valley, the scents could be upwind or downwind depending on the patterns of wind.
So I put this in Advice rather than Rules since there are apparently no rules. And I tried googling how well hound dogs track in storms but couldn't find anything (too many pages of dogs predicting storms were first).
I am taking them through Frozen Wind on Sunday. And trying to evoke the feeling of something out there coming for them but they can't see it. And am not sure, which will evoke that more:
Have scent always count as upwind and 15' radius detection? Giving PCs only 5' of warning before their own perception detects it,
Letting the animals detect at 30' or 60', letting them know something is there and the direction it is coming from?
Let them detect at 30', but when animal uses move action to find direction it cannot?
Have it flip upwind/downwind round to round, so sometimes it is 60' and can tell direction, next round scent is lost since they are upwind. Or downwind from different creature, different direction?