Two quick questions on using survival to get by in the wilderness (find food + water, etc.):
1) Are there really no modifiers to the DC for different terrain types? Is it just as easy to find food and water in the desert as in a temperate forest by RAW? Or am I missing something?
1a) If that's true, has anyone come up with some alternate/optional rules for changing up the DCs based on terrain type?
2) Can you take 10 on the survival check to find food and water?
Two quick questions on using survival to get by in the wilderness (find food + water, etc.):
1) Are there really no modifiers to the DC for different terrain types? Is it just as easy to find food and water in the desert as in a temperate forest by RAW? Or am I missing something?
By raw? There no difference. If you want numbers...
Jungle: 10
Forest/swamp 15
Savana/Taiga: 18
Desert/tundra: 20
1a) If that's true, has anyone come up with some alternate/optional rules for changing up the DCs based on terrain type?
Jungle: 10
Forest/swamp 15
Savana/Taiga: 18
Desert/tundra: 20
At sea 25 (mostly because of the water problem)
bad weather -2
Really bad weather -5
2) Can you take 10 on the survival check to find food and water?
probably not unless you stop. If you weren't being threatened with starvation on the go you probably wouldn't be using the skill.
I like it, except i would change it to bonus or penalty's. To the normal Check.
Jungle: +5
Forest/Swamp: +2
Savana/Taiga: -2
Desert/Tundra: -5
At sea Changes: Mostly -5, but get near the coast/coarl reef +5. or somewere between.
2) Can you take 10 on the survival check to find food and water? Would be No. you can only make the check once every 24 hours, which leave you no time to retry.
2) Can you take 10 on the survival check to find food and water?
Absolutely. Taking 10 on the survival check is quite appropriate, IMHO. Taking 10 is simply assuming you had an average roll each time, that's all. As long as you aren't "in immediate danger" over the balance of the day, all is well.
2) Can you take 10 on the survival check to find food and water?Absolutely. Taking 10 on the survival check is quite appropriate, IMHO. Taking 10 is simply assuming you had an average roll each time, that's all. As long as you aren't "in immediate danger" over the balance of the day, all is well.
When do you have time to take 10 ?
Under Survival, under Try Again: "For getting along in the wild or for gaining the Fortitude save bonus noted in the first table on page 107, you make a Survival Check once every 24 hours"
Note="Get along in the wild" is the getting food and water entry.
So you get to make the check once per day, every 24 hours.
When do you have time to take 10 ?
But taking 10 (unlike taking 20) doesn't assume repeated tries, and does not take any additional time over rolling.
My guess was that you would be able to take 10 unless there were specific distractions/dangers (horrible weather, monsters hot on your trail, etc), unless you count the idea of not finding enough food to be a danger itself. Which is what I'm wondering about.
When do you have time to take 10 ?
But taking 10 (unlike taking 20) doesn't assume repeated tries, and does not take any additional time over rolling.
My guess was that you would be able to take 10 unless there were specific distractions/dangers (horrible weather, monsters hot on your trail, etc), unless you count the idea of not finding enough food to be a danger itself. Which is what I'm wondering about.
Yup. You can take 10 for lots of long duration things (crafting, etc).
If you are being chased, you probably wouldn't be spending time to forage to begin with. If the weather was exceptionally bad, I'd apply a penalty to find stuff (bad visibility, game seeks shelter making it harder to find, etc).
On pg 444 of the Core rulebook, a character can go without food or water for 3 days before any ill effects. Thereafter they start taking nonlethal damage and become fatigued. I think it would take 3 days before the idea of not finding food would become a "danger".
For what it's worth, even though Survival is a Will based skill, I'd apply fatigue penalties to Survival when trying to forage.
If you want to run a Grim and Gritty game and put more emphasis on survival, I'd suggest increasing the DCs due to circumstances so that taking 10 doesn't auto-succeed, or have the group be driven by a deadline so they can't get away with moving at half speed all the time.
... ahh now i see..
Was thinking of take 20 were not could not fail a role.
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I would not provide "set" adjustments per terrain type, but instead apply a DC adjustment based on situation. Remember, if you have lived all your life in a desert, any survival training you received would be focused on that. You can then use KN: Nature or KN: Geography to show that the character is familiar with other regions and what is good to eat/drink in that region. I would even allow KN: Local to show this (as in the, "I hear that the locals really like to make a stew from this one type of mushroom. It must be somewhat good to eat!")
For example: If the character is from the desert, let then make the check at the default while in the desert (they know this land and how to live in it). If that same desert character is in a jungle, apply a +2 or more to the DC to show that he is not quite sure how to get along here.