Finding dry firewood

[Bredwyr]

PCs can buy and carry dry firewood. It means that finding such wood should be difficult in the snowy forest (either in Taldor or Irrisen).

What should be the Survival DC to find such firewood in this kind of forest? What should be the Survival DC to start a fire without such firewood?

[Herbo]

You could also let Knowledge (Nature) checks fly for finding dry firewood in the soggy wilds.

This is by no means "official" but, getting along in the wild is a DC10. Depending on the terrain I'll start tacking on modifiers.

DC Modifiers

Weather:

Perfect Weather...the kind of thing you paint, write poetry about and tell your grandchildren of fifty years later: -4

Ideal Weather...the last days of spring, final days of summer: -2

Just Another Day on Planet [Fill In Your Favorite]: +0

Bad Weather...a day where you wish you could just stay inside next to cozy fire, or live in a airy palace soaking in a cool pool, but you can continue on with your day uncomfortably: +2

You've Got to be Kidding Me...you could smelt iron in the heat, it's been so wet for so long that you wish you had gills, you can't even remember what warmth felt like...+4

Terrain:

Cursed, Blighted, Magically Altered, War-ravaged: +4

Barren...Bare Mountains, Deserts, Snow Fields: +4

Open...Savannas, Plains, Tundras, Seas: +2

Covered...Forests, Jungles, Taiga: +0

So if you are in a cursed jungle where it has been humid, hot, life-sapping weather? I'd apply a +6 modifier to the DC (+4 supernatural, +0 for a jungle, +2 for weather being crummy).

For a crew of four adventurers being taken care of by the party ranger in a magically altered chilly Taiga forest in Irisen?

Tending the Others (2pts per person): +6
Magically Altered Terrain: +4
Taiga Forest: +0
Crap Weather: +2

SO...DC22 to live it up in a wild forest of Irisen. Though, I generally allow every character to roll an assist. Even better if there are some Unseen Servants around and helpful animal companions around.

It works for me, but of course YMMV

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If you want to drill down into the minutia of finding firewood, that's fine too. In general I just apply a tool bonus of +2 for having firewood on hand. Maybe allow the Survival checker to gather some extra firewood for every 2pts by which they succeed? Double that for unlikely terrain, or rough weather.

So in the above example if the resulting check was a 26 they could make sure everyone was fed and tended in the party, and with the extra 4pts they could gather extra firewood for a day (I'd say magical perma-winter counts as rough weather).

[Jeven]

Irissen is so cold that the snow never melts, so deadwood should actually be quite dry. All you need to do is shake it a bit to brush off the snow.

Things would only get damp if the snow was melting at some point.

[ikki3520]

yeah, winters are very dry.. otoh without a growing season there probarbly are no trees to begin with....
Or the evildoers havent gotten around to cut them all down yet.

There most certainly can be no new trees in the eternal winter.

[Tangent101]

There are... spots that grow from time to time. Areas of brief spring. They do not play a major role in the adventure, but it does mean that not only is there occasional growth in some sections... but melting can occur.

In addition, the trees in the region are firs. As such, they can and do grow (pine needles are quite resilient to the cold) but they do so at a slow pace.

The problem is that the forest is in one region. Much of the area is not forested. They probably burn peat or coal or rely on geothermal vents for heating if they're lucky (most places are not).

[Jeven]

The forest seems to be mixed deciduous and evergreen. I think the magic which makes Irissen permanently frozen has put the deciduous trees in permanent hibernation for 1000 years rather than killing them.

Evergreens like firs might still grow, since the land still receives the full sun of summertime for photosynthesis. That magic only makes the land unnaturally cold. The underground water aquifers might still melt, as the spell might not run that deep, so the trees could have water for their roots.

I've not read the Irissen guide book, perhaps its all explained there.

Another problem is that logically 1000 years of unmelting snow should have turned the whole country into a huge glacier. But perhaps the magic feeds off of and recycles the lower layers of snow.

The good thing about magic is it doesn't have to obey normal rules, so you can make lots of stuff like that up to give it some sort of logic!

[Tangent101]

Sublimation. It's why snow actually can evaporate from your lawn despite it never going above freezing.

[Zhangar]

From the Land of Eternal Winter guide - Baba Yaga actually introduced a new tree to Irrisen, presumably from another planet, called the Winter Yew. It grows and produces edible seeds all year long, and its bark can be eaten by humans.

Huh. Irrisen's peasantry lives primarily on tree bark, along with sparing rations of actual food imported/stolen from Varisia and the Realm of the Mammoth Lords.

[Jeven]

Zhangar wrote:

From the Land of Eternal Winter guide - Baba Yaga actually introduced a new tree to Irrisen, presumably from another planet, called the Winter Yew. It grows and produces edible seeds all year long, and its bark can be eaten by humans.

Huh. Irrisen's peasantry lives primarily on tree bark, along with sparing rations of actual food imported/stolen from Varisia and the Realm of the Mammoth Lords.

The AP says they mostly eat fish. There are fishermen camps just outside the city of Whitethrone down by the lake. Glasshouses in the city warmed by thermal springs also produce a few fruits and vegetables.

There aren't really any other large settlements in the country, except for that town on the river-cliffs which would be more fishermen.

I suppose they grind down the bark and seeds into a sort of flour for bread and pastry.

[Zhangar]

Okay, that makes sense for the towns that have water access.

Waldsby specifically doesn't have water access, so they're living on bark/imported grain/small game.

[Jeven]

Waldsby is pretty small with only 167 people.

Its next to the forest and has a sawmill, so I guess most of the people are woodcutters and it trades timber for food with Whitethrone.
That ranger woman in the AP also takes crafted goods to the border to trade with the mammoth lords for meat.