DC for Tracking flying creatures using unchained skill unlocks Survival

[rmarsh9374]

I am prepping for a fight where the PCs are attacked at sea by a dragon. The Dragon is going to attack them from the air.

We are using the Skill Unlocks from Unchained. There is a PC with the Survival skill, and it says he can track flying creatures with a -20 penalty.

What is the DC to track the Dragon back to its Lair?

So far I am using the DC for Hard ground which is 20.
That seems a bit low.

Thanks for your input
Ryan

[Vatras]

The dragon takes a dip into the ocean to hide his trail ;)

I always found it silly that someone wrote it into the rules that you can track birds in the air or fish in the sea.

Go with hard ground (no real tracks left) and medium winds (new modifier, DC +1/3mph) then. The table has no modifiers for the air, since that was not intended, so make them up.

DC = 20 (hard ground) + 5 (wind 15 mph) - 2 (huge dragon) + 20 (tracking through the air) = 43

[Cevah]

Let him try.
Hard ground is DC 20, and has tiny indications.
Dragons are paranoid, so hiding its trail would be expected. +5 DC
Dragon is huge: -2 DC
The ocean waves wipe out traces (i.e. evidence sinks): +10 DC (as snow since the traces are covered up).
Skill unlock: Track flying @ -20

Totaling that up gets: DC 33 with a -20 applied to his roll.

Survival is not a class skill, and wisdom is likely a dump stat.
Minimum skill ranks is 10 to get the flight unlock.
Effective skill at survival is probably at class level.

For a URogue 10, that could mean a skill of 10. Best possible roll is 20. Total 30. Apply skill unlock penalty of -20 gives 10. 10 does not beat a DC of 33. At 20th level, that makes it 15 vs. 33.

He's gonna need a lot of bonuses to track it.

Even if he did manage, he will move at 1/2 speed (15') while the dragon flies off at 200'. Want to bet it will take him more than an hour? If so, then he needs to make another check, and another, and another....

/cevah