Question regarding 'Survival' (Ranger Special Ability)

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gambler1650
Skobbit
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Joined: Sun Jul 17, 2011 2:17 am

Question regarding 'Survival' (Ranger Special Ability)

Post by gambler1650 »

Ok, I've read the second paragraph for a Ranger's "Survival" special ability, and the associated example a couple of times and a couple of things don't make sense.

To make sure I understand the rule, it SEEMS to say:

A ranger can always feed 2-8 people after 8 hours of foraging (assuming adequate food supplies).
Then make an attribute check.
If successful, feed 2-8 more people.

I think this is worded somewhat poorly and the 'ranges' given make it more confusing to parse. Effectively it says that a Ranger can always feed up to 8 people, and if he succeeds on an attribute check, can forage for 8 more hours to feed up to 16 people. Or to put another way, 8 hours foraging to feed 2-8, 16 hours and a successful check to feed 9-16 people (not 4-16, since 4 is less than 8 which the Ranger can always feed anyhow :) ).

And the example is odd. Nowhere in the rule does it suggest anything about the number of people the Ranger can feed being random, so I'm unsure what "The result is a 6, so the ranger has to feed 6 more people."

Another way of interpreting this is that a Ranger simply rolls a D6 and adds it to... 1 or 2? and that determines the number of people he can feed in the first eight hours (if added to 1 then it gives a range of 2-7, if added to 2 then it gives a range of 3-8, so this doesn't sound right as the rule's range is 2-8). And then if the wisdom roll is successful, roll again to figure out the additional number fed. But this version doesn't really work with the example either.

So... clarification? :)

serleran
Mogrl
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Re: Question regarding 'Survival' (Ranger Special Ability)

Post by serleran »

Obviously, the number of people to feed depends on the number of people present. If there are only 3, then he can always feed them. If there are 30, he's out of luck... but he might be able to find 'some' food for 'some' of them. That number will always be 8. If the check is made, he gets at least 2 more, and maybe 8, so he 'might' get half of the total group, which means they can eat only half the normal food rations and everyone gets something.

Add mounts, and its much more complicated, but the ability, as I recall, could care less about that. I suppose animals find their own damn food.

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Fiffergrund
Lore Drake
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Re: Question regarding 'Survival' (Ranger Special Ability)

Post by Fiffergrund »

I'm going to depart from Ser here, a bit.

"2-8" in my view equates to "2d4." Foraging should always have random results because availability of food is not always a constant.

So, the ranger can feed 2d4 automatically, after 8 hours of foraging and hunting. Occasionally, there is a very lucky day, and the ranger finds extra, kills a big animal, etc. To check this, make an attribute check, and if successful, you get to add another 2d4 (making it from 4-16 individuals that can be fed).

Always just 8 hours total.
Marshal Fiffergrund, Knight-Errant of the Castle and Crusade Society

serleran
Mogrl
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Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2008 7:00 am

Re: Question regarding 'Survival' (Ranger Special Ability)

Post by serleran »

Variability is the spice of flavored Keeping, so roll them bones.

One other thing that might be interesting although more intensive would be to optionally determine viability -- that is, in a desert, finding water might be done the same way but the number quartered (in addition to the check being harder), but in a lush environment the check may be easier with an automatic increase by +X (to also include dice if desired.) That is... terrain and population are potential considerations to this check, if the CK wants them to be.

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