Toggle Theme

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Starfinder RPG

Rules Index | GM Screen
Mastering the Wild / Foraging and Salvaging

Foraging

Source Ultimate Wilderness pg. 134
These foraging techniques assume a search in a typically bountiful wilderness area. The exact time required to forage for supplies depends on the specific supplies desired and the type of terrain being searched, as does the DC of the skill check to successfully forage, as listed on Table 4–4 below. As a general rule, a character who spends more than 8 hours per day foraging becomes fatigued.

The base amount of time required to forage for supplies depends on the type of supplies you’re searching for, as listed in each supply category below. When foraging, multiply this base time by the terrain’s “forage factor” as listed on the table below. Whether the terrain in question counts as standard, barren, or abundant depends on the type of terrain being searched, what is begin searched for, and the GM’s discretion (for example, a remote shoreline may qualify as abundant for the purposes of foraging for tools and weapons, but barren for the purposes of foraging for herbs), but in most cases, the standard category should be used. Rugged terrain includes all terrain with difficult physical obstacles (numerous steep mountainsides or cliffs, particularly dense undergrowth, or any other terrain where the searcher’s movement type is impeded), and its forage factor stacks with other forage factors for different types of terrain.

Table 4-4: Foraging

Type of TerrainForage FactorForage DC
Standardx115
Barrenx220
Abundantx1/210
Terrain is ruggedx2+5


Time spent to forage for supplies need not be consecutive and can be split over multiple days. Once the required time has passed, attempt a skill check against the appropriate forage DC as indicated on the table above; typically this is a Survival check, but searching for some types of supplies sometimes allows the substitution of a different skill.

When a character attempts to forage for supplies, he must choose what kind of supplies he is searching for from the broad categories detailed below.

Alchemical Supplies and Material Components: Many alchemical supplies and material components can be found in the wilderness. You can forage enough supplies to approximate the contents of an alchemy crafting kit or a spell component pouch with a successful Survival check and 2d4 hours of effort, but the GM can rule that certain components simply aren’t available in an area (for example, bat guano cannot be foraged in terrain where no bats live). If a component is unavailable in the area but its cost remains negligible, you can create a rudimentary substitute component from your foraged supplies with a successful Craft (alchemy) or Spellcraft check and 1 hour of effort (DC = 15 + double the level of the extract or spell). An extract or spell cast with such an improvised substitute has a 20% chance of failure (in addition to any other chance of failure). Focus components or costly material components cannot be foraged.

Herbs: Foraging for specific herbs requires a Knowledge (nature) or Profession (herbalist) check and follows special rules, as presented on page 152 of this book.

Repair Materials and Improvised Tools: A period of 1d6 hours and a successful Survival check are enough to forage rudimentary supplies to perform field repairs for damaged equipment when the proper tools and supplies are not available. On a successful check, a character gathers the equivalent of 2d6 gp in raw materials. She must still spend the time and attempt Craft or Spellcraft skill checks as normal to use these materials to repair an object, but she takes a –5 penalty on the check due to the foraged nature of the materials used. Repair materials gathered in this way cannot be sold.

If these gathered materials are instead used to craft improvised tools, a successful forage check gathers only the equivalent of 1d6 gp in raw materials. A Craft or Spellcraft check to repair an object or to craft an improvised tool with foraged supplies always fails on a natural 1.

Weapons: Functional clubs and quarterstaves can be foraged with 10 minutes of foraging in any area with trees or wood; in other regions, clubs and quarterstaves require 1d4 hours of searching and function as improvised weapons. At the GM’s discretion, other improvised weapons can be foraged.

Options for Foraging

At the GM’s discretion, the following additional rules can be applied to foraging.

Encounters while Foraging: If you use wandering monsters in your game, you should consider checking for a random encounter once per foraging expedition.

Exhausting Resources: At the GM’s discretion, a region can eventually be exhausted of supplies viable for foraging.

Foraging while Traveling: You can forage while traveling, but doing so doubles the amount of time required to forage and halves your overall distance traveled. If you move through multiple types of terrain, use the least advantageous forage factor and forage DC of the terrains traveled through.

Group Foraging: Characters can always take the aid another action to improve a character’s skill check to forage; when they do so, they need not remain adjacent to the creature they are aiding.

Swift Foraging: A character can attempt to forage more quickly by increasing the required DC by 10; doing so cuts the time taken to forage in half.