Survival-skill in extreme circumstances

[Jon_Dahl]

I read through PHB, Sandstorm and Frostburn and I got extremely disappointed that the Survival-skill has not been addressed in anyway when it comes to food and water. I seriously hope that this is just something I overlooked.

A group of four adventurers walking through Sahara or Antarctic can live of the land if someone has a Survival modifier +6 (taking 10 every day).

How to fix this? My suggestion is that the base DCs is +2 for harsh terrains, +4 for extremely harsh terrains. Also providing food&water additional people is +4 or +6 (respectively).

What do you think? I hope I'm just missing something...

[SirFredgar]

I read through PHB, Sandstorm and Frostburn and I got extremely disappointed that the Survival-skill has not been addressed in anyway when it comes to food and water. I seriously hope that this is just something I overlooked.

A group of four adventurers walking through Sahara or Antarctic can live of the land if someone has a Survival modifier +6 (taking 10 every day).

How to fix this? My suggestion is that the base DCs is +2 for harsh terrains, +4 for extremely harsh terrains. Also providing food&water additional people is +4 or +6 (respectively).

What do you think? I hope I'm just missing something...

I don't see anything wrong with the base skill, really. The survival skill does not differentiate between enviornment, as far as I know, because anyone with proper insight (bonus) should be able to pull something. Now I understand there are probably some real life envornments that are completely inhospitable, but I've seen enough man v wild to know you'd be surprised at what you can scavange in the right mindset.

As a DM, I would also say that perhaps this patch of desert or tundra is espcially bare, netting a circumstance penalty, then that same group has to deal with the very real problem of one person not eating that day.

Later levels you have rings of sustenence, goodberries, never-ending rations, ever-full mugs, survival boxes... etc. As long as some magic exists in your game, food should hardly be an issue.

[JamesonCourage]

A group of four adventurers walking through Sahara or Antarctic can live of the land if someone has a Survival modifier +6 (taking 10 every day).

How to fix this? My suggestion is that the base DCs is +2 for harsh terrains, +4 for extremely harsh terrains. Also providing food&water additional people is +4 or +6 (respectively).

What do you think?
I run an RPG I created that's based on the SRD, but pretty different. I have the following modifiers to Survival when used to gather food or the like (keep in mind, skills in my game are cut in half... so, a +7 to Survival rolls at +3):

Terrain’s DC modifier
Civilized Area: -1
Desert: +5
Forest: -2
Hills: +2
Mountain: +1
Plains: +1
Swamp: -1

Season’s / Climate’s DC modifier
Autumn: +1
Spring: -2
Summer: -1
Winter: +2
Cold: +2
Temperate: +0
Warm: -2

Circumstance DC Modifier
Relevant season: -2
Relevant terrain: -2
Not relevant season: +5
Not relevant terrain: +5
Lush terrain: -2
Well-traveled terrain: -2
Recently picked clean: +5

[rmg22893]

Later levels you have rings of sustenence, goodberries, never-ending rations, ever-full mugs, survival boxes... etc. As long as some magic exists in your game, food should hardly be an issue.

Does anyone else find it stupid that Goodberry requires berries for the spell to be cast on? You can conjure obscene amounts of water as a 0-level spell, but you have to pick normal berries in order to cast a 1st level spell. :smallmad:

[Chronos]

I don't see anything wrong with the base skill, really. The survival skill does not differentiate between enviornment, as far as I know, because anyone with proper insight (bonus) should be able to pull something.Sure, it's always possible, but it's certainly harder to find food in a desert or tundra than it is in a jungle. Which, in game terms, should mean that the DC is higher.

And rmg22893, it gets even weirder when you realize that the berries are both the target and the material component of the spell. So what happens when you cast it using the Eschew Materials feat?