I still dont really understand long moves

[Clouds]

Hey, Im fairly new to the game and especially DMing I've been playing on and off for about a year with friends just casually,not to hardcore,just writing our own adventures and stuff :P
The thing i dont understand is lets say working on a farm for a year, so would we have to act out everyday and make rolls if we manage to harvest this wheat :s
If anyone can explain this to me it would be most appreciated :)

[shadow_archmagi]

The thing i dont understand is lets say working on a farm for a year, so would we have to act out everyday and make rolls if we manage to harvest this wheat :s

The number of rolls to be made is up to the GM. He would decide whether to handwave it entirely, make a single roll for the year, or make 365 rolls for the year.

[Kevka Palazzo]

Why in the name of Erathis' holy city would you make rolls every day for a year?

No no no, if you want to leave something like a grain harvest up to randomness for some reason, I would recommend having 1 roll represent the whole year. That roll would be something like Profession (Farmer) or maybe Survival. Whatever you think sounds good.

If something important is supposed to happen during that time period, then it just happens and you deal with it normally.

[Benthesquid]

Generally speaking, that's something to discuss with your GM. Often, they'll just fast forward until something interesting happens (your farm is attacked by One-Eyed Moses, the Cannibal King of the Clouds!).

There are various systems for handling things a little more in depth. For example, Pathfinder has this Downtime System (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/downtime), which covers creating and running businesses, training for combat, researching spells, etc, in a reasonable amount of depth. I'm sure there are equivalent systems in 3.5, but I don't know where you'd find them.

[Dusk Eclipse]

That would be done by a Profession (Farmer) check (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/profession.htm), a single check is good for a week, so about
52 checks for a year (hint take 10 and be done with it.
Though that begs the question; Why would and adventurer spend a year farming wheat? D&D character's are supposed to be adventuring, risking their life fighting horrible monsters and plundering forgotten tombs to get power and wealth.

[Fouredged Sword]

That would be best handled by a profession check (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/profession.htm). You bring in an amount of gold worth of farm produce based on your check.

The party says "We help farmer Dan with his crops for three weeks. How much wheat do we help the farm grow?"

The DM then rolls three prof checks per character and divides the totals by half to get the GP generated by each check. When the farmer finally harvests the wheat at the end of the season, he has that amount extra gold worth due to the party helping out.

[Clouds]

Oh wow thank you guys so much for the fast replies :)
Ok i understand this now thanks so much haha, i was just a bit confused :)

[KillianHawkeye]

What game are you playing exactly? This is Dungeons & Dragons, not Fields & Farmhands! :smallconfused:

Leaving aside the fact that I don't know why you'd want to spend a year working on a farm, the game doesn't even have rules for determining the outcome of such a task. There is simply nothing to roll for. At the most, you can use the Profession skill to see how much money you make over the length of time. Beyond that, there's simply no reason to roll for something that is as mundane and everyday as farming. Chance has very little impact, outside of weather-related events, which are beyond your control. It depends more on weather and manpower than on skill or luck. You either work on a farm or you do not.

Honestly, unless something important happens (like the farm gets invaded by zombies), you usually just skip to the end. Work out between you and your DM if you want to accomplish any specific goals on the side while you're on your downtime, like making magic items or marrying the local barmaid, and maybe make some rolls for those kinds of events if you want. But harvesting wheat? Don't waste your rolls.

[Psyren]

What Dusk said. Unless someone is holding a gun to your head or something similarly stressful you would be taking 10.

Hell you could probably take 20, which would involve things like relocating the incorrectly-spaced seeds or going back over your furrows to make sure they've been properly ploughed.

[Dusk Eclipse]

I don't think you can take 20 since the skill says this:



Try Again
Varies. An attempt to use a Profession skill to earn an income cannot be retried. You are stuck with whatever weekly wage your check result brought you. Another check may be made after a week to determine a new income for the next period of time. An attempt to accomplish some specific task can usually be retried.

Since we are assuming they are trying to increase their income I don't think taking 20 would be allowed.

[Benthesquid]

Though that begs the question; Why would and adventurer spend a year farming wheat? D&D character's are supposed to be adventuring, risking their life fighting horrible monsters and plundering forgotten tombs to get power and wealth.

Maybe the character was only adventuring to raise money to pay the mortgage on his parents' failing farm, and now that he has the cash, he plans to return their and help out, until he's forced into a showdown with the Invisible Fist, World-Roaming Farm-Burner, when the latter comes to town with the express interest of burning down all farms, and punching all farmers in the face.

Maybe the character is hiding from her past, trying to live a life as a simple farmer because she's afraid of what the adventuring lifestyle was doing to her, until Archibald Beauregard Quincy the Fifth, Gentlemen Lumberjack, tracks her down seeking revenge for the death of his brother.

There are plenty of legitimate character arcs that can involve substantial periods of non-adventuring, is what I'm getting at.

[Crustypeanut]

...maybe they just want to take a break from adventuring for a year and work on a farm. :P

PF definitely has rules for it - good ones, too. You could make an entire campaign around the downtime system.. and still have plenty of 'adventurin' go on.

[Chronos]

At the vast majority of tables, it would go something like this:

Player: I want to go back to my family farm and take a sabbatical from adventuring.
DM: OK, you go farm for a while. About two years later, a messenger runs up to the farm to tell you that a dragon is terrorizing the kingdom, and the king is begging for your help.

[Krobar]

At the vast majority of tables, it would go something like this:

Player: I want to go back to my family farm and take a sabbatical from adventuring.
DM: OK, you go farm for a while. About two years later, a messenger runs up to the farm to tell you that a dragon is terrorizing the kingdom, and the king is begging for your help.

or...

After about a year goes by, the Invisible Fist shows up, burns your family's farm and punches you in the face.

Lol.

[Benthesquid]

or...

After about a year goes by, the Invisible Fist shows up, burns your family's farm and punches you in the face.

Lol.

That guy is such a jerk.

[Fouredged Sword]

I know, and it's not like anyone ever sees it coming!

[holywhippet]

I recall one of my former DMs telling me he'd been playing in a campaign with a house rule. At any time the players could take a certain amount of time off (I think it might have been a year) and they gain a level but they need to pay the XP cost they need to get to the next level in gold.

[Chronos]

I know, and it's not like anyone ever sees it coming!
Why, does the Invisible Fist have levels in Church Inquisitor?

[KillianHawkeye]

Why, does the Invisible Fist have levels in Church Inquisitor?

No, because he's invisible! :smallamused:

[Turion]

Why, does the Invisible Fist have levels in Church Inquisitor?

Afraid that only works if he's from Thrane. :smalltongue: