Question regarding 'Survival' (Ranger Special Ability)

[redwullf]

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?

Gambler1650,

I couldn't reply to the above post in the Keeper Advice forum, because it's moderated, so I thought I'd take it here to the General, The rules, The Law & the Chaos and address it.

To answer you're question, you're correct that the Ranger can feed 2-8 people by foraging for 8 hours without a check. The number of people he feeds is determined by the CK by rolling 2d4 (which fetches you a 2-8 result). If the the result is, say, a 4 and the ranger needs to feed himself plus 5 others, then he'll have forage for another 8 hours, make his Wisdom check, and if he succeeds the CK rolls 2d4 again. The result is added to the total from the first roll to determine the final, total number of people the ranger can feed that day.

So, to summarize, the ranger can only make 2 foraging attempts in a day (taking a total of 8+8 = 16 hours), the first requires no check and the number of people fed is determined randomly by the CK with a 2d4. The 2nd attempt requires a Wisdom check, and another 2d4 is rolled to determine the final total (4-16 people fed).

Clear as mud?

[koralas]

I read this a bit differently from Redwullf...

In 8 hours a ranger can forage for food to feed 2-8 people, assuming adequate food supplies exist in the area. At the end of the 8 hours, the ranger makes a survival check, and if this succeeds, he found enough food to feed 2-8 additional people in that same trip. Thus, the CK would roll 2d4 to determine how much food the ranger found, and then if the ranger succeeds in the check, the CK will roll an additional 2d4 (bringing the total to 2d4+2d4); however, if the check does not succeed, the ranger failed to find any additional food.

Also important to note, unless in a land of plenty, the Ranger runs a risk of over-foraging, and repeated attempts at foraging will result in a penalty on how much food may be found, and increasing the CL of the check for additional food. Eventually an area can be tapped out of food...

[Go0gleplex]

It says specifically in the ability description that if the ranger wants to feed more than the initial 2-8 people, then an additional 8 hours must be spent.

[gambler1650]

Hmm, I completely didn't think about 2d4... It would be nice if instead of ranges, the book had used "#d#" to make it specific.

Ok, makes sense now, I think. Thanks.

Robert