Forester (sage study)

Forester is a sage study in the field of Wilderland which grants the character a considerable familiarity with forested regions in temperate and sub-arctic climes, from high taiga to thick deciduous forests. The study also provides a certain familiarity with the fauna of such regions, as well as survival skills.

A forest is land dominated by tree growth sufficient to close the canopy overhead, reducing light at ground level and creating a layered environment of trunks, branches, shrubs and ground cover. Movement through such terrain is constrained by roots, fallen wood, uneven soil and dense vegetation, while visibility is limited by the density of growth and the irregular spacing of trees. A forester moves through such a wood as one who understands how it hinders and conceals. The density of trees, the thickness of undergrowth, the lie of the ground and the breaks in the canopy are all taken as practical conditions that determine how easily a person may travel, where one might become lost, and where danger may lie. The forest is read for passage: where it can be crossed directly, where it must be skirted, and where it offers cover or ambush.

Knowledge of the forest is applied to provision. A forester identifies where effort will yield wood worth taking and where it will not, selecting what can be cut, carried or dragged without waste of time. The same applies to meat. The forester does not search blindly but goes where animals are likely to be, choosing ground, time and method with an expectation of result. Awareness of intelligent beings, beasts or other dangers are taken in at once and weighed for their meaning. The forester does not merely notice these things but acts upon them, altering movement, setting watch or preparing for encounter without delay.

Sage Abilities

The sage abilities below are those acquired by a character through the study, according to status.

Amateur Status

• Birdwatching: the practice of seeking for and observing birds, gaining skill in their identification.

• Construct Bivouac: gives knowledge of how to build a wooden frame shelter within hours.

• Identify Clean Water: provides reasonable certainty that found water, though impure, will be clean enough to drink.

• Tree Climbing: gives skill at climbing upwards through foliage at a rapid, safe rate.

• Woodcutting: skill at selecting and cutting timber to sustain a forest while drawing it's resources.

• Woodland Foraging: improved ability to locate edible flora or fauna in forested regions.

Authority Status

• Locate Self: precisely determine location within locus once features of the landscape can be observed.

• Locate Water: identifies the probable location of existing water in wilderness landscapes.

• Log Riding: enables sure-footedness when clambering across loose logs moving upon a rivercourse; requires a peavey, a short hooked pike.

• Mushroom Hunt: know when and where to search for edible or poisonous mushrooms in a wild environment.

• Improved Shelter: enables the strengthening of outdoor shelters for strength and warmth against severe weather.

• Forest Sign: gives innate knowledge of the forester's language, while reading the land like an open book.

See Ranger Sage Abilities