Mountain Routefinding I (sage ability)

Mountain Routefinding I is an amateur-status sage ability in the study of Mountaineer. This ability, associated with scrambling and mountain climbing, allows the character to make the best possible guesses for locating a good route through mountains. The skill can be used in finding the most likely means for crossing a mountain range, or it may be used specifically for how to climb a particular slope.

Finding a Pass

An evaluation of the mountainside from good vantage point can suggest which gaps between peaks would most likely conceal a pass through a mountain range. In such a case, the character with this skill should receive a secret wisdom check when choosing the apparently best route from two, perhaps three possible choices. If the check succeeds, the correct route should be revealed to the character. If the check fails, a random choice from the options should be revealed to the character; this may yet result in the correct choice. It is suggested that the check and a random die be thrown at the same time, so as not to reveal to the player that the wisdom check failed.

Following Slope Lines

"Slope lines" are mountain paths that vary in danger due to steepness, type and looseness of rock, the presence of running water, dampness or ice, exposure, narrowness of passage, possibility of falling and so on. Slope lines can be moderately evaluated from a distance, best done with a telescope, suggesting the best course of travel for that part of the journey that can be seen. However, no slope can be truly "seen" except while being walked, as many physical features won't reveal themselves to the human eye, while some slope lines will be invisible from any vantage point.

The skill provides the character with the best probable route up a mountainside, without giving the specifics of that route — that is, without revealing the actual difficulty of the slope lines to be faced (slope lines are divided into eight types of danger; more information is given on the mountain climbing page). Thus, the character is at least reassured that no easier route is possible (whereas someone without this skill would not know even that), but the specifics of the route are not given with this level of skill.

If the route has been used by others, however, some additional things can be told about the best route while climbing it. Popular routes will likely feature signs of polished rock, or places where spikes have been hammered into the stone (the sort of thing an inexperienced climber would miss).