Foraging (sage ability)

Foraging is an amateur-status sage ability in the studies of Logistics and Scouting that permits the character to search for naturally occurring food, which may be edible animal or vegetable matter. The exact nature of the food is not important, though it will typically consist of products such as fish, bird's eggs, roots, fruits and berries, nuts, honey, fungus, shellfish and more. The amount that is found will be far more than an ordinary person would find (an unskilled forager might locate half a pound per day) and will certainly be safe to eat. The ability includes the character's knowledge of when edible products are ripe; while some edible mushrooms may be located, the amount located will be less than 10% of the food found. Foraging should not be confused with mushroom hunting.

Foraging presumes hunting above ground; the ability does not provide for searching in subterranean ranges. The time spent foraging equals 10 hours. Characters may forage in 1-hour periods, in which case the amount of food found is divided by the 10-hour standard. For example, Otto decided to forage for 6 hours; he rolls the amount of forage he would have found had he searched for ten hours, then multiplies that by 6/10ths to find the accurate haul.

Foraging Table

Latitude	Range	Nov 8 to Apr 14	Apr 15-21	Apr 22-30	May 1-11	May 12-24	May 25 - Sep 7	Sep 8-30	Oct 1-15	Oct 16 to Nov 7
Subpolar	alpine	1 in 8	1 in 6	3 in 6	1d4	1d4	2d4	1d6	1d4	4 in 6
	intertidal	1 in 6	3 in 6	2d4	3d4	4d6	3d12	6d4	2d10	2d4
	taiga	1 in 6	2 in 6	4 in 6	1d4	2d4	3d4	2d4	1d6	5 in 6
	tundra	1 in 6	2 in 6	1d4	2d4	3d4	3d6	3d4	2d6	1d4
	Range	Dec 11 to Feb 15	Feb 16 to Mar 7	Mar 8-31	Apr 1-21	Apr 22 to May 7	May 8 - Oct 15	Oct 16-29	Oct 30 to Nov 12	Nov 13-26	Nov 27 to Dec 10
Temperate	alpine	1 in 6	2 in 6	1d4	2d4	3d4	2d8	2d6	2d4	1d4	3 in 6
	barrens	1 in 6	2 in 6	1d4	2d4	2d8	4d4	3d4	2d4	1d4	3 in 6
	desert	1 in 10	1 in 6	3 in 6	4 in 6	1d6	2d4	1d4	1d4	3 in 6	1 in 6
	intertidal or wetland	3 in 6	1d6	3d6	3d10	6d8	8d6	5d8	4d8	2d10	2d4
	steppe	1 in 6	3 in 6	1d6	2d6	2d10	2d12	4d4	3d4	2d4	1d4
	woodland	3 in 6	1d4	3d4	3d8	5d8	7d6	8d4	6d4	4d4	2d4
	Range	Dry Season	Medial	Wet Season
Subtropical	alpine	1d4	3d4	2d4
	barrens	1d6	2d8	3d4
	desert	1d6	1d6	2d4
	intertidal or wetland	3d12	6d12	6d10
	rainforest	6d6	9d8	6d10
	savanna or veldt	2d10	4d10	4d8
	Range	Year Round
Tropical	intertidal or wetland	6d10
	jungle	9d10
	savanna	4d12

In some climates, food is relatively common and may be reliably found every day. In temperate climates, the time of the season can vary this reliability; and in parts of the world where food is scant and hard to find, there is a high probability that food may not be found at all. The Foraging Table is organized by range, latitude and season. Where a die roll is indicated, such as "3d20," that number of dice should be rolled and read off. Where a chance is indicated, such as "1 in 6," that is the chance in a 10-hour day of finding only 1d4 lbs. of food.

Dates given are for the northern hemisphere, and must be reversed for temperate and subpolar regions in the south. Polar regions should be considered subpolar in the summer and inaccessible between the first week of October and the last week of June (April/December in the southern hemisphere).

Foraging is distinct from hunting or catch fishing, in that the skill does not employ weapons or fishing line. Fish may be trapped or netted from shallow streams, however. The character is not given the choice of what is found; they must accept the food that comes to hand as what's available.

Take note that in some parts of the world, the amount of forage that may be collected within a day is considerable. However, rarely do the inhabitants of these areas spend 10 hours foraging, as heat and dehydration are factors when moving for more than a few hours in the open. Therefore, it's best to forage only as necessary, even though food may be extraordinarily abundant.