Woodland Foraging (sage ability)

Woodland foraging is an amateur-status sage ability in the study of Forester, similar to general foraging but more effective in temperate and subpolar forest ranges. The ability allows the search for naturally occurring food, including mosses and lichens, berries, wild grasses, herbs, nuts, acorns and fruits. The amount found is far more than an unskilled person might glean while looking over the same tract of land.

The time spent foraging equals 10 hours, though characters may forage for only 1-hour periods, in which case the found food is divided by the 10-hour standard. For example, Makran decides to forage for three hours; he rolls the total amount that would have occurred had he foraged for 10 hours, and recieves 3/10ths of that amount.

Foraging Table

Latitude	Range	Nov 8 to Apr 14	Apr 15 to 21	Apr 22 to 30	May 1 to 11	May 12 to 24	May 25 to Sep 7	Sep 8 to 30	Oct 1 to 15
taiga	1 in 6	2 in 6	4 in 6	1d4	2d4	3d4	2d4	1d6	5 in 6
Range	Dec 11 to Feb 15	Feb 16 to Mar 7	Mar 8 to 31	Apr 1 to 21	Apr 22 to May 7	May 8 to Oct 15	Oct 16 to 29	Oct 30 to Nov 12	Nov 13 to 26	Nov 27 to Dec 10
woodland	3 in 6	1d4	3d4	3d8	5d8	7d6	8d4	6d4	4d4	2d4

The Foraging Table is organised by range and time of year. Where a chance is indicated, such as "1 in 6," that is the chance of locating only 1d4 pounds of food. Alternately, where a roll is indicating using "d" for die, such as 3d4, that number of dice should be rolled to indicate how many pounds are found.

Dates are given for the northern hemisphere, and must be reversed for the temperate and subpolar regions in the south. Polar regions are considered sub-polar in the summer, from May 8th to Oct 15th; the remainder of the year, no forage can be found.

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

At some times of the year, the amount of forage that can be collected within a day can be considerable. However, as characters should remember that foraging is work, and that the character is subject to the effects of heat and dehydration, sometimes its best not to forage all day to collect more food than a party really needs, especially in times when food is very abundant.