Foraging (sage ability)
Foraging is an amateur-status sage ability 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 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 below 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 angling, 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.
See Scouting
