Hunting

When deep into the Marches, player characters may find themselves wondering exactly what a new region holds: the dread beasts, fell monsters, and ancient evils. Once those are known, it is naturally the first instinct of adventurers to follow those creatures to their lair, and put an end to them.

Surveying
When in a region of the Marches, an adventurer can spend time in the wilds, searching for signs of local creatures, so as to ascertain what dwells in the region.

Over the course of a watch, a character may survey an entire region to determine what sorts of creatures dwell there. At the end of the watch, the character makes an Intelligence (Nature) check: they discover evidence of each creatures based on its Survey DC. Another character can assist in surveying, provided they are proficient in Nature.

Characters may not survey while traveling, but a watch spent surveying still counts toward overall travel time for the day.

Survey DC
The Survey DC reflects the overall difficulty of finding evidence of a creature in a given region. When a character succeeds to survey, it doesn’t mean that they have specifically found that creature, merely that they have found evidence that the creature lives in that region. While there may be specific subsets of creatures within a given group, such as a Hobgoblin Captain leading a group of Hobgoblins, the Survey DC reflects the group as a whole, and as such should use the stat block of the most common monster in the group.

The Survey DC for a creature begins at 10, and the Survey DC table provides modifiers and adjustments to each creature’s Survey DCs. The GM may adjust these DCs further at their discretion, in the case of rare or unusual protections against being noticed.

Hunting
After a region has been surveyed, there may come a time when adventurers would like to hunt down a creature they know dwells in the area, whether to exterminate it, to collect the natural resources its body holds, or perhaps just to talk, for instance.

A character can only successfully hunt a creature that is known to make its home in the region, whether that knowledge was gained from surveying the region or not. Over the course of a watch, a character may attempt to hunt a creature to its lair or other resting spot. At the end of the watch, the character makes a Wisdom (Survival) check against the creatures’ Survey DC. On a success, the character finds the lair, resting place, or home of the hunted creature.

A character may assist another in hunting, provided they are proficient in Survival.

Characters may not hunt while traveling, but the watch spent hunting still counts towards overall travel time for the day.

Appraising
Before a player begins hacking and butchering their hunt, they may instead choose to take a moment first and appraise the creature to be harvested. To do this, they must spend 1minute examining the creature to be harvested and then roll an Intelligence check, adding their proficiency bonus if they are proficient in the skill corresponding to that creature (see table below).

The DC of the check is equal to 8 + the Harvested Creature’s CR (treating any CR less than 1 as 0). Success on this check grants the player full knowledge of any useful harvesting materials on the creature, the DC requirement to harvest those materials, any special requirements to harvest them, and any potential risks in doing so. In addition, any harvesting check made on that creature by that player is rolled at advantage. A character may only attempt one appraisal check per creature.

Splitting up the responsibilities
Some party members may prefer to let one character handle the appraisal of materials, while another more dextrous character handles the actual harvesting. In this scenario, all benefits of appraising a creature are conferred to the player doing the harvesting, so long as the player that performed the appraising assists the harvesting player through the whole duration of the harvest.

Harvesting
In order to harvest a creature, a character must make a Dexterity ability check using the same skill proficiency as listed in the above appraising table. For example, a character attempting a harvest check on an Aberrant would receive a bonus equal to their Dexterity modifier and their proficiency in Arcana (if they have any).

This check reflects a character’s ability to not only properly remove the intended item without damaging it, it also involves any ancillary requirements of the harvest such as proper preservation and storage techniques.

Only one harvesting attempt may be made on a creature. Failure to meet a certain item’s DC threshold assumes that the item was made unsalvageable due to the harvester’s incompetence. For most creatures, the time it takes to harvest a material is counted in minutes and is equal to the DC of that material divided by 5. For huge creatures however, it is equal in DC of that material, while for gargantuan creatures, it is equal to the DC of that material multiplied by 2.

Using other proficiencies
If a player is harvesting a certain creature, or harvesting a creature of a certain type of material, the DM may allow them to use a relevant tool proficiency rather than a skill proficiency. For example, the DM may allow a player to add their proficiency with Tinker’s Tools to their attempt to harvest a mechanical golem or use their proficiency with leatherworking tools when attempting to harvest a creature for its hide. Alternatively, all creature type proficiencies may be replaced by proficiency with the harvesting kit.