The party I was DMing killed an Elk after avoiding a stampede of the beasts. Since they were running low on rations what a better way to stock up than butcher the felled Elk. I froze up on what skill check I should use I went with Wisdom(Survival) but more I thought about it post-session I was thinking I chosen the wrong skill. I was second-guessing Nature check but thought maybe it was a straight-up Intelligence.
To make matters more 'fun' for the DM the players ask how much did they manage to gather. Now, Elk is large creatures 100's of pounds so I gave enough, for a party of four, five days of rations. In post-game research I looked for butchering/harvesting rules, I never expected to find anything which I didn't, to better educate myself if this occasion would occur again.
First I'm looking for any recommended skill check for butchering/harvesting since I seem to come up with a few possible choices? Second, are there any rules out there for this topic?
Survival is the go-to check for procuring resources in the wild, so you made the right call by me.
But the rules mostly leave that up to DM to ask for whatever check they want.
I would have gone with a Survival check and whatever they rolled, that is how many pounds of safe to eat food they got out of it. Unless meat is cooked, frozen, and/or dried, it will go bad quickly. We can assume that they at least roasted it and at most smoked it. Basically, the longer they spent preparing it, the longer it will be safe to eat.
Definitely Survival check to butcher. I would rule that 1 hour butchering gives them upto 100 lbs of usable meat. A quick Internet check says a full grown Elk has about 200 lbs of meat on it, which would take 2 hours and 2 check.
But that would be raw. Goes bad in 24 hours. I would rule that if you cook it (1 hour), (Cooking skill, wisdom) you can make that meat last 3 days before it goes bad. (6 if it was kept cold - winter).
I would also rule that if you spent 8 hours making jerky, (another single Wisdom Survival check, not Cooking) instead of cooking the meat, it would last upto 30 days (90 if it was kept cold)
keep in mind processing a dead animal is a skill pretty much EVERYONE in a wilderness environment used to know-and you started learning at a very young age. Even in city environments, most families had chickens. I’d say anyone can do it and advantage for nature or survival at the very least....maybe also advantage if you have profiency in cooks utensils- not that you need the utensils but the idea that you know a bit more about cuts of meat. it’s just a matter of how well the meat is cut, not if.
to harvest-a DC 5 at the most unless your character really wants to eat a specific cut of meat.
First time I filleted a fish I had no idea what I was doing-ended up with a pile of shredded fish meat instead of a nice filet-but still ate all the usable muscle. No proficiency and failed all my skill checks.
without profiency, you might make the liver unusable but that’s about it. A bad cut doesn’t ruin the meat, it just gives you 2 small pieces instead of one big piece.
turning it into rations is just up to you-maybe a dc 10 or something-if most of the party worked on it- maybe they could turn most of it into rations in one long rest+some time...I’d say it’d take a nature/survival check to see how many rations are made are made correctly(if you don’t get all the fat off or dry it properly, they spoil fast)-not if they made any.
Harvesting a usable hide is a different story though, which would also require downtime unless you were able to sell it to a tanner within 24 hours
there’s a huge variety of homebrew rules- some pretty popular. don’t know about any official rules though
Not much point in making a DC as low as 5 (something at least 1 PC can pass with a Nat 1, and even the worse possible stats with disadvantage will succeed more than 50% of the time). That's why I suggested a check not to see if you succeed, but to measure the amount of success.
Not much point in making a DC as low as 5 (something at least 1 PC can pass with a Nat 1, and even the worse possible stats with disadvantage will succeed more than 50% of the time). That's why I suggested a check not to see if you succeed, but to measure the amount of success.
i totally agree - just putting a number in if someone really wants a number. your way works too.
Lowest DC is normally 10. For a beast without any poison, I think a DC 10 would be fine.
On a failure I would tell them they get some meat, but not as much. On a 5-9, I would say you get 1/2 normal meat, 50 lbs in this case. On a 2-4, I'd say they get 25 lbs of meat, and it is covered with dirt and tastes bad.
On a 1, they have managed to cut into the intestines and that only a vulture would want to eat ANY of the contaminated meat.
Obviously with a smaller creature, such as a chicken, then a mere 9 would leave you with no usable meat.
The party I was DMing killed an Elk after avoiding a stampede of the beasts. Since they were running low on rations what a better way to stock up than butcher the felled Elk. I froze up on what skill check I should use I went with Wisdom(Survival) but more I thought about it post-session I was thinking I chosen the wrong skill. I was second-guessing Nature check but thought maybe it was a straight-up Intelligence.
To make matters more 'fun' for the DM the players ask how much did they manage to gather. Now, Elk is large creatures 100's of pounds so I gave enough, for a party of four, five days of rations. In post-game research I looked for butchering/harvesting rules, I never expected to find anything which I didn't, to better educate myself if this occasion would occur again.
First I'm looking for any recommended skill check for butchering/harvesting since I seem to come up with a few possible choices? Second, are there any rules out there for this topic?
Survival is the go-to check for procuring resources in the wild, so you made the right call by me.
But the rules mostly leave that up to DM to ask for whatever check they want.
I would have gone with a Survival check and whatever they rolled, that is how many pounds of safe to eat food they got out of it. Unless meat is cooked, frozen, and/or dried, it will go bad quickly. We can assume that they at least roasted it and at most smoked it. Basically, the longer they spent preparing it, the longer it will be safe to eat.
I agree with DxJxC.
Definitely Survival check to butcher. I would rule that 1 hour butchering gives them upto 100 lbs of usable meat. A quick Internet check says a full grown Elk has about 200 lbs of meat on it, which would take 2 hours and 2 check.
But that would be raw. Goes bad in 24 hours. I would rule that if you cook it (1 hour), (Cooking skill, wisdom) you can make that meat last 3 days before it goes bad. (6 if it was kept cold - winter).
I would also rule that if you spent 8 hours making jerky, (another single Wisdom Survival check, not Cooking) instead of cooking the meat, it would last upto 30 days (90 if it was kept cold)
At least that is what I would house rule.
keep in mind processing a dead animal is a skill pretty much EVERYONE in a wilderness environment used to know-and you started learning at a very young age. Even in city environments, most families had chickens. I’d say anyone can do it and advantage for nature or survival at the very least....maybe also advantage if you have profiency in cooks utensils- not that you need the utensils but the idea that you know a bit more about cuts of meat. it’s just a matter of how well the meat is cut, not if.
to harvest-a DC 5 at the most unless your character really wants to eat a specific cut of meat.
First time I filleted a fish I had no idea what I was doing-ended up with a pile of shredded fish meat instead of a nice filet-but still ate all the usable muscle. No proficiency and failed all my skill checks.
without profiency, you might make the liver unusable but that’s about it. A bad cut doesn’t ruin the meat, it just gives you 2 small pieces instead of one big piece.
turning it into rations is just up to you-maybe a dc 10 or something-if most of the party worked on it- maybe they could turn most of it into rations in one long rest+some time...I’d say it’d take a nature/survival check to see how many rations are made are made correctly(if you don’t get all the fat off or dry it properly, they spoil fast)-not if they made any.
Harvesting a usable hide is a different story though, which would also require downtime unless you were able to sell it to a tanner within 24 hours
there’s a huge variety of homebrew rules- some pretty popular. don’t know about any official rules though
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
Not much point in making a DC as low as 5 (something at least 1 PC can pass with a Nat 1, and even the worse possible stats with disadvantage will succeed more than 50% of the time). That's why I suggested a check not to see if you succeed, but to measure the amount of success.
i totally agree - just putting a number in if someone really wants a number. your way works too.
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
Lowest DC is normally 10. For a beast without any poison, I think a DC 10 would be fine.
On a failure I would tell them they get some meat, but not as much. On a 5-9, I would say you get 1/2 normal meat, 50 lbs in this case. On a 2-4, I'd say they get 25 lbs of meat, and it is covered with dirt and tastes bad.
On a 1, they have managed to cut into the intestines and that only a vulture would want to eat ANY of the contaminated meat.
Obviously with a smaller creature, such as a chicken, then a mere 9 would leave you with no usable meat.
Thanks, everyone for the advice! I appreciate it.