just searching for some opinions from ppl that are both likely more experienced than me and definitely more experienced than the group im DMing for... i am working on a skill for my game which is a setting that is a combination of standard d20, modern and future.... long story there but the skill is as follows:
Harvest Skill:
This skill is used to harvest parts of value throughout Aralon, whether it’s from a creature, plant, mineral, ore or technology. As for creatures, any creature is able to be harvested from, though the parts available differ from one creature to the next. It is a skill that must be trained, meaning that a PC must spend skill points to gain ranks in this skill or else 10 will be added to the DC of any attempt being made since the PC is unskilled in what is needed to harvest whatever they are after. The Harvest skill can not be used for purposes of gathering or foraging for the PC to feed themselves or the party, this is done using the Survival skill.
To make a Harvest attempt a PC must succeed in a Harvest skill check vs the DC of the item being harvested. The DC is determined as follows:
Creature Harvest DC: 10 + ½ CR + Part Mod = DC
Plant Harvest DC: 15 + Rarity = DC
Minerals/Ore/Materials Harvest DC: 15 + Rarity = DC
Technology Harvest DC:
Success when harvesting from a creature grants the PC the part they are after. Failure of a harvest attempt by 5 or more means the part is destroyed. Failure from 1-4 means the part is harvestable still but will not be of as good a quality. If the PC fails by 1-4 they must make a WIS check to ensure they do not damage the part further in the attempt. Harvesting can not be done during combat situations.
Success harvesting plants, minerals, ore or materials by 5 or more allows the PC to gain 1.5 times more of whatever item they are harvesting. Failure by 5 or more means the item(s) are ruined beyond use and value, failure by 1-4 means they end up with half the amount of usable material they intended to harvest. Upon success roll 2d6+WIS mod to determine the quantity of items harvested on this attempt. The rarity value given for an item attempting to be harvested takes into account how hard the item typically is to find in its normal area. Certain conditional modifiers can effect this DC depending on the climate the PC is trying to harvest in. For example finding lilies in a desert would be extremely difficult on a normal basis, and finding cacti in a forest would be fairly rare as well. See table Environmental Availability to determine how likely the PC is to find what they’re searching for is to be found in the area they’re in.
this is not finalized and introduced into my setting yet as i think it could stand some play testing and more designing but i would like opinions...
also this is in a 3.5 standard setting not 5e... yes yes i know this platform is primarily for 5e but id still like to hear the opinions of others on this please
I guess my question is, why do you think this needs to be a skill separate from Survival or Nature? Adding new skills isn’t really necessary for new mechanics, when you could just let them harvest using Survival, Nature, Medicine, or even Sleight of Hand. Or tool proficiencies, like Herbalists Kit. A new skill competes against being able to select other proficiencies, and will put a real squeeze on classes that only get 2 skill proficiencies.
valid question and my reasoning is simple that i feel the mechanic behind using those other skills lacks definition and variation. yes it makes it to where theres a lot more work to define whats available on the different animals, plants, etc, but for me personally and for players that ive run games for thru the years using a variation of this on the fly it made the game more immersive. and most classes ive experienced players playing typically get more skill profs than 2 and i also do not use the class skill system so theres no class skills or cross class skills. as for the kits, from my understanding most of those really only add a bonus to the check anyway (3.5 knowledge that is).
It makes no sense to me to use one skill for harvesting plants and animals (which in 5E is Survival for food and Nature for poison), minerals and ore (i.e. this is mining, which in 5E is mason's tools or a new tool proficiency), and "technology" (which in 5E would be tinker's tools as a general rule). These things have very little relation to each other.
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hey all,
just searching for some opinions from ppl that are both likely more experienced than me and definitely more experienced than the group im DMing for... i am working on a skill for my game which is a setting that is a combination of standard d20, modern and future.... long story there but the skill is as follows:
Harvest Skill:
This skill is used to harvest parts of value throughout Aralon, whether it’s from a creature, plant, mineral, ore or technology. As for creatures, any creature is able to be harvested from, though the parts available differ from one creature to the next. It is a skill that must be trained, meaning that a PC must spend skill points to gain ranks in this skill or else 10 will be added to the DC of any attempt being made since the PC is unskilled in what is needed to harvest whatever they are after. The Harvest skill can not be used for purposes of gathering or foraging for the PC to feed themselves or the party, this is done using the Survival skill.
To make a Harvest attempt a PC must succeed in a Harvest skill check vs the DC of the item being harvested. The DC is determined as follows:
Creature Harvest DC: 10 + ½ CR + Part Mod = DC
Plant Harvest DC: 15 + Rarity = DC
Minerals/Ore/Materials Harvest DC: 15 + Rarity = DC
Technology Harvest DC:
Success when harvesting from a creature grants the PC the part they are after. Failure of a harvest attempt by 5 or more means the part is destroyed. Failure from 1-4 means the part is harvestable still but will not be of as good a quality. If the PC fails by 1-4 they must make a WIS check to ensure they do not damage the part further in the attempt. Harvesting can not be done during combat situations.
Success harvesting plants, minerals, ore or materials by 5 or more allows the PC to gain 1.5 times more of whatever item they are harvesting. Failure by 5 or more means the item(s) are ruined beyond use and value, failure by 1-4 means they end up with half the amount of usable material they intended to harvest. Upon success roll 2d6+WIS mod to determine the quantity of items harvested on this attempt. The rarity value given for an item attempting to be harvested takes into account how hard the item typically is to find in its normal area. Certain conditional modifiers can effect this DC depending on the climate the PC is trying to harvest in. For example finding lilies in a desert would be extremely difficult on a normal basis, and finding cacti in a forest would be fairly rare as well. See table Environmental Availability to determine how likely the PC is to find what they’re searching for is to be found in the area they’re in.
this is not finalized and introduced into my setting yet as i think it could stand some play testing and more designing but i would like opinions...
thank you
also this is in a 3.5 standard setting not 5e... yes yes i know this platform is primarily for 5e but id still like to hear the opinions of others on this please
I guess my question is, why do you think this needs to be a skill separate from Survival or Nature? Adding new skills isn’t really necessary for new mechanics, when you could just let them harvest using Survival, Nature, Medicine, or even Sleight of Hand. Or tool proficiencies, like Herbalists Kit. A new skill competes against being able to select other proficiencies, and will put a real squeeze on classes that only get 2 skill proficiencies.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
valid question and my reasoning is simple that i feel the mechanic behind using those other skills lacks definition and variation. yes it makes it to where theres a lot more work to define whats available on the different animals, plants, etc, but for me personally and for players that ive run games for thru the years using a variation of this on the fly it made the game more immersive. and most classes ive experienced players playing typically get more skill profs than 2 and i also do not use the class skill system so theres no class skills or cross class skills. as for the kits, from my understanding most of those really only add a bonus to the check anyway (3.5 knowledge that is).
It sounds like something that should be a use of the Survival skill, not a whole new skill.
It makes no sense to me to use one skill for harvesting plants and animals (which in 5E is Survival for food and Nature for poison), minerals and ore (i.e. this is mining, which in 5E is mason's tools or a new tool proficiency), and "technology" (which in 5E would be tinker's tools as a general rule). These things have very little relation to each other.