15.16 Survival

The Survival skill is a fairly broad skill. It is intended to encompass all of the small details that make it possible to navigate and thrive in the wilderness.

Survival has some overlap with Knowledge (nature), which generally represents a more abstract book knowledge of the natural world. For example, both Survival and Knowledge (nature) could be used to identify whether an individual plant is safe to eat. However, only Survival would be used to actively forage for that plant. Foraging involves a variety of other practical skills, such as choosing a reasonable search pattern and keeping track of where you have already checked, that fall within the purview of Survival.

15.16.1 Overland Activities

There are no standard rules specifying exactly how overland navigation works and what the consequences are for failure, because it depends heavily on the geography in the universe. In general, you should require a check to navigate a wilderness when you have a specific obstacle in mind that the party needs to avoid. For example, failure might mean that the party stumbles into the territory of a powerful monster. If the only real outcome of failure is that the characters waste in-game time getting lost and finding their way again, try not to spend too much real-life time resolving the situation unless it serves your narrative. Wasting in-game time can still be an important consequence, especially if the players are on a specific time table to accomplish a goal. Just be careful not to waste real-life time on unimportant events.