Survival
You are skilled at surviving and navigating in the wild on Planet Side or outer space. You also excel at following trails and tracks left by others.
Check
This skill can be used for multiple different types of checks:
Wilderness/Deep Space Survival You can keep yourself and others safe and fed in the wild or in an extreme survival scenario. See Table: Survival DCs by Task for DCs at the bottom of this page for various tasks that require Survival checks. You cannot retry this check again until at least 12 hours have passed. | ||||||||||||||||
Navigate
Navigate successfully over long distances on the planet's surface or in space. See the navigation table for DC examples. This is important when trying to get from one location to another without the proper map or familiarity with the place. Whether this is in an urban environment, out in the middle of a rainforest, or in deep, uncharted space. The DC depends on the length of the trip. A failure to successfully navigate to a location means the Character doesn't reach their destination and is now lost. To find their way again, the Player must roll another Survival check to no longer be lost. Aboard a starship, you need a functional Class II sensor array (or better) to plot a course through space. You don’t need to make a Navigate check when traveling along a pre-established space route or passing through a dimension gate with a pre-calibrated destination. If the player succeeds the DC by more than 5, then they also do not need to roll to 'Avoid Hazards' (Survival). However, if the Hazards in the path are harder than normal common Hazards, they will still need to make a separate Survival check if they wish to avoid them as well. | ||||||||||||||||
Avoid Hazards
There are Hazards in space as much as on the planet side. Space may appear empty, but there are a lot of things that can seemingly come out of nowhere to the untrained. An additional Survival check to Avoid Hazards may be necessary. Most common paths do not need this check unless the Hazard is artificial rather than natural, such as pirates, a portal, or a trap. These things can be avoided before the ship or person ever gets close enough to be forced to deal with it. The DC is usually just the normal Navigation check for the route +5. However, in some cases, it can be much higher. | ||||||||||||||||
Finding Your Way If a Character finds himself lost, either because they wandered off course or because they woke up in an unknown situation, a Survival check can be used to help them find their bearings and get back on course. The DC is completely up to the GM but a standard starting base is 10. | ||||||||||||||||
Follow Tracks (Hunting/Stalking) Whether chasing a person across the galaxy or an animal in the wilderness of an alien planet, survival can help determine where they were headed by examining the tracks or trails they left behind. You can use Perception to find clues such as foot prints or a warp trail and then Survival to learn from it. However, if Perception isn't high enough, Survival alone may still yield positive results. The GM should consider how hard the ground is or how long ago the track was left behind. Other factors, such as the type of engine used or other environmental conditions, can help determine the DC of the check. Normally start at 10 and add +2 or +5 for everything that could make the trail harder to pick up. Having someone find clues and Study them may provide bonuses to tracking someone down, especially in an urban setting. |
Action
Varies. A single Survival check may represent activity over hours or a full day. A Survival check made to find tracks is at least a full-round action, and it may take even longer.
Try Again
- Wilderness/Deep Space Survival: You cannot try again for 12 hours.
- Navigate: No you cannot try again until you are no longer lost.
- Avoid Hazards: You cannot try again.
- Finding Your Way: You can try again every hour or until something changes about the environment you are in.
- Follow Tracks: You cannot try again until you are presented with new tracks or evidence/clues about the target you are tracking.
Special
- If you are trained in Survival, you can automatically determine where true north lies in relation to yourself.
- Feats:
- If you have the Guide Feat, you gain Misc +1 bonus to both the Pilot and Survival skills.
- If you have the Track Feat, you can add their Advantage Die to the survival check when tracking. Review the Feat for more information.
Survival DC Examples
| Survival DC | Task |
|---|---|
| 10 | Get along in the wild. You can provide food and water for one other person for every 2 points by which your check result exceeds 10. |
| 15 | If successful gain advantage on all Constitution saves against severe weather. You may grant the same bonus to one other character for every 2 points by which your Survival check result exceeds 15. |
| 15 | Keep from getting lost or avoid natural hazards, such as quicksand or plasma turbulence. |
| 15 | Predict the weather on a planet or solar activity up to 24 hours in advance. For every 5 points by which your Survival check result exceeds 15, you can predict the weather for one additional day in advance. |
| Surface | Survival DC |
| Very soft ground | 5 |
| Soft ground | 10 |
| Firm ground | 15 |
| Hard ground | 20 |
| Size of creature or creatures being tracked | |
| Fine | +8 |
| Diminutive | +4 |
| Tiny | +2 |
| Small | +1 |
| Medium | +0 |
| Large | –1 |
| Huge | –2 |
| Gargantuan | –4 |
| Colossal | –8 |
| Every 24 hours since the trail was made |
+1 |
| Every hour of rain since the trail was made |
+1 |
| Fresh snow since the trail was made |
+10 |
| Poor visibility: | |
| Overcast or moonless night | +6 |
| Moonlight | +3 |
| Fog or precipitation | +3 |
| Tracked party hides trail (and moves at half speed) |
+5 |