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Tracking Skill Check: How Often?

Started by Joey2k, June 01, 2023, 08:57:28 PM

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Joey2k

June 01, 2023, 08:57:28 PM
I'm writing up a Ranger class for a BX game. One of their abilities will be a "Find Tracks" skill (using the same percentage chart as the Thief's "Find Traps" ability). How often should the Ranger have to recheck? Or should they? Opinions?
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Eric Diaz

#1
June 01, 2023, 09:15:14 PM
Once a day (as usual, IIRC) sounds good to me.
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Steven Mitchell

#2
June 01, 2023, 09:31:28 PM
Quote from: Joey2k on June 01, 2023, 08:57:28 PM
I'm writing up a Ranger class for a BX game. One of their abilities will be a "Find Tracks" skill (using the same percentage chart as the Thief's "Find Traps" ability). How often should the Ranger have to recheck? Or should they? Opinions?

I don't have strong opinions about the frequency, except that it should not be rechecked for every change.  Yeah, 1/day can work.  1/6 hours, even 1/3 hours--depending on the focus of the game. 

However frequent though, it should be one roll where you note the roll, then readjust for circumstances.  Let's say the ranger has no modifiers as he tracks a band of orcs through some reasonably dry plains.  It's not muddy or obvious, but it's a trail.  The roll is good enough to track that trail.  Then the orcs up into some rocky badlands where it is more difficult to track.  The GM takes the original roll, applies the modifier.  If the adjusted tracking has now "failed" then that's where the ranger loses the trail. 

Fheredin

#3
June 02, 2023, 07:19:19 AM
Personally, I would assume that a character with tracking is always casually looking around for tracks, so I would probably assume the player character has a lower, passive search, and a higher active search. The passive search I just assume is always running and the active search is when the player calls for a check. How far apart you want the two to be depends on the feel of the adventure you're going for, but I would say it should be no less than 2 and no more than 5, so a passive score would basically assume the player character rolled a 5 on a d20.

S'mon

#4
June 02, 2023, 07:56:34 AM
I like plenty of checks, but a single fail is just a setback. 3 success before 3 fail is a good rule of thumb for an extended test.
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FingerRod

#5
June 02, 2023, 08:02:25 AM
I build them into my random encounter tables for environmental travel. These are events to get lost, ambushed, etc. that can be avoided by a successful roll. Timing can vary by game,

Tracking something is an active decision by the player and I work through them as they come up.

estar

#6
June 02, 2023, 08:12:58 AM
Quote from: Joey2k on June 01, 2023, 08:57:28 PM
I'm writing up a Ranger class for a BX game. One of their abilities will be a "Find Tracks" skill (using the same percentage chart as the Thief's "Find Traps" ability). How often should the Ranger have to recheck? Or should they? Opinions?

In the Harn Hunting article found in Harnlord 4. You first make a roll to cast for a trail. Once you find a trail you roll to see how old it is which determines its length. Then as you follow it you roll tracking every hour. For each success, you reduce the length of the trail by some amount. The higher the roll the more the trail length is reduced. When you hit zero trail length the final encounter ensues. Failure means the trail length isn't reduce, but two failures in a row means the trail is lost. A crit failure means the trail is lost right away.

Overall it is a pretty elegant system and adaptable for any RPG.

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