Hunting (by jaythegreenling)

*Converted by jaythegreenling: Hunting Rules from Amellwind’s Guide to Monster Hunting*

There are many reasons for venturing out into the wild to hunt. Whether it’s an annual event to celebrate the end of winter, a contest held by the nobles to amuse themselves, or a desperate hunt for food, the process is always the same. You decide on your prey and try to track it down.

## Tracking down Prey

Tracking down the creature the party is hunting is the main goal of the Great Hunt. So how do they find the creature? This creature is in the wilderness; it travels around, leaves signs, and acts like any animal would. The party travels around the creature's territory, dealing with environmental hazards, ability challenges, and other creatures while searching for signs of their prey.

### Finding Signs

On the hunt, the party must discover signs of the creature: distant roars or screeches, tracks, markings, fresh kills, etc. The party will need to typically find between 3 and 5 signs. Once they do, they locate the monster and the final showdown of the Great Hunt begins.

### False Signs

When on a hunt, the creature the party is looking for isn't the only one in the area. These false signs typically belong to a creature or several creatures which are a similar challenge. False signs work the same as finding signs for the current creature the party is hunting. Once they find 3-5 of these false signs, an encounter occurs.

### How to Find Signs

Whenever the trailblazer rolls an Intelligence (Navigation) test for moving towards an area, the GM rolls on the Finding Signs table to determine what signs, challenges, or benefits the group may find in the area.

#### Finding Signs

 5-9
 10-14
 15-17
 18

## Setting Roles

When a hunt begins, the party members choose between 4 different roles to take on. Each role can only be chosen by one character, except for the spotter role. These roles are the Trailblazer, Scout, Spotter, and Artisan.

### Artisan

Primary Skill: Intelligence (Homemaking)

The artisan can cook a meal for the party at the start of a hunt or during a rest that is at least an hour long. To do this, they must have the required resources on them; rations cannot be cooked. If the artisan succeeds at their roll, they grant all who eat it a boon to help them on their hunt.

### Trailblazer

Primary Skill: Intelligence (Navigation)

The trailblazer is the leader of the group and is the one who makes the final decision on which direction the group should go on a hunt. Whenever the group moves towards an area (new or old), the trailblazer rolls an Intelligence (Navigation) test against the creature's threat level. This test determines what the group encounters in the next area: signs, challenges, or the desired prey. On a success the GM rolls 3d6 on the Finding Signs table, on a failure the GM rolls 2d6 instead.

### Scout

Primary Skills: Dexterity (Stealth) and Perception (Seeing)

The frontrunner of the group. They quietly scout the areas ahead. They get the lay of the land and look for potential resources, creatures, and hazards. Typically they report their findings back to the group, though it's not unheard of them waiting for the group to catch up to them. When a scout notices a potential spot for an ambush, it gives the spotter a +2 bonus to their Perception (Seeing) test.

### Spotter

Primary Skills: Perception (Seeing) and Perception (Tracking)

When the group enters an already scouted area, the spotter uses their Perception (Seeing) to keep an eye out. They might be able to spot ambushes or dangers initially missed by the scout. If there are no enemies in an area (or once they've been dealt with), the spotter is the one who makes a Perception (Tracking) test to find any signs in the area. There can be 2 spotters: the 2nd spotter gives a +2 bonus to the other.

#### Split Party

Sometimes the party may split up and each group may have less than four members. Then the only roles available are the trailblazer and the spotter.

If someone is alone, they are both the trailblazer and spotter, but they either have to choose to take a –3 penalty to their Intelligence (Navigation) roll when trying to find signs as a trailblazer or suffer a –3 penalty to their Perception (Seeing) roll when entering a new area as a spotter.

#### Creature Threat Level

Several of the roles need to make ability tests with a TN equal to a creature's Threat Level. This number never changes, but in certain situations the GM may want to inflict a penalty (usually 1-3) to someone's roll because of outside circumstances.

#### Creature Threat Level

 Moderate
 Major
 Dire
 Legendary

## The Great Hunt Begins

If there is a base camp or similar structure in the area, and the artisan has the required resources, they can make a TN13 Intelligence (Homemaking) test. On a successful test, the artisan provides the party with a minor benefit determined by the GM (+1 to Attack rolls, Defence, Stealth, etc). If the test is failed and the Stunt Die is a 1, the food is barely edible and may hurt those consuming it.

Once the group is ready to leave, the trailblazer decides on where to go if there is more than one option. They make an Intelligence (Navigation) test vs a TN based on the creature's threat level. If they succeed at this test, the GM rolls 3d6 on the Finding Signs table, and if they fail, the GM rolls 2d6 on the same table. The GM consults the table and applies the results to the next area.

Now the scout is up, and they go on ahead to scout the area. The GM gives the scout a basic description of what lies ahead. The scout makes a Dexterity (Stealth) test, which is opposed by a Perception (Seeing) test of any relevant creatures in the area. If the scout is spotted by a creature which is hostile, they may have to retreat immediately to rejoin the group. If they weren't spotted or any possible creatures aren't hostile, they make a Perception (Seeing) test. If this test is successful, the GM provides them with more detail about the area, taking into account if the result of the Finding Signs table included signs or false signs. With the group quite far behind, the scout returns and relays the information they saw, or they wait until the other team members catch up.

Once regrouped, the party continues into the area, stealthily or not. The spotter keeps an eye out by rolling a Perception (Seeing) test, and the scout points out what they found previously. The spotter might be able to detect things the scout missed, or find resources in the area. If there are enemies present, they must either be defeated or be forced to flee before the spotter can inspect the area for any signs by making a Perception (Tracking) test vs a TN based on the creature's threat level. If this test is a success, the spotter finds any available signs or false signs, which brings them one step closer to their prey.

Once the group has collected the amount of signs required for their prey, they have successfully located the creature, which will either show up in the area they are currently in, or the next one they are travelling to.

If the group finds the required amount of false signs first, however, they might be in for an unpleasant surprise once they encounter the creature the signs belonged to.

### Travelling between Areas

Areas are not usually right next to each other, and moving from one area to the next takes some time. This can mean five minutes, an hour, three hours, or more, depending on the territory. Generally, the GM should let the party know how long they've been travelling for, especially when the distances are significant.

## Creating a Hunt

A hunt consists of only three components: prey, territory, and finding signs. Once you have those, you have all you need to begin the hunt.

### Prey

First you need to decide which creature the PCs will be hunting and how many signs the party will need to find until they encounter it. This should usually be a number between 3 and 5. Then you need to decide on a false sign creature, which should be equally as dangerous as the designated prey, if not stronger.

The prey you choose doesn't have to be a creature as dangerous as a dragon, but should generally be a creature that will provide an adequate challenge for the PCs. Even if this creature is appropriately scaled to the PCs' level, it's likely not going to be much of a challenge when facing a group all by itself; the action economy is not in its favour. To make things more interesting, consider one of the following options:

* Add minions (Fantasy Age Companion p. 119)
* Add younger (and thus likely weaker) versions of the creature to support it
* Add a second version of the same creature, such as a mate or mature offspring

### Territory

When you create the territory for your hunt, keep in mind what kind of creature you want to serve as prey, and what kinds of areas would make sense for a creature of that type. The territory of each creature consists of several areas—typically between 7 and 10—and . Each area should have a basic description, detailing all the things anyone can see without having to make a roll.

Areas don't need to be linear; sometimes they may branch out, and one area might lead to three new ones, while some areas might not lead anywhere at all. Once you have enough areas prepared, you can move on to the next step.

### Challenges and Benefits

For every hunt you should prepare the required amount of signs and false signs, 2-3 benefits, 8-10 minor challenges, and 2-4 major challenges.

Signs can be anything that will help the party track a creature, whether it's a paw print, tufts of fur, strange sounds, or a fresh kill. Signs don't need to point in any particular direction, they simply inform the players that they're on the right track.

#### Example Signs

* Markings, rubbings, etc
* Recent kill
* Roars, screeches
* Scales
* Scuff marks
* Shadow as the creature flies high above
* Tracks
* Tufts of fur

Benefits are a boon to the party. These could be hidden caches, magical altars, beneficial hot springs, or other things that would be of use to the party.

#### Example Benefits

* Additional resource
* Arcane shrines or areas
* Corpse of a recently killed creature of Threat Level major or higher (harvestable)
* Friendly NPC encounter
* Items, weapons, other useful things

Minor Challenges include non combat encounters, ability tests, or minor environmental hazards. They might also include minor combats against weaker foes. In general, a minor challenge should cost a few resources and be a minor setback, but shouldn’t stop the PCs dead in their tracks.

#### Example Minor Challenges

* Ability tests
* Minor environmental hazard
* Multiple signs leading in different directions
* Non-combat encounter
* Random encounter (easy/average difficulty)
* Signs of another similar creature
* Traps (simple, bothersome)

Major Challenges are potentially deadly or severely hinder the party. A major challenge might include a dangerous environmental hazard, a deadly encounter, or expending limited resources such as mana or items. They shouldn’t be impossible to overcome but should require much more effort from the PCs.

#### Example Major Challenges

* Advanced ability tests
* Cursed shrines or areas
* Dangerous environmental hazard
* Depletion of resources (party needs to spend them to achieve something)
* False signs
* Hostile non-combat encounter
* Lose a sign (party needs to backtrack or move forward blindly)
* Random encounter (hard/deadly difficulty)
* Traps (complex, dangerous)

### PDF Download (DAGE)

The links lead to pdfs hosted on mega.nz and contain all the same information as this page. The DAGE version uses Dragon Age abilities.