Tracking (Survival Skill) question

[Octavious]

I am wanting to run a one shot which requires a lot of creature tracking. I'm new so I would like to get other experienced DM's advice on how best to handle tracking..

I have read on the internet that only rangers can track. Although they have features and abilities to make them best suited I really see no reason other characters cannot attempt to track.


So how do you handle characters actually finding the tracks, then follow them successfully and or loosing the trail and having to back track and start over (Or even getting lost on the way ..)

I kind of have my own ideas but any info that may help me would be greatly appreciated .


Thanks in advance !

[Zacchaeus]

There's no specific tracking skill in 5e so it's covered by Perception and Survival. A Ranger can double their proficiency bonus if the tracking is being done in one of the environments that they have chosen, or if it is one of their natural enemies they get advantage on any dice rolls. So if your campaign is set in the Frozen Wastes and your Ranger has chosen that as his environment and he is attempting to track some Polar Bears, which are his natural enemy then, yes, the Ranger is going to get some pretty hefty advantages. However if the party are in a desert and they want to track down some camels then that same Ranger's skills will be as much use as a chocolate fireguard.

All characters can track since they will all have some degree of perception. Obviously characters with higher perception and Survival skills will do better. So, if you are going to be running something that requires an abundance of those skills then make sure the party have them. Having said that if you tailor the DCs to the party's average skill level then you'll be fine.

[El Condoro]

To speed things up, it might be worth considering Group Checks as described on PHB p. 175. Basically, if half the group makes the check, the whole group succeeds. But, if you want the party to split to achieve goals, this might not be the best approach.

[Octavious]

thanks for the information I appreciate it..

[JohnD]

Personally I wouldn't tailor anything to the party's skill level; the world is the world and if they don't have the skill let them feel the pain (this can lead to the best side adventures).

[damned]

If following the track is integral to the story you might use a mechanic for how long they lose the trail for each time. And for longer trail losses more encounters may happen slowing them down. But ultimately if you want them to succeed think of good story elements and challenges to use if they do lose the trail but still have them arrive - but perhaps with some new advantage/disadvantage earned on the way...

[Octavious]

Damned : Yes I was thinking something in that order. I was thinking of setting a fairly high DC and a lower level DC for success.. and a third tier lowest dc for failure for one d20 roll . So an example may be a DC 15 success would guarantee the tracks can be followed to the next part . A low level of DC 10 success will mean the tracks can be followed but the pc may have a chance of the trail going cold and have to spend time backtracking to pick up the trail again and losing an hr or 1/2 hr time. In the case of a DC 15 fail and DC 10 success I would roll a d6 and a DC 5+ success of that roll means the pc will lose the trail shortly in and will have to back track and start over. Failure of DC 10 means they have to find other means of obtaining clues to pick up the trail again.. such as RP with NPC's for more information .. finding a map fragment etc. or just searching the area for a while and try to pick up the trail again .. I may not use the 15, 10 dc I may make it lower or higher depending it was just an example.

And of course if the pc's run into an encounter they will have to make new rolls to pick up the trail again.



Anyway that's my idea and was maybe seeing if anyone else had something better I might use..

[jshauber]

Personally I wouldn't tailor anything to the party's skill level; the world is the world and if they don't have the skill let them feel the pain (this can lead to the best side adventures).

Damn right!!!

[LordEntrails]

KI've also seen it done where the tracking roll really just indicates if you gain on the "enemy" or not. As others have said, it depends upon what the game needs as to what ype of mechanic you use.

Just make sure it doesn't devolve to "You made the roll, now you are two hours behind. You failed, now you are three hours behind. You failed...."

[damned]

I just re-read and noticed the One Shot... this in my opinion precludes the addition of more than one random encounter due to losing the trail. You just dont have too much time in a one shot. Consider going more with a story change... if they track efficiently they they surprise the reinforcements en-route, if they fail one track roll or fail by [ ] this much they get ambushed en-route by the reinforcements but the trail from there on is clear, if they fail twice or by a lot the reinforcements arrive first and setup a devious ambush... this way you still have the one encounter: Reinforcements but it could take 3 different forms to reflect the success/failure of the rolls.

[Zacchaeus]

Personally I wouldn't tailor anything to the party's skill level; the world is the world and if they don't have the skill let them feel the pain (this can lead to the best side adventures).

This may well be but it can also lead to an extremely boring, tedious set of dice rolls until someone makes the right one if it's a badly written adventure. If making a specific dice roll or skill roll is integral to the progression of the adventure then it should not be there in the first place. I don't know what adventure this is but I like damned's suggestion.

[Octavious]

Thanks for the information everyone.. I think I will just go light on the tracking .. I agree .. don't want the game to become tedious.. So I I think ill abandon my idea I posted in this thread. The adventure actually gave an alternate if the tracking rolls failed,, but it did specify that during the tracking of the NPC,s if an encounter happened a DC 8 survival roll was needed to pick up the trail again.. that's really not too hard to do and a couple rolls really should succeed.. just gives the PC's a little time to explore the area and maybe find a little treasure or clues during the process until the DC 8 is reached..

[JohnD]

This may well be but it can also lead to an extremely boring, tedious set of dice rolls until someone makes the right one if it's a badly written adventure. If making a specific dice roll or skill roll is integral to the progression of the adventure then it should not be there in the first place. I don't know what adventure this is but I like damned's suggestion.

Failure should always be an option. I know current iterations make an effort for PCs to be successful despite themselves, but that's not how I personally run my games. YMMV and all that.

[damned]

Failure should always be an option. I know current iterations make an effort for PCs to be successful despite themselves, but that's not how I personally run my games. YMMV and all that.

Context is important too - the question was in relation to a One Shot game. Failure in a One Shot is good (desirable even?) but its better that they fail in the last scene and not in the first one and never make it to the last scene because of the time lost in the first scenes failure. My thoughts anyway :)