Finding Herbs

[Saramund]

Hi,
I'm trying to get a better idea of how RMC rules this activity.
The description table at page 118 in ChL says

A united group gets one roll for an organized search. Roll randomly to see how many doses a given individual finds.

a bit later

Formula: # doses found = 1 + (1-20 - difficulty #).

Since the difficulty levels range 1-9, I wonder if the math in brackets could lead to a negative number or stops at 0 at most. What do you think?

Moreover, what is the skill, if any, governing the roll for finding the herbs? At page 118 is not mentioned any. Foraging? if so, what is the role of the Herb Lore skill then?

I would say the finding herbs task should go through this steps:

1. Someone must define what herb has to be found
   Herb Lore should be used to determine what are the herb the PC has some knowledge of and can explain others what to search for. A roll could be made to recall enough information or you just compare the skill rank to the difficulty # and approve only a search in case the rank it is equal or higher. I personally work with the players for determining what kind of herbs they had a chance to study during the Adolescence and Apprenticeship.
2. The search
   This step is exactly as already explained in ChL. I would infere from the formula above that each searchers find at least 1 dose in case of success. This works fine for me for balancing the opportunity of splitting the group (more chances to find something but less chances of getting a lot of).
3. The preparation
   A roll should be made for not wasting the dose found. Herb Lore is the skill to test.
   Record time for preparation based on the type in case of urgent healing required.
4. The application
   This step is tracked optionally and typically make sense in case of urgent healing where the PC could apply it wrong because under pressure. It is very situational and handle case by case.
   Again Herb Lore should be used.

And what are your experience / suggestions about Finding Herbs?

[deer_buster]

You always find at least 1 when you are successful in your search, as indicated by the 1, at least in my mind. I would limit the modifier to a minimum of 0..(so you would ignore any result of 1d20 that was less than your difficulty level). Perception would be the main skill I use for players, however if they have foraging (or even Herb Lore), I would allow them to use that, if it is higher.

[deer_buster]

RMU has some better info on it, but that doesn't help for RMC

[Majyk]

I’ve gone with the whole formula as “11 to 20 minus Difficulty Rating” = 1d10 + 10 - 1 to 9, so minimum 2 herbs at the highest rating and 10 for the min rating.
Where the majority are in the 3-5 area.

[Saramund]

I’ve gone with the whole formula as “11 to 20 minus Difficulty Rating” = 1d10 + 10 - 1 to 9, so minimum 2 herbs at the highest rating and 10 for the min rating.
Where the majority are in the 3-5 area.

I like that
thank you for your idea