Nature (Draw Steel)

Skills

Definition

Nature is practical woodcraft and natural knowledge: finding water in dry country, telling an edible mushroom from a fatal one, reading a sky that means snow by nightfall, knowing which season brings the herds through this valley. It is an Intuition skill because it rewards attention to a living environment. It comes up on overland travel, while foraging, when the party must judge whether a forest is merely old or wrong, and whenever weather becomes an obstacle.

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How it works

**Characteristic**: Intuition. **Skill group**: Intuition skills. **Test**: 2d10 + Intuition; 11 or lower is tier 1, 12 to 16 tier 2, 17 or higher tier 3. Training grants a benefit and unlocks attempts untrained heroes cannot make. **How it is used**: Tier 3 provides what the party needs plus a warning about what is coming. Tier 2 gets by with less margin. Tier 1 finds nothing, and a mistaken plant or misread sky can poison or strand the group. **Edges and banes**: Familiar terrain, a season you know, or a guide's notes grant an edge (+2). Alien landscapes, blighted or magically altered wilds, and searching in darkness or storm impose a bane (-2).

Tips

**Best for**: Parties that travel overland and want the wilderness to be survivable rather than scenery. **Character concepts**: Laborer career forester, wilderness culture forager, a Fury who grew up outside the walls. **Synergies**: Terrain Lore for geography at map scale, Navigate for finding the route, Handle Animals for the creatures you meet along it, Alchemy for what the herbs become.

Frequently asked questions

Does Nature cover monsters found in the wild?

Ordinary beasts, yes. Anything unnatural, undead, or otherworldly falls under Monsters.

Can foraging feed the party?

In a productive landscape, yes, with a test per stretch of travel. Barren or hostile terrain imposes a bane or rules it out.

Nature (Draw Steel)

Definition

How it works

Tips

Frequently asked questions

Further Reading