Foraging

2024 Rules

Characters [and animals!] without water and Rations can stave off dehydration and malnutrition by gathering food and water as they travel. A foraging character makes a Survival check once per journey stage (or once per day if a stage is shorter than a day). The DC is determined by the abundance of food and water in the region, as shown in the Foraging DC column of the Travel Terrain table. If multiple characters forage, each character makes a separate check.

A foraging character finds nothing on a failed check. On a successful check, roll 1d6 and add the character's Wisdom modifier to determine how much food (in pounds) the character finds per day of the journey stage, then repeat the roll for water (in gallons).

Travel Terrain

Terrain	Maximum Pace	Encounter Distance	Foraging DC	Navigation DC	Search DC
Arctic	Fast*	6d6 × 10 feet	20	10	10
Coastal	Normal	2d10 × 10 feet	10	5	15
Desert	Normal	6d6 × 10 feet	20	10	10
Forest	Normal	2d8 × 10 feet	10	15	15
Grassland	Fast	6d6 × 10 feet	15	5	15
Hill	Normal	2d10 × 10 feet	15	10	15
Mountain	Slow	4d10 × 10 feet	20	15	20
Swamp	Slow	2d8 × 10 feet	10	15	20
Underdark	Normal	2d6 × 10 feet	20	10	20
Urban	Normal	2d6 × 10 feet	20	15	15
Waterborne	Special†	6d6 × 10 feet	15	10	15
*Appropriate equipment (such as skis) is necessary to keep up a Fast pace in Arctic terrain.
†Characters' rate of travel while waterborne depends on the vehicle carrying them; see "Vehicles."

Dehydration

A creature requires an amount of water per day based on its size, as shown in the Water Needs per Day table. [Water needs are doubled if the weather is hot.] A creature that drinks less than half the required water for a day gains 1 Exhaustion level at the day's end. Exhaustion caused by dehydration can't be removed until the creature drinks the full amount of water required for a day.

Water Needs per Day

Size	Water
Tiny	1/4 gallon
Small	1 gallon
Medium	1 gallon
Large	4 gallons
Huge	16 gallons
Gargantuan	64 gallons

Malnutrition

A creature needs an amount of food per day based on its size, as shown in the Food Needs per Day table. A creature that eats but consumes less than half the required food for a day must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or gain 1 Exhaustion level at the day's end. A creature that eats nothing for 5 days automatically gains 1 Exhaustion level at the end of the fifth day as well as an additional level at the end of each subsequent day without food. Exhaustion caused by malnutrition can't be removed until the creature eats the full amount of food required for a day.

Food Needs per Day

Size	Food
Tiny	1/4 pound
Small	1 pound
Medium	1 pound
Large	4 pounds
Huge	16 pounds
Gargantuan	64 pounds

New Rules

Ingredients

At the heart of potion brewing are ingredients. Some ingredients are plentiful and easy to find, while others are seldom seen and might require a dangerous quest to obtain. Ingredients come in various types including plants, minerals, and more. Potions always need at least three ingredients.

Herbs

Any magical plant (and even some plant adjacent organisms like mushrooms and lichen) that can be directly used or turned into are considered herbs. Herbs can be found in virtually every environment, even using their magical nature to survive in places that would be inhospitable to more mundane plants. Their effects vary widely and some are much rarer and more useful than others, but all have their own value in their own ways.

Finding Ingredients and Herbs

Any character who forages for 8 hours can make a Survival check. The DC of the check is determined by the table below. Not all ingredients show up in each region with the same frequency. Trying to find multiple ingredients at the same time increases the DC by 2 per extra ingredient.

Ingredients Foraged	Suggested DC
Common ingredients native to area	10-15
Uncommon ingredients native to area & common ingredients not native to area	16-20
Uncommon ingredients not native to area & common herbs	21-25
Rare ingredients & uncommon herbs	25+ or quest

Identifying Ingredients and Herbs

To make sure you actually found the right ingredient you must make a Nature check against the same DC, on a failure it turned out it wasn't what you were looking for after all. The DC can be lowered by having a detailed description of the ingredient, such as from a book. Past experience gathering an ingredient will also lower the check until eventually you will succeed automatically.

Degradation

Ingredients and herbs only stay fresh for so long. This is different for each but without any (magical) means to keep them fresh they will eventually degrade and no longer be useful.

Brewing Potions

Only those with the right equipment and recipes can brew potions from the ingredients. They need to be proficient with Alchemy Supplies. See Cyphers & Potions for a list of known potions.

Preparing Herbs

Many herbs are quick and simple to apply, usually just using an Action to eat them or spending a bit of time rubbing their juices on one's equipment. However, other herbs require a much longer and more involved process—needing to be smoked, boiled, peeled, burned, etc. before they become usable. Herbs that require a process such as this are said to require preparation.

To prepare a herb, a character must have a Herbalism Kit in their possession and spend an hour during a Short or Long Rest processing the herb appropriately. This is considered a light and non-strenuous activity for the purpose of calculating rest requirements. If done during a Short Rest, that character may still recover hit points by expending Hit Die as usual. Once the rest has been finished, the herb must be used immediately.

Harvesting Creatures

Appraising

A character can spend 1 minute examining the creature to be harvested and then roll an Intelligence check, adding their proficiency bonus if they are proficient in the skill corresponding to that creature (see table below).

The DC of the check is equal to 8 + the Harvested Creature's CR (treating any CR less than 1 as 0). Success on this check grants the player full knowledge of any useful harvesting materials on the creature, the DC requirement to harvest those materials, any special requirements to harvest them, and any potential risks in doing so. In addition, any harvesting check made on that creature by that player is rolled at advantage. A character may only attempt one appraisal check per creature.

Monster Type/Skill Check

Creature Type	Skill
Abberration	Arcana
Beast	Nature
Celestial	Arcana
Construct	Investigation
Dragon	Nature
Elemental	Arcana
Fey	Arcana
Fiend	Arcana
Giant	Medicine
Humanoid	Medicine
Monstrosity	Nature
Ooze	Investigation
Plant	Nature
Undead	Arcana

Splitting up the responsibilities

Some party members may prefer to let one character handle the appraisal of materials, while another more dextrous character handles the actual harvesting. In this scenario, all benefits of appraising a creature are conferred to the player doing the harvesting, so long as the player that performed the appraising assists the harvesting player through the whole duration of the harvest.