Low-Tech Survival Skills

[fritzbc]

Predicting the weather is Weather Sense/TL if I remember correctly

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Rupert

I would really strongly recommend First Aid.

Maybe a point, to give you something to insist you actually know about the concepts of sterility, shock and heat stroke. The problem is basically the same as Physician though: it's difficult to use on yourself, [especially] when you really need it. Essential for a group situation, but maybe not worth spending the points you might need for something with a higher percentage change of helping for an individual.
I actually do think you might get more out of Pharmacy (Herbal), which you can prepare in advance and in the absence of other people to give you the most horrible contagious diseases is mostly helping with less debilitating stuff you probably can function with.

I'm torn on Naturalist as it has a lot of overlap with Survival. However, I think a bit of it to help with things like predicting the weather and things like finding caves, useful plants, and so on is worthwhile.

As a GM I'd probably let you roll most of the stuff you might get from it in a survival situation against Survival too. It will be more useful in later years, when you are looking for stuff that will help make your life nicer, not just that will keep you alive.

[Donny Brook]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Drop Traps and put those points into something else - Traps is for use against people (B223 notes that Traps is at -5 to skill to use against wild animals; DF16:36 explicitly notes that, for wilderness traps, Traps works for targets with IQ 6+, Survival works for targets with lower IQ). Survival (boosting it from 12 to 13) wouldn't be a bad idea. I'd also be inclined to reduce Knife skill and pick up Swimming.

In that case, yes definitley trade back Traps for another level of Survival.

I just realized I forgot Camoflage, so I'd put [2] from Knife on that rather than Swimming.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

In that case, yes definitley trade back Traps for another level of Survival.

I just realized I forgot Camoflage, so I'd put [2] from Knife on that rather than Swimming.

Camouflage defaults to Survival-2 (presumably said camo only works for the environment the Survival applies to), so if you boosted your Survival to 13, you functionally have Camouflage at 11 already. That said, via the rules on buying up from defaults, you could invest that [2] into Camouflage to get it to 12 (normally costs [4] to have an IQ/E skill at IQ+2; the Survival default essentially already pays for [2] of that - the amount needed to have it at IQ+1 - so you only need to pay another [2] to boost it to IQ+2).

Lack of Swimming skill has ended many an adventurer's life, but if you're confident you won't be needing it (you'll just be staying on the shore/bank and won't be trying to ford any rivers), you could probably get away with not having it.

[ericthered]

Knife isn't about using knife as a tool: its about using it as a weapon. I think survival will cover all uses of it that aren't stabbing large animals to death, and you have have spear for that.

Armory to make the spear and atlatl might be a good idea though.

I'm not sure how useful climbing really is here either. Is it for running away from bears and wolves? I doubt there will be much fruit.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by fritzbc

Cheeky, I forgot to say anything against Wildcard! skills. I suppose you have the best chances out of all of us, then.

It occurs to me that, if using GURPS Power-Ups 10: Skill Trees, most of the skills one would want would fall under the Outdoor/Exploration Trunk. With [60] available, that's enough to buy the Trunk to Attribute+3 (which would cost [56], leaving you with another [4] to spend on improving a Branch and a Leaf, two Twigs, or four Leaves). That will leave you lacking some important skills (Machinist, Spear and Stealth come to mind, although the first you might be able to claim the /TL0 version falling under the Trunk), but otherwise in pretty decent shape. Because Skill Trees are fairly harsh at low levels of skill investment (at least compared to the GURPS default), you really won't be able to split up your points between skills, so that would probably be your best bet.

Originally Posted by ericthered

Armory to make the spear and atlatl might be a good idea though.

I considered that, but for a situation like this, I feel having both Carpentry and Machinist/TL0 should be sufficient to make a stone-tipped spear and atlatl out of wood. Maybe have the resulting weapon count as Cheap in terms of materials and/or balance, since you don't have working knowledge of how to properly make a weapon (although considering you also have the Use skills for the weapons you're making - Spear and Spear-Thrower, respectively - it might be safe to disregard that as well).

[Flowergarden]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

Assuming that you're staying in the wilderness:
Survival [8]
Area Knowledge [4]
Carpentry [4]
Fishing [4]
Cooking [4]
Sewing [4]
Knife [4]
Stealth [4]
Machinist [4]
Tracking [4]
Traps [4]
Spear Throwing (Atlatl) [4)
Spear [4]
Climbing [4]

I would probably remove cooking and maybe change it to housekeeping. Housekeeping is used for preserving food and some other stuff.
Sewing I would probably change to leather working, for tanning and making boots
If you want you can take tactics, maybe even optional specialization (hunting) but for me it's too much
And bow is better than spears throwing. Accuracy, range, damage and ammo weight at least.
And most crafting rolls would be with a bonus for easy task.

So, something like that
Survival [12]
Area Knowledge [4]
Carpentry [4]
Fishing [4]
Housekeeping [4]
Leatherworking [4]
Knife [1]
Stealth [2]
Machinist [4]
Tracking [4]
Bow [4] + Armoury missile weapons [2]
Spear [2]
Climbing [2]
Swimming [1]
Gardening [2]
Artist (pottery) [2]
First Aid [2]

[Donny Brook]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Knife isn't about using knife as a tool: its about using it as a weapon. I think survival will cover all uses of it that aren't stabbing large animals to death, and you have have spear for that.

Armory to make the spear and atlatl might be a good idea though.

I'm not sure how useful climbing really is here either. Is it for running away from bears and wolves? I doubt there will be much fruit.

Climbing is for getting out of reach of animals that can't climb, climbing up to sheltering caves, collecting food and resources out of reach (e.g. nuts, eggs), setting food caches, positioning beams for shelters, ...

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by malloyd

As a GM I'd probably let you roll most of the stuff you might get from it in a survival situation against Survival too. It will be more useful in later years, when you are looking for stuff that will help make your life nicer, not just that will keep you alive.

Naturalist also overlaps a lot with Area Knowledge, so is more useful if you're moving around a lot and thus don't have intimate knowledge of the places you're in.

[acrosome]

Originally Posted by fritzbc

For me? I’d take Carpentry, Fishing, Gardening, Weather Sense, Cooking (iirc you need it to preserve food), Survival (Woodlands and Plains), and most likely Axe and Bow. I’m eager to see your responses.

Do you start with equipment appropriate to your skills, or do you have to make them?

Because if you have to make them then Machinist/TL0 might be needed just to start. And then, yes, Carpentry, or even better Armoury (Missile Weapons). Slings are damned easy to make. I have made them out of jute cord. But you need Survival to make cordage. Trapping is also the most energy efficient way to get protein, and I think that Survival covers trapping, but if not then Traps. But if you have Armoury then go for a Bow instead of a sling- they are better, though they take more work to make. Probably Axe, yes. You can use it with a one-handed club, too. Knives are probably more useful than an ax, but you don't actually need Knife skill for survival uses of a knife. Throwing Stick might be handy. First Aid (or something that defaults to it like Physician) is a must, no matter what. Then Navigation or Area Knowledge, obviously, to get back home.

But if you get to start with equipment then you don't need much more than Guns (Shotgun)/TL8 and Survival/TL8. The latter would probably come with a GPS. :)

Edit-- I see now that you mean for long-term survival, and it seems to be implied that you do not start with equipment. In fact, you might be plopped down naked. I'll also assume that you are dropped into unfamiliar surroundings so that Area Knowledge is not available.

• Survival
• Carpentry, to make better shelter/equipment than with Survival
• Traps, if not covered by Survival
• Machinist/TL0
• First Aid
• Herbalist
• Housekeeping
• Axe
• Thrown Weapon (Stick)
• Spear, for dangerous fauna
• Navigation (Land)
• Gardening
• Leatherworking
• PS (Tanner) if not covered by Leatherworking

I sort of favor minimizing, so that what skills I do have can have more points in them. For instance I thought about Bow, but trapping is so much more efficient that I'd rather dump more points into that, whether it be Survival or Traps. I still might add it and Armoury (Missile Weapons) if the location seemed conducive. But Axe and Thrown Weapon (Stick) can use the same weapon, and the stick is easily always at hand for taking transient opportunities, like a foolhardy bunny.

Of course, I'm also tempted to just put all 60 points into Survival, since almost anything else I might need could arguably default from it, especially if Survival covers trapping. Survival-25 has to be pretty awesome.