The Hunt Check

I do most of my contemplations of system in the completely open and available 'Revised 3rd Edition' flavor of the Open Game Rules. I have a website with a decent set of links and some spattering of stuff I started two years ago on Complete SRD. The last three Chamber Plays that I was participant in were so called 'Three point five plus alpha' games. Something I liked calling '3.75' in the days before the fourth edition of the rules base was developed. I prefer to call it the Third Edition Open Game base, or something similar. Fourth Edition uses certain rule variants that become unseemly with the Third Edition, and despite all rational thought and conclusions I have *not* read the OSRIC Project. Yet. As I was saying, I am thinking primarily in Third Edition terms when I rulify. Squabbly little details like second winds and healing surges aside the underlying systems are the same, but like writing code.

While what you wrote may mean the same thing to a human, to the rules it don't.

Sitting outside the Fourth Edition and Pathfinder arena's as I am at the moment makes me wonder if they are still using the RAW language to debate the details and consequences of certain literal statements. In RAW a rock is an improvised club. In my book you can use the 'craft action' (DC 22) as that little movement when you heft the rock in your hand and get the weight. In the hands of the master weaponsmith negating the improvised weapon penalty is easy for simple weapons like club and quarterstaff. Its not RAW, but I use a standard 'in combat' +10 modifier to craft checks when you are trying to do stuff that would normally take weeks in a manner of moments. Ahh, idea.. wait, what was I posting here about? Is that an Int Check or Wis Check? Hunt check.

It is my opinion that the so called track check is not good enough. One of the things I am a very big fan of is also one of the things that keeps me away from moving to the Fourth Edition arena. From the long view I can tell that all the functions are semi isolated. I prefer, to make actions like Track into a large and universally available system that individual character traits can improve and alter. Track strikes me as a very fourth edition rule. You can use this system if you have the track feat or you have the scent attribute. Without these traits hunting something through the city or woods is ..maybe.. a gather information check accompanied by a series of combat awareness checks (spot) ..maybe? 'Hunting' perse is a simple survival check. Roll a d20 get better than ten and you 'survive' in the wilderness. That is pretty much it out of the completely available material. I haven't seen allot of development in the 'hunt' department of the OGL.

Track is not even really the common skill I am referencing. Tracking is a noncombat action, and I am definitely thinking more in the terms of 'hunting a deer' action in this specific instance. Admittedly it is a fairly simple exercise to have a PC take a couple pot shots with a longbow and say they killed a deer, but that really doesn't build up dicitement. I am thinking something along the lines of Shadowrun's chase mechanism. Opposed checks based off of Attack Bonus and perhaps intelligence?

They say man is the most difficult prey to hunt..... anyway. A thought of the day.