Who has played around with letting players harvest resources defeated monsters? Things like killing a dragon and using their scales to make armor. Did you just do it as yea it's a part of the loot? Did you require skill checks? Have you ever had it be a core system to a campaign or a strong part of the narrative?
D&D General Monster harvesting mechanics?
DND_Reborn
The High Aldwin
All the time.
Skill checks required.
Two PCs current have Shields +2 made from Adult Red Dragon scales.
More details to come.
Skill checks required.
Two PCs current have Shields +2 made from Adult Red Dragon scales.
More details to come.
Swarmkeeper
Hero
While harvesting can get annoying if overdone IME, a simple Medicine check is as good as any for resolution. The DC and meaningful consequence of failure is up to you — ruining the “loot” and wasting time which might advance other baddies’ agendas could work.
I use a series of free homebrew PDFs called "creature loot", requiring different skill checks depending of monster type (medicine for humanoids vs survival for dragons vs arcana for aberrations for example). The Ranger got advantage on her favored enemies, so that was a very appreciated use of an often underused ability. The tables there have some homebrew or pretty strong loot, some of which I didn't feel like giving out, so I just ignored it. I also used it as a basis for looting my homebrew monsters (like using the Balor's table for my Cyberdemon).
I also have some loot tables for monsters from the Monster Hunter games, but I didn't have to use them as all those monsters fled once things went south for them.
Edit: I was also very clear with my players telling them that they could not loot everything. For example, hey had an encounter against a young red dragon, a Githyanki knight and a few Githyanki warriors, but I only allowed them to loot the dragon and the knight for convenience'sake.
I also have some loot tables for monsters from the Monster Hunter games, but I didn't have to use them as all those monsters fled once things went south for them.
Edit: I was also very clear with my players telling them that they could not loot everything. For example, hey had an encounter against a young red dragon, a Githyanki knight and a few Githyanki warriors, but I only allowed them to loot the dragon and the knight for convenience'sake.
DND_Reborn
The High Aldwin
Ok, so I have some more time now.
First, we had a dragonborn compete in a test of strength with a warrior of a lizardfolk tribe (this was around level 3 or 4 IIRC). The dragonborn won and took part in a hunt for a giant snapping turtle. The lizardfolk then showed him how to craft part of the shell into one of their "spiked" shields.
So, that is a narrative example.
Mechanically, we use Wisdom (Survival) and Intelligence (Nature) for most things, but Intelligence (Arcana) comes into play for magical sources, like the hide of a displacer beast to make a cloak of displacement.
I am currently working on a book for 5E about crafting items and magical items in great detail, including the formulas or recipes and checks to make them. I am hoping to have it done in time to release by Christmas.
I really like this one:
TaranTheWanderer
Legend
So, I had a DM who took EVERY POTION AND MAGIC ITEM in the game and decided what ingredients were used to make them.
Then, he set up Alchemists in the various cities who would hire adventuring groups to retrieve the ingredients. Adventuring groups were like Sports Teams in this world. Usually famous and lots of rivalries between groups.
Our PCs did this for a while but the problem was this: lots of helpful potions required us to kill Good Aligned or Benign creatures.
Invisibility: Pixie Wings
Various Powerful Healing: Unicorn Horn etc...
Some adventuring groups were very famous for rescuing villages and stuff and they made a lot of money on the side harvesting parts. Our group found out they were not very nice people in real life.
The cool thing about the system is it made some items EXTREMELY RARE! Our DM also knew what NPCs owned most of the most rare items and where the parts could be located. It was a great Sandbox campaign.
Then, he set up Alchemists in the various cities who would hire adventuring groups to retrieve the ingredients. Adventuring groups were like Sports Teams in this world. Usually famous and lots of rivalries between groups.
Our PCs did this for a while but the problem was this: lots of helpful potions required us to kill Good Aligned or Benign creatures.
Invisibility: Pixie Wings
Various Powerful Healing: Unicorn Horn etc...
Some adventuring groups were very famous for rescuing villages and stuff and they made a lot of money on the side harvesting parts. Our group found out they were not very nice people in real life.
The cool thing about the system is it made some items EXTREMELY RARE! Our DM also knew what NPCs owned most of the most rare items and where the parts could be located. It was a great Sandbox campaign.
I like the ones from the "Monster Looter" Pdfs
from the PDFs:
Harvesting Checks
There are a few ways to harvest the monsters found in the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons, and doing so can impact the nature of the game being played. What follows are some suggestions as to how the characters might be able to harvest a recently deceased creature.
Ability Check
When a character attempts to harvest a creature, they must first succeed on a specific ability check to successfully harvest the components from it. The nature of the ability check depends on the monster’s type. The following table should be seen as a suggestion or splitting up the checks and can be changed to better fit the nature of the game at hand.
Type of Ability Check
Creature Type Ability Check
Beast, dragon, giant, monstrosity, plant - Nature
Humanoid - Survival
Celestial, fiend, undead - Religion
Aberration, construct, elemental, fey, ooze - Arcana
The DC of the check is determined by the CR of the creature being harvested, but the harvesting check DC cannot be lower than 10 and cannot be higher than 30. If a character succeeds on the ability check, they are able to harvest all available loot on the monster. If they fail the check, the character is only able to harvest half of the items.
Harvesting Check DC = 10 + monster CR (not lower than 10 and not higher than 30)
If the character fails the check by 5 or more, a mishap occurs during the harvesting process. This could be anything from piercing a gland of acid to an environmental accident, such as a rock slide covering the creature. Regardless of the nature of the mishap, all loot is lost. Remember that two characters can help one another harvest a creature. This means that one of them gains advantage on their roll, thereby increasing their chances of successfully looting the monster.
Tool Check
Without the necessary tools, the characters might be unable to fully harvest the monster
in question. The set of tools needed, if any, to harvest the creature is up to the DM and can vary from monster to monster. Weapons and armor can simply be picked up from the ground, while organs and hide need more finesse to obtain.
Alternatively, the DM can introduce the idea of harvester’s tools, a type of artisan’s tools that are required when harvesting certain resources from a creature, such as hide and organs. The harvester’s tools come in a leather satchel that can be rolled out for easy use while in the field. The tool set includes a bonesaw, a thinly bladed knife, a whetstone, a scraper, and a mincing blade. The price for a set of harvester’s tools is 30 gp.
Harvest Time
The size of the creature being harvested can heavily impact how long it takes to completely loot the monster. If the adventurers are unwilling to harvest for the entire duration, or they are somehow interrupted, they only get a portion of the loot. The amount of loot they get in such a situation varies and is decided by the DM.
Time Spend Harvesting
Monster Size Time to Fully Harvest
Tiny Less than ½ hour
Small ½ hour
Medium 1 hour
Large 2 hours
Huge 4 hours
Gargantuan 8+ hours
Time of Death
The amount of loot available on a creature can vary depending on time since death. If the characters just killed it, all the loot is available to them if they wish to harvest the creature. This is not the case if they stumble upon a carcass that has been rotting away in the wild for several weeks.
The DM should estimate the amount of loot left on a monster if the party stumbles upon a dead creature. In most cases, it is impossible to harvest food from creatures entering a state of decay. There are exceptions to this, such as a character using the spell purify food and water on the carcass, which might cleanse the flesh enough that rations can be harvested.
check them out on the DMsguild
from the PDFs:
Harvesting Checks
There are a few ways to harvest the monsters found in the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons, and doing so can impact the nature of the game being played. What follows are some suggestions as to how the characters might be able to harvest a recently deceased creature.
Ability Check
When a character attempts to harvest a creature, they must first succeed on a specific ability check to successfully harvest the components from it. The nature of the ability check depends on the monster’s type. The following table should be seen as a suggestion or splitting up the checks and can be changed to better fit the nature of the game at hand.
Type of Ability Check
Creature Type Ability Check
Beast, dragon, giant, monstrosity, plant - Nature
Humanoid - Survival
Celestial, fiend, undead - Religion
Aberration, construct, elemental, fey, ooze - Arcana
The DC of the check is determined by the CR of the creature being harvested, but the harvesting check DC cannot be lower than 10 and cannot be higher than 30. If a character succeeds on the ability check, they are able to harvest all available loot on the monster. If they fail the check, the character is only able to harvest half of the items.
Harvesting Check DC = 10 + monster CR (not lower than 10 and not higher than 30)
If the character fails the check by 5 or more, a mishap occurs during the harvesting process. This could be anything from piercing a gland of acid to an environmental accident, such as a rock slide covering the creature. Regardless of the nature of the mishap, all loot is lost. Remember that two characters can help one another harvest a creature. This means that one of them gains advantage on their roll, thereby increasing their chances of successfully looting the monster.
Tool Check
Without the necessary tools, the characters might be unable to fully harvest the monster
in question. The set of tools needed, if any, to harvest the creature is up to the DM and can vary from monster to monster. Weapons and armor can simply be picked up from the ground, while organs and hide need more finesse to obtain.
Alternatively, the DM can introduce the idea of harvester’s tools, a type of artisan’s tools that are required when harvesting certain resources from a creature, such as hide and organs. The harvester’s tools come in a leather satchel that can be rolled out for easy use while in the field. The tool set includes a bonesaw, a thinly bladed knife, a whetstone, a scraper, and a mincing blade. The price for a set of harvester’s tools is 30 gp.
Harvest Time
The size of the creature being harvested can heavily impact how long it takes to completely loot the monster. If the adventurers are unwilling to harvest for the entire duration, or they are somehow interrupted, they only get a portion of the loot. The amount of loot they get in such a situation varies and is decided by the DM.
Time Spend Harvesting
Monster Size Time to Fully Harvest
Tiny Less than ½ hour
Small ½ hour
Medium 1 hour
Large 2 hours
Huge 4 hours
Gargantuan 8+ hours
Time of Death
The amount of loot available on a creature can vary depending on time since death. If the characters just killed it, all the loot is available to them if they wish to harvest the creature. This is not the case if they stumble upon a carcass that has been rotting away in the wild for several weeks.
The DM should estimate the amount of loot left on a monster if the party stumbles upon a dead creature. In most cases, it is impossible to harvest food from creatures entering a state of decay. There are exceptions to this, such as a character using the spell purify food and water on the carcass, which might cleanse the flesh enough that rations can be harvested.
check them out on the DMsguild
CleverNickName
Limit Break Dancing
I do it all the time as well. I tell the character to roll a Wisdom (Survival) check or Intelligence (Taxidermy Tools) check, DC=10 + the monster's CR. Success means the character has harvested meat, hide, pelts, ivory, venom, etc. worth the creature's Hit Dice in gold.
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