D&D 5E To me, nature lore = survival skill

[Yaarel]

Basically, yeah,

Nature = Survival

In my campaign, I distinguish between the two by making Nature be specifically elementalism and alchemy, including the planes of earth fire, air water, and ether. So it is a science-magic skill.

By contrast, Survival is about wilderness and navigation.

Only Animal Handling covers animal lore.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Put another way: a Wisdom (nature) check is just a standard Survival check, and an Intelligence (Survival) check is just a standard Nature check.

I wouldn't mind seeing them combined, along with Athletics and Acrobatics. The rest are fine, though, and this doesn't make the top ten things I'd like to see changed.

 

[Reynard]

5E is very bad at figuring out what it wants to model as simulation versus what it wants to model as story. If the party is in the wilderness without sufficient rations and and they decide to hunt game for food, which skill do you use? It could be survival or nature because in either case a player could make the argument that a successful check means they know the local fauna well enough to figure out where to find them. But even if that's the case, it is only half the story: you still have to succeed with your bow, or trap, or line, or whatever (and that is 3 different kinds of checks right there). Anyone who has seen one of the various survival shows on television knows that just because someone is a highly skilled survivalist doesn't mean they can actually feed themselves on any given day.

So we abstract to make life easy and to handwave away the parts of the game we aren't interested in. This is, I think, the best argument for a strong modular approach in D&D. There absolutely is a place for a single "Nature Stuff" skill -- just like there is a place for a complex multi-skill check to determine whether the party starves.

 

[Tonguez]

Survival = orientation, tracking, hunting, setting camp/shelter, finding good water and edible forage
Nature = Identifying plants and animals and their aspects and uses (edible, medicinal, poisonous, mystical),
Overlaps: identifying weather patterns and natural hazards (including animal lairs)

 

[abirdcall]

I completely agree. That's why I encourage you to come see me, a biologist, next time you are hurt or ill, instead of one of those so call "doctors of medecine" quacks!

(note: because humor is hard on the web, I'm assuming you were being silly, and so am I. If you meant that in seriousness... as a biologist, you are wrong.)

I am being serious.

The same can be said about a champion swimmer deadlifting hundreds of pounds because swimmers and powerlifters are both athletes.

The proficiencies are very broad.

How can someone be a doctor without medical knowledge?

 

[Minigiant]

Hard disagree.

Survival involve many thing that are unnatural like creation of survival structures, tracking, prediction of supernatural and magical effects, magical meteorology, and use of manmade tools and clothing.

 

[Tonguez]

The medicine skill is just to roll for stabilization and diagnose disease and shouldn't exist in D&D.

Medicine is first aid and should be used for closing wounds and attending to other injuries

what shouldnt exist is ubiquitous Heal spells - imc Heal restores HP but doesnt stop bleeding or infection (that requires actual medicine)

 

[Minigiant]

Medicine is first aid and should be used for closing wounds and attending to other injuries

what shouldnt exist is ubiquitous Heal spells - imc Heal restores HP but doesnt stop bleeding or infection (that requires actual medicine)

Medicine is only first aid because Player Characters in D&D are never seriously wounded until they drop to 0 HP.

Medicine should be used for disease and poison cures but 5e is a bit too simple for that. So it;s up to DM Adjudication whether a person proficient in Medicine can cure disease.

 

[Reynard]

Medicine is only first aid because Player Characters in D&D are never seriously wounded until they drop to 0 HP.

Medicine should be used for disease and poison cures but 5e is a bit too simple for that. So it;s up to DM Adjudication whether a person proficient in Medicine can cure disease.

I almost always import the Pathfinder condition track if I am going to bother with disease at all.

 

[Ancalagon]

How can someone be a doctor without medical knowledge?

Anyone with a PhD is a doctor.