Building a raft

[Moulin Rogue]

A three hour tour....

PHB p. 143 has stats for raft movement, but I don't see anything else. How long would it take, without the help of magic, to build a small raft for one or two medium-sized creatures? Would any checks be appropriate?

 

[Romotre]

Certainly craft. The result would be its seaworthyness.

 

[hong]

I would call it either a Craft or Wilderness Lore check, DC 10, assuming you don't want to go voyaging to America. An average character (Int or Wis 10) could thus take 10 and succeed automatically. D&D assumes that even regular joes aren't completely unskilled; note that the WL check to survive in the wild is also DC 10.

 

[Romotre]

Maybe anybody could make a raft that could cross a small river. Acutally i doubt every can, i'd say more like DC 15.

How about this. If you make a Wilderness Lore check, you get a +1 for every 5 points above 5 you get. Thus is you roll a 15, you get a +2 to the craft roll. This means you've found good wood/vine/whatever.

For the craft DC, i'd make a chart.

Base 10
Per 200 lb capacity +1
Survive
calm +0
mild +2
moderate +5
severe +8

All of these number have to be tweaked.

 

[Crothian]

Ever tried to make a raft out of branches/small trees and tie it together with vine? Not near as easy as it looks. I tried this in boyscouts. Actually, it was five of us all about 16 years old and a little to much spare time at Boy Scout camp. We never got one made that could support the five of us in perfectly still water. The tools we had were hatchets and knives. The two biggest problems were having it sink from the weight, and having the pieces stay together.

However, when has reality ever gotten in the way of what can be done in a role playing game. I'd set the craft DC of 15 for a simple two person raft. With enough time and supplies it should be easily done. The more people the raft needs to support, the higher the DC. Also, the roll to create it (or average number from all the rolls) should be used as break DC. When rough waters are encounter there should be a chance of the raft coming apart.

 

[hong]

Ever tried to make a raft out of branches/small trees and tie it together with vine?

Nope. Then again, I've never been stranded in the wilderness and had to fend for myself either, and yet the DC for surviving in such a situation is only 10, as I said. A character who doesn't have ranks in a skill isn't an utter noob (unless it's a skill that requires training); your Int and/or Wis score subsumes some basic knowledge. A D&D character would know various things about craft skills and survival that modern-day people wouldn't, since these are germane to their environment.

 

[bloodymage]

Like Crothian, I built rafts in the Boy Scouts too. Successfully. If I went with real life experience it would be Rope Use (DC 20 alone), Wilderness Lore (survival) (DC 15 alone) with a possible +2 synergy bonus for either coming from a Craft skill (just knowing what will float as a boatbuilder?). Ranks in Rope Use and Wilderness Lore rate a DC 10 rolling for the highest ranked skill.

 

[hong]

Like Crothian, I built rafts in the Boy Scouts too. Successfully. If I went with real life experience it would be Rope Use (DC 20 alone), Wilderness Lore (survival) (DC 15 alone) with a possible +2 synergy bonus for either coming from a Craft skill (just knowing what will float as a boatbuilder?). Ranks in Rope Use and Wilderness Lore rate a DC 10 rolling for the highest ranked skill.

1) Use Rope is cross-class for just about everyone. Not having ranks in this skill doesn't mean you can't tie knots, it just means you can't pull off fancy rope tricks (lassos, slip knots, snares, etc).

2) DCs that change depending on skill ranks isn't how the d20 system works.

3) Building a simple raft cannot possibly be much harder than surviving in the wild, something the average 1st level commoner can do (and they probably don't have any WL ranks either). Just because a task is outside the comfort zone for cosseted 20th century urbanised westerners doesn't mean it would be so for someone living in the low-tech environment typical of D&D.

No wonder people are complaining about certain classes only getting 2 skill points per level, if this sort of DC inflation is the norm.

 

[JDRay]

More than one way to skin a cat...

Like Crothian, I built rafts in the Boy Scouts too. Successfully. If I went with real life experience it would be Rope Use (DC 20 alone), Wilderness Lore (survival) (DC 15 alone) with a possible +2 synergy bonus for either coming from a Craft skill (just knowing what will float as a boatbuilder?). Ranks in Rope Use and Wilderness Lore rate a DC 10 rolling for the highest ranked skill.

Rope isn't necessarily required to build a raft. You could apply rope use to the situation if they were using vines or bark (or grass, etc.), but what if they're using nails? Or magically Binding the pieces?

I would allow a player to get a bonus to raft building for having a wide variety of skills, including Wilderness Lore, Rope Use, Craft (Boatbuilding) and any other that I thought might apply in the situation. Furthermore, I think I'd make it DC12, to indicate that it's harder than building a campfire but not as difficult as tracking prey through rough terrain.

 

[Romotre]

How long would it take, without the help of magic , to build a small raft