D&D 5E Running a fishing skill check

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'm mildly surprised that fishing gear isn't among the tools in the 2024 PHB.

I may be about to run an adventure that will include the PCs needing to fish.

What stat would you use for a skill check? Dexterity, Strength, Intelligence and Wisdom all seem like they have roles to play in fishing in real life. In this case, the PCs will be either just dropping a fishing line in the water or, if they ask, tossing out nets. (Nets are covered in the PHB, at least.)

 

[ezo]

For me it would be a simple Wisdom (Survival) check as I would consider it part of "hunting wild game".

 

[Micah Sweet]

I'm mildly surprised that fishing gear isn't among the tools in the 2024 PHB.

I may be about to run an adventure that will include the PCs needing to fish.

What stat would you use for a skill check? Dexterity, Strength, Intelligence and Wisdom all seem like they have roles to play in fishing in real life. In this case, the PCs will be either just dropping a fishing line in the water or, if they ask, tossing out nets. (Nets are covered in the PHB, at least.)

I would have fishing gear be a tool set one could be proficient in, and make the stat one rolls be dependent on what exactly the character wants to do. In general, I suspect wisdom is a good candidate.

 

[Sorinth]

Survival makes the most sense, but honestly I'd suggest just asking the players to justify whatever skill they want to use. For example, both Survival and Nature can be used to find a spot where fishing checks will be done at advantage or have a lower DC. Let the players decide the approach and then just find ways to reward whatever creative things they have in mind.

 

[Charlaquin]

Well, think about it in terms of the fundamental play pattern. What are the players trying to accomplish and how? I would assume trying to catch a fish by casting a line with a hook and bait. Can that fail? Absolutely. How? Well first of all, a fish might not bite. Does that have a meaningful consequence? Depends if there’s time pressure, cause if not they can always keep waiting for a bite until they get one, assuming there are actually fish in the water and their bait is actually attractive to those fish. If there is, maybe a roll at set time intervals (10 minutes?) to see if a fish bites, possibly modified by the bait used. Otherwise, how else might it fail? Well, they could fail to notice when they do get a bite. Does that have a meaningful consequence? Maybe; missing when a fish bites is at least an opportunity cost, so if there’s time pressure you might call for a Wisdom check when a fish does bite, and Perception proficiency would of course be applicable. We could consolidate that roll with the one to see if there’s a bite. So, once every 10 minutes you can make a Wisdom (Perception) check to see if you feel a bite, with advantage if you are using appropriate bait.

Once you’ve hooked a fish, can you fail to catch it? Sure, the fish might get loose from the hook, and depending on how big it is you might not have the strength to pull it in. This feels like a separate action, with separate stakes - you’re trying to bring your hooked fish in by using the mechanism of your fishing tools (I’m assuming a reel). So, that could be a Strength check - Acrobatics proficiency might apply, with the difficulty determined by the size of the fish, which you could determine randomly when a roll to hook the fish is successfully made. That might also be modified by the bait used.

 

[aco175]

For me it would be a simple Wisdom (Survival) check as I would consider it part of "hunting wild game".

I might make it the greater of Survival or Nature. Advantage if you are trained in both.

Depending on the circumstance though, I might just say to roll 1d6 and that is how many they catch. In another environment where food is scarce, I would make they roll something and have them catch 1d6-2.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

What are the players trying to accomplish and how?

In this case -- the Wave of Destruction adventure in One-Shot Wonders -- there's a bonus in the climactic encounter based on how many fish they catch to draw out and distract the plesiosaur. So this shouldn't be a binary pass/fail check, but one with degrees of success, such as hitting a target number and then bonuses for exceeding it by a certain amount.

 

[overgeeked]

If it’s a question of rations, that’s covered by Survival.

If it’s just something to do, no check necessary.

If I remember, there was a fishing derby in Frostmaiden. Maybe yoink that.

If you want a simple contest, roll off. Everyone does a Survival check (or other stat+skill) and highest roll wins.

 

[Charlaquin]

In this case -- the Wave of Destruction adventure in One-Shot Wonders -- there's a bonus in the climactic encounter based on how many fish they catch to draw out and distract the plesiosaur. So this shouldn't be a binary pass/fail check, but one with degrees of success, such as hitting a target number and then bonuses for exceeding it by a certain amount.

Oh, I think I have that book, maybe I’ll check that adventure when I get home to help inform my feedback. Odd that it has this bonus for number of fish caught but doesn’t include rules for how the players are expected to go about catching them…

 

[ezo]

I might make it the greater of Survival or Nature. Advantage if you are trained in both.

Depending on the circumstance though, I might just say to roll 1d6 and that is how many they catch. In another environment where food is scarce, I would make they roll something and have them catch 1d6-2.

There's nothing bad about doing it that way. I try not to have skills grant advantage to each other, but impact the result:

Check: Wisdom (Survival) or Wisdom (fishing tools) if you have that tool proficiency option.
W/ advantage: you are proficient in Survival and fishing tools.

Result depends on location, but proficiency in Nature doubles the number of fish caught (you know where to find fish).