Manbearcat
Legend
On hunting, here are what strike me as the relevant passages from the 3E Survival skill (on d20srd.org):
<snip>
Great post and this is central to what is being debated. Elements in the game world are a fluid thing, living in a state of superposition until they actually manifest on screen. How exactly they manifest is up to the GM to determine, taking heed of the specific needs of the conflict at hand.
In the same way that the Survival (Nature in 4e) check amalgamates all manner of micro-processes (and attendant contests and checks) into one abstraction (while simultaneously bypassing the HP system), Gather Information (Streetwise in 4e) does the same thing for low stakes social conflict (bypassing several stages of process simulation; Listen, Sense Motive, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Bluff, Sleight of Hand, et al) in which palm-greasing, tavern-skulking, double-talking, lip-reading skulduggery serves as mundane divination.
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