Rules Index | GM Screen


Mastering the Wild / Trophies and Treasures

Harvesting Trophies

Source Ultimate Wilderness pg. 162
When a monster is defeated in combat, the process of identifying what portions of the creature can serve as a trophy and harvesting the trophy are somewhat abstracted— there’s no need to track the values for each part of every monster in the game once they’re gathered as trophies.

In order to harvest and preserve a trophy from a kill, a character must attempt three checks: one to determine what parts of the creature are worth harvesting for a trophy, one to determine if she successfully harvests the trophy components without damaging or ruining them, and one to turn the components into a permanent trophy.

Identifying Trophies: To identify what portions of a creature have value as trophies, a character must succeed at a Knowledge check determined by the creature type, as normal. The DC for this check is equal to 15 + the creature’s CR. This examination takes 1 minute to perform.

Harvesting Trophy Components: Once a character identifies potential trophies, she must attempt a skill check to harvest the relevant components. This is typically either a Survival check (for external features, such as hide, horns, teeth, or the like) or a Heal check (for internal features, such as blood, internal organs, or sweat). The DC for this check is equal to 15 + the creature’s CR. Harvesting trophy components generally takes 10 minutes of work (at the GM’s discretion, this could be as much as 1 hour of work for creatures whose bodies are particularly difficult to work with).

Creating Trophies: Once trophy components are harvested, they generally remain viable for 24 hours before decay or spoilage ruins them. Application of gentle repose, oil of timelessness, or similar magic can extend this period of decay. In order to turn components harvested from a creature into a long-lasting trophy, a character must attempt a check with an appropriate Craft skill (the exact skill varies according to the nature of the trophy the character is creating, but it is usually one from the following list: alchemy, jewelry, leather, or taxidermy) to preserve the components and turn them into a trophy. The DC of this check is equal to 15 + the creature’s CR.