Agriculture: Expanded Rules
The DM may use this expansion of the agriculture proficiency when druid characters assist a small village facing tough times or if a PC takes up farming. These rules can figure the prosperity of an entire village if the DM groups area farms together and uses the proficiency rating of the village leader or druid with Tables 1 and 2. Before applying the following rules, the DM must decide how many people the farm in question is designed to support.
A medieval farm needs a manager with the agriculture proficiency. At optimum level, a farm has one worker per every two people it supports. A farm with more workers may produce a slight surplus; if it has fewer workers, it will yield less, since the crew would have more chores than hands. Children between ages 7 and 11 count as half a worker each, and those 12 and older each count as another full worker.
How Did the Farm Perform?
To quickly determine the success of a farm (or garden or village) for the year, the DM looks at the number of people it can support. For instance, a family farm might produce enough to support six people. If the family has five members, the farm shows a profit. With six, the farm merely scrapes by. A family of seven is starting to get hungry.
Figuring Farm Profitability
DMs wanting more precise details about a farm's performance can follow these steps:
1. Determine Proficiency Base. Every year the DM rolls 1d6 and adds the result to the farmer's Intelligence score. Then, the DM locates the farmer's adjusted agriculture proficiency rating (base score) on Table 1.
|
Base Score |
Farm Profitability |
|
1-5 |
Disastrous year |
|
6-10 |
Poor yield |
|
11-16 |
Average harvest |
|
17 and up |
Bumper crop |
2. Apply the Worker Modifier. The number of farm workers modifies the base proficiency score. For each 10% by which the farm crew falls below its optimum number of workers, the DM applies a -1 penalty to the base score in Table 1. If the farm has 20% more workers than optimum, the DM adds a +1 bonus to the base score in Table 1. (Having more workers gives no extra bonus.)
3. Figure the Random Events Modifier. As any farmer would tell you, what makes the farming life interesting is Nature's eternal cussedness: random events. The DM should roll on Table 2 to see what's in store for the farm, then apply the random events modifier to the adjusted base score.
|
d20 |
Event |
Check Modifier |
|
1 |
Ruinous weather |
-6 |
|
2-3 |
Bad weather |
-4 |
|
4-6 |
Animal disease |
-2 |
|
7-8 |
Building damaged |
-2 |
|
9 |
Predators |
-1 |
|
10 |
Poachers or bandits |
-1 |
|
11-14 |
No bad news |
0 |
|
15-17 |
Used good seed |
+1 |
|
18-19 |
Good weather |
+2 |
|
20 |
Special |
DM |
Note that often the actions of the farmers (or PCs helping them) and available priestly or druidic spells can reduce the penalty from random events. See the descriptions below:
· Ruinous weather may include flooding or a long drought. A successful weather sense proficiency check by the farmer halves the penalty. (The farmer had advance warning and prepared for the weather.) If the farmer knows a druid to use the control weather spell, the DM can negate the penalty.
· Bad weather might mean an early frost, a slight drought, or excessive rain. The weather sense proficiency and control weather work as in "ruinous weather," above.
· A disease breaks out among the farm's domestic creatures. A successful healing proficiency check (one try) by the farmer halves the penalty; the cure disease spell negates this penalty.
· Building damage may result from a severe storm, fire, or other disaster. The penalty applies only if the farmer cannot afford to fix things, and continues to apply every year until repairs are made. Paying 10 gp for every person the farm supports "repairs" each penalty point.
· Predators, poachers, or bandits repeatedly steal food or animals. If PCs negotiate with, drive off, or destroy the menace(s), the penalty does not apply.
· A special roll means something unusual occurs. Perhaps a wizard war or a dragon devastates the farm--apply -10 to all checks this year! If a god's avatar stops by and blesses the crops, apply +5 to farm rolls.
Note: A plant growth spell can add 20% to 50% to a farm's annual yield (PH, p. 212).
4. Find the Farm's Profitability. After applying the worker and random events modifiers to the base proficiency score, the DM determines profitability using Table 1. A disastrous year means the farm produces 50% less than it should. A poor harvest yields 20% less than normal. An average year means the farm produces at capacity. Finally, a bumper crop comes to 20% above normal yield. (Normal yield is the amount required to feed those the farm supports.)
The Harvest's Cash Value
DMs also can measure farm productivity in cash terms. The value of the harvest equals the number of people the farm can support times 36 gp (the minimum annual cost of living for a person in squalid conditions--DMG, p. 34). The DM subtracts the yearly cost of living of the farmer and workers from the harvest value, leaving the farm's profit. With this information, the DM can see if any families are starving and how much aid would get them back on their feet.
Determining a farm's profitability can provide role-playing opportunities for druids in a party. The guidelines of many branches and kits require druids to offer aid to farms and villages in need. In the course of helping, the druid can stumble on a number of adventure hooks. DMs can even design whole campaigns around a party's effort to get a farming village back on its feet.