One of the various “pillars of play” that is present within Dungeons and Dragons is that of exploration, and it tends to be the one that gets overlooked the most. This is a shame, because this is where certain classes that are often times maligned by the broader community *cough*rangers*cough* shine.
Now this isn’t to say that I think every single journey needs to be fully played out as the characters travel between destinations – that’s a recipe for tedium and a burnt out party – but it can be an interesting change of pace to have the characters be forced to expend some resources or face other consequences during a particularly tough or notable quest. Heck, entire “dungeon crawls” could even be framed around navigating a magical forest that is intent on trapping the party inside of it and doesn’t want to let it leave.
Needless to say, survival skills are very important in these kinds of situations. Having someone that can locate food and potable water can mean the difference between life and death. But there are places where that might not be possible. Enter the Survivor’s Canteen, an item originally conceived of by a cadre of rangers who were going on a mission where they knew they would have trouble finding safe drinking water. Even after the mission was complete, they found that having these items on hand was a time saver and some extra insurance on top of their own skills.
These devices can be found with some frequency as the original creators made more for other ranger bands as well as for friends and allies that didn’t have a ranger’s prodigious survival abilities.
What do you say? Do you have a party that might be able to benefit from this kind of item at the table? Granted, there are already a number of ways that characters can take away the danger of tainted water, but to have the ability on demand without using up spell slots? That feels powerful enough to at least gate it behind a common magic item. It’s no Cloak of Billowing to be sure, but let’s be fair – I don’t believe anything will ever come close to topping that item.
More importantly, have I reminded you about this important, yet oft-forgotten pillar of play? How do you plan on using it in your next game?
Ben Erickson
