Fishing in Erithria

One of the most important things for people settling in a new area is food. In this homebrew, I will go over some basic standards for hunting and fishing in the new world of Erithria. Keep in mind that this is all relative, and some things may not be as they appear.

First comes first, materials, tools of the trade, and other such items that may pertain to fishing. With this comes the basic PHB tool of Fishing Tackle. As the PHB states, a typical set of fishing tackle costs 1gp and weighs 4lbs. In this kit comes a wooden rod, silken line, corkwood bobbers, steel hooks, lead sinkers, velvet lures and narrow netting. With this, we can surmise that a wooden rod is the most basic of materials used for a handheld rod without a reel.

Handheld rods will most likely be the most common way of fishing, but they are not the only one. Spears and nets can also be used!

When an NPC or PC decides to fish, they must first decide what tool they will be using. Wooden rods are good, but they can only hold so much weight; a wooden rod has a limit, and snaps at 15lbs. This can be upgraded by using metals such as iron, which can hold up to 300lbs of weight! Most advanced fisherman in my world using a rod and reel can be seen using iron or even steel rods, an improved iron capable of holding up to 500lbs of weight.

Spears, on the other hand, are easier. When a spear is made, it often has a hole in the bottom for rope to be strung through, as well as a barbed tip so the fist does not get away. However, it comes with the drawback that you must be able to see the fish before you can spear it. This might work better in freshwater, but in saltwater you can only see so far and so deep, and surface fish are the primary targets for saltwater spearfishing.

When first declaring that you will spend at least an hour fishing, a d% is first rolled to see what you encounter.

D% roll for encountering fish during the hour

Roll Type and rarity 01-10 A snag or break occurs in the water. If you can retrieve it, do so. Otherwise, the rig is lost. 11-25 Nothing is caught during the hour. 26-40 Junk, worth less than 5gp. 41-100 A fish is hooked during the hour!

From here on, we can determine what rarity of fish that you catch while fighting it;

Rarity of fish encountered

Roll Type and rarity 01-60 Common fish 61-80 Uncommon fish 81-90 Rare fish 91-99 Very rare fish 100 Legendary fish

From here, we can determine using a d10 what fish is caught. For the Very Rare fish, a d6 is used, and for legendary a d4 is used. Once a Legendary fish is caught, cross out the result from the table; if rolled again, by chance, reroll the d4. If all legendary fish are caught, reroll 100s on the rarity roll.

Some fish require strength checks to pull in. If a fish weighs more than 5lbs, a strength check is used, and, if modifiers are available by the fish, add them to its opposing roll of the fisherman. Depending on the tackle used by the fisherman, the fish may roll at a disadvantage and the fisherman may roll at an advantage, up to the DM's discretion.

On the next page, the fish are detailed.